(Jeremiah 5-6; 1 Timothy 1)

The Lord caused Jeremiah to bring a hard Word to His people. Some years before, God allowed Assyria to overrun and destroy Israel, the Northern Kingdom of this divided land. Despite that example of what happens when a nation rejects God, the Southern Kingdom of Judah followed in her sister’s footsteps. In fact, Yahweh declared in Jeremiah 3:11:

“… Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.”

According to God, Judah’s sins against Him had mounted to levels even beyond those that Israel previously committed. This, despite the fact that Judah at least had several righteous kings, whereas Israel had none! It got so bad in Judah that the Lord commanded the prophet in Jeremiah 5:1:

“Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her.”

What does this remind you of? How about the conversation Abraham had with the angel of the Lord as he tried to convince God to spare Sodom? Were there even five righteous men in that wicked city? Here, God is asking whether there is even one in Jerusalem!

The reading today paints a miserable picture of a people gone completely rogue. Yahweh asks the operative questions in Jeremiah 5:7-9:

“How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me and have sworn by those who are no gods…. Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the Lord; and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?”

What is left to pardon? The people of the God of Israel have completely spurned the Lord despite supposedly being His own. The children of the land have followed their elders into complete apostasy. They worship any god but the One who delivered them from the fiery furnace of slavery in Egypt.

God’s disgust had reached a point of no return. He had extended His mercy and grace time and again, putting up with His fickle people who loved to follow the gods of nations which had themselves proven useless. Through the prophets, Yahweh appealed to Judah for her to reconsider and turn back to Him, and had been rejected, more than any human would have put up with. But how did the people respond to His way and His Words? In Jeremiah 6:16-17, they said:

“… We will not walk in it.”

“… We will not pay attention.”

Well, God can take a hint. They obviously wanted nothing to do with Him.

‘I’ve warned you,’ God says. ‘I’ve tried by doing everything I can to prevent disaster coming upon you.’ Because they wouldn’t listen, He finally declares in Jeremiah 6:30:

“Rejected silver they are called, for the Lord has rejected them.”

This declaration will lead to utter destruction for Judah.

The question becomes: Is there a parallel with America today? I would argue emphatically yes!

We are not the theocracy Israel was called to be, but we are a nation founded on Godly principles. That earned us much favor in God’s eyes and many blessings. Sadly, we have squandered all that. Just as God accuses Judah, we have caused our children to forsake the Lord. Although our gods have different forms than those of old, we have worshiped them as fervently as Israel did those made of silver, gold, and wood. The eyes of the Lord are searching to and fro, seeking whether there is anyone righteous in our land.

What does He see? Only a remnant. The people as a whole have become Sodom and Jerusalem in our apostasy. We want any god but the God of the Bible.

‘So be it,’ says the Lord.

He knew from the beginning this falling away from Him would occur. How often did He give us grace to enable our hearts to turn back to Him? Many more times than we deserved.

But, just as Israel and Judah crossed the red line of no return, so have we in America. It’s why we can read in Scripture that men’s hearts will grow cold, and rejection of God will reach a fever pitch. This has consequences. We will face them just as God’s Chosen People did of old.

We are the rejected silver now just as Judah was then.

Jesus foretold of this time in the Olivet Discourse in describing the rise of birth pains. In our case, wickedness would grow in men’s hearts to such an extent that God would allow them to give birth, i.e., to deliver all the evil they have devised.

History surely repeats itself. The hearts of men are deceptively wicked and inevitably cause them to go to the very same low place. America is there. We are on a par with ancient Israel. Our punishment is at hand.

Thankfully, God values the remnant. Because of our faith and loyalty to Him as His children and the Bride of Christ, He will whisk us away before the worst of the worst of His wrath comes upon this world.

Take heart. The Lord our God is faithful. He has promised us deliverance, and He will make good on His Word.

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The Lord has put it on my heart to always read completely through His Word at least once each year. From that practice, it resulted in my producing the Awaken Bible Study Notes, a 4-volume set correlating with each quarter’s readings. This is the link to Amazon for Volume 1 covering January – March (Genesis 1 – Judges 5; Matthew 1 – Luke 7): Awaken Bible Study Notes series Volume 1

Following that year’s efforts, God gave me the “assignment” of writing a daily essay on what I had read. That produced the 4-volume Awaken Bible Commentary and Reflections series.

Here is the link on Amazon to Volume 1, which covers January – March (Genesis 1 – Judges 5; Matthew 1 – Luke 7): Awaken Bible Commentary and Reflections series Volume 1

If these daily writings have been a blessing to you, I hope that you’ll acquire these books for further study. My intent in all I write is to bring God the glory and to make His people think. Both the Study Notes and the Commentary and Reflections delve into the prophetic and supernatural nature of God’s Word, a combination you simply won’t find elsewhere. They attempt to show the parallels to our times with the peril from the past when God’s people turn away from Him and His commands. Scripture is very much a blueprint for today.

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Gary W. Ritter is a lay pastor, Bible teacher, and prolific author. His Whirlwind Series comprises three end-times books: Sow the Wind, Reap the Whirlwind, and There Is a Time. These books are contained in the collected volume of the Whirlwind Omnibus. Gary has written many other Christian thrillers that will challenge you, and which you can learn about at his website:www.GaryRitter.com. You can also watch Gary’s video Prophecy Updates on Rumble at his Awaken Bible Prophecy channel: https://rumble.com/c/c-783217.

