David Bahn – Reflections

Listen to today’s devotion

Today’s readings: Ezekiel 16-18, Psalm 83.

Ezekiel 18:23-24, 30-32

Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? ²⁴ But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die.

³⁰ “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the LORD God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. ³¹ Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? ³² For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the LORD God; so turn, and live.”

A friend and fellow pastor told me of a visit with a prospective member of his church. He felt compelled to share the gospel with this man, and as part of that he shared Ezekiel 18:4: “Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.” He said that when he shared that verse, the man visibly gulped. He was shaken. It hit home. Hard.

When was the last time you’ve had such a reaction to the Law of God? Each Sunday we confess, “If we say we are without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” That comes right out of the Bible in 1 John 1:8. Well and good. But do we realize the weight of those words?

There are other words about sin and death in the Bible. “The wages of sin is death,” Paul writes in Romans 6:23. James 1:15 teaches that “sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” And Paul writes in Romans 5:12, “Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.”

And here in Ezekiel 18 the message is unmistakable: God calls sinners to repent and live. Yes, we must all repent, for “there is none righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10). Ezekiel makes the point that if a person who has been living righteously turns toward wickedness, he will die. But if a wicked person turns from his wicked ways, he will live; wickedness will not be his ruin.

God’s great desire is that people turn from their evil ways and live. Too often we think that applies to other people—those who live immoral and ungodly lives and refuse to honor God. We think of drug lords, warlords, and slumlords. We imagine those who are obviously in need of a change in the way they’re living. But remember this: “If we say we’re without sin, we deceive ourselves.” Ugh. I guess that means God desires that we turn from our evil ways and live.

And that’s where the emphasis needs to land: God desires that we live. Unrepentant sin leads to death; wickedness unabandoned will be our ruin. But God calls us to turn from sin and turn to him. Repentance includes contrition over our sin, but it also embraces God’s goodness, mercy, and grace by faith.

That’s where Jesus comes in. He is the friend of sinners who took the wages of our sin—death—upon himself and rose again. In him, sinners find forgiveness, life, and salvation.

Follow the Word is a daily Bible reading and devotional ministry of St. John Lutheran Church, Cypress, Texas.

Listen to today’s devotion

Today’s readings: Ezekiel 13-15, Psalm 82.

Ezekiel 13:1-9

The word of the LORD came to me: ² “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who are prophesying, and say to those who prophesy from their own hearts: ‘Hear the word of the LORD!’ ³ Thus says the Lord GOD, Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! ⁴ Your prophets have been like jackals among ruins, O Israel. ⁵ You have not gone up into the breaches, or built up a wall for the house of Israel, that it might stand in battle in the day of the LORD. ⁶ They have seen false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘Declares the LORD,’ when the Lord has not sent them, and yet they expect him to fulfill their word. ⁷ Have you not seen a false vision and uttered a lying divination, whenever you have said, ‘Declares the LORD,’ although I have not spoken?”

⁸ Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Because you have uttered falsehood and seen lying visions, therefore behold, I am against you, declares the Lord GOD. ⁹ My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who give lying divinations. They shall not be in the council of my people, nor be enrolled in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

M. Scott Peck’s book, People of the Lie, was an eye-opening read for me. I had heard it was profound in its thoughts and insights about evil, but I didn’t expect to be impacted emotionally as I was. Reading of parents treating their children shamefully and failing to acknowledge their bad behavior — or even being totally blind to it — was heart wrenching. I take a deep breath just now as I remember only the faint outline of their behavior.

As profoundly distressing as the examples in his book may be, the destructive harm false prophets do is much worse. It’s not just that they are not telling the truth. Nor is it merely a matter of failing to set people free by telling the truth. The grave harm false prophets do reaches into hearts, lives, cities, neighborhoods, and homes, providing false solutions and enabling people of the lie to continue in their destructive ways. It reaches even beyond these places into eternity.

