Pop’s Page

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. (Jer 11:9-14)

It seems strange to find a verse in the Bible which says, “don’t pray.” More commonly we recall the Apostle Paul saying that we should pray without ceasing. Jesus taught His disciples the Lord’s prayer, which most of us memorized as children. Romans 13 tells us that we should pray for governmental officials even we don’t like them, and even if their conduct is despicable. (How hard it was to put Romans 13 in practice during the previous administration.)

But here we have the Lord Himself telling Jeremiah straight out: do not pray for this people or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf. The “therefore” that precedes this command is a summary of how the chosen people–blessed and protected by Jehovah–broke the covenant by disobeying the first and second commandments, and elsewhere he tells us that they also broke the third.

It’s very tempting to apply these verses here, in our day, in the midst of the culture wars, to those of our citizenry who have rejected the God of the Bible, the God invoked by the framers of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Their influence seems to be growing, particularly in the media and among the elite decision-makers of academia and science. Should we give up on them and stop praying for them?

Or perhaps alternatively we should pray for the Lord’s judgment to fall upon them? Like David did. In the imprecatory Psalms that I mentioned in the previous blog. Listen to what he says: (Ps 139:19-22)

Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!

I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies.

So what do you think, noble readers? Stop praying at all for our nation, or pray for judgment to fall upon it as it did ancient Israel, or as Paul prayed for his fellow Jews–unbelievers though they were–that they might be saved even if that meant he wouldn’t be? I invite your comments. (john@dishmans.net)

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.” (Jer. 11:1-5)

For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us–for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”– so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (Gal. 3:10-14)

Curse: “prayer or invocation for harm or injury to come upon one; an imprecation.” Merriam-Webster online dictionary

C. S. Lewis in his mediations on the Psalms recoiled at the so-called “imprecatory psalms” those psalms that called down curses on the enemies of God. Presently I am attempting to memorize that beautiful favorite of Susan’s, Psalm 139. That’s the psalm that talks about the omnipresence of the Lord. “Where can I go from your Spirit, where can I flee from your presence” That one. After David meditates on how the Lord is always with him, even in Sheol, he then launches into four verses of pure imprecation. In speaking of God’s enemies he says, “I hate them with perfect hatred.”

Lewis, I suppose, was repulsed by what appears to be the antithesis of the character of God. After all, “God is love.” How can it be appropriate to hate? Yet here from the mouths of both Jeremiah in the Old Testament, and the Apostle Paul in the New, we see that the downside of the covenant relationship between God and man is that there is a risk of being cursed by God Himself if one does not obey the terms of the covenant.

In Jeremiah’s day we see that full measure of that curse falling upon the people of Israel and Judah because of their gross disobedience of the covenant, even to the point of sacrificing their own children to Molech. That curse resulted ultimately in the total destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of its people to Babylon. The total slaughter of the population of the city: man, woman and child, must have been an incredible and heart-rending sight. Blood ran literally in the streets. The noises, the smells, the look of sheer terror by the victims as the city was overrun must have been unspeakable.

Yet in Paul’s day we get a different take on the curse of the covenant. God’s righteous curse falls upon Himself, the innocent party. The Son of God is cursed by the Father as he bears the consequence of the curse in His own body, forsaken even by Father as he cries out, “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

There is much discussion in the media and in evangelical circles about the forthcoming Mel Gibson movie, The Passion of Christ. Some are suggesting Christians shouldn’t see it because they are at risk of breaking the 2nd commandment. (See the article by Gleason on www.pcanews.com). Many more who have seen it in preview say it’s one of the most moving experiences of their lives. Without getting into a debate about the 2nd commandment issues, it seems to this writer that one advantage of viewing the film is the opportunity to understand more deeply what it meant for Christ to “become a curse for us.” Apparently Gibson’s major goal is for his viewers to understand just how painful and awful and miserable was the extent of Christ’s sacrifice, to the degree it can be portrayed on film. I suppose an even deeper suffering of our Lord is even harder to grasp: the internal spiritual suffering as He was cursed by the Person He loved most: His heavenly Father.

My beloved wife was the most loving person I ever knew. Yet, there were times in our marriage when I could do such things to upset her that caused even her to say, “I don’t even like you.” How that hurt! Our oneness was shattered by my bad actions and her response to them. How much more the oneness between God the Father and God the Son shattered not because any unrighteous act on their part, but because of ours. So in the very act of cursing the Son, the Father shows in fact that “God is love.” In some mysterious and incomprehensible way the love between Father and Son is broken in order that God might extend His love to us. No wonder that John 3:16 is such a popular verse.

I don’t know that C. S. Lewis would be satisfied with this argument, but for me as I come to those four imprecatory verses in Psalm 139, I will see them in a different light. It’s not just David cursing the enemies of God, but it is the Son of David being cursed with “perfect hatred” in order that you and I might become the perfect righteousness of God as the righteousness of the Son is imputed to us.

