TAKE TIME: June 30 - July 5, 2014 Schedule

Introduction: Last week God told Jeremiah how to answer if false prophets confronted him. Obviously, that meant that false prophets were going to confront him! This week we will see instances of that happening. We will also read the letter that Jeremiah wrote to those who had already been taken to Babylon as captives in the nation's earlier confrontations with Nebuchadnezzer. And we will read some great passages of hope! After all the depressing pronouncements in the earlier chapters of Jeremiah it will be nice to read some good news for a change!

 Assignment:

• Monday - Jeremiah chapter 27
• Tuesday - Jeremiah chapter 28
• Wednesday - Jeremiah chapter 29
• Thursday - Jeremiah chapter 30
• Friday - Jeremiah chapter 31
• Saturday - Jeremiah chapter 32

Memory Verse

The LORD hath appeared of old unto me saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee..  Jeremiah 31:3

Prayer Journal (ACTS)

• Adoration - Praise God that He loves eternally! We may talk about it, but God does it!
• Confession - Ask God to reveal hidden sin in your life and then confess it.
• Thanksgiving - Thank God for any answers to your prayers.
• Supplication - What are your prayer requests this week? List them for future reference so that you can see how God answers.

Search the Scriptures

Look for references for each of the following:

• Promises that God made and to whom He made them. Do they apply to you?
• References that either refer to or infer something about future events.
• What does this passage teach about Jesus?
• Commandments that God made and to whom He made them. Do they apply to you?

Putting the Word into Action

As bad as the situation was for Judah God still had Jeremiah deliver some messages of hope to those who needed to hear it. Those messages were the Old Testament equivalent of Romans 8:28. Perhaps you know someone who is going through some hard times. Without spouting platitudes or making empty promises, do whatever you can to cheer them up this week. Even people whose situations cannot get better could use encouragement to persevere no matter what.

Journal Through the Bible: Week 72 Wednesday

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Jeremiah 23:9-40

No longer was there even worship in God's house! The priests were as vulgar as the people they were to be leading in worship. A whirlwind (perhaps literal, perhaps figurative: I'm not sure) was coming from the LORD.

Does God issue any commands?

• God said that if a prophet had received a dream or a prophecy he should tell it truthfully. He said His Word is like a fire that burns the chaff and a hammer that breaks a rock to pieces. Therefore God said He was against those that stole His Word from the hearts of men. ("Rightly dividing the Word of Truth" [2 Tim. 2:15] is serious business!)
• God told Jeremiah that when the people, or a prophet, or a priest came to him to ask, "What is the burden of the LORD?" Jeremiah was to answer, "What burden? I will even forsake you! said the LORD." Every man's word was to be his burden. There would be no more burden (or message) from the LORD except that of the coming captivity because they had perverted the burden of the LORD. 
• God also told Jeremiah to turn the question back to any prophets who asked about the burden of the LORD by asking them what they had heard from God themselves.

Does God make any promises?

• God promised "slippery ways in the darkness" for the prophets and priests that were leading people into false worship. These slippery ways would lead to evil upon them.
• God would feed the lying prophets with wormwood and give them gall to drink. 
• God had told the false prophets to stop saying "The burden of the LORD" since they obviously had not received a burden from the LORD. Since they had not desisted, God said He would totally forget them, forsake them and the city that He had given their fathers. They would receive an everlasting reproach and a perpetual shame which would never be forgotten.

Does this passage teach anything about Jesus?

• Jeremiah gave the people a weather warning as a sign of the times. Jesus told His disciples of weather events that would happen before His coming. He also told them that men could make certain weather predictions by watching the sky but they could not discern the times in spite of the many signs around them.

Does this passage teach anything about yet-future events?

• The references to a whirlwind are reminders that the "weather forecasts" that Jesus told His disciples to watch.
• The warning to the false prophets who perverted the Word of God should strike fear into all who are careless with His Word today. In Jeremiah's day those lying preachers who misrepresented God were promised everlasting reproach and perpetual shame that would never be forgotten. Evidently their infamy will last throughout eternity. It's a fair warning to all of us not to misrepresent God and His Word.

