Jeremiah 51-52
Jeremiah was truly speaking the words of the Lord. As we finish this book, we see that the Babylonian captivity has happened just as he said it would.
The Jews have been taken off to Babylon, and Jerusalem has been burned. The House of the Lord, the king’s palace, and all of the houses have been burned to the ground. The walls have been broken down, and everything has been left in rubble.
Jerusalem, the great city – the one which had been the most glorious place in the earth, now destroyed.
Yet God still has a good plan for His people. As we continue, we will see God’s faithfulness to the children of Abraham. This generation – after many warnings – have refused to honor God. They have sought every other imaginable God, along with the true One.
When we are going through these times in the Jewish history, it’s important not to forget that there is a big plan which our Father is carrying out. He is going to bring a Savior into the earth, and He has to have a holy people to bring Him through.
As the Jews go into captivity, there are some who are being purified because of the experience. As they see what it’s like without God’s tremendous protection and favor, they are learning to really appreciate it.
Our holy God is looking for a faithful people to usher in His Son. This is all part of the process. A few hundred years will pass before the time is right, but His plan will come to pass. And I am so thankful.
I am so thankful for our Father’s faithfulness to us in working His plan to bring his Son to us.
Here we are enjoying His faithfulness. God’s plan is complete, and we are the beneficiaries of it.
I want so much to please Our Father and honor Him in my life. I want Him to be glorified by my being a witness of His goodness toward mankind.
Hebrews 7
We really need to get this, even though it sometimes seems hard to understand.
Jesus is our High Priest, but He is not like the high priests of old. They were ordinary men from the tribe of Levi. When the law was given to Moses, Levi’s tribe was to be the tribe of the priesthood. Nothing was ever mentioned about a priest coming from the tribe of Judah.
Yet Jesus came from the tribe of Judah.
Our Father was signifying that He was changing things. No longer was an earthly man going to be our priest, but a heavenly One. No longer the order of Levi, but the order of Melchizedek.
Melchizedek came out of nowhere. No one knew who his parents were and no one knew where he was going. As Abraham paid tithes to this man, Melchizedek was like the Son of God. (If you want to refresh your memory about this, go to Genesis 14:18-20).
This is also signifying that God is changing from the law to grace. The law never brought anyone to righteousness; it only pointed out sin.
Through Jesus, we receive the gift of righteousness, and we receive His Holy Spirit living on the inside of us. The power of God within us allows us to overcome sin, and it allows us to live in a relationship with Him.
The Old Covenant produced servants of God. The New covenant produces sons of God – and that’s who we are.
Now our priest lives in heaven, seated beside our Father. We can come boldly to Him at any time. He is always on our side, and He is always communicating with us through His Holy Spirit.
