Good day Beloved of God. You are all welcome to another new day. Glory to God for the gift of life. Please note that there is no idolatrous and evil altar that can have any effect over you. You are not what any environmental and institutionalized wickedness says about you. You are what God says you are: a holy nation, a royal priesthood, a redeemed soul and a victorious person. Continue to live in this reality, in Jesus name.
In our today’s episode 508 of studying and understanding the Bible, we shall be looking into Jeremiah Chapters 19 titled:
Jeremiah Broke The Jar He Bought, This Is Why
Jeremiah Chapter 19
Till now. I am still wondering why would a normal human being forsake God, his Creator and choose to worship idols to the point of sacrificing human beings to appease those false gods? Is it a psychological problem or purely spiritual or both? The devil is truly not joking at all with human beings. Today, people even kill their fellow human beings for money, power and to buy long life.
The only time a life-related sacrifice could be justified was when God allowed Jesus Christ to be killed for the remission of man’s sins. To God, human life is precious and that’s why He places premium value on us. He cherishes human lives to the point that He redeemed us all by Himself. He did that because no other being could have done a better job. So, Christ stepped in and did a perfect job, once and for all so that we would not have to bring the blood of animals or human beings as sacrifice.
Let’s read Titus 2:14-15 He sacrificed himself for us that he might purchase our freedom from every lawless deed and to purify for himself a people who are his very own, passionate to do what is beautiful in his eyes.
15 So preach these truths and exhort others to follow them. Be willing to expose sin in order to bring correction with full authority, without being intimidated by anyone.
GNT
Why did Jeremiah purchase a clay jar and broke it at the valley of Hinnom?
This will be the 3rd time so far that Prophet Jeremiah would mention the valley of Hinnom, and the atrocities committed in it. His first mention was in Jeremiah Chapter 2:23, second mention was in 7:30-32 and then in our today’s study chapter 19:2. We will see the 4th mention in chapter 32:35.
What’s so special about the valley of Hinnom that it keeps coming up in Jeremiah’s prophecies? Let’s look at some facts.
According to Brown-Driver Briggs’ definition in Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon, Hinnom was a deep and narrow ravine valley with steep, rocky sides located southwest of Jerusalem, separating Mount Zion to the north from the hill of evil counsel and sloping rocky plateau of the plain of Rephaim to the south.
R.K Harrison, an Old Testament Bible scholar in one of his studies asserts that Hinnom valley served as a worship place for molech (an idol), and under the rulership of King Josiah, the shrine was destroyed, and the valley converted to an incinerator for garbage and cremating dead bodies of criminals.
Some scholars also refer to it as a literal translation for Gehenna (Hebrew: gei-hennom or gei ben-Hinnom), which still has the same description.
Jesus Christ Himself, during one of His teachings, made some references to this place in Mark 9:43-44
43 “If your hand entices you to sin, let it go limp and useless! For it is better for you to enter into life maimed than to have your entire body thrown into hell, the place of unquenchable fire. 44 This is where the maggots never die and the fire never goes out.
GNT
When I checked the Strong’s Lexicon for the Greek transliteration of the word “hell” mentioned in Jesus’ statement, here is what I found:
English word = Hell
Greek transliteration = geenna, pronounced as /ghe-hen-nah/ borrowed originally from Hebrew language.
It’s now being used figuratively to refer to a place or state of everlasting punishment for the wicked.
So, because the Kings ruling during the period of Jeremiah and majority of their subjects refused to serve God and were busy serving idols and even sacrificing human beings to those idols in that valley, then Jeremiah was instructed to demonstrate the consequences of their actions, which can also be called “judgement,” by purchasing a clay jar and breaking it in that valley in the presence of the officials including the priests.
1 The Lord told me to go and buy a clay jar. He also told me to take some of the elders of the people and some of the older priests,
2 and to go through Potsherd Gate out to Hinnom Valley. There I was to proclaim the message that he would give me.
3 The Lord told me to say, “Kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem, listen to what I, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, have to say. I am going to bring such a disaster on this place that everyone who hears about it will be stunned.
4 I am going to do this because the people have abandoned me and defiled this place by offering sacrifices here to other gods—gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah have known anything about. They have filled this place with the blood of innocent people.
Jeremiah 19:1-4 (GNT)
Hold on a second, did we just read Jeremiah claiming God said He was going to bring disaster?
Did God say that really? What kind of God is that?
If we properly examine Jeremiah’s statement in the light of the Epistles, we will be able to put Jeremiah’s statement in the right perspective.
Let’s look at what Apostle James has to tell us in his epistle, about whether God does evil or brings disasters or not. James 1:13-17 (GNT)
13 If we are tempted by such trials, we must not say, “This temptation comes from God.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one.
14 But we are tempted when we are drawn away and trapped by our own evil desires.
15 Then our evil desires conceive and give birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
16 Do not be deceived, my dear friends! 17 Every good gift and every perfect present comes from heaven; it comes down from God, the Creator of the heavenly lights, who does not change or cause darkness by turning.
Good News Translation
If James is teaching us that evil does not come from God but good things and that evil and disasters happen to man as a result of man’s actions, why then do many old testament prophets usually claimed that evil things come from God?
We will examine this in the next post. This post is getting too long already.
But then, always remember this that for every action you engage in as a human being, there are consequences here on earth and also there is God’s judgement awaiting evil and disobedient people on the last day.
To be continued…stay tuned and stay blessed.
Let us pray:
- Every spiritual anti-God altar looking for a way to intrude into your home, is hereby pulled down and rendered useless, in Jesus name.
- The Lord God will continue to guide you through His Holy Spirit against any action that will make you sin against God and bring evil consequences upon you and your family. You will always escape them all, in Jesus name.
- Receive the capacity to please God always, in Jesus name.
Bible Readings For Today: 2 Corinthians Chapters 4, 5 & 6 with Psalm 113
I call you blessed now and always.
Tuesday August 18, 2020 (DDMI)
