SIX CHAPTERS DOWN

Yes, we are in the middle of Consultant Checking and our consultant is so bored he keeps falling asleep on us! Bored cuz our translation is almost perfect! Hahahaha! Kidding!!!!

We were able to get four chapters of Jeremiah done yesterday and we just finished two more this morning.

Jeremiah's time was one of the periods in the history of Israel when they chose to abandon their covenant with GOD and chase after foreign gods. It is a book full of tragedy, destruction and punishment. Because of Israel and Judah's rejection of Yahweh, He warned them over and over through Jeremiah that like a vineyard, He will bring enemies from the north who will strip away their branches; but still in all those pronouncements of doom, God said that He will forgive them, heal their land, and deliver them if they return to Him. There was even an instance when God told the people to find someone in all the land who "desires" to follow Him, and He might turn from doing what He threatened to do. As our consultant commented, God somewhat lowered the standard for this sinful people. It doesn't have to be someone who is perfectly blameless (of course, that's impossible) but just anyone who has a heart to obey God's statutes.

At the end of the day, what's left in your mind is the hope that Yahweh gives at the end of each tragic oracle that he puts in Jeremiah's lips. As always is the case in all of the prophetic books, God's judgment is intended to make people return to Him, not to permanently drive them away. Even in the case of Nebucchadnezzar, a heathen king, God punished him for him to realize that God is Sovereign, who gives or takes according to His plan and is worthy of all the honor that King Nebu had appropriated to himself.

Therefore, what is there to say? Nothing less than this:

OUR GOD, IS AN AWESOME GOD,
HE REIGNS FROM HEAVEN ABOVE WITH WISDOM, POWER AND LOVE
OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD!

The book of Jeremiah reminded me about how blessed I am (we are) to be alive at this point in history.

Jer. 7:23 23 But this command I gave them, ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’

This embodies the contrast between Law and Grace. For us "grace perioders" who put our faith in Jesus' finished work, He is saying: "Obey my voice for I am your God and you are my people; walk in all the way that I command you, because I have already made it well for you." Isn't that just lovely?