It may be terrifying to face the truth, and that would certainly be the case for the people of Ezekiel’s day. The truth was anything but easy. Jerusalem was being laid waste. The temple was being destroyed, having already been corrupted by pagan deities and practices. Their past was a trail of judgment, defeat, and exile. Their future would not brighten for years. Ezekiel himself was experiencing all this. And even though there were promises of deliverance for the likes of Noah, Daniel, and Job [Ezekiel 14:14], the future was to be anything but bright.

This hard truth, however, is the stuff of contrition and repentance. Jesus said, “If you abide in my word… you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” [John 8:31-32]. He prayed that the Father would sanctify his disciples in the truth and added, “Your word is truth.” Jesus is himself the way, the truth, and the life. But Jesus is also the One who is full of grace and truth.

That is why false prophets are so detestably destructive. They not only hide the truth of our urgent need for God’s mercy — this is exactly what the false prophets of Ezekiel’s day were doing — they offer no true grace.

God desires truth in our inner being [Psalm 51:6], in worship [John 4:23-24], and in those who represent him to his people and in the world. That isn’t just so we’re truth-tellers. It’s so we more fully embrace his grace, mercy, and love. For the truth is that we need God’s grace. And that grace is found in Jesus, our Lord who is full of grace and truth. He tells us the truth about our sin, but he does not leave us there. He gives us the greater truth of his grace, his forgiveness, and his life. He is the truth that saves us!

PS: An astute reader of the ESV will notice “Lord GOD” in several places above. This stands in for Adonai YHWH, a combination of the Hebrew for lord – as in sovereign, or master – and God’s holy name. Ezekiel uses this combination more frequently than other Old Testament writers. That’s noted here in the text by rendering it Lord GOD. Otherwise it would be Lord LORD – a bit awkward. It emphasizes both God’s sovereign authority (Adonai) and his identity as YHWH, the covenant God of Israel.

Follow the Word is a daily Bible reading and devotional ministry of St. John Lutheran Church, Cypress, Texas.

Listen to today’s devotion

Today’s readings: Ezekiel 10-12, Psalm 81.

Ezekiel 11:14-21

And the word of the LORD came to me: ¹⁵ “Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, your kinsmen, the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Go far from the Lord; to us this land is given for a possession.’ ¹⁶ Therefore say, ‘Thus says the LORD God: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a while in the countries where they have gone.’ ¹⁷ Therefore say, ‘Thus says the LORD God: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’ ¹⁸ And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. ¹⁹ And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, ²⁰ that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. ²¹ But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the LORD God.”

Once in a while a ray of light shines through the darkness. In this case it is a bright beam of God’s mercy and grace. His mercy is the kindness of his heart toward those who are suffering—and there is great need for such mercy. His people are suffering greatly, even though God has used Babylon to bring judgment and exile upon Judah. His grace is his undeserved kindness toward those who have sinned greatly and abandoned his ways.

Yet there is another ray of light shining through the darkness: justice and judgment. We want things to be right. We want others to do right by us. And when the scales are tipped badly to one side, we want them set right.

The scales were badly tipped in Ezekiel’s day. God’s holiness was disregarded. Pagan deities stood near the Temple. People worshiped other gods and rejected God’s prophets. Ezekiel was given the difficult task of witnessing to people who would largely ignore him, just as they had Jeremiah.

God would bring judgment. This passage ends with the sobering words, “But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the LORD God.”

But before that judgment comes this remarkable promise:

“I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh.”

God doesn’t merely promise to set things right. He promises to make his people new. He will restore them, give them a new spirit, and change their hearts so that they will walk in his ways.

There is always this tension between grace and truth, mercy and justice. We speak of it as Law and Gospel. God’s Law guides us, restrains evil, and shows us our sin and our need for God’s grace. The Gospel shows us our Savior—the source of forgiveness, righteousness, redemption, hope, and salvation.

Our Lord Jesus lived the perfectly righteous life we have not lived. Then at the cross, justice and mercy met. He bore the judgment our sin deserves so that God’s grace and mercy might be ours. And God raised him from the dead in victory.

Those who are in Christ stand righteous before God, and he doesn’t leave us with hearts of stone. He gives us new hearts and his Spirit, working in us so that we trust him, walk in his ways, and reflect his mercy and justice to others.

