return to God

True Repentance.

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The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’

“For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.

“Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’ — only to go on doing all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord. Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer, therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of Ephraim.” – Jeremiah 7:1-15 ESV

God sent Jeremiah to the temple. He was to stand at the gate to the temple and, as the people entered in to worship, he was to give them another word of warning. What an interesting juxtaposition this passage presents. The people were obviously still worshiping Yahweh by attending the temple and offering Him the appropriate sacrifices. For them, the temple was a sign of their place of honor as God’s people. It was His dwelling place and had been constructed by Solomon under the direct supervision of God Himself. And when Solomon had dedicated the temple to God, he had prayed:

“Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today.“ – 1 Kings 8:23-24 ESV

Solomon saw the temple as a place where God would dwell among His people and where the people could turn to Him in prayer, pleading for forgiveness when they had sinned against Him.

“May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.” – 1 Kings 8:29-30 ESV

Solomon had gone on to provide God with a range of different scenarios in which the people might come to Him in need and offer prayers to Him at the temple. They included vindication for the innocent, military defeat, famine, drought, plague, disease, pestilence, and even captivity.

“When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to their enemies, who take them captive to their own lands, far away or near; and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly’; and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name; then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their captors to show them mercy; for they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of that iron-smelting furnace.” – 1 Kings 8:46-51 ESV

You can begin to see why the people felt like they were immune from complete destruction by God. Jerusalem was the city of God. The temple was the dwelling place of God. And as long as the people asked for forgiveness from Him, He was obligated to forgive them. Or so they thought. They were counting on the fact that God had made a promise to preserve Jerusalem forever.

For the Lord has chosen Zion;
    he has desired it for his dwelling place:
“This is my resting place forever;
    here I will dwell, for I have desired it.” – Psalm 139:13-14 ESV

They were confident in their safety because God had also promised David that his kingdom would be established forever.

“And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.” – 2 Samuel 7:16 ESV

But God had not said that Jerusalem would not fall, the temple might not be destroyed or that the Davidic dynasty would be uninterrupted. In fact, after Solomon had finished his prayer of dedication at the opening of the temple, God had responded:

“But if you or your descendants turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why the Lord brought all this disaster on them.’” – 1 Kings 9:6-9 ESV

And as Jeremiah stood at the gate of the temple that day, he made it painfully clear that the people had not kept their end of the covenant. They were placing all their hope in the presence of the temple, saying, “‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord” (Jeremiah 7:4 ESV). In other words, they were counting on the fact that the temple was God’s dwelling place and He was not going to let anything happen to them. He would protect His house. But God had warned them that the temple would become a heap of rubble if they failed to live in obedience and faithfulness to Him. And He had meant far more than just refraining from idol worship. He has Jeremiah tell them, “I will be merciful only if you stop your evil thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice; only if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; only if you stop your murdering; and only if you stop harming yourselves by worshiping idols” (Jeremiah 7:5-6 ESV). They were guilty of far more than idol worship. They were disobeying the commandments of God. As far as they were concerned, His laws had become optional. They felt no compulsion to live according to His will. And God exposes the audacity of their actions and the absurdity of their thinking.

“Don’t be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the Temple is here. It’s a lie! Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours, and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, ‘We are safe!’ —only to go right back to all those evils again?” – Jeremiah 7:8-10 NLT

God has Jeremiah remind the people of the fate of Shiloh, a site just 20 miles from Jerusalem. It lay in ruins. Why? Because of the disobedience of the people of Israel. Shiloh had been the place where the tabernacle of God was kept. But the people had proven unfaithful to God. And they were given over by God to defeat by the Philistines, who captured the Ark of the Covenant and, most likely, destroyed Shiloh.

But they put God to the test
    and rebelled against the Most High;
    they did not keep his statutes.
Like their ancestors they were disloyal and faithless,
    as unreliable as a faulty bow.
They angered him with their high places;
    they aroused his jealousy with their idols.
When God heard them, he was furious;
    he rejected Israel completely.
He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh,
    the tent he had set up among humans.
He sent the ark of his might into captivity,
    his splendor into the hands of the enemy.
He gave his people over to the sword;
    he was furious with his inheritance. – Psalm 78:56-62 ESV

God had done it once before and He warned that He would do it again. Unless His people repented. They must return to Him, but they would also be required to change their ways. It wouldn’t be enough to simply ask Him for forgiveness. Let’s look back at Solomon’s dedication of the temple. God had told the people what they would have to do to receive healing and help from Him.

