Wednesday, January 11

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Jeremiah 26:1-6

Early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the Lord: “This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s house and speak to all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of the Lord. Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word. Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from his evil way. Then I will relent and not bring on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done. Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth.’”

I was reading the paper some time ago and came across an article that described a recent study done on the state of bridges in America. Among other things, the article said that the typical bridge is engineered for a life-span of about 50 years and that the average age of all the bridges in America is 42 years. Furthermore, research indicates that of the 26,000 bridges in the state of Illinois, over 2000 are “structurally deficient” – including 16 within 10 miles of Geneva. Now, I’m not an engineer – but I do occasionally drive over bridges from time to time – and those numbers make me just a little bit nervous!

Just as a trained engineer can study a bridge and identify its structural deficiencies, and then predict when and how that bridge might fail, so also the role of prophecy is to remind us of God’s word and warn of the consequences of failure to listen and obey.

The prophet Jeremiah served during a time when Judah (the southern kingdom of Israel) had rejected the sovereignty of the Lord their God.

Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth.’”

God is like an engineer looking at a bridge that has fallen into disrepair. He sees the problem and warns of what will happen if repairs are not made immediately. Judah is the bridge and the “structural deficiencies” are the sins of idolatry and complete disregard for God’s law. The role of the prophet is to remind the people of God that their sin will inevitably result in destruction, and that therefore they must repent and allow God to rebuild and restore them.

In a sense, of course, we are like the people of Judah. We may not bow down to pagan idols named Baal or Marduk, gods of the Canaanites and Babylonians, but we are tempted to worship before our own cultural gods of wealth and materialism. The “structural deficiencies” of our sin may not look like the sins of those ancient Hebrews, but they are sin nonetheless.

The prophet simply reminds us that God’s word is always true. Sin is always sin – and sin destroys. First it destroys our relationship with our holy God; then it destroys relationships with others; and finally it destroys us.

But thankfully, the good news is that when we admit our “structural deficiencies” – our weakness and sin – God promises to forgive, restore and rebuild us in his grace.

Through the prophet Ezekiel, God give us this promise:

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26

In the New Testament, the Apostle John says it this way:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

May we listen to the word of the Lord through his messengers; and may we surrender to his work or restoration in our lives.

Pastor Brian Coffey