Friday: Further Thought – Jeremiah’s Yoke
As we have seen, people want to believe good news, not bad. They wanted to believe, for instance, in Hananiah’s message, not Jeremiah’s. Today the same thing happens as well. Many still insist, for instance, that our world will only improve over time.
Image © Justinen Creative from GoodSalt.com
Yet, even an atheist like Terry Eagleton sees just how farcical that idea is: If ever there was a pious myth and piece of credulous superstition, it is the liberal-rationalist belief that, a few hiccups apart, we are all steadily en route to a finer world. This brittle triumphalism is a hangover from the heroic epoch of liberalism, when the middle classes’ star was in the ascendant. Today, it sits cheek by jowl with the cynicism, skepticism, or nihilism into which much of that honorable lineage has degenerated.
–Reason, Faith, and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate, (Yale University Press), Kindle Edition, p. 70. Though some aspects of life have improved, our world, in and of itself, offers us little hope, little consolation, especially in the long run. If we are to have any real hope, it has to be in something divine, not earthly, in something supernatural, not natural. And of course, that’s what the gospel is all about: God’s divine and supernatural intervention in our world and our lives. Without that, what do we have other than just more Hananiahs and their lies?
Discussion Questions:
- Think about our earth’s future as a whole, even if from a purely human standpoint. Does it look hopeful and full of promise, or does it look fearful, dangerous, and full of uncertainty? What reasons can you give for your answers?
- Jeremiah’s message, as we saw in the context of Hananiah’s lies, was to look at the past, to look at history, and to learn from it. Ellen G. White wrote something similar:
We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history.
–Life Sketches, p. 196. What does she mean by that? What has happened in our past, and God’s teaching in it, that can help us be prepared for what will undoubtedly come in the future? - Hananiah gave a false message of grace. What are some of those false messages of grace today that we must guard ourselves against? Grace, of course, is our only hope, but in what ways can it be presented as a lie?
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God's grace is, of course, the only thing that saves us and that grace is available to all. Grace, however, only works with faith, trust and obedience based on our true understanding of who is behind it all! (Who God is and who we are in the whole plan!) Any presentation that leaves out God's law (His character in words) falls short of the full picture!
False message about grace:
Grace allows you to do whatever you want to do.
True message about grace:
Grace allows you to follow Jesus and do what ever He wants you to do
Grace leads us toward Jesus Christ and his Commandments, not away from him and his Law!
I felt like whoever wrote this article, threw the whole dictionary in as well. That being said....yes people want to be comfortable even if they know it wont always be good. We refuse to take preparation seriously. We act as if we deserve God's Grace.
Hananiah's so-called prophecy about deliverance "within two full years" (Jer 28:3) was built on quite strong logic.
Earlier the same year, government officials from Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Zidon had come to Jerusalem proposing a united front against the Babylonian advances. It was "while these ambassadors were awaiting a response [from Zedekiah, that] the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, 'Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck..." (Prophets and Kings p.443).
Hananiah had banked on the anti-Babylonian alliance forming, and to his human rationale it seemed that "two full years" would be enough time to push the Babylonian threat away.
Hananiah also asserted that the young popular king, Jeconiah (who had reigned only 3 months before being taken captive to Babylon,) would soon return to Jerusalem with all the captives previously taken. Jeconiah had not reigned long enough to make any real in-house enemies, and Zedekiah was never very popular. So again, Hananiah's 'prophecy' seemed not only logical and desirable, but to Hananiah [and to the people] it seemed that he clearly expressed God's will.
His prophecy was built on a confident, rational, expectations.
Perhaps we've all heard people speaking about something "obviously" being God's will, when in reality the words have no better foundation than sentiment and worldly-wise-man logic.
Gods grace is the only thing that saves us. Paul was very clear about that. Not of works lest any man should boast. So if you are managing to keep the law, it is not because of your goodness, but God's grace working in you to will and to do His good pleasure. Not by might , nor by power, but by My Spirit says the LORD. And if you are managing to keep the law and it makes you think you have a special IN with the Almighty that the new guy (or old guy) who struggles doesn't, then think again. Divine Grace declares us just and gives us our title (ticket, entry pass, ownership document) to heaven. Divine Grace empowers us to follow Him on a path of growth; it is a safe place to grow in Jesus (sometimes succeed, sometimes fail) (no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus). Divine Grace will not forsake us or toss us aside. Divine Grace will complete the work God started in us and take us Home. We overcome by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the one on whom our faith depends from start to finish (author and finisher). There is no grace AND, no grace BUT. There is just God's GRACE. He will prepare His people.
It's my joy to study sabbath lesson every week. I appreciate hard work of the teem for sabbath school lesson.