Sunday: Jeremiah’s Lord
Seventh-day Adventists understand that at the center of the great controversy exists a crucial issue: What is the character of God? What is God really like? Is He the arbitrary tyrant that Satan makes Him out to be, or is He a loving and caring Father who wants only the best for us? These questions really are the most important questions in the entire cosmos.
Image © Don Mammoser from GoodSalt.com
After all, what would our situation be if God were not kind and loving and self-sacrificial, but mean and arbitrary and sadistic? We’d be better off if no God existed than to have one like that.
So, the questions are of huge importance. Fortunately, we have the answers, and they are best seen at the Cross.
Never will it be forgotten that He whose power created and upheld the unnumbered worlds through the vast realms of space, the Beloved of God, the Majesty of heaven, He whom cherub and shining seraph delighted to adore-humbled Himself to uplift fallen man; that He bore the guilt and shame of sin, and the hiding of His Father’s face, till the woes of a lost world broke His heart, and crushed out His life on Calvary’s cross. That the Maker of all worlds, the Arbiter of all destinies, should lay aside His glory and humiliate Himself from love to man will ever excite the wonder and adoration of the universe.
-Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 651.
How is the nature and character of God revealed in the following texts in Jeremiah? That is, what do these texts tell us about Him?
These are just a few of the many images and expressions used in the book that reveal to us something of the nature and character of our God. He is the Source of life, the powerful Creator, a God of judgment, a God who loves us and calls us, over and over, to repent of our sins and to turn away from the paths that will lead to our destruction.
What evidence of God’s loving character have you experienced during your lifetime?
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True it is that some have misrepresented God’s character in their teachings, presenting the Creator as brutal in his dealings with sinners to the point they feel compelled to compensate by making it extremely easy to be saved, without real cooperation. Jehovah is first characterized as an eternal tormentor, and then as a sin condoning deity in the same package.
Still there is probably a more pressing issue. Not many of both believers and non-believers are heard complaining much about God’s character, and some who do likely use it as a smokescreen to obscure the real issue.
The closest created being to God, Lucifer did not initially take issue with the character of his Lord. He had greater advantage to know the Creator than any mortal and his ringside position gave him credibility when he moved to deceive (Revelation 12:4). Lucifer had a problem with the authority of his Maker, and as a cover embarked on a smear job, a current tactic today.
Since Lucifer’s fall the authority question has been the most pressing among the creation. Rebellion and independence have been made to seem attractive. Eve fell for this. The people of Noah’s and Lot’s day reveled in same. The builders of babel’s tower made a huge statement about their rejection of authority. The people of Judah simply continued a trend (Jeremiah 5:23).
If the theme of the Bible is Jesus, the burden of Jeremiah is submission, a trait exemplified by the Messiah (Isaiah 53:7). With the next temptation to complain about submission think about the Son of God, equal with God, putting up with insult, injury and death at the hands of frail humans. That Judah should submit to a pagan nation for a lifetime (70 years) may challenge pride, but it was Jehovah’s means of communicating the need for submission to God (Jeremiah 25:11).
Believers need to understand that in the same way humans will not love God if they are not prepared to love their brethren, they will not submit to the Creator if not prepared to submit to fellow humans (1 John 4:20). Those who have less problems with authority will likely have less problems with character.
Reading these things has reminded me of something. Many of us are quite familiar (I'm sure) with the horrendous 'administration' of the Emperor Nero. (And how it was that he used Christians for "entertainment" and for "lighting" in his garden.) He reigned over the Empire from 54-68A.D.
It was during this period that Paul wrote the Epistle to the Romans. And do we recall what Paul was teaching in chapter 13 of that letter?
Submission to the State! Regardless of who is in power we must NOT RESIST THE AUTHORITY OF THE STATE.
"Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation." (Rom 13:2)
This lesson will, I believe, become more and more applicable to us as time goes on.
Hello to you all dear fellow Christian brothers and sisters. A question that has arisen in my so limited mind after reading brother Hugh Dalhouse\'s comment on December 19, 2015 at 4:45 pm. The questions are I wonder If:
1. authority and character are separable from each other as it appears to suggest in the last sentence and other parts of the comment I am referring to;? Or
2. Is character a possession of the authority (considering authority to be a noun), which explains what kind of person the authority is like? Or
3. Is character considered to be a person? If so, then authority becomes a possession of character, in which case, Satan decided not to use God\'s authority but to assert his own authority which describes all demonic characteristics that infect us today.
so many cases in my lifetime that I can understand it that God is full of loving to the Peoples ,,,
i have experience God's love exactly as it is written here , because He is a fountaing of living water He created me out of love and chasten me and once i have realised my sin He welcomes me with open arms 🙂 , this lesson has literally dried my tears this morning .
The character of Jehovah is so complex that as soon as we focus on one aspect we are only showing one side of His character, so the best way is to ask Him to describe His character (His Name): in Ex 34 we see Moses with the two tablets of stone in hands and Jehovah declaring Himself as merciful and as the executive judge so we should never split those aspects. He is the Creator and the Destroyer. He is the Redeemer and the Almighty Ruler of the Universe.
Those that think the God of the OT has a different character to the God of the NT, need to consider:
Jeremiah 31:3 The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.
Both in the OT and the NT Jehovah asks the people to love Him and to be like Him
Ex 34:4 So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him; and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone.5 Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
Everyday, as I travel on the highway, I experience God's hand of protection. Even though I do not deserve it, His love for me keeps me from accidents, harm, hurt and danger. What a loving and mighty God!
Many people has misrepresent GOD's true character. Some people think that GOD in the old testament is cruel, mean, and arbiratry GOD. And on the other hand some misrepresent GOD's character of love. The truth is GOD is love, righteous, and exercising judgement. When he punish Israel because of their sin, is because of GOD so love them. Because GOD knows that sin is the source of all unhappiness and the wages of sin is eternal death, so He wants us to repent and live in obedience to Him. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent (Jeremiah 3:19). All problems, trials, and circumstances that seems bad is a blessing so we can know and trust GOD and develop the faith and character of Jesus.
Grace is so beautiful if God had given to me what I do deserve, I would not be here. Favor in that he called me in to a fellowship where I can know who he is. Grateful for the Holy Spirit where he leads me to love those who don't deserve it yet are in need of grace like myself.
what is your attitude when come into God presence?..We should come with fear and trembling (thats,awe and respect)because God sets the boundries of the roaring ocean(jer.5:22)and establishes the rains and harvests.God had to strip away all the benefits that judah and Israel had grown to expect from him and give the people another opportunity to turn back to him
God still sometimes uses the same method of blessings or withholding blessing to get our attention.Dont wait until God removes your cherished resources before committing yourself to him as you should