Read Through the Bible in 2014: June 30 - July 5 Schedule

6/30/2014	I Kings 18, 19	II Timothy 3, 4
7/1/2014	I Kings 20:1-21:16	Hebrews 1
7/2/2014	I Kings 21:17-chapter 22	Hebrews 2, 3
7/3/2014	II Kings 1-3	Hebrews 4
7/4/2014	II Kings 4, 5	Hebrews 5
7/5/2014	II Kings 6-8	Hebrews 6, 7

Journal Through the Bible: Week 72 Tuesday

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Jeremiah 22:10-23:8

In this passage Jeremiah calls the son of Josiah that reigned after Josiah's death "Shallum." In other scriptures he is called Jehoahaz. It is the same person and the different name probably held some significance that we no longer know, perhaps a name assumed upon the ascension to the throne. Jehoahaz was not the oldest son of Josiah. That was Jehoiakim, also called in Eliakim in scripture. The people of Judah passed over the eldest son and placed the younger brother on the throne. (See II Kings 23:30)

Jehoiakim (so named by Pharoah-nechoh; birth name was Eliakim) followed his brother on the throne. Then Jehoiakim's son Jehoiachin/Jeconiah/Coniah reigned. Following Jeconiah, another son of Josiah assumed the throne. We read about him in yesterday's journal entry: Zedekiah, also known in scripture as Mattaniah. So three of Josiah's sons and one of his grandsons reigned on the throne of David. That's where it ended during that era. Now the throne of David awaits its eternal King.

Does God issue any commands?

• The people were told not to weep for the dead but to weep for their king that went away as a captive into Egypt (Jehoahaz/Shallum) because he would not return to the land of his nativity ever again.
• God told the nation to weep in mourning for their false gods because He had blessed them for many years but even in their youth, as a nation, they had not obeyed God's voice.

Does God make any promises?

• God promised woe unto the man that built himself a glorious house without paying the laborers their wages. Specifically, He is talking about Jehoiakim. The people would not weep for him when he died but would bury him like they would an animal. (He died in Jerusalem. See II Kings 24:5-6)
• God said that everyone would be ashamed and confounded when all their friends had gone into captivity. (Many of the other nations with which they had attempted to align themselves were also taken captive by Babylon.)
• God promised to reject Coniah as his signet ring and to him into captivity by both the Babylonians and the Chaldeans. Jeconiah would die in a foreign country.
• God promised that no man descended from Jeconiah would ascend the throne of David. 
• God pronounced a curse upon the pastors that scatter His sheep. Those pastors would be visited with the evil of their doings.
• God promised to gather the remnant of His flock out of the countries where He had driven them and will bring them into their folds where they would be fruitful.
• God said that the time would come when the Jewish people would no longer say that the LORD lives that brought them up out of the land of Egypt but would say the LORD lives which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country and from all countries where He had driven them.

Does this passage teach anything about Jesus?

• The curse against Jeconiah in 22:30 is a very important one when it comes to Jesus. None of Jeconiah's descendants could sit on the throne of David. Joseph, Jesus' stepfather, was directly descended from Jeconiah. (See Matthew chapter 1.) Joseph had a legal claim to the throne of David but the Jews were ruled by Rome in his lifetime. Jesus was not descended from King David through Joseph's bloodline because Joseph was not His father. Jesus had no physical father. Jesus is the physical descendant of King David though through His mother, Mary, and is therefore a royal heir. Since He was not descended from Jeconiah the curse did not apply to Him.
• Jesus is the total opposite of the evil shepherds that scatter the sheep. He is the Good Shepherd of John chapter 10.
• Jesus is the righteous Branch and the King that will reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
• Jesus is THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Does this passage teach anything about yet-future events?

• Jeconiah's descendants will never inherit the throne of David, but Jesus will forever reign on David's throne as his descendant and heir through the line of Mary who was not descended from Jeconiah.
• God is still gathering His flocks and bringing them into the folds. Physically this is happening with the nation of Israel but it also has a future implication. All that are of spiritual Israel will one day gather in the New Jerusalem where they will be fruitful and where their leaders will feed them. There will be no more fear.
• The time will come when David's righteous Branch and the King will reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. He shall reign in Israel as THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Journal Through the Bible: Week 72 Monday

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Jeremiah 21:1-22:9

King Zedekiah (see II Kings 24:17) sent a different man named Pashur and a man named Zephaniah (not to be confused with the prophet of the same name that has an Old Testament book named for him) to ask Jeremiah to inquire of the LORD concerning Zedekiah's troubles with the king of Babylon. Zedekiah was suddenly interested in having the LORD'S help fighting against Nebuchadnezzar. He was like many people who have no interest in God unless they need Him for something!

Does God issue any commands?

• God told Jeremiah to tell the messengers sent from the king of Judah to tell him that God Himself would be fighting against Judah in the battle between Judah and Babylon. Many of the people would die of pestilence, famine, and sword but some of those that remained, including the king, would be taken into captivity. (This was totally contrary to what the king wanted! He was hoping God would fight on Judah's side. Obviously, no one had taken Jeremiah's warning messages seriously!)
• God told the people that they had come to a fork in the road. They could choose life or they could choose death. Unfortunately, the way of life was treasonous against the government of Judah.  Those that surrendered to the Chaldeans would live. Those that remained in the city would die.
• God told Zedekiah as the representative of the House of David that he should execute proper justice in the court to help the oppressed victims, those who had been attacked by violent offenders, the widows and orphans, and the innocent and if he didn't God's justice would come down like fire to punish him for his corrupt court.
• God also told the people that lived in the valley and on the rock of the plain who considered themselves safe from their enemies that He would kindle a fire in the forest that would destroy their homes.