Follow the Word is a daily Bible reading and devotional ministry of St. John Lutheran Church, Cypress, Texas.

Listen to today’s devotion

Today’s readings: Ezekiel 7-9, Psalm 80.

Ezekiel 7:1-9

The word of the Lord came to me: ² “And you, O son of man, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel: An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land. ³ Now the end is upon you, and I will send my anger upon you; I will judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. ⁴ And my eye will not spare you, nor will I have pity, but I will punish you for your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

⁵ “Thus says the Lord God: Disaster after disaster! Behold, it comes. ⁶ An end has come; the end has come; it has awakened against you. Behold, it comes. ⁷ Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. The time has come; the day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting on the mountains. ⁸ Now I will soon pour out my wrath upon you, and spend my anger against you, and judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. ⁹ And my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. I will punish you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. Then you will know that I am the Lord, who strikes.

Just when you thought it was safe to continue reading the Old Testament—having navigated (slogged?!?) through the book of Jeremiah—comes the book of Ezekiel. This will be a challenging read. But, as with all of God’s word, the effort will be worth it. The Lutheran Study Bible notes:

Despite the challenges in understanding and applying the Book of Ezekiel, one may give thanks to God for this remarkable prophecy. Ezekiel provides important insights on the doctrine of repentance (chs 3; 18), the promise of salvation God revealed in the new covenant (chs 11; 33-37), a prophecy of Holy Baptism (36:25-27), and God’s goal for a united and holy people among whom His glory would dwell (chs 40-48). Ezekiel beautifully describes the coming of God’s Messiah, the Prince of David who will shepherd God’s people (ch 34).

The Bible Project video (see below) provides a helpful overview. And the message sounds much like Jeremiah’s: God has judged Israel, and he will ultimately judge the nations that refuse to honor him as Lord and God. That honor includes not only abandoning idols and idolatry, but also caring for the poor, weak, and needy—the widows and orphans. But now the situation is even more dire: Jerusalem faces destruction, and many of God’s people are already captives in Babylon.

Difficult and dire as the situation is, and as terrible and tumultuous as the LORD’s judgment will be, a profound phrase occurs twice in these verses: “Then you will know that I am the LORD.” And again, “Then you will know that I am the LORD, who strikes.”

Why does it matter that they—or we—recognize God at work even in judgment? It isn’t so that he gets proper credit, as though he were some insecure wannabe god. Rather, we must know the one against whom we have sinned if we are ever to know where to turn for mercy.

Our sins separate us from God. We are powerless to redeem ourselves. His anger against sin is righteous. Ezekiel’s frightening warning is that God’s patience must never be mistaken for indifference. Judgment does come. Yet the God who calls us to repentance is also the only one who can restore us.

I’m reminded of David, who was given a choice of punishments after his sinful census. He chose to fall into the hands of the LORD rather than into human hands, saying, “for his mercy is great.” David knew the character of the God whose judgment he faced.

We know it even more fully. God ultimately laid the judgment for our sin upon his own Son. Jesus bore it for us so that we may fall into God’s hands and find not condemnation, but the nail-scarred hands of our Savior. The LORD who strikes is also the LORD who saves. In his goodness and grace we can entrust ourselves to him and find comfort and hope in every situation.

Follow the Word is a daily Bible reading and devotional ministry of St. John Lutheran Church, Cypress, Texas.

Click here, or on the image below for the Bible Project video overview of Ezekiel 1-33

Listen to today’s devotion

Today’s readings: Lamentations 3-5, Psalm 77.

Lamentations 3:19-33

Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
    the wormwood and the gall!
²⁰ My soul continually remembers it
    and is bowed down within me.
²¹ But this I call to mind,
    and therefore I have hope:

²² The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
    “therefore I will hope in him.”

²⁵ The LORD is good to those who wait for him,
    to the soul who seeks him.
²⁶ It is good that one should wait quietly
    for the salvation of the LORD.
²⁷ It is good for a man that he bear
    the yoke in his youth.

