October 25: Jeremiah 10-12; Psalm 106:24-48; Romans 5-6

Jeremiah 10-12

Idols and the Living God

10 Hear the word that the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the LORD:

  “Learn not the way of the nations,
    nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens
    because the nations are dismayed at them,
  for the customs of the peoples are vanity.¹
  A tree from the forest is cut down
    and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.
  They decorate it with silver and gold;
    they fasten it with hammer and nails
    so that it cannot move.
  Their idols² are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
    and they cannot speak;
  they have to be carried,
    for they cannot walk.
  Do not be afraid of them,
    for they cannot do evil,
    neither is it in them to do good.”
  There is none like you, O LORD;
    you are great, and your name is great in might.
  Who would not fear you, O King of the nations?
    For this is your due;
  for among all the wise ones of the nations
    and in all their kingdoms
    there is none like you.
  They are both stupid and foolish;
    the instruction of idols is but wood!
  Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish,
    and gold from Uphaz.
  They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith;
    their clothing is violet and purple;
    they are all the work of skilled men.
  But the LORD is the true God;
    he is the living God and the everlasting King.
  At his wrath the earth quakes,
    and the nations cannot endure his indignation.

Thus shall you say to them: “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”³

  It is he who made the earth by his power,
    who established the world by his wisdom,
    and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
  When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
    and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
  He makes lightning for the rain,
    and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
  Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
    every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
  for his images are false,
    and there is no breath in them.
  They are worthless, a work of delusion;
    at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
  Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob,
    for he is the one who formed all things,
  and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
    the LORD of hosts is his name.
  Gather up your bundle from the ground,
    O you who dwell under siege!
  For thus says the LORD:
  “Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land
    at this time,
  and I will bring distress on them,
    that they may feel it.”
  Woe is me because of my hurt!
    My wound is grievous.
  But I said, “Truly this is an affliction,
    and I must bear it.”
  My tent is destroyed,
    and all my cords are broken;
  my children have gone from me,
    and they are not;
  there is no one to spread my tent again
    and to set up my curtains.
  For the shepherds are stupid
    and do not inquire of the LORD;
  therefore they have not prospered,
    and all their flock is scattered.
  A voice, a rumor! Behold, it comes!—
    a great commotion out of the north country
  to make the cities of Judah a desolation,
    a lair of jackals.
  I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself,
    that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.
  Correct me, O LORD, but in justice;
    not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.
  Pour out your wrath on the nations that know you not,
    and on the peoples that call not on your name,
  for they have devoured Jacob;
    they have devoured him and consumed him,
    and have laid waste his habitation.

The Broken Covenant

11 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant that I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you. So shall you be my people, and I will be your God, that I may confirm the oath that I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day.” Then I answered, “So be it, LORD.”

And the LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Hear the words of this covenant and do them. For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice. Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.”

Again the LORD said to me, “A conspiracy exists among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. They have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their fathers. Therefore, thus says the LORD, Behold, I am bringing disaster upon them that they cannot escape. Though they cry to me, I will not listen to them. Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they make offerings, but they cannot save them in the time of their trouble. For your gods have become as many as your cities, O Judah, and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to shame, altars to make offerings to Baal.

“Therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble. What right has my beloved in my house, when she has done many vile deeds? Can even sacrificial flesh avert your doom? Can you then exult? The LORD once called you ‘a green olive tree, beautiful with good fruit.’ But with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it, and its branches will be consumed. The LORD of hosts, who planted you, has decreed disaster against you, because of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, provoking me to anger by making offerings to Baal.”

  The LORD made it known to me and I knew;
    then you showed me their deeds.
  But I was like a gentle lamb
    led to the slaughter.
  I did not know it was against me
    they devised schemes, saying,
  “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
    let us cut him off from the land of the living,
    that his name be remembered no more.”
  But, O LORD of hosts, who judges righteously,
    who tests the heart and the mind,
  let me see your vengeance upon them,
    for to you have I committed my cause.

Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, and say, “Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, or you will die by our hand”—therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: “Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine, and none of them shall be left. For I will bring disaster upon the men of Anathoth, the year of their punishment.”

