When you read the Old Testament, how would you describe your experience? Should we see it as separate from the New? Is it less than Christian? Should we moralize it, meaning the stories are helpful but only to teach us moral lessons? Sidney Greidanus writes of this last option, “It imposes an interpretative grid on the story that equates biblical characters with the people in the pew and then inquires how we ought to imitate or learn from their examples.”
In Jeremiah 23 we see how we should read the Old Testament…. in light of the covenants that God made with Israel, it’s all pointing to the New Covenant. Both testaments are one single line of history with God graciously pointing to the coming of Messiah, the covenant-fulfilling King/Shepherd/Groom/Servant/Priest. Why is this important? Jon Lunde wrote in his book, “Following Jesus, the Servant King”, that unless we see Jesus as the fulfillment of everything that Israel was looking for, our following Him will always suffer from a lack of appreciation of who He really is and ultimately boredom with Him will set in and salvation becomes just about fire insurance with no connection to anything else in life.
Here is a great example! Jeremiah points us to the ultimate King, the One who would come in the line of King David. He will reign as King! And He will be the height of wisdom and justice. But to top it all, this King will not only be righteous but this King will be our righteousness. What can this mean but His righteous life will be credited to our account? The life He lives is given to us as our life! His robes of righteousness are put upon us!
Have you ever sat and thought that this is our King? For those of us who live on this side of the cross, If you have been born again, has this sunk deeply into your heart such that it’s stirred? Just as the new covenant was supposed to capture the imagination of Judah, so Christ’s work on our behalf is supposed to capture our hearts. Let’s come to the King today with the attitude of, “Because you have done this for me and my heart is melted, what is your bidding for me today, Lord?”
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
How Relentless is God?
The sermon series at EV. Free is called “Relentless – the God of Jeremiah”. I made a comment to a few people this week that the relentlessness of God only comes clear when we keep in mind the actions of Judah. God relentlessly pursues, chastens, and woos His chosen people, who had prostituted themselves to everything else. Jeremiah 5:7 provides a picture of God’s people – full, yet craving more, marching to houses of whores and uttering animal sounds crying for each other’s wife.
Rick insightfully wrote on the church's blog site earlier that the picture of Yahweh and Judah provides a picture of marriage. I would like to add just a thought. This picture of marital union is the basis for understanding the ugliness of infidelity and the lengths to which God went to go after her again and again (read the book of Hosea or sigh… Redeeming Love!). We should be shocked when we understand the relentless pursuit and love of God for His people when we see them whoring themselves out.
But also this image of husband and wife is supposed to remind us of the larger biblical picture in the history of redemption. Ray Stedman, in Whoredom: God’s Unfaithful Wife in Biblical Theology, wrote that this provides …”the larger biblical vision of ultimate reality in Christ and His church, the Bridegroom and the Bride. And all of his people, women and men alike, both betray him with their infidelities and yet by His grace will enter into the perfect consummation of the marriage, where together we will inherit the only true human fulfillment that exists.”
What we see in a wedding ceremony is actually the gospel enacted before us. Why does it always move you when you see the bride standing in the back with her father? She is radiant, a ravishing beauty! She is being given to the groom as they affirm covenant together. He has been waiting for her his whole life and now she is his! This is exactly what’s supposed to stir your heart! Jesus is the Bridegroom and His sacrifice was for His people, the Bride. Despite all of our expressions of infidelity in chasing after anything to fill us, His love wooed us and continues to. We are the beautiful Bride of Christ awaiting His return to be united to Him and enter into the grand wedding reception feast. This is the culmination of the gospel and it’s one of the heart melting visions that Jeremiah presents us with!
Rick insightfully wrote on the church's blog site earlier that the picture of Yahweh and Judah provides a picture of marriage. I would like to add just a thought. This picture of marital union is the basis for understanding the ugliness of infidelity and the lengths to which God went to go after her again and again (read the book of Hosea or sigh… Redeeming Love!). We should be shocked when we understand the relentless pursuit and love of God for His people when we see them whoring themselves out.
But also this image of husband and wife is supposed to remind us of the larger biblical picture in the history of redemption. Ray Stedman, in Whoredom: God’s Unfaithful Wife in Biblical Theology, wrote that this provides …”the larger biblical vision of ultimate reality in Christ and His church, the Bridegroom and the Bride. And all of his people, women and men alike, both betray him with their infidelities and yet by His grace will enter into the perfect consummation of the marriage, where together we will inherit the only true human fulfillment that exists.”
What we see in a wedding ceremony is actually the gospel enacted before us. Why does it always move you when you see the bride standing in the back with her father? She is radiant, a ravishing beauty! She is being given to the groom as they affirm covenant together. He has been waiting for her his whole life and now she is his! This is exactly what’s supposed to stir your heart! Jesus is the Bridegroom and His sacrifice was for His people, the Bride. Despite all of our expressions of infidelity in chasing after anything to fill us, His love wooed us and continues to. We are the beautiful Bride of Christ awaiting His return to be united to Him and enter into the grand wedding reception feast. This is the culmination of the gospel and it’s one of the heart melting visions that Jeremiah presents us with!
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