²⁸ Let him sit alone in silence
    when it is laid on him;
²⁹ let him put his mouth in the dust—
    there may yet be hope;
³⁰ let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,
    and let him be filled with insults.

³¹ For the Lord [sic] will not
    cast off forever,
³² for, though he cause grief, he will have compassion
    according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
³³ for he does not afflict from his heart
    or grieve the children of men.

Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. When you read you begin with aleph, beth, gimel… Or is it alpha, beta, gamma? No, it’s A, B, C.

That little exercise points to something interesting about Lamentations. The Concordia Self-Study Bible notes:

The structure of the book highlights the grace of God. The first two and last two of the five laments contain 22 verses… But the middle lament (ch. 3), which has 66 verses (3 times 22), speaks of God’s goodness and Lord of hope, love, faithfulness and salvation: “…His compassions never fail. they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (3:22-23).

The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters, and these laments are carefully constructed around them. But the structure isn’t the most important thing about these chapters—or the verses I’ve chosen for today’s devotion.

As I read chapter 3, I was immediately reminded of Jesus’ suffering. How can you not think of Jesus when you read:

Let him sit alone in silence
when it is laid on him;
let him put his mouth in the dust—
there may yet be hope;
let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,
and let him be filled with insults. (3:28-30)

We’ll come again to that. But these words not only reflect the suffering experienced in Jeremiah’s day; they speak to us today. Although Jeremiah is not named as the author, the book certainly reflects the agony and suffering he experienced during his ministry, and ancient Jewish tradition attributes Lamentations to him.

In any case, the wisdom of faith offered here is remarkable. In the face of suffering, we call to mind the faithfulness, grace, love, and mercy of God. This is the foundation and wellspring of hope. Rather than becoming consumed by our suffering, we look to God and remember that because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed. We lean on his unfailing compassions—new every morning. He is faithful. We look to him for our daily bread, wait for him, and put our hope in him.

We learn to be silent and wait for his salvation. And then we realize that we need not wait—at least not in the fullest sense. For our salvation has already come to us. God has restored our broken relationship with him through the one who stood in silence before Pilate, offered his cheek to those who struck him, and was filled with disgrace.

Though God brought grief upon Judah, he does not willingly afflict his children. And when his own Son bore our sin and suffered in our place, God did not abandon him to the grave. He raised him on the third day. The one who bore our guilt was vindicated, and through him we have forgiveness, life, and salvation.

Whatever heavy hand we may sense being laid upon us, we can be certain of God’s goodness, daily compassion, and unfailing love. These verses remind us of that—whether or not we remember the acrostic structure. They are worth underlining, bookmarking, and memorizing:

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.”

Follow the Word is a daily Bible reading and devotional ministry of St. John Lutheran Church, Cypress, Texas.

Listen to today’s devotion

Today’s readings: Jeremiah 52, Lamentations 1-2, Psalm 76.

Lamentations 2:17-20

The LORD [YHWH] has done what he purposed;
    he has carried out his word,
which he commanded long ago;
    he has thrown down without pity;
he has made the enemy rejoice over you
    and exalted the might of your foes.

¹⁸ Their heart cried to the Lord [Sovereign God].
    O wall of the daughter of Zion,
let tears stream down like a torrent
    day and night!
Give yourself no rest,
    your eyes no respite!

¹⁹ “Arise, cry out in the night,
    at the beginning of the night watches!
Pour out your heart like water
    before the presence of the Lord [Sovereign God]!
Lift your hands to him
    for the lives of your children,
who faint for hunger
    at the head of every street.”

²⁰ Look, O LORD [YHWH], and see!
    With whom have you dealt thus?
Should women eat the fruit of their womb,
    the children of their tender care?
Should priest and prophet be killed
    in the sanctuary of the Lord [Sovereign God]?

