Month: March 2020

225. We will Find the Lord

Jeremiah 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

The promise is that we will seek the Lord and we will find Him. When we search for the Lord with all our heart the promise is that we will find Him. A part of this promise is that we will seek Him. Since we live in a world of sin and all kinds of problems we naturally look for answers and solutions. When we seek to know the Lord Jesus we find out that He is the answer.

But we do not find God so much as He finds us. He causes us to seek Him and to search for Him alone as the answer to our problems. Jesus says, “Seek and you will find.” He is the one who prompts us to seek Him. He uses the circumstances and the issues of our life to turn our hearts toward the Lord. The promise is that when we do seek the Lord and His kingdom we will find Him. When we have “found” Him and believe in Him then all the things we need will be given. The important thing is not that we have what we ask for, but the important thing is that we have Him. He wants us; He wants a close relationship with Him for He loves us. Knowing the Lord is the only thing we really need. When we have the Lord all the things we worry about will be added. But the first thing we seek is the Person, not just the things He gives.

Knowing the Lord is the goal, the end, the purpose, and the fulfillment of our life. We were created for Him, and without Him there is no life. With Him we have life and everything we need. The promise is that we will want God, we will seek Him, and we will find Him. When God draws us to Him and He captures us with His love He has what He wants and we have what we want: each other. The Holy Spirit leads us by the Gospel to seek the Lord and when we find Him we have it all. Finding the Lord = believing in Jesus. Then we have eternal life.

224. God will Listen

Jeremiah 29:12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

God promises to hear our prayers. The Lord has promised to hear our prayers so often that we cannot but receive this promise and believe it. Another promise is included in this verse: you will call upon me, and you will go and pray unto me. God promises us that we will do this. It is the Lord, the Spirit, who motivates us to pray, who leads us to pray, who guides us in our prayers, and even prays for us when we don’t always know how to articulate the prayer in the right words. The Spirit of God urges and prompts us to pray (instead of worrying or trying to do it by ourselves), He prays for us and through us, and He helps us in our prayers.

A part of the motivation to pray is the promise that He will hear. God lays the prayers upon the heart, we think His thoughts after Him, and so we pray because He promises to listen to our prayers and answer them. We pray that His will should be done. He moves us to pray His will, we pray it, and then He hears and answers our prayers. We do not need to be concerned if we pray for the wrong things, if we mess up the words, or even if we pray to spend on our own passions. The Spirit takes our less than perfect prayers and selfish prayers and works out His will according to His good and gracious will and perfect wisdom.

We also believe that the Lord answers more prayers than we think He does at first glance. Sometimes the answers come in ways that seem unrelated to what we wanted, but God grants answers according to what He wants, for our good. And He knows best. Nevertheless, we pray because He promises to listen to us. He knows what we need before we ask Him, but He still wants us to ask. God loves us and He loves to hear us talk to Him. Faith knows He hears. Faith waits for His answers.

223. Shall have Peace

Jeremiah 29:7 And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.

Jeremiah says to the Exiles in Babylon: You are going to be there for a while; so make the most of it. Be a blessing to the people of the land in which you are living. Seek the peace of the city and pray for it. Then the promise comes into effect: in the peace of the city you shall have peace. Settle down. Make a nest. Seek peace in your community. Pray for the people in the city in which you are sojourning. Then you will have peace even while you dwell among enemies.

All Christians are living in a foreign and strange land far away from Home with God in heaven. We are in “exile.” We have been rescued from the “world” and transferred into the kingdom of light. We have entered into heaven where God rules. But we remain dwelling in a land of darkness, in the midst of a dark world ruled by Sin and by the prince of the power of the air. We are called out of that world even while we still live in it.

Christians have been tempted to ignore the world (e.g., by entering a monastery), to try to leave the world and disassociate from it, even to criticize and condemn worldly people and their ungodly values. Instead, God calls His children to make a difference in the world and in the community in which they live. Disciples are salt and light. Their effect on the world around them is positive. We are meant to have an influence for good. Love not the world, but seek peace with and pray for the people in the world around you. When you have such a godly influence on your neighbors you will be able to live at peace in the midst of hostile enemies.

For the Jews, they were to live and pray for peace in Babylon, while holding on to the Word of God with its Morality and its Promises. For Christians, they are to seek peace and pray for the community, while focusing on Jesus by paying attention to the Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus says, “Be in the world, but not of the world.” Be a good citizen. Be a good neighbor. In the peace of the city that you help keep you shall have peace. This outward peace is effected by the inward peace that comes through justification by faith.

222. Restoration

Jeremiah 27:22 They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, saith the Lord; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.

The immediate prophecy is that the people of Israel will be exiled to Babylon, there the Lord will visit them, and then He will bring them up and restore them in their land. This prophecy came about as predicted.

By Scriptural extension, this becomes a promise for us and all believers in Christ, who are the people of God. We are in exile in the World, away from our home with God where we belong; Sin separated us from God and we exist in a far country. The Lord will visit us; the Lord did visit us when the Son of God became a human being and lived and died and rose on the earth in this Exile. God visited us exiles in a strange land, called the World. The Lord Jesus brought us up from bondage to Sin and living in a condemned world. He brought us into the kingdom of God. “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Through Baptism and faith we have entered the kingdom where we belong, where we are at home.