Does God make any promises?

• God promised judgment upon the king and upon the people. (This was the agreed-upon condition of the covenant since its inception with the generation that settled in the land after their parents had left Egypt. God was just delivering what was promised after the people defaulted on their part of the agreement.)
• God promised Zedekiah that if he would execute proper judgment in the courts the House of David would continue to rule safely in Jerusalem but if he didn't that House would become a desolation.

Does this passage teach anything about Jesus?

• The House of David was meant to rule Israel forever, but the corrupt kings, including Zedekiah, were the direct opposite of the type of ruler God planned for them. They were supposed to be Godly men who ruled in God's righteousness. Therefore Zedekiah is the antithesis of Jesus. 

Does this passage teach anything about yet-future events?

• God told Zedekiah that the rule of the House of David would be interrupted with the coming captivity. God had also previously promised David that his House would rule forever. The time is coming when the Offspring of David will rule Israel on His Father's throne forever.

Journal Through the Bible: Week 71 Saturday

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Jeremiah chapter 20

Jeremiah's persecution began. And it was a major religious leader of the time that beat him and put him in the stocks!

The experience plunged Jeremiah into despair! He cursed the day of his birth much like Job did many years before him.

Does God issue any commands?

• Jeremiah is told what to say to Pashur.

Does God make any promises?

• Through Jeremiah God pronounced a curse upon Pashur, the son of Immer the priest, who beat and imprisoned Jeremiah. Pashur would witness the deaths of his friends at the hands of the Babylonians. Pashur and his family would go into captivity. Pashur would die in Babylon.

Does this chapter teach anything about Jesus?

• Jeremiah experienced the same situation that made Jesus say that a prophet is not without honor except in his own country. Those most familiar with Jeremiah were the same ones that accused and abused him. The same could be said of Jesus.
• Jeremiah was hated for his message but he claimed the LORD was with him. Jesus was hated for His message, too, but He also claimed that the LORD was with Him.

Does this chapter teach anything about yet-future events?

Journal Through the Bible: Week 71 Friday

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Jeremiah chapter 19

Does God issue any commands?

• God told Jeremiah to go buy an earthen bottle and gather the elders of the people and priests for a field trip to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom where God would give Jeremiah a message for them.
• After pronouncing the curses of God in the Valley of the Son of Hinnon Jeremiah was to break the bottle and say that even so would God break this people and this city.

Does God make any promises?

• God promised that the valley in which they stood (which is where they sacrificed their children, burnt incense to Baal, and filled the land with innocent blood) would no longer be called Tophet or Hinnom but The Valley of Slaughter because the people would die there by their enemies' swords.
• God promised such famine that the people's wickedness would plunge them even into cannibalism.

Does this chapter teach anything about Jesus?

• Jeremiah was a messenger to the people of Jerusalem. Jesus was a messenger to the people of Jerusalem.
• The place in the Valley of Tophet or Son of Hinnom where the ceremonial sacrifice of Jewish infants took place later became the ever-burning garbage dump in the Valley of Gehenna which Jesus used as a visual when teaching about Hell.

Does this chapter teach anything about yet-future events?

• The metaphor of the Valley of Tophet (where the abominable sin of burning live infants as sacrifices took place!) was called by God The Valley of Slaughter. It later became the Valley of Gehenna, the ever-burning place of refuse where Jesus taught about Hell. This passage then teaches about the abominations of false-worship that will lead to an eternity in Hell. 

Journal Through the Bible: Week 71 Thursday

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Jeremiah chapter 18

Does God issue any commands?

• God told Jeremiah to go to the potter's house where He would talk to him.
• God sent Jeremiah to the inhabitants of Judah, specifically the men of Jerusalem, to tell them of the evil the LORD would bring their direction for their destruction if they did not turn from their wickedness. (The men refused. See verse 12.)
• God told the men of Judah to ask among the heathen nations who had heard of such evil things!

Does God make any promises?

• God declares Himself the potter that builds up nations to be trophies of righteousness or destroys those that are marred by sinfulness. An evil nation would have the opportunity to repent to avoid this destruction.
• Because the men of Judah refused to listen to Jeremiah's call to repentance God promised to make their land desolate. God would turn His face away from them.

Does this chapter teach anything about Jesus?