As I was reading Lamentations 2, I thought the typesetters had made a mistake. The name of God appears both as LORD in small caps and Lord, with only the L capitalized. But that’s intentional. In most English Old Testaments, LORD represents the Hebrew name YHWH—commonly pronounced Yahweh—the name God revealed to Moses at the burning bush (cf. Exodus 3:13–15). Lord, on the other hand, usually translates Adonai, meaning Lord, Master, or Sovereign.

Maybe the easiest way to keep it straight is this: there have always been many people called lord, but there is only one LORD—YHWH, the great I AM. In these verses I’ve tried to distinguish the two with the bracketed words [YHWH] and [Sovereign Lord].

Both appear in Lamentations 2. This is no typesetting error, nor does it mean that the Sovereign Lord and the LORD are two different gods. They are the same God. And therein lies an important lesson.

Things are really difficult. We’ve slogged through chapter after chapter of Jeremiah’s warnings, God’s oracles of judgment, and promises of Jerusalem’s demise. Now Lamentations gives voice to the grief that followed Jerusalem’s destruction. There is no pretending everything is fine. The suffering, devastation, sin, and guilt are real.

We may even want to give up on this reading program under all this weight. That’s especially true in a world of prosperity preachers, no-guilt psychologists, and politicians’ cheery sound bites (cf. Lutheran Study Bible, p. 1295). But Lamentations gives us permission to acknowledge the crushing weight of human sin, guilt, suffering, and grief. They are real. We deceive ourselves if we deny them.

But that’s not the whole story—not even close. For the Sovereign Lord who has brought judgment upon his people is the very LORD to whom they are told to cry out. It is the same God. The God whose judgment they are experiencing is still the God to whom they must cry for mercy.

During Jesus’ ministry, there came a time when many people deserted him and went their own way. Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Do you want to go away as well?” Peter replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:67–68)

That’s the question, isn’t it? Where else would we go? In Jeremiah’s day, in Jesus’ day, or today, there is no other to whom we can finally turn. He is the LORD—the Sovereign Lord who judges sin and the merciful God who saves sinners. He is the One to whom we cry for mercy, and in Jesus Christ he has answered that cry with forgiveness, life, hope, and salvation.

Follow the Word is a daily Bible reading and devotional ministry of St. John Lutheran Church, Cypress, Texas.

Click here, or on the image below to watch the Bible Project video overview of Lamentations

Listen to today’s devotion

Today’s readings: Jeremiah 49-51, Psalm 75.

Jeremiah 50:1-7, 17-20

The word that the Lord spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet:

² “Declare among the nations and proclaim,
    set up a banner and proclaim,
    conceal it not, and say:
‘Babylon is taken,
    Bel is put to shame,
    Merodach is dismayed.
Her images are put to shame,
    her idols are dismayed.’

³ “For out of the north a nation has come up against her, which shall make her land a desolation, and none shall dwell in it; both man and beast shall flee away.

⁴ “In those days and in that time, declares the Lord, the people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, weeping as they come, and they shall seek the Lord their God. ⁵ They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.’

⁶ “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold. ⁷ All who found them have devoured them, and their enemies have said, ‘We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the Lord, their habitation of righteousness, the Lord, the hope of their fathers.’

¹⁷ “Israel is a hunted sheep driven away by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has gnawed his bones. ¹⁸ Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing punishment on the king of Babylon and his land, as I punished the king of Assyria. ¹⁹ I will restore Israel to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and in Bashan, and his desire shall be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead. ²⁰ In those days and in that time, declares the Lord, iniquity shall be sought in Israel, and there shall be none, and sin in Judah, and none shall be found, for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.

Years ago we got a phone call from our frantic youngest son: “Tim has locked me out of the house and won’t let me in!” We asked, “How did you call us then?” His answer: “He gave me the phone.”

We were four hours away on a church staff retreat, and all we had at our disposal was a cell phone mounting up roaming and long-distance charges by the minute. (Those were the days before free roaming and long distance—something we take for granted these days.) We managed to calm the situation and restore enough order to finish our retreat before heading home. I don’t recall exactly how we resolved the issue beyond mutual confession and forgiveness. But that is the way it must be between brothers. It’s also the way of brothers and sisters in Christ.

