Bible Study

I (11:1-17) The Preaching of a

Broken Covenant
A. (11:1-5) THE BREAKING OF
THE MOSAIC COVENANT
1. The charge Jehovah brings
against the church and sutte ofJudah is
that they have transgress,ed the Cove-
nant He made with Moses, Exodus 19-
24. Therefore God will,' pour out on
Judah the curses of the covenant des-
cribed in Leviticus 26 and!Oeuteronomy
28.
2. See my study on Jeremiah
and the Covenants of Promise in a
previous issue.
3. The purpose of this Mosaic
Covenant of redemption by atonement,
reconstruction by law and reconciliation
by the Temple was to make Israel fully
aware that she is God's property, of
whom he is creating a kingdom of
priests and a holy nation, Exod. 19:5-6;
I Pet. 2:5, 9.
4. This covenant has a central
emphasis in Jeremiah's preaching: 3:16;
11:2-10; 14:21; 22:9; 31:31-33; 32:40;
33:20-25; 34:8-18; 50:5. Jehovah will
judge Judah because she has disbelieved
the promises and disobeyed the Jaws of
this covenant.
B. (11:6-8) THE COMMAND TO
PREACH A BROKEN COVENANT
1. Jehovah commissions Jere-
miah to preach to Judah that Judah's
basic sin is that she has transgressed
God's covenant; that God will judge her
unless she repents; and that God
through Jeremiah calls Judah back tore-
newed faithfulness to that covenant. In
like manner America has broken her
covenant with Jehovah; and we must re-
pent or suffer the covenant curses.
2. The thrust of biblical preach-
ing is: Listen to and obey the voice of
Jehovah or suffer the consequences. Pro-
phetic preaching has two central empha-
ses: judgment and mercy (hope), both
in a covenant context
3. Notice that although Judah
has transgressed the covenant, it re-
mains in effect, in that the curses are
operative on disobedience, whereas
blessings would be operative on
obedience.
C. (11:9-13) THE CONSPIRACY
OF COVENANT BREAKING
1. God considers covenant-break-
ing as a revolt or mutiny against him -
the formal, self-conscious, and insidi-
ous uniting of the people of a nation
against the God of the Bible. Psalm 2
brings out the international and politi-
cal nature of this conspiracy against
Jehovah and his Christ. By means of a
carefully organized plot, apostate Judah
renounced Jehovah's lordship over the
church and state of that nation.
2. Judah followed its more re-
cent anti-christian heritage, rather than
its more distant Christian heritage,
which lay right at the foundation of that
nation. National covenant breaking is
not only a change of gods, it is a re-
pudiation of a godly history and founda-
tion. It is an all-out attempt to banish
God from a culture.
3. The inescapable consequence
of refusing to hear God's words (in his
Spirit-inspired prophets and apostles,
and through faithful preaching) is
disaster and the abandonment of that
nation by God.
4. Notice the powerlessness and
emptiness of all other religions and
idols, vs. 12f. Power, truth, life and
salvation are to be found in Christianity
alone.
5. See Gary North's Conspiracy:
A Biblical View, Dominion Press,
1986, Ft. Worth, Texas.
D. (11:14-17) THE ABANDON-
MENT OF COVENANT-BREAKERS
BY JEHOVAH
1. The stress here is on the emp-
tiness of meaningless rituals and sacri-
fices carried out day by day but divorced
from obedience to Jehovah. "The mere
offering of a sacrifice in the belief that
Yahweh w ~ thereby satisfied reduced
religion to little more than supersti-
tion."--Thompson. Apply this to the
use of rosaries and the misuse of the
Lord's Supper.
2. Judah was once a beautiful
tree, but now its foliage is set on frre
and its branches burned up. Jehovah
himself, who planted this little tree,
ignites the fire because of her evil. It is
a terrible thing to fall into the hands of
an angry God.
II. (11:18-23) The Response of
Apostles to Prophetic Preach-
ing
A. (11:18-20) THE DISCOVERY
OF THE PLOT AGAINST JERE-
MIAH'SLIFE
1. A plot to murder Jeremiah
was instigated by his own family at
Anathoth. This shocked Jeremiah. and
led him to some deep soul searching
about his own mission and the meaning
of life in general.
2. For any man to be rejected by
his society like this, brings much grief.
And yet, often, this is the price we are
called upon to pay for being true to our
pivine calling.