• God turns His face away from sin. He did this to Judah when they had forsaken Him. Because Jesus carried our sins to the cross, God turned His face away from Jesus.
• The prayers of Jeremiah to God during the time when his enemies sought to harm him because of the words that he preached are very much like some of the imprecatory psalms of David. Jesus is the Righteous Judge that renders to each the sentence earned.
• Unlike Jeremiah who asked God to bring about the harshest punishment for the religious leaders who wished to harm him, Jesus asked God the Father to forgive those who harmed Him because He said they did not know what they were doing.

Does this chapter teach anything about yet-future events?

• This chapter teaches about judgment. Those who denounce God will be punished. Those who harm God's prophets will be punished. There is a definite distinction made concerning the future of those who obey God and those who don't. As it was in the day of Jeremiah, so shall it be in the final days.
• God had already told Jeremiah what the penalty would be for the wicked that chose to disobey Him and when they tried to lay hands on Jeremiah he agreed with God that the wicked needed to be punished just as God said they must. It is hard for us to think of what awaits those who choose to disobey God, but when the time of judgment arrives we will agree with God that the sentence God pronounces is just and must be carried out. This is taught in Revelation also when those around God's throne ask how long it will be until God avenges those martyred for naming the name of Jesus.

Journal Through the Bible: Week 71 Wednesday

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Jeremiah chapter 17

Does God issue any commands?

• God told Jeremiah to go stand in the king's gate and preach to the king the message sent from God, specifically a message telling them to observe the sabbath day.

Does God make any promises?

• God states that Judah's sins are graven upon the table of their heart with a pen of iron made with a point of a diamond. Because of these sins the substance of the people would become spoils and the people would go into captivity.
• God pronounced a curse upon people who depend on other people for their ultimate protection.
• God said that the man who trusted in the LORD would be blessed like tree planted by the waters. (See Psalm 1 in comparison)
• God promised that He would search each heart and reward each person according to the fruit of their doings.
• God promised blessings to the throne of Judah and the descendants of David if they would institute the observation of the sabbath day once more. But if they would not, a fire would be kindled that would devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

Does this chapter teach anything about Jesus?

• Jesus is the judge that searches the hearts and who will reward each person according to the fruit of their doings.
• Jesus is the refuge of the righteous in the day of evil.

Does this chapter teach anything about yet-future events?

• The day of judgment when each person will be rewarded according to the fruit of his or her doings is yet to come for us.

TAKE TIME: June 23-28 Reading Schedule

Introduction: God continues to speak to Jeremiah and Jeremiah continues to prophecy against the nation of Judah. But even as Jeremiah denounces the last kings of Judah who descended from David he delivers a message of hope as he tells of the future king of Israel who is descended from David!

 Assignment:

• Monday - Jeremiah 21:1-22:9
• Tuesday - Jeremiah 22:10-23:8
• Wednesday - Jeremiah 23:9-40
• Thursday - Jeremiah chapter 24
• Friday - Jeremiah chapter 25
• Saturday - Jeremiah chapter 26

Memory Verse

Behold the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.  Jeremiah 23:8

Prayer Journal (ACTS)

• Adoration - Praise God for being your King!
• Confession - Ask God to reveal hidden sin in your life and then confess it.
• Thanksgiving - Thank God for any answers to your prayers.
• Supplication - What are your prayer requests this week? List them for future reference so that you can see how God answers.

Search the Scriptures

Look for references for each of the following:

• Promises that God made and to whom He made them. Do they apply to you?
• References that either refer to or infer something about future events.
• What does this passage teach about Jesus?
• Commandments that God made and to whom He made them. Do they apply to you?

Putting the Word into Action

We have read often of the intercessory prayers that Jeremiah made on behalf of specific people and for his nation in general. Make a list of people that require your prayers. Go beyond the illness list mentality! There is nothing wrong with praying for the physical health of people, but what is really required now is prayer for spiritual health! Get serious about fervently praying and interceding for those who are spiritually ill!

Read Through the Bible in 2014: June 23-28 Schedule

6/23/2014	Ecclesiastes 6-8	II Peter 3
6/24/2014	Ecclesiastes 9, 10	Philippians 1
6/25/2014	Ecclesiastes 11, 12	Philippians 2
6/26/2014	I Kings 12, 13	Philippians 3
6/27/2014	I Kings 14, 15	Philippians 4
6/28/2014	I Kings 16, 17	II Timothy 1, 2

Journal Through the Bible: Week 71 Tuesday

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Jeremiah 15:10 - 16:21

The people of God had polluted and desecrated the land of God with their false-worship. Instead of being a shining witness of God's goodness to the Gentiles they had given them the impression that Judah's LORD was nothing more than the work of men's hands.

