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Jeremiah 28:5-9 The Test of
Prophecy
Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18,
David's Throne
Romans 6:1b-11
New Life in Christ
Matthew 10:34-42
Discipleship
The prophet Jeremiah had warned Judah, the
remnant of Israel since the destruction of the Northern Kingdom of
the divided monarchy, in about 605 B.C.*, that because of
disobedience of God's Word and idolatry (loving anyone or anything
more than the Lord), Judah would be exiled to Babylon for seventy
years (Jeremiah 25:9-12). In 594 B.C. Hananiah proclaimed in the
temple in the presence of Jeremiah and all the priests and people
that God had promised that within two years the people and sacred
temple vessels that had been carried of to Babylon by
Nebuchadnezzar would be returned.
Then Jeremiah replied,
Amen! (may it be so). May the exiles and the sacred vessels be
returned as Hananiah had prophesied. But Jeremiah told the people
to hear and remember that from ancient times prophets had
prophesied war, famine, and epidemics against many nations and
kingdoms. "As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the
word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the
Lord has truly sent the prophet.
The psalmist testified to
and praised the steadfast love and faithfulness of the Lord. The
Lord's steadfast love is eternal and his faithfulness is as
unshakable as the heavens. God has made a covenant with his chosen
one and has promised David that David's descendants and David's
throne will be established forever (see Psalm 89:19-37; 2 Samuel
7:16).
People who know the festal shout, who walk in the
light of God's presence, who rejoice in the name of the Lord and
praise his righteousness are blessed. Be glorified, Lord, for your
are our strength, and by your favor we are given power. Our
allegiance belongs to the Lord; our king belongs to the Holy One
of Israel.
Paul taught that salvation is by God's grace (a
free gift; unmerited favor) and some were suggesting that it was
alright to continue in sin. Paul refuted that conclusion. How can
those who have died to sin continue to live in it? All who have
been baptized into Jesus Christ have been baptized into Jesus'
death, so that we may also be raised with Jesus from the dead to
new, spiritual, eternal, life.
If we are united with
Christ in his death we will also be united with him in his
resurrection. We should realize that our old sinful nature has
been crucified with Christ, so that our sinful flesh will die,
freeing us from sin, because the dead are no longer in the power
of sin. If we have died with Christ we can be certain that we will
also live with him. Christ, having been raised from physical death
to eternal life will never die again, having been freed from the
power of death. Jesus died to sin so that he can live for God, and
so we must follow Jesus' example and consider ourselves dead to
sin and alive to God in Jesus Christ.
Jesus warns that he
has not come to bring peace on earth. Jesus knows that his message
will cause division and opposition in the world, even between the
closest relationships between family and among friends. Those who
love family or friends more than they love the Lord cannot be
Jesus' disciples. Those who are unwilling to bear suffering and
self-sacrifice for Jesus' sake are unworthy of the Gospel.
Those who find satisfaction in their worldly lives will lose them,
but those who are willing to lose their worldly lives for Jesus
will find what is truly and eternally life.
Those who
receive Jesus' disciples receive Jesus, and those who receive
Jesus receive God the Father who sent Jesus. Those who receive a
prophet receive the same reward as the prophet, and those who
receive a righteous person will receive the same reward for
righteousness. Anyone who does the slightest favor for a disciple
of Jesus because he is a disciple will not go unrewarded.
God
had called Jeremiah to proclaim God's Word of warning and
impending judgment on Judah, the remnant of Israel, who had turned
away from obedient trust in God's Word and was pursuing idolatry.
Jeremiah had faithfully and fully proclaimed God's Word. Another
person claimed to proclaim God's Word, suggesting that the
impending exile to Babylon would be no big deal; they'd be back
home in two years and would recover all that had been taken from
them. Jeremiah said he wished that might be so, but he warned that
the test of prophecy is its fulfillment.
The prophecy of
Jeremiah was intended to bring Judah to repent of their idolatry
and disobedience, and to return to obedient trust in the Lord so
that they could avoid the consequences of sin, which is eternal
death (Romans 6:23). The effect of Hananiah's prophecy was to lull
them into complacency until they had been exiled to Babylon. Then
it would be too late for them to change their destiny, and seventy
years was a virtual life sentence for adults at the time of the
deportation.
Those who have experienced the Lord will
testify and praise the Lord's steadfast love and faithfulness.
