Day 226 – Jeremiah 26-29

Talking Points

• As God sends prophets and delivers His Word, His desire is always that the people would receive it, repent, and return to Him. Instead of receiving the message Jeremiah brings and instead of rejoicing that God is merciful and gracious in His calling to them, the people want Jeremiah killed. How much do we have to love our sin to choose it over walking in God’s righteous commands?
• The priests, prophets, and people tell Jeremiah, “You must die!” (Jeremiah 23:8). It is the same cry that the “Righteous Branch” would one day hear from the priests, prophets, and people in that same place. The world has always hated the Truth — even the Truth that would save them.
• When God gives Jeremiah His message, He tells him, “Do not omit a word!” (26:2). Whether it be to make it less harsh, more attractive, or even in careless apathy, it is never permissible to adapt God’s Word. Each word matters, and it must be proclaimed in complete accuracy.
• The false prophets continue to downplay God’s wrath and judgment of sin — a reality to watch for today!
• Conquering nations would usually take the idols of the conquered back to their own nation and place them in their own temples. Since Judah’s religion has no idols, God says the Babylonians would take the temple vessels instead (27:16).
• The often quoted words in Jeremiah 29:11 are part of a letter written by Jeremiah to the Jews who were taken captive to Babylon, instructing them how to live while in exile. God tells them to live as normally as possible, obedient to God. Then, He encourages them with the hope that the exile won’t be forever. “‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’“

Thoughts

Does God repent? What does He mean when He says that if Judah listens and “everyone [turns] from his evil way,” that He “may repent of the calamity” He’s planning (Jeremiah 26:3)? Was God wrong in planning to judge the Jews?

The Hebrew word translated “repent” can mean “to be moved to pity, to have compassion, to comfort or ease oneself.” At its root, it means “to change one’s mind.” What God is telling us, is that, though He knows exactly what will happen, and He does not grow in His knowledge, He does relate to us in “real time.” His interactions with us are based on what we are doing right now, not what He knows we will do. Thank goodness! What if He punished us today for a sin we had not yet committed? The opposite of that is also true — He punishes sin today, even though He knows we will repent later. In fact, it’s often His punishments that bring us to a place of repentance. He deals with us as we are now — sinful, repentant, disobedient, walking in His ways. When we repent — change our minds and go a different direction, so does He. When we are sinful and deserving of punishment, God interacts with us justly. But, if we repent, God is moved to pity, has compassion, and changes His mind and His responses toward us.

And, the best news is this: anytime God changes His mind, it is completely consistent with His character. It is just, merciful, loving, compassionate, righteous, and good, because that’s who He is.