Does God issue any commands?

• God told Jeremiah not to return to the vile but let them come to him if they wish to confront him.
• God told Jeremiah not to marry and or have children due to the sorrows that were about to descend upon Judah.
• God told Jeremiah not to go to the houses of feasting (celebrations and parties: weddings, etc.).

Does God make any promises?

• God promised Jeremiah that it would be well with the remnant and that He would cause the enemy to treat their captives well.
• God promised Jeremiah that the vile men who would confront him and wish him harm would not prevail against him because God would redeem him out of the hands of the wicked.
• Many of the children would die in the siege and their parents would be greatly bereaved. (He told Jeremiah not to marry for this reason.)
• The day would come when the people would no longer say, "The LORD lives that brought up the Children of Israel out of Egypt" but will say "The LORD lives that brought up the Children of Israel out of the land of the north." In other words, God promised that a remnant would return to the land.

Does this chapter teach anything about Jesus?

• Through the blood of Jesus, God has promised to redeem us out the hand of the wicked!

Does this chapter teach anything about yet-future events?

• God was angry in the days of Jeremiah because His land (Israel) was polluted with many idols and the worship of false gods. Conditions are much the same today. God will purge His land once more and will take permanent possession of it. (This is what the book of Revelation says about the future of the land of Israel.)

Journal Through the Bible: Week 71 Monday

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Jeremiah 14:1 - 15:9

God told Jeremiah of a coming drought that would affect man and beasts. Jeremiah responded with a prayer for God not to leave them. God responded with a command to Jeremiah. Jeremiah prayed a total of three times. Each time God answered him.

Does God issue any commands?

• After Jeremiah prayed and asked God not to be as a stranger to His people God told Jeremiah to stop making intercessory prayer for the good of the people because the people were marked for destruction.
• God sent Jeremiah to weep in front of the people and to tell them that their relationship with the LORD God was broken.
• Jeremiah was to answer the people who asked him where they would go that those appointed to the sword would go to the sword, those who were appointed to death would die, those that were appointed to be captives would go into captivity.

Does God make any promises?

• God would not hear the prayers nor accept the sacrifices of the wicked.
• God promised to send the sword and famine to destroy the false prophets who were giving the people false hope because they were misrepresenting God by lying. God had not sent these prophets!

Does this chapter teach anything about Jesus?

• The prayers of Jeremiah are very much like the prayers of Jesus on the cross. Both asked why God had forsaken His beloved. In each case the answer is "sin."
• God told Jeremiah that He would not turn His heart toward the wayward people if Moses or Samuel stood before Him as intercessor. Moses was a prophet and Samuel was a priest. Both had interceded on behalf of the people at some point in history. But Jesus is the Prophet and Priest worthy of making intercession for sinners because He alone had no sin of His own whereas both Moses and Samuel were sinners.

Does this chapter teach anything about yet-future events?

• Each person had an appointment with death or captivity. God was weary of meaningless repentance and the nation of Judah came to an end. One day God's patience will end, He will grow weary of meaningless repentance and the nations of the world will end.

Journal Through the Bible: Week 70 Saturday

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Jeremiah chapter 13

After God gives Jeremiah the lessons of the girdle and the wine bottles and tells him that He will have no mercy upon the Israelites, yet through Jeremiah He makes another desperate appeal to the people to repent!

Does God issue any commands?

• God commanded Jeremiah to go get a linen girdle (a belt) and wear it but not to wash it.
• Later God told Jeremiah to take that linen girdle and place it in a hole of a rock near the Euphrates.
• Many days later God told Jeremiah to go back to the Euphrates and retrieve the linen girdle that he had placed in the hole of the rock.
• God told Jeremiah to tell the people that every wine bottle would be filled and to teach them the lesson of them.

Does God make any promises?

• God promised to humble His people, the people that He wore close to His body like a man would a belt, because they were evil and marred as the girdle Jeremiah had.
• Because of their fear, the kings, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem would be filled with drunkenness. 
• God would have no pity for the people or show mercy to them because they constantly ignored the pleadings of God through His prophets to turn their hearts back to Him.
• God would scatter His people

Does this chapter teach anything about Jesus?

• Jesus is the Rock. Those who are righteous and are hidden in the cleft of the Rock will not be marred but those who remain in their unrighteousness will be marred. As in this passage, the pride of the unrighteous will be ruined and they will be good for nothing.

Does this chapter teach anything about yet-future events?

• As much as it hurts God to turn away from those He created and loves, the day is coming when He will no longer have pity upon those who reject Him. There will be no mercy shown when each person meets God whether that be at the time of an individual's death or when God declares this age to be at an end.

Journal Through the Bible: Week 70 Friday

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Jeremiah chapter 12

Jeremiah asks God the age-old question, "Why do the wicked prosper?"