“…if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” – 2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV

God was looking for repentance, but repentance must be accompanied by a determination to live in obedience to Him. Repentance involves a resolve to change the way you live. It is not just a sorrow over sin, it is a recognition that sin is an offense to God. And it is a desire to live differently, to change one’s actions and to live in keeping with God’s will.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

Return To God.

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Ephraim feeds on the wind and pursues the east wind all day long; they multiply falsehood and violence; they make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt.

The Lord has an indictment against Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways; he will repay him according to his deeds. In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he strove with God. He strove with the angel and prevailed; he wept and sought his favor. He met God at Bethel, and there God spoke with us—the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord is his memorial name: “So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.” – Hosea 12:1-6 ESV

Jacob was the common ancestor of both the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel. His life had been a contentious affair, and it started at his birth. He had come from the womb clutching the heel of his twin brother Esau. He would grow up to be a man who depended upon trickery and deceit to get what he wanted. But it was after his face-to-face encounter with God, where he wrestled with the Lord, demanding that He bless him, that his name and his life were forever changed. Jacob called the name of the place where his encounter with God took place, Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered” (Genesis 32:30 ESV). had been given a new name. And it was there that God gave him his new name. “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed” (Genesis 32:28 ESV). Israel means “he strives with God.” Jacob, in desperate need of God’s blessing, was willing to physically fight with God in order to receive it. For the first time in his life, he knew he needed God. He could not live his life on trickery and deceit any longer.

Much earlier in his life, Jacob had had another encounter with God. It was at a place called Luz. Moses records what happened there.

And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” – Genesis 28:11-15 ESV

Jacob had renamed the place, Bethel, which means “House of God.” And years later, after God had changed his name to Israel, he was instructed by God to go back to Bethel.

“Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem. – Genesis 35:1-4 ESV

It is interesting to note, that while Jacob commanded his household to put away their foreign gods and worship God alone, he did not destroy the idols, but hid them under a tree near Shechem. His obedience to God was incomplete. While the idols had been buried, the peoples’ desire for them had not gone away. Years later, when they had been returned to the land after their more than 400 years of captivity in Egypt, the descendants of Israel would continue to prove their unfaithfulness to God through the worship of false gods. And Bethel would be one of the cities where Jeroboam, the king of the northern nation of Israel, would set up a golden calf and command the people to worship it. He turned the place called “House of God” into a place to worship false gods. It was as if the idols Jacob had buried under the tree had been dug up. Their influence upon the people of Israel had never really diminished.

When Jacob had wrestled with God, he had recognized the divine nature of the place. He had said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!” (Genesis 28:16 NLT). And now, generations later, his descendants had turned Bethel into gateway to idol worship and apostasy. But Hosea begged the people of Israel to return to the Lord. He wanted them to remember the faithfulness of God and turn away from their love affair with false gods. “The Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, the Lord is his name! So now, come back to your God. Act with love and justice, and always depend on him” (Hosea 12:5-6 NLT). As Jacob had learned his need for God, the people of Israel needed to rediscover their desperate dependency on Him. Like Jacob in his early years, their lives were characterized by deceit, trickery, manipulation and self-sufficiency. They wanted the blessings of God without obedience to God. Now Hosea was calling them to live lives that reflected their status as God’s children. They were to exhibit love, justice and obedience. Their lives were to be characterized by faithfulness. No more wrestling with God. No more contending and conniving. Jacob’s wrestling match with God had left him with a permanent limp. And the people of Israel were going to find out just how painful resistance to God can be. God wanted to bless them, but they were too stubborn to let that happen. And sadly, there are believers today who refuse to let God bless them. Rather than submit to His will and walk in His ways, they stubbornly demand to live their lives according to their own terms. Rather than return and repent, they resist. They may bury their idols under the tree, but their love affair with them remains.

Isaiah 31-32, 3 John

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When Righteousness Reigns.

