Menu
All of us have what some call a worldview
. We are as unaware of this as a fish is unaware of water, but we all have a grid through which we view life’s problems and which we use to make decisions about those problems.
For the most part, that worldview goes unexamined. We have always thought the way we have and unless something jars us off our platform, we always will.
What are the foundational principles upon which we will base our end-of-life decisions, be it our own life or someone we love? As Christians, we like to think that the Bible is our foundation, our platform from which we view the world, and the framework for making the hard decisions of life. But we immediately, it seems, have a problem…
Born to Win's Daily Radio Broadcast and Weekly Sermon. A production of Christian Educational Ministries.
All of us have what some call a worldview
. We are as unaware of this as a fish is unaware of water, but we all have a grid through which we view life’s problems and which we use to make decisions about those problems.
For the most part, that worldview goes unexamined. We have always thought the way we have and unless something jars us off our platform, we always will.
What are the foundational principles upon which we will base our end-of-life decisions, be it our own life or someone we love? As Christians, we like to think that the Bible is our foundation, our platform from which we view the world, and the framework for making the hard decisions of life. But we immediately, it seems, have a problem…
Real prophets are given prominence by God. We aren’t always told how he does it, but in the case of Elijah, he called publicly for three years of drought…and it happened. By the time the three years were up, everyone was looking for Elijah. He had disappeared and had nothing to say for all that time, and yet his message echoed back and forth across Israel. Sometimes, real prophets become prominent because they are hated and feared.
One thing is for sure: when a real prophet comes on the scene and begins to speak the truth to power, he will have enemies at the highest levels of government. Even with no power of his own, the truth can be a terrible threat to those in power—and they will react.
At one point in Jeremiah’s long career, he was under house arrest to keep him from going to the public square as he had been doing. He was making a lot of people very uncomfortable with his message. In chapter 36, we find Jeremiah sitting at home when God tells him of a different way to bring his word to the rulers and the people—and along with it another chance at repentance.
You wouldn’t want to say that God is stubborn. But would have to admit that he is awfully persistent, wouldn’t you? God’s persistence—in keeping his word, in following through—is actually a saving grace. I’ve told you before that so much prophecy is bad
for the simplest of reasons: whenever we are doing the right thing—our duty—there’s no reason for God to send a prophet to pat us on the head. Whenever we don’t, that’s often the time God sends a prophet. Consequently, you read an awful lot of bad news. But all the prophets are salted with good stuff. And there’s an interesting reason why that good stuff is there.
Thus says the Lord of hosts; Again in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all its cities, shall be a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that counts them, says the Lord. Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.
What is God saying here? He promised. He made a deal, all the way back to Abraham. And he is saying that whatever he has promised he will make good. And so it is because of the persistence of God that, having made a covenant with Israel which was broken and came completely apart, having rejected them and sent them into captivity, because of that relationship and because of the promises of God he will start all over again in a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. Whatever hell Israel had to go through because of their disobedience, God would use it to make good on his own side of the deal he made with them.
You have probably heard the expression the lost tribes of Israel
, but you may not know what people are talking about. Late in their history, Israel was divided into two nations: the house of Israel and the house of Judah. After a little over 200 years, the ten northern tribes (which were called the house of Israel) were carried captive by the king of Assyria. After another 130 years, the House of Judah (which was centered on Jerusalem) went captive to Babylon. They returned to Jerusalem after 70 years in exile. But the tribes of the House of Israel were never heard from again—hence, the lost tribes of Israel.
The prophets never forgot the House of Israel. God frequently made mention of them in prophecies about the last days. I think most commentators assume that all these prophecies are fulfilled in the Jews. But if that were true, I really would expect a little different wording of the prophecies. Here’s one, for example, in Jeremiah 31:
Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass, that as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, says the Lord. In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.
Note that the expression house of
draws an important distinction. It is not an ethnic description (like Children of Israel
) but a political description. Keep in mind that the House of Israel was long gone at this time. All the refugees of the ten northern tribes who settle in Judah are now part of the House of Judah. Yet Jeremiah sees a House of Israel in the future. Right after this comes a startling passage regarding a new covenant that God will make…
It would be wrong to say that the Old Testament prophets bring nothing but bad news; they give us hope. The problem is that the good news they bring is mostly way out into the future. In the short term, they prophesy little beyond suffering and pain. Why is that? Possibly the most obvious reason is that there is no need for God to send us a prophet to tell us that we are doing just fine.
Imagine for a moment that there is a fundamental standard of right and wrong conduct that grows out of the nature of man and man’s social interactions. Natural law—it’s just the way things are. Imagine that standard is expressed in the last six of the ten commandments and all the other laws that can be derived from these. Now imagine that the first four commandments are the guarantors of the last six.