In Jeremiah’s day, however, the conflict, distress, and offense was not between brothers in the faith. It was between pagan nations and God’s chosen people. And while we might wish there were a simple way of dealing with it all, the fullness of God’s justice was anything but simple.

Babylon had been the instrument of God’s judgment against Judah for their apostasy, idolatry, injustice, and abhorrent pagan practices—including child sacrifice. God used Babylon to discipline his wayward and rebellious people. But that did not make Babylon righteous. God would hold Babylon accountable for its own pride, cruelty, and evil.

I think of those who mocked, scourged, beat, and crucified Jesus. Their actions, too, served God’s saving purpose without ceasing to be evil. Peter would later say that Jesus was delivered up according to “the definite plan and foreknowledge of God,” yet those who crucified him were responsible for what they had done (Acts 2:23). Jesus was innocent, yet willingly bore the judgment our sin deserved. God’s purposes never turn evil into good or make sin an excuse for further sin.

We may wish for vengeance and retribution when someone harms us or those we love. But our calling is to grace. The fullness of God’s justice against sin fell upon Jesus, and the fullness of God’s grace now flows to us through him. We who have received such grace are called to extend it to others—not pretending that wrong is right, but forgiving because we have been forgiven.

I don’t remember exactly what we said on that expensive long-distance phone call years ago. But somehow two angry brothers were brought back together through confession and forgiveness. That’s where God’s justice and grace lead us—not to ignoring the wrong, not to excusing the sin, but to confession, forgiveness, and reconciliation.

The cross shows us the fullness of God’s justice and the fullness of God’s grace. We must never seek to justify ourselves by blaming the bad behavior of others. We have been called to live in grace before God and in our relationships with one another.

Follow the Word is a daily Bible reading and devotional ministry of St. John Lutheran Church, Cypress, Texas.

Listen to today’s devotion

Today’s readings: Jeremiah 46-48, Psalm 74.

Jeremiah 46:25-28

 The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, said: “Behold, I am bringing punishment upon Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh and Egypt and her gods and her kings, upon Pharaoh and those who trust in him. ²⁶ I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their life, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. Afterward Egypt shall be inhabited as in the days of old, declares the Lord.

²⁷ “But fear not, O Jacob my servant,
    nor be dismayed, O Israel,
for behold, I will save you from far away,
    and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease,
    and none shall make him afraid.
²⁸ Fear not, O Jacob my servant,
declares the Lord,
    for I am with you.
I will make a full end of all the nations
    to which I have driven you,
    but of you I will not make a full end.
I will discipline you in just measure,
    and I will by no means leave you unpunished.”

These are difficult chapters to read. One nation after another is called to account for pagan worship and dishonor of the LORD God. He will judge them and bring destruction upon them, exposing how powerless their gods, armies, and alliances really are. Egypt will not be a safe place to hide. Philistia will be laid low. Moab will suffer from one end of the land to the other.

So we have it: Egypt—to which the people of Judah had fled—is no safe sanctuary. Whether they saw it as a last resort or an obvious place of refuge, it will prove no stronghold. Egypt’s defenses will fail, and its armies will retreat before Babylon.

A much shorter oracle announces judgment against the Philistines, particularly Gaza and Ashkelon. An invading army from the north—probably Babylon—is pictured as an overwhelming flood. Babylon’s military might will overwhelm them, but even Babylon is serving God’s purposes.

Then comes Moab. Jeremiah isn’t merely saying, “Moab will fall.” He moves almost town by town across the landscape, creating the impression that there will be nowhere to escape God’s judgment. Nearly twenty cities and locations are named. Moab will suffer throughout the land.

All this shows that the LORD God is no local deity. He is not simply another choice on a list of gods to whom people may call. His dominion is over all. His judgments reach far and wide. Even a pagan nation like Babylon can serve his purposes of judgment against sin.

But two bright spots shine through these dark chapters. Against the backdrop of judgment and destruction come rays of grace and mercy. The promise of Judah’s deliverance shines against the impending doom: “Fear not, O Jacob my servant” (Jeremiah 46:27). And, most surprisingly, the oracle against Moab ends with a promise: “Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 48:47).