 

John 1:19-34, Luke 3:15, Malachi 4:5, Isaiah 40:1-3, Deuteronomy 18:15-18, Isaiah 53:4-7, 1 Corinthians 15:3,1 Peter 2:24,1 John 2:2

Summary: John the Baptist is presented in the prologue of John’s gospel as the prophesied forerunner to the arrival of God’s Messiah. He prepared the people of Israel for the Messiah by preaching repentance and obedience. Repentance was needed then, and in these last days as well.

So far in John’s prologue to his magnificent account of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, we were introduced to the person and ministry of John the Baptist, described as “a man sent from God” (1:6) and who was to “bear witness of the Light” (1:7-8). He bore witness to the preeminence and preexistence of the Light, who is Jesus Christ Himself, as no one else can make that claim nor demonstrate anything else to the contrary.

No one of this world can dare to clothe himself with that title or description regardless of his status, intellect, nationality, or pedigree, certainly not the group of influential and powerful religious leaders of Israel who came to inquire of John as to whether or not he was the Messiah (Luke 3:15; John 1: 19-20), Elijah returned (Isaiah 40:1-3; Malachi 4:5), or the prophet spoken of by Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-18). John replied to them that he was none of these except the one who cried in the wilderness to prepare the way of the LORD and to make His paths straight.

While John denied he was the literal prophet Elijah (1 Kings 17-2 Kings 2), the Lord Jesus identified him as the figurative fulfillment of Elijah (Matt.11-15, 17:10-13). John came and preached in the power and spirit of the man who brought fear into the hearts and minds of the wicked monarchs Ahab and Jezebel. He challenged the people of Israel to make up their minds as to whom to serve – God or Ba’al (1 Kings 18:21). He prophesied that both Ahab and Jezebel would meet with violent deaths (1 Kings 22:34-35; 2 Kings 9:30-37), which brought something of an end to the detestable worship of the foreign idols, including barbaric child sacrifice, a practice forbidden by the LORD (Leviticus 18:21; Deut.12:31). This horrid practice had been one of the many reasons for the people of Israel to be driven into exile by the hand of God (2 Chronicles 36:15-21).

The exile had purged the Jews from idolatry but did not restore true worship and devotion to the LORD as it should have. A remnant of them were devout while most of the nation became religiously apathetic and increasingly more devoted to ritual rather than a real love for the LORD. It was in this type of atmosphere in which John’s preaching came forth like a refreshing breeze to those few who were awaiting God’s Promised One.

As dynamic as John’s preaching and ministry were, he knew that he was not to be the center of attention, nor did he want any honors for himself. He said to the crowds that he was not worthy to loosen the sandal straps of the One who was God’s Anointed. He was a humble servant of God who declared that the coming Messiah would be greater than him, and that his brief influence would decrease, pointing people to follow Jesus instead, and that He was “above all” (John 3:31). The Lord Jesus still deserves such praise, service, and adoration from us, as He is the all-powerful Lord God Incarnate, the head of the church, and the eternal King of Kings. It is Christ and Him alone who can forgive us of sin and save us.

John proclaimed Jesus as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,” and it will hold true into eternity (Isaiah 53:4-7, 10-12; John 14:6; Acts 4:12; Romans 5:6-11; 1 Cor. 15:3; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 2:2; Titus 3:5; Revelation 1:5, 5:9). The Baptist might not have recognized Jesus at first, but he did testify that when Jesus was baptized as a sign of obedience to God and our model of devotion to His will and direction, he saw the Holy Spirit come upon Jesus as a dove and heard the voice of God saying that Jesus was “His beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased” (Matthew 3:11, 16-17; John 1:32), a clear reference to the doctrine of the Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – one God in three personalities.

Shortly after Jesus started His ministry, John was arrested and thrown into prison at the whim of the Tetrarch of Galilee, Herod Antipas. John died by beheading over a foolish, lustful, and drunken vow by Antipas to Salome, his stepdaughter (Mark 6:14-29). Not a noble ending for a man of God, but we need to recognize that no prophet of God lived a life of ease, and many met their deaths for proclaiming judgment and repentance to indifferent and hostile people yet stood firm in the face of persecution, hatred, and apathy.

No real believer today who stands for the truth of the Gospel and the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ should enjoy the pleasures and temptations of this wicked world in order to remain quiet and subdued. We are to be as John, courageously warning every one of the impending judgments of God, to repent and believe in the message of Jesus Christ and His offer of salvation and mercy He freely gives to all who come to Him in faith. The work and calling He places upon us in this life may be long or brief as is His Sovereign will, but the key is that we be obedient to the tasks He calls us to accomplish for His glory and to always remember that, like John the Baptist, the Apostles, and those who followed afterward that we are to decrease and even be anonymous in order that the Lord Jesus be exalted.

This should always be the character of a true servant of God, crying out in the wilderness of history to prepare for the coming King. Are you ready for His arrival?

donaldwhitchard@gmail.com

www.realitycityreverend.com

My YouTube broadcasts titled “The Reality City Review” will be posted on Facebook, GETTR, Parler, and on my website when completed. My main area of discussion will be on the basics of the Christian faith but will also deal with prophetic issues and other topics as the Lord impresses upon me to handle.