A Knowing Savior

In each of the seven letters to the congregations in the opening chapters of Revelation, Jesus assures those congregations that He knows them, that He knows their problems, their troubles, and their successes. As we study the life of our Savior, we should be with impressed with the level of knowledge He has about those who come after Him. He wants to be close to us and know us like no other can.

Mark 10:17-22 records a young man of great wealth coming to Jesus, and we see that Jesus has compassion for the man, knowing exactly what the man lacks in his life. Luke 19:1-10 records Jesus calling on Zacchaeus, telling him He is going to Zacchaeus’ own house. Jesus knows the man and knows where he lives. Also, John 4 shows Jesus interacting with a Samaritan woman. Again, He demonstrates deep knowledge of her life and shows great care for her. Then, in John 8:1-11, when people bring an adulteress to Him, Jesus knows her guilt and demonstrates the compassion she needs. In John 9:35, Jesus knows a blind man He had healed had been exiled from his people and seeks him out. Finally, in John 11:35, we see Jesus weeping over the death of a loved one.

Time and again, we see Jesus knowing of history, of loss, of guilt. He knows people by name. He knows their homes, their needs, and their hearts. Whenever we see the Lord interacting with people in the Bible, we should see ourselves in those interactions. He knows us the way He knows these varied individuals, and, like these, Jesus knows our greatest needs.

He calls the rich young man to forsake his possessions to follow Him. In Zacchaeus’s house, Jesus says He came to seek and to save. Jesus tells the woman by the well that He is Messiah. He tells the adulteress to repent of her sins, asks the blind man for faith, and He reveals Himself as the source of eternal life to Mary and Martha when raising Lazarus from death. In each case, He knows their greatest need and reveals that He can fulfill those needs.

Jesus knows us, and He knows we need Him in our lives. He loves us, and He died for us. We can know Him the way He knows of if we only humble ourselves, allow Him to fill our lives, and come to Him in faith.

lesson by Tim Smelser

A Faithful Hope

The Bible is full of individuals who stand up and declare the word of the Lord in the face of public and political opposition. People like Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, and more – these face threats, persecutions, and ridicule for delivering a message that the people do not necessarily wish to hear. Among these great messengers is a man named Jeremiah, commonly known as the weeping prophet for the bitterness of his message to the prophet.

In Lamentation 1, we see Jeremiah writing a song of mourning, told from the perspective of the city as it is being besieged. He calls the city a widow. He writes of Jerusalem’s enemies mocking the city and taking joy in her demise. Jerusalem mourns her lost children. Then, in chapter 3, the prophet begins to insert his own voice, bemoaning the tragedies he is forced to witness. It is a book of sorrow and pain over the destruction of God’s holy city.

A Glimmer of Hope
In the midst of this, in Jeremiah 3:21-25, the prophet remembers hope:

But this I call to mind,and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
The LORD is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him.
The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

In the middle of sorrow and despair, Jeremiah remembers God’s mercy and the renewal available in Him. He remembers hope in God’s faithfulness. All of us face failure in our lives. We face difficulties, sorrow, and ridicule. Like Jeremiah, we can remember the portion we have in Jehovah.

Hope in God’s Faithfulness, Mercy, and Renewal
Jeremiah calls God’s mercies unending. Psalm 136 repeats again and again that God’s steadfast love endures forever. His mercies, His compassion, His love is faithful and enduring. In Luke 1:76-79, Zechariah praises God for the endurance of His tender mercies, and Romans 15:1-9 exults God for His mercy and calls the Lord a God of hope, of endurance, and of comfort. Ephesians 1:1-7 says God makes us alive in Christ because of His mercy and love. We know the God’s mercy does not fail, and we can trust in those mercies to deliver us.

Jeremiah also speaks of having hope in his God. In Psalm 130 calls on God’s people to hope in Him, in His love and His mercies. Psalm 31:24 and Psalm 38:15 both express hope in God’s deliverance and His mercy. I Thessalonians 5, Paul contrasts hope with hopelessness, and he writes that we should wear hope of salvation like a helmet in verse 8. Romans 8:24 simply states that our salvation is based upon hope, and Paul goes on to make the case that hope sustains us in the face of every trial this world can throw at us. Finally, Hebrews 6:17-20 speaks of our hope anchoring our souls. In the middle of this world’s tragedies and difficulties, this is the hope we can have.