God answers, "If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? . . . I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage. I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies."

Does God issue any commands?

• God asks Jeremiah how he would persevere when things got tougher if he couldn't make it through the present troubles.

Does God make any promises?

• The sword would devour from one end of the land to the other.
• God promised that one day His heritage, the Israelites, would return to the land again.

Does this chapter teach anything about Jesus?

• Israel was the dearly beloved of God's soul and yet He gave her unto her enemies because of her wickedness. Jesus was the dearly beloved of God's soul and yet He gave Him unto His enemies because of our wickedness.

Does this chapter teach anything about yet-future events?

• Israel is still God's heritage, His dearly beloved. His plans for her are outlined in the book of Revelation.

Journal Through the Bible: Week 70 Thursday

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Jeremiah 10:19 - 11:23

Chapter 10 ends with Jeremiah's sorrowful prayer. He grieves over the insight he has been given concerning the future of his nation, he prays for forgiveness and mercy for himself, and he petitions God for punishment upon those who dare to touch God's people.

Chapter 11 begins with God's command to Jeremiah to preach once more of Judah's covenant with Him. It ends with God's curse upon the men of Anathoth, where Jeremiah and some of the priests lived (see 1:1), who conspired to kill Jeremiah. Jeremiah asked to be able to witness God's vengeance upon them.

Does God issue any commands?

• God told Jeremiah to tell the men of Judah of the covenant that Israel made with God in the days of the Exodus and remind them of the curses that were to come upon those who did not keep the covenant.
• God told Jeremiah to preach the words of the covenant in the streets of Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah and to tell the people to obey the covenant and the commands of the LORD.
• God told Jeremiah to stop praying for the wicked people of Judah because the people would not listen to God because they were happy in their sin so God would not listen to their cries in the day they were taken captive.

Does God make any promises?

• God promised to bring upon Judah the curses that went along with the covenant because they would not repent and return to the agreement they had made with Him.
• God promised to punish the men of Anathoth for their plans to kill Jeremiah. The young men would die by the sword and their children would die from famine.

Does this passage teach anything about Jesus?

• Jeremiah's life was in jeopardy because the religious community did not like his message of repentance and grace. Jesus' life was also constantly in jeopardy for the same reason.

Does this passage teach anything about yet-future events?

• If current time mimics the message of Jeremiah, we are told that God's message of a covenant relationship with men is still being proclaimed but it is being ignored and the messengers are hated for preaching it which will ultimately bring about devastation to those who conspire to hurt those messengers.

Journal Through the Bible: Week 70 Wednesday

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Jeremiah 9:9 - 10:18

Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD. (9:23-24)

Does God issue any commands?

• The LORD of hosts told Jeremiah to call the professional women mourners that they would wail and grieve the coming destruction of Jerusalem.
• Through Jeremiah, the people of Judah are told not to be dismayed by astrological "signs" in the heavens. In other words, they were not to follow astrology (note: not to be confused with astronomy which is the actual scientific study of stars and planets).
• Through Jeremiah the people were told not to pay any attention to the idols that men had made by cutting wood and adorning it with silver and gold. Such man-made idols had to be carried because they could not walk so they certainly had no power to do good or evil.
• The people also were to ignore the fancy gold and silver idols from Tarshish and Uphaz that were adorned in fine clothing. These were also fashioned by the cunning hands of men.

Does God make any promises?

• Jerusalem would be rubble.
• The people would be scattered. God would feed them with wormwood and the water of gall.
• There would be no one to bury the fallen.
• God would punish the circumcised by the uncircumcised nations because those who were circumcised in the flesh had uncircumcised hearts.
• The land would be cleansed because of the idolatrous practices of the inhabitants but God still claimed the land as an inheritance for the remnant of Jacob. (Israel turned out to be as idolatrous as the nations that God had displaced to make a homeland for Israel.

Does this passage teach anything about Jesus?

• Jesus is the LORD of hosts.
• Jesus is the King of Nations.
• Jesus is God the Creator who made the earth by His power and established the world by his wisdom, stretched out the heavens by his discretion. He also is the One that controls the courses of the water cycle and winds.

Does this passage teach anything about yet-future events?

• At God's anger the earth shall tremble.
• Israel is still the rod of the LORD'S inheritance. The land will one day be cleansed and given to the righteous remnant as an eternal inheritance.

Journal Through the Bible: Week 70 Tuesday

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Jeremiah 8:4-9:8

God continued to tell Jeremiah the sermon that he must preach at the gate of the Temple. Jeremiah preached the sermon and then grieved when no one would listen.

Does God issue any commands?

