Verse of the Week: V1 “How is the gold become dim! How is the most fine gold changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street.”
1. The Pure Gold Became Dim (V1-12)
V1 “How is the gold become dim! How is the most fine gold changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street.”
The people of Israel became proud since they thought they were the people of God and had the license to sin. They became cruel and wicked, and some even boiled and ate their own babies and children when there was war and famine in the land. God’s people who were supposed to be shining as the most fine gold for the glory of God became dull and dim and stumbling stones awaiting God’s punishment.
V10 “The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
2. The Pure Gold Became Deceitful (V13-20)
V13 “For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,”
Even the prophets and priests of Israel became deceitful as they compromised and sinned against God. It was a sad and tragic day for the entire nation of Israel as they were under the anger and judgment of the Lord. It is so important for the people of God especially, the preachers of God, to live a holy life and preach the Word of God with truth and courage, rebuking sins even if it costs their popularity or even their lives.
V16 “The anger of the LORD hath divided them; He will no more regard them: they respected not the persons of the priests, they favoured not the elders.”
3. The Pure Gold Becomes Shining (V21-22)
V22 “The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; He will no more carry thee away into captivity: He will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; He will discover thy sins.”
Though the people of Israel sinned against God, and were punished by Him, yet He will forgive them if they confess and repent of their sins. God allows troubles in our lives so that our faith can be tested and we shall come forth as gold shining brightly for Him.
Job 23:10 “But He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”
Prayer of the Week
Dearest God, please help me to be the pure gold that shines brightly for Your glory.
Posted by: Pastor Davy Sim AT 07:22 pm
| Permalink
| Email
Verse of the Week: V23 “They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness.”
1. Suffering Reflects Love (V1-36)
V22 “It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.”
Prophet Jeremiah warned the nation of Israel to repent of their sins and turn to God. Yet time and again, the people of Israel refused to repent of their sins, and it grieved and hurt Jeremiah to see the anger and judgment of the Lord upon His people. Jeremiah suffered together with his people as God allowed their enemies to attack and destroy them and brought them into captivity in foreign lands. God allowed the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Romans, etc., to attack and destroy the people of Israel because of their unbelief and rebellion. Yet throughout history and till today, God has never forsake or leave Israel, because great is the LORD’s faithfulness, mercies, compassion and love.
V23 “They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness.”
2. Sufferings Reflects Hope (V37-63)
V39 “Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?”
When we have life, we have hope. Let us who have hope in God, be thankful to God that we are alive and blessed of God. Many times, we fail to realize that it is God who gives us the breath and heartbeat of our precious life. We complain about everything and anything including the house we live and the food we eat when there are many who have no roof over their heads or food to eat. Let us thank God for everything including our sufferings and know that our sufferings shall come to pass when we see God in heaven. Let us lift up our hearts and praise God for our sufferings!
V41 “Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.”
3. Suffering Reflects Judgment (V64-66)
V64 “Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands.”
There is one suffering and judgment that is reserved only for the wicked. God has warned the enemies of Israel that suffering and judgment will be upon them if they refuse to believe in the true and living God of Israel. The Day of Judgment will come upon the wicked and they shall surely be persecuted and destroyed in God’s anger.
V66 “Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD.”
Prayer of the Week
Dearest God, please help me to thank You for Your great faithfulness and know that my suffering is for my good.
Posted by: Pastor Davy Sim AT 04:49 pm
| Permalink
| Email
Verse of the Week: V5 “The Lord was as an enemy: He hath swallowed up Israel, He hath swallowed up all her palaces: He hath destroyed His strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.”
1. The Lord Corrects (V1-10)
V5 “The Lord was as an enemy: He hath swallowed up Israel, He hath swallowed up all her palaces: He hath destroyed His strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.”
The Lord was like an enemy to His people when they sinned against Him. In order to correct His people, God sent the Babylonians to attack and destroy them including His own sanctuary. The Lord would not hesitate to correct His people in order for them to repent and return to Him. Let us repent our sins before the Lord is like an enemy to us.
V7 “The Lord hath cast off His altar, He hath abhorred His sanctuary, He hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast.”
2. The Enemy Celebrates (V11-16)
V11 “Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.”
Jeremiah wept as he saw the destruction of his people and the sanctuary of God while the enemy of Israel, the Babylonians, celebrated the fall of Israel. When Christians commit sins, the world and the unbelievers will laugh and mock at our poor testimony for God. “Why do Christians cheat, lie and commit immorality? Where is your perfect Christian testimony? Where is your perfect and true God?”
V15 “All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city of that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?”
3. The Lord Controls (V17-22)
V17 “The LORD hath done that which He had devised; He hath fulfilled His word that He had commanded in the days of old: He hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and He hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, He hath set up the horn of thine adversaries.”
The Lord controls everything and allows our enemies to celebrate and mock at our poor testimony so that we can learn from our mistakes and do what is right before Him.
Prayer of the Week
Dearest God, please help me to flee from sins and keep a godly testimony before You.
Posted by: Pastor Davy Sim AT 04:50 pm
| Permalink
| Email
Verse of the Week: V18 “The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled against His commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.”
1. The Fall Of The Proud (V1-11)
V1 “How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! How is she become as a widow! She that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!”
Jeremiah witnessed both the glory and greatness of the city of God as well as its devastation and destruction by the hands of the Babylonians. He saw how the people of God became proud and God allowed the Babylonians to attack and destroy them and carried them captives to Babylon. This was why the people of God wept as they sat down by the rivers of Babylon after suffering as slaves under the Babylonians when they remembered Zion, the city of God, and how they were once blessed of God.
Psalms 137:1 “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.”
2. The Fall Of The Careless (V12-17)
V12 “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger.”
Jeremiah preached to the people to repent of their sins yet they would not hear and were careless with their life and testimony. As the nation of God, instead of being an example in righteousness to all the nations of the world, they were careless with their life and testimony. This was why Jeremiah wept as he saw the wickedness of the people of God.
V16 “For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me: my children are desolate, because the enemy prevailed.”
3. The Fall Of The Rebellious (V18-22)
V18 “The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled against His commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.”
God’s punishment came and the rebellious people of God suffered as slaves under the rule and power of the Babylonians. The Lord is righteous and you can never escape His punishment if you are proud, careless and rebellious.
Prayer of the Week
Dearest God, please help me to be righteous as You are righteous.
Posted by: Pastor Davy Sim AT 07:35 pm
| Permalink
| Email
