Sin always has a payday

 Jeremiah 33:4-12

Sin always has a payday, and we, like the people of Judah have a problem with the word “All.”  God has a requirement, and it is found in Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”  And it is also found in Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, and Luke 10:27, and it was Jesus telling us to do so.  What is not said is you shall love the LORD your God when you are in the temple, at church, all can be replaced with the word entirely, and anything less than all has no value.

Often, when addressing the area of God’s righteousness, we want to see God’s mercy, His everlasting love, but not His anger, not His discipline.  Could it be that we fully understand it is mercy, not justice we are in need of?  I bet you, like me and like the people of Judah have an understanding of how the “All” is often missing in our daily lives.  In verses 4-5, the people and the King’s desire is to save Jerusalem, even to the point of tearing down the king’s house for the stone to plug holes in the wall.  But as often is the case, we will not listen when God sends preachers, and others to warn us of the coming disaster of our sins, and now the city is going to be filled with the corpses of Judah’s citizens.

If you are a dad, let me ask you this question; did you ever enjoy punishing your child for being rebellious, and we who sin have no understanding of the pain it brings to a Holy God.  The Babylonian’s are going to carry off the brightest and those who have talents, even the king and his court.  And God in His mercy is going to bring healing to those who are left, and to those who are carried off at a time in the future.  It does not seem to be the seventy years when Cyrus allows them to return or even 1948 when Israel once more became a nation.  

No, it seems this is talking about a time yet to happen, so listen to verses 8-12, “I will purify them from all the wrongs they have committed against Me, and I will forgive all the wrongs they have committed against Me, rebelling against Me. This city will bear on My behalf a name of joy, praise, and glory before all the nations of the earth, who will hear of all the good I will do for them. They will tremble with awe because of all the good and all the peace I will bring about for them.

“This is what the Lord says: In this place, which you say is a ruin, without man or beast—that is, in Judah’s cities and Jerusalem’s streets that are a desolation without man, without inhabitant, and without beast—there will be heard again a sound of joy and gladness, the voice of the groom and the bride, and the voice of those saying,

Praise the Lord of Hosts, for the Lord, is good; His faithful love endures forever

as they bring thank offerings to the temple of the Lord. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as in former times, says the Lord.“This is what the Lord of Hosts says: In this desolate place—without man or beast—and in all its cities there will once more be a grazing land where shepherds may rest flocks.”

A new covenant is established, and the Messiah has consummated what we call the last days, it is an everlasting covenant.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

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