Once again consulting work prevented my ongoing blogs on the “Jeremiad” as Peter calls them, during the past week. The upcoming week looks to be the same. Thus, I will aim for weekly contributions with the hope of doing more as time permits. However, the Taxman commeth……. JMD

The Covenant: The Answer

Jeremiah’s wait for an answer to his prayer: “yet…”, was short. Immediately the Lord answers. The answer is detailed and comparatively long. It comprises verses 26-44 of Chapter 32. Then, immediately in the entirety of Chapter 33 we see that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time while he was still shut up in the court of the guard. Space doesn’t permit quoting the entire passage. (Readers who want to see the passage online can go to Bible Gateway to view the passage in any one of a number of versions. I prefer the ESV.)

In the first part of His answer the LORD summarizes what’s about to happen. The Babylonians will indeed destroy the city. This is because of the very great sin of the people who even sacrificed their own sons and daughters to Molech, though the LORD did not so command them or “even have it in mind,” for them to do such a horrible thing. [My blood curdles at the this last line. As the grandfather of 4 wonderful grandchldren (I am the surrogate grandpop for Tori and Nate), the thought of intentionally sacrificing their precious lives in this way makes me literally sick. Can you imagine the depth of evil in the hearts of the people–both individually and in community–that would even consider such a thing. How well deserved was their destruction!]

Then comes the following:

“Now therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.
“For thus says the LORD: Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them. Fields shall be bought in this land of which you are saying, ‘It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ Fields shall be bought for money, and deeds shall be signed and sealed and witnessed, in the land of Benjamin, in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb; for I will restore their fortunes, declares the LORD.”

So, in spite of the horrendous evil these people did–including the sacrifice of their own children–the Lord promises to bring them back and to do them good. So much good, in fact, that a real estate boom will ensue. Fields like the one Jeremiah just bought will be valuable again, and the title companies will do a great business in filing deeds.

There is only one word to describe this: grace. Amazing grace. Unmerited favor.

So there it is. Jeremiah gets a specific answer to his specific request. The LORD’s command for him to buy a field was not unreasonable after all, because some day that field will have value again. It’s questionable as to whether Jeremiah or his heirs ever got their money back for the specific field in question. Like so many commands to the prophets, the actions that they were to carry out were symbolic to make a point about the LORD’s judgment and His love. [For example, I resonate very much with Ezekiel when he is told that his wife will die in the morning and he is to go out and preach to the people in the afternoon without mourning for her. (Ezk. 24) Like Jeremiah, the point the LORD was making through Ezekial was that the destruction coming on the people was to be so severe that there would be no time to mourn. ]

There are several points to be made from the LORD’s answer to Jeremiah.

First, the answer is in the context of the covenant. All answers to our prayers have to be seen through the lens of the covenant. “I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them.” Even in the midst of the tragedies (loss of a loved one) and pitfalls (the stock market bubble) of life, He will do us good. Ultimately that good will be in the glorified state (where Susan is), but even here and now He will bless us. From a material point of view the physical blessings we His people experience today are unparalleled in history. (Think of life without indoor plumbing and no electricity.) Are these not in some sense part of the covenantal blessing that the Lord has bestowed on us (the children of earlier covenant keepers) consistent with His promise—in spite of the fact that many among the elite of our culture disbelieve in Him totally.

Second, beyond the mere material there is that spiritual component to the unmerited favor of the LORD as seen in the answer to our prayers. “And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.” The LORD will plant us with His heart and soul, so that our hearts will not turn from Him. As Reformed Presbyterians we believe in the perseverance of the saints (the “P” in the famous “TULIP” acronym). Here and now, despite many ups and downs and turnings away from Him, we will persevere as believers until the end, never completely falling out of faith in Him. And in heaven above, and the New Earth at the day of resurrection, we will be immutably holy, never able to turn away. How that is possible for free-willed beings is a great mystery, but God is able to do all things.

Finally, there is the “they” word: “I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them.” We Americans are so individualistic that we have trouble relating to the unity and community of the people of God that these ancient Hebrews felt. For us, this is the church of Jesus Christ. We are to have “one heart and one way.” It sure doesn’t feel like that in modern American evangelicalism. How would a Jeremiah returned to life in our day feel when he leafed through the Yellow Pages under the category labeled “churches.” (But I know what you’re thinking: “ours is the right one. I agree…..)

Even within our local churches we have work to do to achieve the unity held up as the goal by the prophet. How much more in our denominations (the term itself is a commentary) and in Christianity as a whole. It’s a good thing that the Lord Jesus is interceding for His church!

: Miguel de Jesus Sanchez Ruiz

Miguel is 8 years old and lives in the Chiapas state of Mexico, on the seacoast.

