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Doom & Deliverance
Authored by Takao Kiyohiro, Osaka, Japan ktakao@po.teleway.ne.jp
Translated by Rev. Mike Furey mfurey@seidata.com
at http://www.j-e-s-u-s.org.
TEXT:
Jeremiah 30:1-17
1. (I usually publish the [Sunday] worship sermon for each week, but this time I am posting a shorter
message I gave in prayer meeting that took place this past November 24.)
2. In chapters thirty and thirty-one prophecies of deliverance are collected, which were spoken in
various time periods. Verses one through three give the introduction to this. It says in the text here,
"Write in a scroll the words I give you, leaving nothing out," (verse two). Because what had to be
written is something that is supposed to be heard over and again. Because they are words that should
be addressed to [people] through out time. We will understand it by looking at a number of prophecies
recorded through out chapter thirty. In many cases the prophecies themselves are not clearly
connected to an historical event. The messages which point to an historical setting are not left to us in a
clear cut way. In other words, in spite of the fact that they are words spoken at one time in a specific
situation, they do show forth the will of God that has crossed the ages.
3. The main message is summarized as follows. "Look, the day is coming when I will restore my
people, the prosperity of Israel and Judah, says the Lord. The Lord says, I will lead them back to the
land I gave their forefathers and I will make them possess it," (verse three). Compare this with, for
example, chapter twenty-eight beginning with verse two. "The God of Israel, the Lord of Hosts thus
says, 'I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon," (28:2). This is a prophecy of Hananiah. This same
Hananiah in the book of Jeremiah is described as a false prophet. But, the words that resemble the
messages of the false prophets that troubled Jeremiah appear in chapter thirty, which we read today,
and in other places. Thus, we realize that a key to understanding this passage is [to know] the
differences between the salvation that the false prophets spoke of and the salvation recorded here and
its message concerning that salvation.
4. So what we notice is that salvation and the prophecy of restoration appeared along with messages
on the doom of Israel. In verse four, first it speaks on the doom the people of God experienced. The
Lord says. "It is doom, on that day, on that great day, it will be like no other," (verse seven). This is a
prophecy of the day of the Lord as a judgment. This kind of message can be found across the span of
time in the messages of the other prophets, like Amos and Joel. That is to say, the sufferings that the
Israelites encountered are tied to the prophecies of warning and judgment which were repeatedly given
by them. It is about the judgment of God against Israel's sin. The suffering of the captivity should not
be mistaken for defeat or bad luck. They should first recognize it was their own sin. Then, the words
in verse seven that "But, Jacob will be delivered out from here" begin to take on significance.
5. If "Jacob will be delivered out from here" is understood that way, then it would be expected that
God's work of salvation would lead the people to submission. Unless the sins of unbelief and
disobedience are recognized, even though set free from their difficulties, they would never be set free
from the sins of disobedience and infidelity. The reason God broke the yoke and set their chains loose
was so they would render submission under freedom. Therefore, it isn't just speaking on submission,
but says that "they might serve the Lord their God and king David whom I have established," (verse
nine). This word "yoke" appeared already in verse twenty-seven. There Jeremiah said to the
messengers from various nations and to king Zedekiah to "bear the yoke upon them." For it was a God
given yoke. In recognizing that it was a God given yoke, only those who bear it could understand the
significance that God would crush it. It was fundamentally different in implication from what Hananiah
in chapter twenty-eight had said of an easy deliverance that God would separate the yoke from
Jeremiah's neck and crush it.
6. God spoke of salvation from captivity with the purpose that they would render obedience. "O my
servant Jacob, don't be afraid, says the Lord. O Israel, don't tremble. Look! I will deliver you out
from the distant lands and your descendants from the land of captivity. Jacob will return and live
peacefully. No one will threaten them," (verse ten). Thus, we come to understand that the hardships,
which lead them to obedience to God and which was first met in the judgment of God was never meant
to destroy the race. The Lord says it was just for chastisement. "But, you will never be wiped out. I
will chasten you righteously. I will not keep punishing you," (verse eleven). God truly chastens those
he loves.
7. God's chastening certainly is frequently harsh. It says, "Since your evil is very great and your sin is
abundant, I will overthrow you with an attack from the enemy and chasten you severely," (verse
fourteen). God repeats the reason in verses fourteen and fifteen why they met with this chastening. It is
so they would understand God's purposes. On the one hand, when they were chastened and wounded
like this, it said, "All your lovers forgot you and don't care." "Lovers" means the other countries Israel
depended upon. It was made clear all of a sudden that they couldn't trust in all the things they used to
trust in besides God. Thus their unbelief and rebellion against God became clear. While "the lovers"
they trusted in no longer were in partnership or cared, we see here that there is One very mindful of the
wounds of Israel. It is the Lord himself who chastened them. It was the Lord God himself who
disciplined them and was more mindful than anyone else of their suffering from chastisement.
8. Therefore, the chastening Lord is at the same time a healing Lord. "Well now, I will heal your hurts
and mend your brokenness says the Lord. The peoples will call you "outcasts" and say "the uncared
for Zion," (verse seventeen). If seen from a human perspective they may have seemed forsaken and
cast off. They looked like they were "uncared for" no matter who did the looking. However, the Lord
did not forsake them. The Lord was involved. They were not "uncared for." The Lord was their
partner. The Lord couldn't be heartless towards his own people. If the Lord didn't care, he would
never have disciplined them. The Lord wants his people to turn to God. The Lord wants saved people
to live in obedience according to faith.
Translated by Mike Furey
Hanover, IN, USA
mfurey@seidata.com
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