How will this happen? The word sword appears repeatedly in these chapters. God’s judgment against sin is vivid and brutal. As I read, I thought of Jesus—scourged, mocked, tortured, crucified, and pierced by a spear. I think of Jesus telling Peter to put away his sword. And I think of something deeper still: on the cross Jesus willingly bore God’s judgment against sin. I cringe as I consider what our redemption cost. But I also realize that the judgment he bore is the judgment my sin deserves. God gave his own Son to redeem a world bent on seeking other gods and pursuing its own good apart from him.

The judgment our sin deserves has fallen on Christ. Our fortunes are restored in him. The sword of judgment does not have the last word. Jesus does. All who trust in him are saved. Thanks be to God.

Follow the Word is a daily Bible reading and devotional ministry of St. John Lutheran Church, Cypress, Texas.

Listen to today’s devotion

Today’s readings: Jeremiah 43-45, Psalm 73.

Jeremiah 43:8-13

[After hearing God’s command through Jeremiah not to go to Egypt, the leaders accused Jeremiah of lying and refused to obey. They took the remnant of Judah—including Jeremiah and Baruch—with them to Egypt, settling at Tahpanhes in direct disobedience to the LORD.]

Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes: ⁹ “Take in your hands large stones and hide them in the mortar in the pavement that is at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah, ¹⁰ and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his royal canopy over them. ¹¹ He shall come and strike the land of Egypt, giving over to the pestilence those who are doomed to the pestilence, to captivity those who are doomed to captivity, and to the sword those who are doomed to the sword. ¹² I shall kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captive. And he shall clean the land of Egypt as a shepherd cleans his cloak of vermin, and he shall go away from there in peace. ¹³ He shall break the obelisks of Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt, and the temples of the gods of Egypt he shall burn with fire.’”

How foolish can you be? Haven’t you learned from the prophet Jonah: You can run, but you can’t hide? Don’t you realize that the LORD your God knows everything about you? King David wrote about this:

Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
Psalm 139:7–12

But the leaders would have nothing to do with the LORD’s servant or his call to repentance. The people who fled to Egypt had openly rejected Jeremiah’s warning and continued worshiping the “queen of heaven,” (probably a fertility goddess such as Ishtar or Astarte). They had convinced themselves that life was better when they worshiped her and that their troubles began when they stopped. Jeremiah tells them they have it exactly backward: their idolatry was one of the reasons God’s judgment had fallen on Judah. Tragically, even after Jerusalem’s destruction confirmed Jeremiah’s warnings, they still refused to listen to the LORD. Instead, they chose an explanation that justified what they had already decided to do.

There are two remarkable examples of the opposite kind of faithfulness. Jeremiah is one. He endured hardship, persecution, rejection, and suffering while remaining faithful to God’s call and continuing to call the people to repentance. Things did not go well for Jeremiah, but he remained faithful.

There is, of course, another to whom we must point: our Lord Jesus Christ. He endured persecution, rejection, humiliation, abuse, torture, and ultimately death, yet remained faithful to his Father. He did that as an example for us, certainly—but far more importantly—he did it for us. He is our Savior, our Righteousness, and our Redeemer. Where we fail to remain faithful, he remained faithful even unto death.

We may not openly defy God or blatantly refuse to do what he calls us to do. We don’t have statues of the queen of heaven in our homes or shrines to pagan deities. But we can still judge God’s faithfulness by how well life is going. When trouble comes, we can doubt his goodness, despair of his grace, or look elsewhere for security. That is why we need more than Jeremiah’s example. We need Jesus’ redemption. He calls us back to himself, forgives our unfaithfulness, and strengthens us to trust him whether the road is easy or the path is hard. Such faith begins and ends with Jesus—receiving his grace and then reflecting it in lives that honor God and serve our neighbor.

Follow the Word is a daily Bible reading and devotional ministry of St. John Lutheran Church, Cypress, Texas.