Then last of all, and most important, the Lord will restore us to our place. Our proper place is “with the Lord.” Jesus has gone to the Father’s house to prepare a place for us, and we shall be with the Lord forever in His house. This is complete restoration. To be restored to something implies that there was a something that we lost or was broken, and to be restored is to return to the place or condition we were in once before. What was that original situation or location? It was the perfect and holy paradise of God, the Eden from which Sin expelled us. We did not actually experience that place in our lifetime, but nevertheless we were there in Adam. Just as we were in Adam when he sinned, so also we were there when he enjoyed a perfect life in the Garden. 

We turn ahead to the end of the Book and we see that the restoration is actually greater than the original. The restored Paradise, the new heaven and the new earth, will be much grander than the first Paradise. [Revelation 21-22]. In Adam we remember what we lost; in Christ we anticipate what He found for us again, Paradise Restored. For now, Jesus gives us “times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.” Heaven received Jesus until the “time for restoring all things.”

221. God Repents of Evil

Jeremiah 26:13 Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.

A conditional promise: if you amend your ways and your doings and obey the Lord, then the Lord will repent of the evil He pronounced against you.  If you repent the Lord will repent. Our repentance is not the cause of God changing His mind. Rather, the Lord is able to change His mind from the judgment, which He always wanted to do anyway, because you are open to receiving the forgiveness of sins and The dispensing of judgment. Repentance and faith receives the forgiveness of sins and the change of heart.

Amending our ways and doings is simply turning to God for mercy and goodness instead of turning away from God. When we are turned away, or turned toward other gods and things, we make ourselves unavailable for the goodness of God. Amending is trusting in the Lord alone for everything. We are willing to let God be God and know that He is good. Amending our ways is sincere repentance and simple faith in the Gospel. 

When God looks at us without Christ in us, or without faith in Jesus, He can see only sin, and sin always deserves judgment, a pronounced evil. It is “pronounced” in that it wasn’t that we didn’t know about the consequences of sin. God said that bad things happen because of sin, and we know it. But when God looks at us in Christ, or with faith in Jesus, He can see only righteousness and sinless perfection; He sees Christ on the cross dying for our sins; He sees the resurrected life of Christ living in us by faith. 

Turn to Jesus and the Empty Tomb and the Lord will have mercy instead of judgment, good instead of evil. He gives righteousness in place of sin. Christ’s death causes God to change His mind from evil pronounced to mercy granted. Amending our ways is believing in Jesus and having eternal life.

220. A Heart to Know the Lord

Jeremiah 24:7And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.

God promises to give us a heart to know the Lord. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, who is God. Through the Gospel the Spirit gives us faith in the heart. This faith receives Jesus Christ, who is the Lord God. If we believe in Jesus we have seen the Father, and we know that He is the Lord God. We know especially that the Lord will be our God. With the work of the Spirit we may and can return unto the Lord with the whole heart any time.

Whenever we need to, and that is all the time, we return to the Lord in repentance and faith. Our hearts are filled God and with His Life. We may neglect or forget this truth from time to time, but when we hear the Gospel we return again and He is our God and we are His people. Just to know He is our God means that we are never alone, never without help, and never stuck in guilt, despair, doubt, depression, anxiety, or even worry. We find ourselves in these various negative moods usually because we forget that He is our God and we are His people.

If we are His people, then God is responsible for us and for our wellbeing, and if He is responsible then I can confidently leave it all in God’s good hands, rest in His comforts, trust in His care, and relax and know that the Lord is God. This is hard to believe when things are going badly, and it does not seem necessary to believe when things are going well. Therefore, we make every effort to tell ourselves the Gospel daily and hear the Gospel weekly, for in both good times and in bad we need to hear this Gospel promise: He is my God and I am His people. “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine [Song of Songs 6:3].”

219. God looks upon us for Good

Jeremiah 24:6 For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.

The immediate context of this promise applies to the people of Israel in Exile in Babylon. The Lord will bring them out of exile, in time, build them and plant them in the Land once again. This promise for Israel was fulfilled, and it continued until the time of Jesus. But in Jesus the spiritual aspect of this promise was fulfilled for all people.

The extension of the promise of bringing, building, and planting the people of God is explained and fulfilled in the New Testament through the Coming and the Event of Jesus Christ. “Repent, and believe the Gospel, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” The spiritual and eternal kingdom of God is the final and definitive promise of Land given to Abraham, Moses and David. God brings us into the Kingdom through the work of Jesus and by the working of the Holy Spirit through the Gospel of Christ. Not only does the Spirit bring us into the Kingdom through Word and Sacrament, but He also keeps us in it through the Gospel (He brings, builds and plants).

The wonderful promise that we can all take hold of by faith at all times, and especially in anxious times, is this: “I will set my eyes on you for good.” How does God feel about me? What does He think of me? What are His intentions for me? Does He have a plan? Yes, He does, and it is “for good.” We do not ever need to feel exiled, lost, forsaken or alone, because our Lord promises each believer that He is setting His eyes on him for good. God sees me, God knows me, and He does good for me. Believe the promise, live on the basis of this promise, and act like it is true. For it is.