But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children (Ps. 103:17)

The Covenant: We Listen to Him, He Listens to Us

In our last discussion we noted that the very first thing the LORD demands from those with whom He covenants is that they listen to Him. Before moving on to thinking about exactly what they are to listen to, we want to consider the reciprocity of listening. Not only does the LORD expect His covenant people to listen to Him, He expects us to respond. He–the LORD of all–listens to us, His people. That’s what we call “prayer.”

It seems to me that there is one problem with the word itself. Looking up the etymology of the word (say, at etymologyonline) indicates that the word derives from the idea of “request.” In other words prayer usually means “asking for something.” Requests are a not infrequent part of normal conversation between humans, and a very frequent part when one of these humans is a child and the other is an adult. (”Mother may I….”) Yet, most conversations between peers consist mainly of declarative statements, not requests. Is our conversation with the LORD to be like that, or is the child-parent relationship the better analogy given our total dependence on our Creator?

As it turns out, we see this part of the covenantal relationship between us and the LORD in Jeremiah himself. To see this we have to skip forward a number of chapters to a prayer of Jeremiah’s, found in chapter 32. In the first part of the chapter Jeremiah is directed by the LORD to buy a field, even though the Babylonian siegeworks are already at the gates of Jerusalem. Even the ancients understood the realtor’s maxim, “location, location, location.” So Jeremiah realized that this was absolutely the worst time to buy a field in downtown Jerusalem. After the Babylonians were through with it, it would be like downtown Hiroshima after the first A-bomb. Not many buyers would be queuing up to buy the field that he just paid his cousin a handsome sum to purchase.

With that in mind, Jeremiah approaches the LORD in prayer:

“After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD, saying: ‘Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who has made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts, great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. You have shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day. You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and with great terror. And you gave them this land, which you swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. And they entered and took possession of it. But they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all you commanded them to do. Therefore you have made all this disaster come upon them. Behold, the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and because of sword and famine and pestilence the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you spoke has come to pass, and behold, you see it. Yet you, O Lord GOD, have said to me, “Buy the field for money and get witnesses”–though the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.’”

“Yet”

That small word in the last sentence is the bottom line for Jeremiah. Had Jeremiah been a brash New Yorker he might have said equivalently: “are you crazy?” In other words, you LORD made everything come true just like You said through me, and now you want me to waste my good money buying something that’s worthless as these hated foreigners take over our city and destroy it?

How I resonate with Jeremiah! I see enough of the image of God in myself to be able to reason and argue and debate with the Almighty, yet I know that His power and knowledge and wisdom and intelligence and holiness are so far above mine that He must be right and I must be wrong. How intensely I felt this as Susan lay dying. As Jeremiah saw no point in buying the field, I could see no point in why Susan would have to leave this life so early. At age 59, when many people are just starting into their “golden years.” When new grandbabies were coming, when the women of the family needed so much her wisdom and encouragement. When I would be alone and devastated without her. Why, why, why?

But I fall silent as I reread the first part of Jeremiah’s prayer. This is the Lord GOD I am talking to, He who made the heavens and earth. Who made the Susan I loved so much. Who, in His providence gave her to me as wife. To me, who didn’t deserve one so beautiful and so wise and so loving.

Even as Jeremiah recounts the wondrous acts of the LORD in the history of His people, so I am led to recall in my mind the wondrous ways he blessed me as a husband, a father, a grandfather, an uncle and yes, even as a son-in-law and a brother-in-law. He indeed does show steadfast love to thousands, because nothing is too hard for Him.

So, coming back to our original question: conversation or request? It seems if we take Jeremiah’s prayer as a model, both are called for. We even see glimmerings of that old formula that gets quoted regarding prayer: ACTS–adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication. Jeremiah clearly acknowledges the LORD’s glory (adoration), confesses the sins of his people, recalls God’s favor to his people (implied thanksgiving) and then finally gets to his bottom line: “yet.” The latter is his way of supplicating, of asking the hard “why” question with its implied request for an answer to his wavering faith.

But beyond the formulaic approach to prayer, there lies the deeper issue of struggling to know this ONE with whom we have to do. This LORD GOD who is so far above us, yet is as close to us as a baby (like the one in Bethlehem) that we can hold in our arms, helpless and dependent. I knew Susan better than any human on the face of the earth. We could ride along in silence and then the next one to speak would finish the thought of the other: our thinking followed the same path, and was shaped by the same experiences. Yet, there was a core of her being–that feminine mystique–that was always impenetrable to me, even though other females instantly understood. I see a similar paradox in Jeremiah’s dealing with his Lord, and in my dealings with my Lord. “I believe, help thou my unbelief.”

So, it is with anticipation that we await the Lord’s answer to Jeremiah’s prayer……and to our own. May He alone, the author and finisher of our faith, be praised!

To the faithful readers who haven’t seen much this week, please be advised that I accepted a consulting engagement which has kept me very busy and not allowed postings to date. I hope to return to Jeremiah tomorrow. Thanks for your patience!