2008-11-05 14:17:00
"You, O LORD, reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to generation" (Lamentations 5:19).
As God's children we are heirs to a kingdom that will last forever. Jeremiah proclaimed in our daily verse that, "You, O LORD, reign forever." What tremendous assurance this should bring to every believer reading this message today.
Jeremiah didn't make this proclamation of praise in the setting of an edifying worship service where devoted worshipers were excitedly lifting their voices in praise and thanksgiving. Instead he spoke these words even as he was acknowledging the desperation of his people and confessed that they had turned their backs against God. They were spoken during a time of social and spiritual chaos, as Judah's captivity to Babylon was imminent. The period leading up to the fall of Judah is instructive. During this time the nation slipped deeper and deeper into apostasy.
2 Chronicles 36 is a solemn record of the fall of Judah and the onset of the Babylonian Captivity. It records the final three Kings in Judah who were each described as doing "evil in the eyes of the Lord." It's not a pretty picture and without a doubt the people of the land endured grave consequences as a result of having wicked rulers that likely modeled and endorsed their own personal wickedness.
"The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through His messengers again and again, because He had pity on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked God's messengers, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against His people and there was no remedy" (2 Chronicles 36:15,16).
The passage ends with a phrase that greatly intrigues me, "and there was no remedy." There came a point when it's as if God essentially said "Enough is enough." We see this at other times in the Bible such as the flood and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. We also witness this wrath unfolding as temporal earthly kingdoms fell (Daniel 5). We will one day all see it at the culmination of the age.
Where is America as it is being weighed in the balance of God's holy vindication or any other country for that matter? When will it be determined by God that there is no remedy? Surely only God knows, but we must all be numbered among those the Scripture calls a "remnant." The remnant is those whose hearts remain true to God no matter the cost. At the time of Jeremiah's writing, the remnant of true followers would have included Jeremiah, Daniel, Meshach, Shadrach, Abednego and others whose names are not recorded in the Bible.
In our daily text God gave Jeremiah spiritual eyes to look beyond present extreme circumstances and declare, "Your throne endures from generation to generation." Now 2,600 years later all around the world we sing "Our God Reigns." We will be making this proclamation throughout eternity and we will be living it out. In a glimpse behind the veil in John's vision, recorded in the book of Revelation, we read, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever" (11:15). The King of kings will turn our days of mourning into joyous eternal dancing if we keep this extremely important perspective before us today!
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily Prayer: Dear Father, You were King of the heavens before time was begun and You will be King for all eternity. What joy and assurance that truth brings to our spirits today. Our temporal burdens are lightened when we transport our hearts to the New Jerusalem where there is no temple in the City because You, Lord God Almighty are the City's temple. The City won't need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because Your glory is its light, and the Lamb is the City's lamp. By its light the people of the world will walk. The City's gates will never be shut on any day, because there is no night there. Nothing unclean and no one who does shameful things or tells lies will ever go into it. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life will enter the City. Heal our land and forgive us of our sins. We want to walk earnestly with you on this earth and live with joyous anticipation of eternity in heaven. In the blessed name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
(See Revelation 21 for further encouragement and future blessing)
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