Devotional Commentary on Jeremiah 18

 

The God we worship, says Jeremiah so far, does not speak with a forked tongue. He does not say one set of values and morals and laws to one group and another set of values, morals and laws to another group. What God expects are simple actions, easily to carry out and He is a God of sensitive detail caring. How His Sabbath is kept is a test just like Eve and Adam were tested with a fruit. Very simple indeed. God cannot embrace sinners persisting and calculatively seeking to continue their sinful desires, passions, plannings and deeds. God does not embrace people with a shout: “we all are sinners and come short of the glory of God, hey what is the advantage to try even if we fall short anyway”. What is wrong here? The person is looking through the specs of Augustine and Original Sin theory to him/herself and count themselves as unworthy of any participation in the process of sanctification. What is the solution? The specs of Augustine on Original Sin is a fake reading of the Bible. Christ came to show that the Law can be kept. If Original Sin is in the way, it cannot be kept. So Original Sin theory is a fake. That is why God is expecting full compliance to what He asked the people of Jeremiah’s day. It will be same for us.

 

God spoke to Jeremiah (verse 1). He was sitting down and was asked to stand up and go to a potters’ house (verse 2). He went and the potter was working on the wheels with clay (verse 3). The potter did not like the clay and the vessel he was making so he started on another vessel (verse 4).

 

The lesson came to Jeremiah: Can God not do with spiritual Israel the same as this potter with the discarded vessel of clay? (verse 6). If God decides to destroy a nation because of their sins but they repent, God change His plan and do good to them (verse 7-8). On the other hand, if He intends to build and plant a spiritual nation and it will do what is evil in His eyes, by not listening to His voice, bad things can happen (verse 10). Notice that Original Sin does not fit here for if everyone is sold out to sin anyway, why would God consider someone with a few sins “not evil” but one with a lot of sins “evil”? It is either evil or not here in Jeremiah. Original Sin locks everyone in the same fate that is why Predestination was mathematically invented to explain this enigma or paradox.

 

Jeremiah had a pony ready to ride out the problem: If they repent then God will not do the evil that He planned to provide them with for their hardnecked sin-following (verse 11). “Return now, each one from his evil way and improve your ways and your deeds” (verse 11). Where are the hands thrown up by modern Christians because of their habitual sins and desires and passions: “Our best actions are filthy rags….” Context please. Look at the context of this statement before we use it in a flinging way to cover our potentials for sanctification in a fake way not the biblical way. God says here to Jeremiah that they can stop evil, can improve sanctification and character building ways and even their deeds can change.

 

Just like modern man, they say to God the Original Sin tantrum or excuse: “We despair, but after our thoughts we will go and we will do each one the view of his evil heart” (verse 12). There are Christians and Adventists who do not want to change or improve from their evil ways. They have set up their own rules of right and wrong regarding lifestyles and think that digital modernism have given them an educated superiority to biblical generations so that there is no such thing as digital sins. They will prescribe to God how they will keep the Sabbath and other aspects since culture of our own time is more important than the culture of the past that controlled the biblical text. “We know more than they…” they think.

 

Nations should be asked if they have ever seen this attitude in history (verse 13). The “virgin of [spiritual] Israel committed a very disgraceful thing.”

 

Refrigerators were known in the following way that they dug holes underground to store their food. From the Lebanon with snow covered, cold water ran down in rivulets and Jeremiah is asked whether anyone would reject ice-cold water coming from the Lebanon for household use in such hot temperatures? (verse 14).

 

But, spiritual Israel in Jeremiah’s day has forgotten the Lord and burn incense to Asherim on hills worshipping a green tree [our modern green cult of environmentalism]. Their ancient paths caused them to stumble in their ways to walk paths, a way that is not trodden (verse 15). This is the origin of mushroom movements. The role of the feminine in that society was not only that they were business ladies but also organized and run prostitution parlors on mountains like the one at Kuntillet `Ajrud which is seen as a caravanserai or staying place for travelers from other countries. They had to be embracive of other gods like Baal, Asherah and Yahweh. Result? Ecumenical mixing and a jurisdiction of equality that does not allow anyone to criticize other religions or habits, was at the order of the day. According to cuneiform tablets LGBTQH was practiced in these gods temples so these practices would also show up in Israel.  Is it 2017! Sounds like it. And who thought that Jeremiah is a culture that is unacquainted with the issues of modern times?

 

Punishment will include that the land will be made waste. People passing by will hiss. Everyone will shake the head (verse 16). God will be behind them instead of in front of them in the day of their misfortune (verse 17).

 

When they got the message from God, the people were so evil they wanted to play the man and thus decided to persecute Jeremiah (verse 18). They clung to the myth that the Torah shall not be lost from the priest, neither the counsel from wise men nor the speech and sermons of prophets. God loves them too much to do harm to them. “The love of Jesus covers a lot of sins, [even sins continued],” so they thought. These people against Jeremiah then wanted to accuse him and refused to listen to his words. They would gossip. Abarbanel, the rabbi, thought that they wanted to destroy the tongue of Jeremiah.

 

Jeremiah is where we should be in the same situation: on his knees. He prayed that the Lord take notice of what they said (verse 19). They have dug a pit for his life and he asked God to bring him back from evil situations (verse 20). He wants God to punish their children with famine, sword (verse 21). Jeremiah explained to God that his agony is real and near (verse 22).

 

Jeremiah knows about the Second Coming of Jesus because at that time “You shall bring a troop upon them suddenly” (verse 22a). The New Testament says it is like a thief in the night. He prayed that Christ do not atone for them since 1844 “do not atone for their iniquity” (verse 23). When the Books of life are opened in this court scene in heaven during the Investigative Judgment, Jeremiah wants God “let not their sin be erased”. This is the function of Jesus as Highpriest that sins of the saints are erased from the records in heaven on the account of the life and death and acceptance of that by the saints on their behalf during this time since 1844. Jeremiah is not uninformed about the Investigative Judgment and its purpose during the Antitypical Day of Atonement period starting in 1844, counting with Daniel 8:14 as key. Then later after the millennium, which starts at the Second Coming, then Jeremiah prays that “let them be made to stumble before You [Executive Judgment or Hell event], at the time of Your anger do it to them”. The Latter Generation Theology was very well known to Jeremiah and he weaved bits and pieces of it within his application to his own day enemies and their future destiny.

 

Dear God

We live while You stand before open Books in heaven of records also of our deeds to decide everyone’s fate that were faithful. Also us, with Your marks on Your hands to show, rescue us from terrible indexes made against us in our past. In Jesus name. Amen.