218. Word like Fire and Hammer

Jeremiah 23:29 Is not my word like as a fire? Saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

This is not a promise we want; we don’t think we would appreciate it, at first glance. The promise is that God gives His Word so that it will act like a fire and like a hammer. We don’t want that; but it is necessary. Fire burns and hammers break. This promise means that the Word of God applies the Law to burn up sin and self, and the Word applies the Law to break up the stony and rocky hard heart.

We resist the Law because it burns and breaks. But we cannot receive the Gospel of life and salvation unless the heart is broken and the dross of self is burned. The Law is also compared to a plow that breaks up fallow ground that is hard and weedy and stony. The plow makes good soil that can receive the seed of the Gospel. When the seed of the Gospel falls on a good and honest heart it is believed and we are saved. Therefore, this word is a good promise: we can receive the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation.

The hard heart must be broken. When we break a commandment of God it is not the commandment that is broken, but it is the heart that breaks. One may break the law of gravity, but you will be broken, not the law of gravity. If we let the fire and hammer of the Law have its way on our own heart then we will be convicted of our sins; then the hardness of pride is softened, then the resistance of unbelief is broken up, and the guilt of sin is admitted and confessed. This repentance leads to faith in the Gospel. And this is good news.

Thank God for the Law and its threats that leads us to the Gospel with its promises. Thank God for the fire and the hammer. “A broken heart, O Lord, thou wilt not despise. Break up my fallow ground that I may receive your promises mixed with faith.”

217. A God at Hand

Jeremiah 23:23, 24 Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? Saith the Lord, Do not I fill heaven and earth? Saith the Lord.

The attribute of God called Omnipresence contains a threat or a warning and at the same time a promise. God is a God at hand, not a God afar off. Actually, God is far off in that he fills the furthest reaches of the universe; He is also at hand, as close to us as our lips and heart. He is personally intimate and simultaneously distant. He is all over; He is also present to us wherever we are and wherever we go. God has always been here, but we see Him in the manger and on the cross. Jesus is “God with us.” This is the God who is at hand: “The kingdom of God is at hand.”

The threat and warning aspect of this truth is that the Lord knows where we are and sees everything we are doing. We cannot hide ourselves in secret places, just like Adam tried to hide from the Lord God; he couldn’t. God knows when and how we have disobeyed His Commandments. He is so close He knows our thoughts. Nothing is hidden from Him; we don’t get away with it. The curse of sin is always real; the punishment of sin in unchanged and terrible; the power of sin to destroy is ever present. Believers take this threat seriously.

The promise of this omnipresent truth is that the Lord is with us, He is here, He is present. He is as close to us as our own bodies. The blessed promise is that He is at hand with His love, grace, forgiveness, help, deliverance from evil, and answers to our prayers. When we call unto the Lord we may whisper and even just approach Him in thought. We do not have to shout to the heavens, repeat the prayers, make sacrifices, makes bargains, or do anything. We simply believe the Promise. 

The Lord not only knows where we are and what we are thinking, but He also knows what we need and how to care for us. His love grants what is needed at the time we need it. We don’t have to wait for Him to come; He is already here, at hand.

216. Saved and Dwell Safely

Jeremiah 23:6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

“In his days” means the Messianic Age, all the days after Jesus came to earth. Judah and Israel signifies the Church of all believers in Christ. The promise refers to Jesus and the invisible Church: we will be saved (by Christ), and we will dwell safely (from sin and every evil).The cause of our salvation and dwelling safely is that the Messiah’s name is “The Lord our Righteousness.”

The name of our Savior is: 1) The Lord= Yahweh, which means, “I am that I am.” He is the Eternal One, ever existing, always there, Creator and Finisher, the only God, and everything that we think God is and much more than we can even think or imagine. Jesus is The I Am. Jesus is Yahweh. Jesus is Lord. God gave Him The Name and this name He gives to us who believe. The baptized carry the name of Yahweh (Jesus) on then, in them, and with them. All who believe in His Name He gave the authority to become children of God. 2) Our= us, the believers. The righteousness of God belongs to us; we own it, even though it is alien to us and outside of us. By faith we can truthfully say, “I am righteous.” 3) Righteousness= holiness, perfection, everything good and right, loving, kind, obedient and faithful. Negatively, it means the complete absence of sin and evil. It should be overwhelmingly amazing and tremendously awesome to us that God’s righteousness is ours, through Christ.

If we are righteous, which we are if we believe, then we are saved from all sin, evil, and enemies of the soul; then we rest comfortably because we dwell safely in the Kingdom of God. We have no fears, doubts, worries or anxieties. We are safe and secure forever in His hands by His name. We are delivered from evil. A wall of protection surrounds us. Sure, troubles, pains, woes, difficulties, problems and sorrows will always be a part of mortal life, but nothing can separate us from the love of Christ or the life of God, ever. Because of The Lord our Righteousness we are saved and we dwell safely.