In other words, the form of revealed worship of God keeps us mindful of our duties to God. And our duty to God guarantees our duty to our fellow man. So, when we neglect our duty to God, our social fabric will eventually begin to unravel. And that is the time when God usually sends a prophet to tell us what we are doing wrong. Take Jeremiah for example. He isn’t all bad news, but the good news he has is way off into the future. Let’s see what he has to say in chapter 30.
Once upon a time, there was a man sitting quietly by a pool of water. He was a very sick man, and doubted that he had very long to live. While he stared into the water, something stirred the water. It was almost as though a hand had swished the water back and forth, but no one else was there. Wondering, the man reached out his own hand and swished the water back and forth. As he did so, he began to feel better. Standing, he noticed that his pain was gone and he felt stronger. As the day went forward, he realized that he simply was not sick any longer.
His friends were totally surprised at his recovery, and in the natural course of events, they learned about the pool and the moving of the water. For some time after that, all kinds of sick people went down to the pool and washed in its water, but no one else was helped...until the same season the next year, when another very sick man was healed after a similar moving of the water. A lame man, touching the water just after the first man was not helped in the least. This happened again the third year. Unfortunately, only one person was healed each year, and although it was at the same season, it was not entirely predictable. It could be on any one of several days.
Many years passed and then one day a man walked into the area of the pool and looked around at all the sick people there. It was the season of the year when an angel was said to stir the waters and the first person into the pool would be healed. The name of the pool was Bethesda and the man who walked in on this day was none other than Jesus of Nazareth.
And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.
What lies behind this story is even more interesting than the incident itself. But that isn't what especially caught my interest. What I thought was fascinating about the encounter was the resemblance to a lottery. Year after year, only one person was healed, and the selection was absolutely random. A blind man might not see the moving of the water. A deaf man might not hear it. A lame man couldn't reach it fast enough. And even Jesus healing on this occasion had the same random quality to it. Maybe Jesus selected this one man for a reason, but if he did, he didn't say so. And more important, he only healed one man on this day, just as the waters might have done. That one man won the lottery. The rest did not. On the surface, it seems unfair, doesn't it? But at the same time, it is a lot like life...
I heard someone say once, I have had a lot of bad things in my life, most of which never happened.
He was trying to say that a lot of the things we worry about never come to pass. It seems to be built into human nature to worry. We even manage to worry about the fact that we are worrying. But, in fact, some bad stuff does happen to us. There’s an interesting passage in one of Paul’s letters that says this:
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
He doesn’t say that all things which happen to us are good, but that they work together for good.
In the prophecies of Jeremiah we have a picture of a nation in decline. Israel has become increasingly violent and oppressive. They have adopted the religious practices of the Canaanites around them which can only be called detestable. People were not safe in the streets. They couldn’t find justice in the courts. The leadership was corrupt from top to bottom—both the religious leadership and the secular. God gave them choices every step of the way, and here in Jeremiah 29 God relays through the prophet that if the people could not govern themselves (which seemed to be the case) God would bring in another power to do it for them.
I’m sure you realize that there are a lot of prophets scattered around the world—people who claim to speak for God, to foretell the future? Except for a few cult members, no one ever takes them very seriously. Once in a while, one of them will get himself killed, usually because of stupidity rather than his prophecies. Probably more of them kill themselves and their cult members than are killed by others. So you have to wonder what’s going on when one does get himself killed.
Jeremiah had been preaching for over 23 years and was well known around Jerusalem before they first tried to kill him. And the circumstances surrounding all this are truly strange. Jeremiah is not a cult leader. He had a secretary, but that seems to be the sum total of his organization. He had no following that he controlled. All he did was foretell disaster unless the people changed their ways. Foremost among the areas where he called for change was the judicial system, which he said was oppressing the poor. He also condemned the immorality that was rampant among the people. He told them what God said was coming, to wit: the city would be laid level with the ground and deserted of all its people if they didn’t straighten up.
So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, You shall surely die. Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.
How many enemies can you make in 23 years of speaking the truth to power? Jeremiah has now been telling it like it is for 23 years and through parts of the reigns of two kings, and as I read him I wonder why people paid any attention to him. His message has a monotonous quality. It is reminiscent of the advice someone gave to preachers about sermon organization:
Well, Jeremiah told them again and again and again. Jeremiah’s messages have a quality of sameness because no one responded, no one changed, no one turned their life around. I imagine sometimes he got tired of it. It’s a wonder they ever came back to listen to him a second time. Maybe they just liked to hear a good preacher, even if they didn’t intend on following his message. Perhaps the real wonder is that God has waited so long and sent so many prophets.
On this occasion, after 23 years, Jeremiah decides to summarize. He has an audience representative of all Jerusalem and the areas around Judea. Let’s see, in chapter 25, what he takes the opportunity to tell them.
