Jeremiah 52 - The End of The Book, AND The Nation

“The Lord was angry with them.  Finally, He threw them out of His presence … In all 4,600 people were taken captive.”

 

God had brought probably 2-3 million Israelites out of Egypt in the Exodus.  He’d helped them take ownership of the Promised Land, and now He’d taken 4,600 to Babylon to live as captives for 70 years.  They were all that were left.  They’d also lost it all.

 

In Matthew 16, people were saying that Jesus was like Jeremiah.  What a compliment to Jeremiah!  My commentary said, “Jeremiah became like Jesus because he shared the fellowship of His sufferings.  In the furnaces of life, Jeremiah was conformed to the image of God’s Son.  Jeremiah may not have realized that this process was going on in his life, and he might have denied it if it were pointed out to him, but the transformation was going on just the same.”

 

It continued, “Both Jesus and Jeremiah recognized that a nation’s greatest problem is not unemployment, inflation, or lack of defense; it’s sin.  The nation that doesn’t deal with sin is wasting time and resources trying to solve national problems, which are only symptoms of the deeper problem, which is sin….  It isn’t enough for a nation to put In God We Trust on its currency, to mention God in its pledge to the flag, or to tip the hat to God by quoting the Bible in political campaign speeches.  It’s righteousness, not religion, that exalts a nation.”

 

Father, first I ask You to conform me to the image of Your Son in the furnaces of life I find myself in.  Help me to react as He would.  It’s been tough lately.  And Father, please help our nation, one heart at a time, to come back to You, for that is our only hope to save it.  Cause our leaders to step up and not think about their re-election, but instead to do the right thing to get us back on track both fiscally and spiritually.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

 

Gary Ford