• God continued the sermon that Jeremiah was to preach at the gate of the Temple.
• God told the people not to trust in their relatives or neighbors in the time of trouble because each person would lie, deceive, and only be concerned for himself.

Does God make any promises?

• Because the people trusted in their status of being known as God's people to whom He gave His commandments and not actually as people who kept those commandments, God promised that their families, possessions, and lands would be taken from them and given to others.
• The people could no longer even blush when they did wickedly therefore God promised their destruction.

Does this passage teach anything about Jesus?

• Jeremiah lamented that the harvest was past because the summer of grace had ended. Jesus told His followers that in these last days the time of harvest has not ended but is quickly coming so we must work while it is still day!
• Jesus was hurt for the daughter of His people. 
• Jesus is the physician in Gilead. People can run to Him and be spiritually healed.

Does this passage teach anything about yet-future events?

• The time of harvest (days of grace) are quickly coming to an end just as they were in the day of Jeremiah. Then comes the judgment.

Journal Through the Bible: Week 70 Monday

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Jeremiah 7:1-8:3

Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD. (Jeremiah 7:11)

Does God issue any commands?

• God told Jeremiah to stand in the Temple gate and preach the word of the LORD to all of Judah that entered there, telling them to listen to what God had to say! (It was a message of peace if they would repent!)
• God commanded the people through Jeremiah to amend their worship. He desired real worship and not just attendance to the Temple ceremonies. They had made the Temple one of their idols! True worship would show in the ways they dealt with their neighbors, how they cared for strangers and widows, and in the turning away from their idols. 
• God told Jeremiah to stop making intercessory prayer and sacrifices for the nation of Judah. (7:16, 21)
• At the end of the sermon Jeremiah was to preach at the gate of the Temple he was to remind them that God had sent prophets since the time of the Exodus to exhort the people to worship the LORD with pure hearts but theirs was a nation that obeyed not the LORD. 
• God told Jerusalem to "cut off her hair," a symbolic reference to the command in Numbers chapter 5 for an unfaithful wife to have her head uncovered and for a slave woman who is to be married to the captor to have her head shaved. Since hair is the woman's crown of glory it is a sign of jealousy and humility for the woman to forcibly have her hair taken from her in such a way. God was stating that Jerusalem had been unfaithful to Him and that they should be ashamed. (7:29)

Does God make any promises?

• God promised that if they would truly worship Him those individuals would live forever in the land given to their fathers.
• God promised that He would destroy Solomon's Temple just as He had destroyed Shiloh in the days of Eli.
• God promised to cast those of Judah out of His sight just as He had done to the northern kingdom of Israel.
• Even the graves of the kings, priests, royal family, and prophets would be desecrated in Judah at the time of the siege. (8:1-3)

Does this chapter teach anything about Jesus?

• Jesus also stood in the Temple and in the synagogue and preached the Word of God those who came to Jerusalem to "worship" God, warning them of the consequences of worshiping in ritual and not with hearts full of love for God.
• The way the that the people were sinning openly and then appearing in the Temple to go through the ritual of making sacrifices to God with the belief that as long as they were following the rituals they were absolved of any guilt made God declare that His people had made His House a den of thieves. Jesus quoted this passage and referred to these practices when He overthrew the tables of the Temple money changers and told the people that their worship ritual was faulty.

Does this chapter teach anything about yet-future events?

• The land was given to the Jews forever. It will be their land forever.
• The people would try to hide themselves in graves and caves in order to hide from the ones that pursued them. They would try to kill themselves instead of face their captors. Rev.9:6 describes just such a scenario during the time of great Tribulation.

TAKE TIME: Off for this week in June!

I'm behind!

(Again!)

One of the reasons for this is explained above. :)

Ours was last week and it left me no time to update my Bible journal. You, too, perhaps? Let's not dig the hole any deeper but let's work instead to fill in the hole that has already been dug. 

Hopefully everything will be back on track soon.

Read Through the Bible in 2014: June 16-21

6/16/2014	I Kings 10, 11	I Peter 1
6/17/2014	Song of Solomon 1-3	I Peter 2, 3
6/18/2014	Song of Solomon 4, 5	I Peter 4
6/19/2014	Song of Solomon 6-8	I Peter 5
6/20/2014	Ecclesiastes 1-3	II Peter 1
6/21/2014	Ecclesiastes 4, 5	II Peter 2

TAKE TIME: June 9-14, 2014 Schedule

Introduction: As Jeremiah's warnings to Judah increase so does his persecution by those who do not like his messages.