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The Counsel of Chalcedon, November, 1988
B. (11:21-23) THE RESPONSE OF
GOD TO THE RESPONSE OF
APOSTATES TO PROPHETIC
PREACIDNG
1. (11:21) "The powerful denun-
ciation of Israel's past and present fail-
ure to please God was quite incompre-
hensible to the men of Anathoth; and
Jeremiah, who denounced the nation's
sin, had brought serious disgrace upon
the village which gave him birth and
shelter. Such a man was worthy of
death." -- Thompson. Such people are
threats to the humanists today and are
viewed by them as the real terrorists of
the modem world. A book has been
written about us, the religious Right,
called HOLY TERROR.
2. God vindicates his people.
His reaction to the plot of Anathoth
was decisive. He visited them with
terrible judgment. The town did not sur-
vive. To this day the cite of Anathoth
has not been excavated.
ill. (12:1-6) The Humble Com-
plaint , of Jeremiah
A. (12:1-2) THE AGE-OLD
PROBLEM: WHY DO THE WICKED
PROSPER, WHILE THE RIGH-
TEOUS ARE OPPRESSED? SEE
PSALM37.
1. The context of the complaint:
Jehovah is righteous, i.e., he is always
just and he never acts out of accord with
his holy character revealed in his law.
2. The complication of the
situation: In verse 2, Jeremiah says
that God himself causes the wicked to
prosper.
3. Those whom God prospers
speak of God with great familiarity, yet
their knowledge of God goes no farther
than their mouths. It has not penetrated
their inner life.
B. (12:3-4) THE SOURCE OF
JEREMIAH'S COMFORT: THE
SEARCHER OF ALL HEARTS
KNOWS JEREMIAH'S HEART
(Jeremiah's question remained
unanswered; but where he does not
understand God he trusts him to act
justly.)
(Continued on page 24)
The Counsel of Chalcedon, November, 1988
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War on Drugs
Continued from page 11
tions." What were those commands
which they were setting aside? Jesus
explains in the next verse: "For Moses
said, 'Honor your father and mother,'
and, 'Anyone who curses his father or
mother must be put to death.'" Jesus
must have considered this penalty to be
valid still, otherwise, why would he
have rebUked the Pharisees for setting it
aside?
The child who curses his parents is
also referred to as a "stubborn and rebel-
lious son .... [who] will not obey" in
Deuteronomy 21:18, 20 (cf. Exodus
21:.17). Our founding fathers applied
this principle to any criminal who, be-
ing stubborn and rebellious, consistent-
ly refused to obey the laws of the land
(cf. Deut. 17:8-12). A similar applica-
tion could be made to drug pushers who
refuse correction and continue pumping
their dope into the hands of both
children and adults.
In conclusion, America is in a crisis.
Drugs, violence and high recitivism
rates are plaguing our society. But until
we are willing to return to God's laws,
we will continue facing the
problems over and over again. Our
founding fathers affirmed in the
Declaration of Independence that our
American society was built upon "the
Laws of Nature and of Nature's God."
As a result, they did not face the monu-
mental problems we do today. By return-
ing to God's wise principles, such as
citizen involvement and just civil penal-
ties, we can help turn the tide .in the
"War on Drugs.'' []
Jeremiah
Continued from page 13
C. (12:5-6) THE ANSWER TO
JEHOVAH . TO JEREMIAH'S COM-
PLAINT
L Although Jeremiah's
and Judah's plight is a hard one, the
worst is yet to come. Jeremiah must
stay on guard, keep faith anc.l courage in
his present sufferings, and him-
self for far more severe trials to come.
2. (12:7-13) The reason for this
worsening calamity is the worsening de-
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ADDRESS CORRECTION
Choose one
The Westminster Confession of Faith
(The Original Standards)
An Exposition of
the Confession of Faith
by Robert Shaw
The Confession of Faith
by A.A. Hodge
The Westminster Confession of Faith
generation of the church and state of
thatday. D
What is Calvinism?
Continued from page 16
at a small part of it. But from what has
been said, you can perceive the puerile
ignorance manifested by those who al-
lege atat Presbyterianism was invented
by Calvin.
Con.--Were the Reformers Presbyter-
ian in their sentiments and practice?
Min.--All the ReformerS, of any
note, agreed upon all the essential
principles of Presbyterianism. But as
Clbteck Yom
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our conversation has been sufficiently
protracted at this time, we will on some
future occasion examine what history
says on that point.
*See a. very interesting "History of the
Waldenses," . illustrated with beautiful. en-
grav.ings, published by the Board of Pub
lication.
[To be continued)
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The Counsel of Chalcedon, November, 1988