Repentance leads to …
by Mark Schubert
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Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from their evil ways. Then I will relent and not inflict on them the disaster I was planning (Jeremiah 26:3).
Jeremiah had a tough job. He was a prophet, so he was to speak for God and say his word.
He had to proclaim the truth – that the king and people of Judah had spurned God’s love. They had worshipped other gods and relied on Egypt to defend them. They were like a wife, unfaithful to her husband, chasing after other lovers.
The message was that because of this, God was planning to destroy them, their city, and the temple. Perhaps this judgement would cause them to repent, and God, always willing to forgive and give a new start, would not bring on them the disaster they deserved.
This was not a popular message that Jeremiah spoke – so they seized him and said, ‘You must die!’ (verse 8).
Jeremiah protested his innocence, ‘in truth the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing’ (verse 15). The people were convinced by him, and he was reprieved.
This reminds us of Jesus. He was the prophet predicted by Moses, who not only spoke God’s word but was the Word himself. He came to his own people, but they rejected him, just like they had Jeremiah. He was the bridegroom, loving, giving himself to them, but the religious leaders trusted rules and their own obedience.
Jesus talked of God’s judgement on those who rejected him and his love for them, always looking for repentance and trust in him. Again, not a popular message to those sure of their own goodness, so Jesus was seized and condemned to die. His defence was that he spoke only the truth.
But the people were led by their religious leaders, and the innocent Son of God died an agonising death.
This was not just the death of a prophet – a person speaking for God – but was God himself dying, taking our rejection, unfaithfulness, sin and suffering the disaster and destruction we deserve so that we can become the holy, innocent children of God.
Thank you, God, that through Jesus’ death, you forgive and accept us. Amen.
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