God's Word is always fulfilled. God promised David that David's
descendants would be established for ever (Psalm 89:4 a), and the
throne of David would be eternal. God's Word was fulfilled in
Jesus Christ, the "Son (descendant) of David" (Matthew
1:1; 21:9), the "anointed" (Christ and Messiah each mean
"anointed" in Greek and Hebrew, respectively) savior and
eternal king. Christians are the spiritual sons of David who have
been established for ever in eternal life in God's heavenly
kingdom.
People who trust and obey Jesus will receive the
gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit, which only Jesus gives (John
1:31-34), only to his disciples who trust and obey Jesus (John
14:15-17). The indwelling Holy Spirit is the light of God's
presence within Jesus' disciples to guide our lives. It is only by
the Holy Spirit that we can express the festal shout of glory and
praise to the Lord in worship. It is by the indwelling Holy Spirit
that we are strengthened and empowered so that we can glorify the
Lord. We only receive the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit as we
commit our allegiance to Jesus as our Lord, and acknowledge that
Jesus is our king, the eternal heir to the throne of David,
"anointed" to reign eternally by the Holy One of Israel.
The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one is in Christ
and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13-14;
Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16).
Jesus is the fulfillment,
embodiment and example of God's Word lived out in human flesh in
this temporal world (John 1:1-5, 14). Jesus showed us how to live
in obedient trust in God's Word. Jesus resisted sin even to death
by crucifixion. Jesus' resurrection demonstrates that there is
existence beyond physical death, and that dying to sin in the
flesh leads to eternal life.
We have to give up trying to
serve and please ourselves, and learn to serve and please the
Lord. We must follow Jesus' example, as he trusted and obeyed
God's Word, knowing that it would lead to his crucifixion. He
carried his cross physically to his execution.
Jesus
didn't come to bring peace with those who hate and oppose God. He
didn't come to bring what the world falsely considers peace
(Matthew 14:26-27). Jesus gives his disciples eternal peace which
cannot be taken away; peace with God, not peace with the world.
Discipleship requires us to surrender everything temporal to the
Lord, but we receive in exchange everything eternal, including
eternal life in paradise restored in the kingdom of heaven.
The
Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9
b). Those who trust and obey Jesus receive the gift of the
indwelling Holy Spirit. Those who receive the "born-again"
disciples of Jesus Christ will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit
as they begin to trust and obey Jesus' teachings. Those who
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit receive the Spirit of Christ,
and those who receive the Spirit of Christ have received the
Spirit of God (Colossians 2:8-9; John 14:23).
Those who
receive Jesus' disciples receive Jesus. Those who recognize a
prophet of God's Word will receive the same reward as the prophet.
Those who recognize righteousness will be rewarded with the
righteous. Those who recognize and bless the disciples of Jesus
will be blessed along with his disciples.
There are many
people in the world and in the (nominal) Church today who claim to
proclaim the Word of God but who preach false reassurance to
people who desperately need to be convicted of sin so that they
can repent and turn from idolatry and disobedience of God's Word.
The test of prophecy is its fulfillment, but by the time people
are in the "Babylon" of Hell, it is too late to change
their eternal destiny. They will die eternally there. God will
bring a remnant of his people into his eternal Promised Land, but
it won't include them.
There are only two ways to know
whether a prophet truly proclaims God's Word or not, and one is
fulfillment of prophecy. The other is to have read and know God's
Word recorded in the Bible. Those who haven't read and know what
the Bible says, are easily victimized by false teachers and false
prophets. The average reader can easily read the entire Bible in
one year, and there are many plans available (see Free Bible Study
Tools, sidebar, top right).
There are two main false
teachings in the (nominal) Church today which were present in the
first century Church and are recorded and refuted in the New
Testament. One has recently been known as "Cheap Grace,"**
teaching salvation by grace (a free gift; unmerited favor), which
is true, but without the requirement of obedience and discipleship
(see False Teachings, sidebar, top right) which Paul has refuted
in this text. We have been saved by grace, but that doesn't mean
that we can continue to live in sin.
Is Jesus your Lord?
Are you Jesus' disciple? Are you trusting and obeying Jesus? Have
you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you first truly
believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus Christ and
teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew 28:18-20)?
Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1 John
5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
*The Oxford Annotated Bible, Revised
Standard Version, Ed. by Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger,
Jeremiah 25:1-14n, p.945, New York, Oxford University Press,
1962
**See: The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
Collier Books, Macmillan Publishing Co., NY 1963 ISBN
0-02-083850-6
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