Tuesday, July 14, 2015

In the Footsteps of the Prophets: Jeremiah 26

Getting back to it after a long period of time...

Some thoughts, after I randomly opened to Jeremiah 26:

  • Thinking of Jesus as another prophet may give us new insights, even though as Christians we know he's not just a prophet (a mouthpiece of God) but much more, God's son himself. How does Jesus continue in the tradition of the prophets? How is he different?
    • I'm not very familiar with the prophets myself, so maybe it would be worth it to study them and read not just their books but know their history. Most of what I remember reading from the books is the Lord reminding people to obey His law after they'd turned away, or bad things will happen. Either they do turn back (and they return to good things), or they continue doing their own ways/bad things and bad things happen. Repeat.
  • Is Jesus's message different from the other prophets? How so?
    • I think he has the same message of "repent and turn back to God" but note that it's "to God", not just to the actions of doing the law (which can be done completely atheistically - they're just actions, so it depends where your heart's at. They can be done just to be done and check them off the list, or they can be done with the goal of pleasing God. Though the importance should be on pleasing God, not on the action itself). Jesus also promises punishment to those who do not, but unlike in the Old Testament where physical punishment or enslavement is coming to future generations, it's punishment not on this earth but in the eternal realm.
  • v. 8 - the priests and false prophets are like the Pharisees with Jesus, those who were supposedly serving God and entrusted with His word were instead abusing it, and wanted to kill the real person who was speaking God's word (Jeremiah or Jesus). In both cases, all the real servant did was speak God's word - they were innocent otherwise, and they didn't threaten any violence, yet they were both threatened with death. Just goes to show you how far people will go to protect an ideal they believe in (even if that ideal is serving themselves/greed, or they get so attached to the specifics that they miss the seed of that ideal when it's presented before them). And just like Jesus, the ruling officials must get involved when the priests/prophets want to kill him. However, perhaps because the ruling officials are Jews and not Romans as in the later case, they relent and decide not to kill him, perhaps out of fear that he really was speaking for God and that they would be punished, something the Romans (being pagans) would not fear.
  • Uriah is another true Jewish prophet; however, we don't have an Old Testament book written of his sayings, perhaps because he prophesied the same things as Jeremiah so while true (confirming each other), there was nothing new to write down. Or maybe just his writings didn't survive.
  • Poor Uriah! He fled to Egypt, and wicked King Jehoiakim sent a bounty hunter after him, and they found him, brought him back, and killed him and buried in a common grave. Jeremiah was spared that fate because some of the high king's officials admired him or were his followers.

So, how can we apply this today?
  • Speaking God's word can be dangerous. There will be plenty of people who are supposed to be on your side who are secretly greedy/power hungry/etc. who will feel threatened and try to undo you with everything they have. They may even try to have you killed, or in our Internet age, more likely discredited. And they're doing it all to preserve their sinful lifestyle or their own selves. Don't be surprised if even powerful church leaders try to stop you.
  • Speak it anyway. The prophets usually weren't spared death (Uriah is more the norm than the exception), as Jesus points out ("...just as they killed the prophets before you"). Still, God's word and God's plan is more important. It's hard to have that eternal perspective though.

Doing this as a real Bible study:
  • What does it say? That Jeremiah went to a crowded place of worship and told everyone there to repent or bad things would happen, that those supposedly serving God wanted to kill him, but the officials decided no. However, another prophet in the same position was killed (murdered and disrespected). Also, a previous prophet (Micah) had said the same things a century before, and so people didn't want to incur the wrath of the Lord by killing Jeremiah.
  • What does it mean? I see a person serving the Lord, and "people of God" against him. Serving their own interests instead. I see some value in knowing history and measuring yourself and what you think God is saying against what came before, because God is unchangeable. I see the prophecy as concerning Jerusalem in 70 A.D., but maybe there's an earlier destruction of the temple in between those two. I see the elders more as self-serving (trying to preserve their own lives) rather than preserving Jeremiah because they've sought God, but you can't really tell from reading it. They could be sincerely repenting.
  • How do I apply it?
    • Well, what do I do when someone criticizes me? Do I rip them to pieces or actually listen? Actually, I either listen and get depressed or get defensive, and I actually don't think of attacking the other person, but I know many people do. The real thing to do though, the real solution, is to be pointed towards God - point your heart towards him and seek, trying to discern. I don't think God will punish anyone truly seeking Him, because those are the faithful and righteous.
    • How well do we look at our history to avoid making mistakes? (haha, most people don't even know history!). Do I tie what God is saying and doing in my life to my own past history with Him? Sometimes, I believe what He told me, though I'm never sure I've interpreted things right, so I don't lean on my own understanding 100%...I treat it more like a hunch, or inside knowledge.
    • How does this tie to Israel today? I have a real heart for the situation in Israel today. I'm not sure of the best solution, nor am I 100% pro-Israel anti-everything else all the time, but I do think the Jews need to be preserved, in the fairest way possible that hopefully dignifies everybody involved. I don't remember what the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, says about Jerusalem - I think it says it will become a central hub and everyone will gather there. I don't know if Old Testament prophecies still apply, and of course there's debate over whether prophecies written about "God's people" (the Jews) apply now to Christians, or Christians and Jews, or still just the Jews, but that's all beside the point. I don't know which Old Testament prophecies are left unfulfilled...I know some in Daniel and some in Isaiah. I'd have to look up others.