December 19, 2008 An Invitation From God in Hard Times Kathleen Maples

Jer 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which
thou knowest not.

This is an invitation from the Most High God to a man who is locked up in prison
for preaching the truth. He was regarded by the authorities as one who tried to
cause trouble, with seditious speeches. Jeremiah is surrounded with walls, fenced
in, with nowhere to go as his country is ravaged and under siege by an invading
army of Babylonians. He is likely hearing of people being killed, taken captive,
and parts of the city are being destroyed. Could he look out of the courtyard of the
prison and see smoke rising in the distance as parts of the city walls were
attacked? Could he hear the thunder of the chariots and horses of the Babylonian
army encamped outside Jerusalem? This was a serious and tragic time for these
people of Jerusalem. For years Jeremiah has been warning the people, hearing
and sharing the Word of the Lord. He knew God had stirred up an enemy army
because His people would not repent of their own wickedness. Now God says call
unto Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things you know
not! He is saying, I see the problem, but you need to see the Solution.

In the original Hebrew this verse says these things have been restricted, you know
them not. The word for mighty is H1219 batsar and it means these things have
been inaccessible, isolated, restrained from you. There is some truth you do not
know because it has been kept from you. But call unto Me, says the Lord to this
man who is in bondage, and I will show you great things which have been
restricted from you.

Some of the homes of the people of Judah built on the walls of the city, have been
torn down and filled with the rubble to fortify that part of the wall, a vain effort to
make a defense against this invading army. The Chaldeans have come from
Babylonia and laid siege to this city of Jerusalem. These people had turned away
from God, and in doing so, opened themselves up to attack from their enemy. He's
turned His face from them because their evil is so great. As I contemplate on this, I
realize my own country is following quickly this pattern. She too, has forsaken
God, grown proud under the blessing of God, and rebels against Him and His
truth. Yet even as His judgment was falling, He was revealing truth to His prophet.
What was this awesome truth? Everything I read in this chapter points me to a
divine revelation of Jesus Christ.

Jer 33:6 Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto
them the abundance of peace and truth.

The word for health here would be better translated 'healing restoration'. It is
H724 and He is saying I am going to restore them, heal them and make them
whole, perfect, and I will bring deliverance, I will mend and repair them
thoroughly, and I will show them the abundance of peace and prosperity, and they
shall be well. This is a spiritual prosperity-not a financial one.
He sent His Word--the Prince of Peace---the Way, the Truth and the Light, and
healed them and delivered them from their destructions. Jesus Christ was the
Word made flesh, and He came to heal, bind up the wounded, set free the captive,
open the blinded eyes, and He was the Light of God shining in their darkness.1 God
says I will return their captivity-even as they are being taken captive by
Nebuchadnezzar's army, taken to Babylon, where they will be held for 70 years,
God says I will build them as I did before-I will restore them, repair them.

He says I will purge them from all their perversity, their evil, and forgive their
iniquities whereby they have sinned. They have forfeited God's best, lead astray by
their own wicked hearts, infected with pride, and they bear the blame. But He is
going to forgive their transgressions, their apostasy. They have revolted against
Him and even as He judges them, He is revealing to this man in the prison His plan
to deliver them. God knows His judgment will work to bring a repentant people
out of this captivity after 70 years. If you read through Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and
you go back to the books of 1 & 2 Kings, and Chronicles, you see God repeatedly
sparing and warning and pleading with His people. We tend to forget He is the
Creator, this world and all that is in it was made by Him and for Him, and it is His
right as the Sovereign Ruler of all Creation-both known and unknown to mankind
to make the laws and expect us to abide by them. Oh, how arrogant and rebellious
is the heart of man. (Jer_17:9)

He says in verse 10 this place is desolate but in verse 11 he says the voice of joy and
gladness-the voice of the Bridegroom and His Bride will be heard again in this
place. There is going to be a people intimate with their God, in love with their God,
they shall hear Him, commune with Him. There will be peace and restoration. This
kind of communion did not come about until after the death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ, and after the Holy Ghost came at Pentecost. It was not possible until
then.

In verse 26-I will cause their captivity to return and have mercy on them. The
word for mercy here in the Hebrew is H7355 racham-and it means to have
compassion on, to love, to fondle. When we have to correct our children,
sometimes we have to physically discipline them, but there always comes that time
we embrace them. We don't forsake them or stop loving them just because they fail
and require discipline. Neither does God His children. Others may say God has
forsaken them, look at all the trouble that is coming upon them. Look at the
destruction of their cities, their families, their lives. Everything is just a mess.
Their God has forsaken them. He has cast them off. But the Lord says no, just as I
established day and night, and all the ordinances of heaven, these are My people
and I will end their captivity and bring them back to Me.

