WEEKLY SUNDAY
SCHOOL LESSON
An international
Sunday school lesson commentary
For
Sunday August 9, 2015
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readers worldwide
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OUR
EVIL ACTIONS WILL BRING CONSEQUENCES
(GOD
has before, and will again destroy the Church for its sinful behavior)
(Jeremiah
7:1-15)
The passage of scripture contained
in Jeremiah 7, verses 1-15 is known as “The Temple Address”. The LORD gave this
message to Jeremiah only about twenty years before the first invasion of
Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 605 B.C. The Temple at that time had become a
place of superstitious religion, where false prophets tried to assure the
people of Judah that they were safe there, and, that the LORD would never
destroy the place of HIS residence here on earth.
These false prophets
steadfastly preached against Jeremiah’s warnings from GOD regarding the coming
exile of the nation into Babylon. They believed that, not only was the Temple
safe, but the entire land of Judah was safe from GOD’s judgment as well. Here,
Jeremiah’s sermon served to do away with this popular, but superstitious belief
that had been held by most of Judah’s faithful in those days.
This sermon, which is
said to be Jeremiah’s first, roused much hostility within the Church community,
however, GOD sought to warn the people of Judah, through HIS prophet, that,
their safety did not lie within the confines of a defiled temple, but rather,
it depended on their, putting into place, moral, social, and religious reforms,
and turning from their evil ways (Vs.6-10).
In verses 11-17 GOD
refers to the Temple as “a den of robbers”, a place where thieves came to hide
out in search of their next victim (v.11). It is a disturbing analogy, but it
most accurately described the activity in and around this, once sacred edifice
at Jerusalem.
In verse 12 GOD invites
Judah to take a look back at Shiloh, the former worship center which HE had destroyed
during the latter days of the Judges, who ruled over Israel. Its demise is
chronicled in the pages of 1 Samuel 4 with the death of Eli and his family, and
the capture of the “Ark of the Covenant” by the Philistines. It symbolized that
GOD’s glory had left the place of HIS worship, and it served as a reminder to
Judah that their confidence in the safety of the Temple was sadly misplaced,
and that GOD can and will destroy the Temple at Jerusalem if they didn’t get
their act together soon.
All during the time
that the Israelites were committing all kinds of atrocious and evil deeds
against the LORD in the Church, HE had repeatedly spoken to them through
various prophets, however, those warnings had largely gone unheeded. Now, the
LORD was promising to send the other half of HIS once-beloved nation (northern
Israel had already been conquered by Assyria in 722 B.C.) into exile, where
they would remain for 70 years, which was one year for every “Sabbath year
rest” (70 in a 490 year period) that they had violated (see “Sabbath year rest”
– Leviticus 25:1-7). As all of biblical history proves, GOD always gives us
numerous warnings before HE exacts punishment on us, and now, here in this
first sermon of the great prophet Jeremiah, we see that it will be no
different. GOD does not change, but rather, we must change.
Most of the events that
are chronicled here in the life of the prophet Jeremiah take place during the
reign of Israel’s last king, Jehoiachin (aka. “Eliakim”), who was one of the
sons of King Josiah. He ascended to the throne of Judah after Pharaoh Neco of
Egypt had imprisoned his brother, Jehoahaz, who had reigned only three months
(2 Kings 23:36-37). He, like his brother before him, did much evil in the sight
of the LORD, despite the fact that he had ample opportunities to hear the LORD,
and had the wonderful example that had been set by his father, Josiah (the last
GODly king of Judah), to influence him. And being the last king of Judah also afforded
him with a long history of failures and successes that he could draw upon and
use for guidance.
Sadly, Jehoiachin chose
to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, Manasseh, who was, arguably, the
most wicked of all the Davidic kings in Judah’s history. He went on to reverse
every religious reform that his father, Josiah, had ever put into place, and he
was eventually captured and led away into Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, being
pulled by a ring in his nose, according to Jewish tradition.
And so we eventually
see GOD’s messages being fulfilled, as they always are, whenever HE tries to
speak to us through HIS various prophets, channels, and methods. GOD said then,
and HE still says now, that our evil actions will always bring consequences.
Disobedience to GOD always results in separation from GOD. And just as it has
been said through all of the Old Testament prophets, and New Testament writers
and thinkers who remind us of GOD’s undeniable truths, while we can always be
saved from hell’s damnation, we cannot ever be saved from the consequences of
our sins. And so the “right time” to come to GOD remains to be, “right now”.
And the “right way” to come to GOD will always be “just as we are”.
A Sunday school lesson
by,
Larry D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official Website
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