Isaiah 31-32, 3 John

Justice will rule in the wilderness and righteousness in the fertile field. And this righteousness will bring peace. Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever. – Isaiah 32:16-17 NLT

So much of what Isaiah had to say to the people of Judah dealt with their coming judgment at the hands of God. They had refused to remain faithful to Him and has instead forsaken Him for other gods. They had put their trust and hope in other nations, seeing them as the answer to their problems. With Assyria breathing down their necks, they decided to make an alliance with Egypt, rather than repent and return to the Lord. But God warned them, saying, “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord!” (Isaiah 31:1 ESV). What they didn’t understand was that the very presence of the Assyrians and the looming threat of destruction at their hands was from God. It was His doing. He was bringing the Assyrians against them because of their many sins. He was preparing to punish them because they had failed to live according to His laws and in keeping with His commands. But God kept calling His people to repentance. “Turn to him from whom people have deeply revolted, O children of Israel” (Isaiah 31:6 ESV). God wanted His people to come back to Him in order that He might bless them. But they would prove to be stubborn and hard-hearted, refusing the call of God and falling victim to the unforgiving Assyrian army.

What does this passage reveal about God?

But as has been the case all throughout the book of Isaiah up until this point, God’s message of coming destruction is intertwined with a promise of future restoration. God continued to tell them that, while they could not manage to be faithful, He would be. He would fulfill all of the promises He had made to Abraham and David. He would one day do for them what they could not do for themselves. It is the same message He conveyed through the prophet Jeremiah:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:31-34 ESV).

They had broken their covenant with God. So He was going to make a new one. The result of this new covenant would be that obedience to His law would be internally driven, not externally. Their obedience would be made possible because He was going to change their hearts. Their relationship with Him would be motivated by love and they would finally be the people of God He had always planned for them to be. And God gave Isaiah a glimpse of what was going to make this all possible. “Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice” (Isaiah 32:1 ESV). They would have a new king – the Messiah. Their would be a new kingdom, the millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ. His kingdom would be marked by righteousness, justice, peace, quiet and “trust forever” (Isaiah 32:17 ESV).

What does this passage reveal about man?

Man’s ability to live in keeping with God’s righteous standards is extremely limited. We can try, but we ultimately fail. Because of indwelling sin, we can never seem to stay faithful to God’s call on our lives for very long. Which is why He sent His Son to die for us. Paul tells us, “even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)” (Ephesians 2:5 NLT). He repeats this theme in his letter to the Romans. “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8 NLT). God had to do for mankind what mankind could not do for itself. No man can save himself. The Israelites couldn’t keep themselves from forsaking God. They couldn’t remain faithful. They tried, but always failed. So God would have to do it for them. And the day is coming when He will do just that. God will do for them what He has done for those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior. We have had our hearts transformed by the Spirit of God. We have had our sins forgiven and the punishment for our rebellion fully paid for by Christ’s death on the cross. We have the Spirit of God within us, providing us with the inner motivation to obey His will and apply His Word to our lives. As a result, we have the inner capacity to walk in the truth. John commended his readers for doing just that. “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” (3 John 4 ESV). The Greek word Paul uses for “walking” carries the meaning “to walk about.” It conveys the idea that they were to live their daily lives in the truth of who Christ was and what He had done. It is the Spirit of Truth within us that makes this possible. In this life we are surrounded by lies and all kinds of deception. We will be tempted to turn to other sources of help and hope. We will find ourselves quick to listen to the lies of the enemy and accept his alternative sources of salvation. But we must walk in the truth, constantly recognizing that our salvation comes only from the Lord.

How would I apply what I’ve read to my own life?

John told his readers, “Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God” (3 John 11 ESV). Our relationship with God, made possible through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, should change the way we live. We have the capacity to live righteously, even in the midst of all kinds of unrighteousness. We can experience the rule and reign of the risen Christ in our lives even now. We don’t have to wait until heaven. We can experience the peace, security, quietness and rest of His righteous reign in our lives, even as we wait for His return. Paul puts all of this into practical perspective in his letter to the Colossian believers. “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:12-17 ESV). When we let Christ reign in our lives, it changes everything. It improves our relationships. It alters our behavior. It impacts our character. It influences the world around us.

Father, You are not only my Savior, You are my King. You are to be the Lord of my life. And when I let Your righteousness reign over my life, things change. Good things happen. Thank You for reminding me that I am completely dependent on Your help for living the life You have called me to live. You have given me Your Spirit and equipped me with all that I need to live and walk in truth in this life. And for that I am grateful. Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org