I love how the NLT puts this because it is very close to the direct Hebrew
translation in these verses:

23 The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 24 “Have you noticed what
people are saying?—‘The Lord chose Judah and Israel and then abandoned them!’
They are sneering and saying that Israel is not worthy to be counted as a nation.
25 But this is what the Lord says: I would no more reject my people than I would
change my laws that govern night and day, earth and sky. 26 I will never abandon

1 Psa 107:20, Joh 14:6, Joh 1:14, Luk 4:18; 2 Cor 4:6, Joh 8:12
the descendants of Jacob or David, my servant, or change the plan that David’s
descendants will rule the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Instead, I will
restore them to their land and have mercy on them.”

We can look around us and see how the enemy has invaded this nation, the homes
that have been torn apart and destroyed by sin. We can see souls in peril
everywhere we look. All the promises God made in this chapter to restore a
rebellious people who at last required harsh discipline, were to be and were
fulfilled in Jesus Christ. For us, our provision is only found in Jesus Christ. If there
was hope for this nation at this time, when they were enduring such unimaginable
devastation, it was to be found in a merciful God's promise in sending His only
Beloved and Begotten Son as a light into a dark world. He said if I be lifted up, I
will draw all men to Myself. He is what the church needs to lift up so the world can
see the light, not their programs, or self help books, or religious traditions.

When men of God like David Wilkerson try to warn this nation of the impending
judgment of God, people don't want to hear and accuse them of being doom and
gloom preachers. Carnal churches shut the door to preachers like this. They are
comfortable and don't like it when the boat is rocked. God has not changed, neither
has His Word. There are no senators or congressmen in heaven that challenge or
change or add amendments to the law of God. Because of this we know that just as
He dealt with Israel, He will deal with America. But one Scripture continues to
come to my mind:

2Ch 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray,
and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will
forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

He's not talking to the world here. He's not talking to sinners who don't know the
Gospel. He is talking to His own. They are called. They are bidden to come to Me.
They proclaim My Name-My character, My authority, who I AM. Yet they
misrepresent Me. They are called by My Name, they are called Christians. If they
want their prayers heard, if they want Me to cure their land, repair the damage,
then they have some things they must do. If they will bend their knee, (bow their
heart) and come under subjection to Me, humble that self life that rules most if not
all of their decisions, on a daily basis, yet they call ME Lord, if they will judge their
own selves guilty and and repent and begin to intercede for their nation, for their
families, for homes, search Me out, and seek Me, desire Me, strive after Me, and
turn away from evil ways then I will hear and I will pardon their offenses against
Me, and will mend and repair the damage that has been done to their land. That
land can be applied to our homes, our spiritual walk with God, our families, our
lives, marriages, relationships, and yes, our country. Is their hope for America? I
do not know. But I know God can always be taken at His Word.

What will it take before God's own people will realize they call Him Lord, but they
make their own decisions? Oh, I am guilty. I see myself here. Father, forgive me,
please. Do we decide when to sleep, when to rise, when to eat, when to and how
much or how little we read His Word, do we neglect fasting and prayer because we
are too busy, and don't spend enough time in His Word or His Presence, and yet we
call Him Lord? We always have ready excuses, do we not? We make our own
decisions, ruled by our own intellect, and yet we call Him our Wisdom? Then we
look around, frustrated at the dysfunction all around us and wonder why it is this
way. Dysfunction is always the result when self rules. No wonder the world
doesn't take the Gospel seriously when they see such ineffective displays of it in
our lives.

Consider this carefully and know the hour is late and it is time to stop playing
religious games. It is time to stop thinking one day I will, by God's grace be
different. It's time to pay the price and sacrifice, and get alone with God, and stop
feeding the self life and start feeding the spiritual life He birthed in us, and repent,
and do what He says. Faith is obeying what you know is true. Come back to our
First Love. Pastor BH Clendennen said recently in one of his messages "Do we limit
the Holy Spirit's operation in us by functioning in our own strength because of our
selfish thinking and acting ? We are on the threshold of the coming of the Lord. Are
you a foolish virgin, knowing what you ought to do and not doing it? Or are you a
wise virgin with oil in your lamp waiting on His Coming?"