Jeremiah's Complaint

12   Righteous are you, O LORD,
    when I complain to you;
    yet I would plead my case before you.
  Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
    Why do all who are treacherous thrive?
  You plant them, and they take root;
    they grow and produce fruit;
  you are near in their mouth
    and far from their heart.
  But you, O LORD, know me;
    you see me, and test my heart toward you.
  Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter,
    and set them apart for the day of slaughter.
  How long will the land mourn
    and the grass of every field wither?
  For the evil of those who dwell in it
    the beasts and the birds are swept away,
    because they said, “He will not see our latter end.”

The Lord Answers Jeremiah

  “If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you,
    how will you compete with horses?
  And if in a safe land you are so trusting,
    what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?
  For even your brothers and the house of your father,
    even they have dealt treacherously with you;
    they are in full cry after you;
  do not believe them,
    though they speak friendly words to you.”
  “I have forsaken my house;
    I have abandoned my heritage;
  I have given the beloved of my soul
    into the hands of her enemies.
  My heritage has become to me
    like a lion in the forest;
  she has lifted up her voice against me;
    therefore I hate her.
  Is my heritage to me like a hyena's lair?
    Are the birds of prey against her all around?
  Go, assemble all the wild beasts;
    bring them to devour.
  Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard;
    they have trampled down my portion;
  they have made my pleasant portion
    a desolate wilderness.
  They have made it a desolation;
    desolate, it mourns to me.
  The whole land is made desolate,
    but no man lays it to heart.
  Upon all the bare heights in the desert
    destroyers have come,
  for the sword of the LORD devours
    from one end of the land to the other;
    no flesh has peace.
  They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns;
    they have tired themselves out but profit nothing.
  They shall be ashamed of their⁴ harvests
    because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”

Thus says the LORD concerning all my evil neighbors who touch the heritage that I have given my people Israel to inherit: “Behold, I will pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them again each to his heritage and each to his land. And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, ‘As the LORD lives,’ even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people. But if any nation will not listen, then I will utterly pluck it up and destroy it, declares the LORD.”

(ESV)

Psalm 106:24-48

  Then they despised the pleasant land,
    having no faith in his promise.
  They murmured in their tents,
    and did not obey the voice of the LORD.
  Therefore he raised his hand and swore to them
    that he would make them fall in the wilderness,
  and would make their offspring fall among the nations,
    scattering them among the lands.
  Then they yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor,
    and ate sacrifices offered to the dead;
  they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds,
    and a plague broke out among them.
  Then Phinehas stood up and intervened,
    and the plague was stayed.
  And that was counted to him as righteousness
    from generation to generation forever.
  They angered him at the waters of Meribah,
    and it went ill with Moses on their account,
  for they made his spirit bitter,¹
    and he spoke rashly with his lips.
  They did not destroy the peoples,
    as the LORD commanded them,
  but they mixed with the nations
    and learned to do as they did.
  They served their idols,
    which became a snare to them.
  They sacrificed their sons
    and their daughters to the demons;
  they poured out innocent blood,
    the blood of their sons and daughters,
  whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
    and the land was polluted with blood.
  Thus they became unclean by their acts,
    and played the whore in their deeds.
  Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people,
    and he abhorred his heritage;
  he gave them into the hand of the nations,
    so that those who hated them ruled over them.
  Their enemies oppressed them,
    and they were brought into subjection under their power.
  Many times he delivered them,
    but they were rebellious in their purposes
    and were brought low through their iniquity.
  Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress,
    when he heard their cry.
  For their sake he remembered his covenant,
    and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
  He caused them to be pitied
    by all those who held them captive.
  Save us, O LORD our God,
    and gather us from among the nations,
  that we may give thanks to your holy name
    and glory in your praise.
  Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
    from everlasting to everlasting!
  And let all the people say, “Amen!”
    Praise the LORD!

(ESV)

Romans 5-6

Peace with God Through Faith

5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we¹ have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith² into this grace in which we stand, and we³ rejoice⁴ in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Death in Adam, Life in Christ

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men⁵ because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

Therefore, as one trespass⁶ led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness⁷ leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self⁸ was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free⁹ from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Slaves to Righteousness

What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,¹⁰ you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(ESV)