The Bible Archive

In the
first of Jehovah’s messages through Jeremiah, the tender-hearted
prophet, and recorded in Jeremiah 2, there are a number of touching
questions: “What is wrong in Me?” (v. 5); “Why not inquire of Me?” (v.
6); “The priests ignore Me, why?” (v. 8); “Is there any nation so
whimsical as you?” (v. 11); “Why do you act as a spoiled servant?” (v.
14); “Why have you forsaken Me?” (v. 17); “Why do you hanker after
Egypt?” (v. 18), etc. The whole of the message is a series of
challenging and searching queries. But surely none are so pointed and
full of meaning as “Have I become a wilderness unto Israel?” (v. 31).
The Lord a wilderness to His redeemed ones?

At this point in
history, Israel
was a redeemed people ({{Ex 15:25}}). Slavery’s chains had been broken, and their foes
overwhelmed in the waters of the Red Sea. They
were led into a new and living way, which God had opened for them through the
place of death. Then they sang praises to God for so great a deliverance. After
three days’ journey, however, without finding water, they came to Marah, where
there was water; but so bitter they could not drink it. There are a few lessons
we may learn from this.

It is very instructive to note in the Scriptures the
engagements or circumstances which brought forth worship from believing men or
women. The attractiveness of divine worship, and the variety of events which
stirred that worship are both inspiring and informative.

There is no proper ground of worship except that the object of worship
have divine attributes. It is because the Lord Jesus is a divine
person, the Second Person of the Triune God and “God manifest in the
flesh,” that He is given and receives worship. His incarnation is set
forth in Scripture with crystal clearness and preeminence, because if
He is not truly man then His history is a myth; and if He be not God,
to worship Him is idolatry. For Him to receive worship is a robbery of
that glory which alone is due to God. That is why His deity and His
proper manhood are so clearly displayed in the Scriptures, why we find
both men and angels giving Him worship, and we find Him receiving that
worship.

A kiss has many meanings in Scripture. Joseph kissed all his brethren
as a token of reconciliation ({{Gen. 45:15}}). Orpah kissed Naomi, but
returned to her paganism in Moab, while Ruth “clave” to her
mother-in-law ({{Ruth 1:14}}). David kissed Jonathan in their final
farewell—a kiss of friendship ({{1 Sam. 20:41}}). The father of the
prodigal son “fell on his neck and kissed him” on the son’s return
({{Lk. 15:20}}). In the Church, Paul admonished believers to “greet ye
one another with an holy kiss” ({{1 Cor. 16:20}}).

The Lord’s death and resurrection, when viewed in connection with the
Old Testament dispensation, summed it up and brought it to an end. The
Lord remained on earth for forty days after His resurrection to prepare
His disciples for the new age of grace. During these days there were
appearances and disappearances. The appearances were necessary in order
to prove again and again that He was indeed risen from the dead. The
disappearances were necessary in order to school His disciples to live
by faith and not by sight since His bodily presence was soon to be
taken away. In this period there were seven important openings.({{Acts
1:3}})

Here is a matter which is often overlooked at the Lord’s Supper. It is
the Lord’s total destruction of the power of the enemy ({{Colossians
2:15}}). Satan’s power through the sin of his rebellion lay in the
setting up of a kingdom here on earth to forestall the kingdom which
God intended to establish through His beloved Son. This was a challenge
on the part of Satan to the dominion and authority of God, whose throne
is in the heavens and whose “kingdom ruleth over all” ({{Ps. 103:19}}).

It is the blessed habit of the saints to
especially remember our Lord at His own instituted remembrance feast. This
ought to be our hearty resolve each Lord’s Day. Nothing should be allowed to
disturb these moments of quiet and sacred remembrance. Then let us put aside
all worldly care, and all daily business, and all the griefs and sorrows of our
earthly pilgrimage, gathering to Him and with His saints in this feast of love.
({{1 Cor 10:17}})

Bishop Lightfoot has a good word in place of the phrase "evidently set
forth."({{Gal 3:1}}) It is the word placarded. The Lord and His atoning work on the
cross had been placarded before these Galatians. The message of His
Person and work had been clearly demonstrated before them. But now they
were falling back to the legalism of the Old Covenant. “O foolish
Galatians!” What folly is this to leave Christ for Moses—the gospel for
the law—justification by the righteousness of Christ which brings such
solid comfort, for justification by the works of the law which could
only bring their souls into bondage. The apostle was so astonished as
to call them foolish or senseless.

The Medo-Persian Empire rose out of the ashes of the
Babylonian Empire in 536 BC, at which time Cyrus (chart #3) offered the Jews
their liberty ({{Ezra 1:2-4}}). This was directly the result of Daniel’s prayer
(#2) for the restoration of Judah
when he discovered, in what we call {{Jeremiah 29:10}} (#1), that the captivity was
just about complete.

From the joyful worship that accompanied the dedication of Solomon’s temple to
the disastrous division of the tribes that resulted from Rehoboam’s foolish
pride; from the establishment of the unified dynasty of David’s son to the
depths of immorality that accompanied the reigns of most kings from Rehoboam to
Zedekiah; from the awe-inspiring revelation of the God of glory to the absolute
destruction of Solomon’s glorious temple by Nebuchadnezzar — 2 Chronicles is the
objective, unflinching record of a people who forsook obedience to the Lord and
fell from the golden days of Solomon’s rule to the bitter ashes of captivity in
Babylon, and this in less than 400 years.

It is an astonishing thing that we who have been
redeemed need a reminder of our Lord’s death on the cross. Yet it is so! If we
search our hearts and examine our ways, we shall find it is easy to forget. Our
Lord, who knows well the weakness and treachery of our human hearts, has made
provision for us to be constantly reminded. Thus He has established the memorial
feast with this intent, “This do in
remembrance of Me.”