 Assignment:

• Monday - Jeremiah 14:1-15:9
• Tuesday - Jeremiah 15:10-16:21
• Wednesday - Jeremiah chapter 17
• Thursday - Jeremiah chapter 18
• Friday - Jeremiah chapter 19
• Saturday - Jeremiah chapter 20

Memory Verse

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?  Jeremiah 17:9

Prayer Journal (ACTS)

• Adoration - Praise God for being One who encourages. He knows exactly when the hard times will end.
• Confession - Ask God to reveal hidden sin in your life and then confess it.
• Thanksgiving - Thank God for any answers to your prayers.
• Supplication - What are your prayer requests this week? List them for future reference so that you can see how God answers.

Search the Scriptures

Look for references for each of the following:

• Promises that God made and to whom He made them. Do they apply to you?
• References that either refer to or infer something about future events.
• What does this passage teach about Jesus?
• Commandments that God made and to whom He made them. Do they apply to you?

Putting the Word into Action

Continue with recent assignments of warning others of God's plans for the future and praying for results in the hearts of the individual hearers.

Read Through the Bible in 2014: June 9-14 Schedule

6/9/2014	II Samuel 21, 22	Colossians 4
6/10/2014	II Samuel 23, 24	I Timothy 1, 2
6/11/2014	I Kings 1, 2	I Timothy 3, 4
6/12/2014	I Kings 3-5	I Timothy 5, 6
6/13/2014	I Kings 6, 7	Titus 1
6/14/2014	I Kings 8, 9	Titus 2, 3

Journal Through the Bible: Week 69 Saturday

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Jeremiah chapter 6

Does God issue any commands?

• The children of Benjamin were told to flee Jerusalem and blow the trumpet in Tekoa and to set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem because of the evil that was coming out of the north.
• God told the people to return to the paths of righteousness so that they would find rest for their souls but the people responded by refusing His offer.

Does God make any promises?

• Jerusalem's palaces would be destroyed.
• The inhabitants of the land would be taken both young and old.
• Everyone would call the captives "reprobate silver" because the LORD had rejected them.

Does this chapter teach anything about Jesus?

• This passage describes the paths of righteousness just as the psalms do. Jesus is the Shepherd that leads on the paths of righteousness. He also preached to the crowds that the gate is straight and the way is narrow that one must enter and follow. That is the path of righteousness and that "way" is Jesus and Jesus only.

Does this chapter teach anything about yet-future events?

• God compares the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman. In Revelation He compares her to a bride adorned in wedding attire.

Journal Through the Bible: Week 69 Friday

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Jeremiah chapter 5

Does God issue any commands?

• Remember how God told Abraham He would spare Sodom if there were only 10 righteous in the city? God told Jeremiah to go through the streets of Jerusalem to see if he could find a man who used proper judgment. Even though there were some that said they knew the LORD their actions proved otherwise.
• God told Jeremiah to preach throughout Judah warning them that with their rebellion they were bringing judgment upon themselves.

Does God make any promises?

• God promised to send wild beasts among the insolent people who refused to repent of their adulteries and as a result led even their children astray.
• God promised to make Jeremiah's words as fire and the people as wood to be devoured.
• God promised not to utterly annihilate the Jews by the Babylonians.

Does this chapter teach anything about Jesus?

• God is depicted as a warrior and as the creator in this chapter. Both of these attributes describe Christ.

Does this chapter teach anything about yet-future events?

• In that day the people were given warnings that judgment was imminent when God caused certain events to happen but the people stated that they were natural occurrences that God had no part in doing. This is the state of things today. There are warnings being given by God that prophesied events are imminent but many people scoff at the idea that God is sending them. 

Journal Through the Bible: Week 69 Thursday

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Jeremiah chapter 4

God grieves over the coming destruction of Judah. This is a very poignant passage that tells of the true heart of God, the One who must judge evil but finds no delight in it.

My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment. How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? For my people is foolish, they have not known me, they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil but to do good they have no knowledge. (verses 19-22)

Does God issue any commands?

• In an earnest appeal to Judah, God told them to break up the fallow ground of their hearts and not to sow among the thorns.
• God told Jeremiah to declare in Judah and publish in Jerusalem the warning that if the people would not repent terror would come from the north and their cities would be wasted.

Does God make any promises?

• God promised that if the Jews would return to Him and put away all their abominations He would not remove them.
• The king, the princes, and the priests would lose heart when the time of the siege came upon Jerusalem.

Does this chapter teach anything about Jesus?

• Jesus is The LORD that liveth in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness, and the One in whom all nations would bless themselves in Him, and see His glory.

Does this chapter teach anything about yet-future events?

• God described the time of creation in this passage and compared it to the time of judgment. Once sin entered the world the whole earth mourned. God mourned, too. This passage just described the time of judgment upon Judah but one day such a time will come to the whole earth. Judgment must come but God takes no delight in it. The wages of sin is death and payday eventually comes.