We hope for renewal in God, and II Corinthians 5:17 calls those who live in Christ new creatures. Chapter 4:16-18 of the same book tells us we look away from our former physical concerns to spiritual hopes. We are renewed in the image of our Creator and Savior, and Romans 6 tells us we raise to walk in newness of life after our conversion to Christ. Ephesians 4:17-24 calls on us to clothe ourselves in newness and renewal, discarding our former selves and replacing that with a new creation. We all want a fresh start, and God promises we can be renewed in Christ when we sacrifice self and allow Him to transform our lives.

We can hope these things because God is faithful, and, if He is faithful to us, we should be as faithful to Him. I Corinthians 1:9 begins a very difficult letter with the assurance that God is indeed faithful. Hebrews 10:22-23 calls on us to hold onto our hope in a faithful God, and I John 1:9 assures us God’s forgiveness is faithful. If we place our hope in Him, if we trust His mercy, if we are faithful – then we can trust His faithfulness to us.

Conclusion
Jeremiah 3:21-25 stands as a testament of faith in a faithful God. God is good to the soul that seeks Him and waits on Him. Our renewal is found in Him alone, and our responsibility then is to seek Him and come to Him on His terms. He is available to us. The Jerusalem of Jeremiah’s time never turns to embrace God’s mercy and deliverance. They fall into captivity because of their slavery to sin. We, however, do not have to share that fate. We can take hold of the hope we have in God. We can trust His mercies and find renewal in Him. He can be our hope if we faithfully trust in Him.

lesson by Tim Smelser

A Christian Nation

After the kingdom of Israel divides in I Kings 12, Jeroboam wishes to restrict travel between the northern kingdom and Judah. He forbids travel to Jerusalem, hoping to create new holy cities in the north. Some forsake the north to worship in Jerusalem during the times of Asa, but the separation of holy cities remains even to the days of Jesus when the woman at the well asks Jesus where God desires worship. She is concerned that she worship from a location approved of by God, but Jesus redirects her attention from the physical to the spiritual.

Augustine’s City of God
About 300 years after the time of Christ, Constantine professed to convert to Christianity. One year later, the Edict of Milan legalized Christianity in Rome. In 380 CE, the Edict of Thessolonica made Christianity the state religion of Rome. In short, it made Rome into a "Christian nation." This was a drastic departure from polytheism. Rome was sacked in 410 CE, causing many to decry the conversion from polytheism to Christianity.

Around this time, St. Augustine wrote, in The City of God, that official state religions mean nothing to the message of the gospel. He discourages Christians becoming entangled in secular politics, for God’s kingdom, New Jerusalem, is a spiritual entity. It is unsurprising that St. Augustine’s message was unpopular then, and it is unpopular now. He is, however, entirely correct.

God’s City of Jerusalem
In Deuteronomy 12:5, Moses tells the people of the importance of God’s physical city that would become the center of Jehovah worship in the ancient kingdom of Israel. In verse 11, Moses goes on to emphasize that sacrifice should only be made in the place God chooses. Moses is telling the people that there will be a city of God, a place significant and special to worshiping Jehovah. We know that Jerusalem becomes that city.

In II Samuel 6, the Ark of the Covenant comes to the city of Jerusalem, and I Kings 9 records Solomon praying to God to hollow the temple at Jerusalem, God promising to consecrate the place forever. The sons of Korah, in Psalm 46, express confidence of God’s divine protection over the land. Psalm 48:1-3 again expresses the majesty and beauty God’s people see in His city, as do Psalms 122, 46, and 132.

Jerusalem represents a place where God’s name and His Ark resides. It is the place of God’s worship. It is where He dwells. It is a city of rest, of refuge, of holiness, and of peace.

Abandoning the Physical
This changes in the days of Jeremiah, when, in chapter 26 of his book, God promises to destroy the city, that He will curse the city for their sins. Political and religious leaders of Jerusalem threaten death to him for his words, but Jeremiah continues to press them for repentance. Jerusalem’s glory would never be restored, and memories of Zion are recoded in Psalm 137, expressing pain and sorrow at the loss of God’s holy city.

No great city or nation can be saved simply by calling themselves a “Christian” city or nation. To do so is to forget the lessons of Jerusalem and to forget that God does not intend to dwell here with us on Earth. Rather, He wants us to dwell with Him in heaven, leaving this physical world behind for a spiritual inheritance.

In Isaiah 65:17, the prophet proclaims a New Jerusalem, new heavens and a new land. Galatians 4:21-31, Hebrews 12:18-24, II Peter 3:8-12 – these point to something beyond this physical world. This is the city of God on which we need to focus. We get caught up looking upon the nations of man. It does not matter if it is Jerusalem, Rome, Paris, Moscow, or Washington D.C. Cities of man will always fall. Our refuge, rest, and peace should be found only in God’s City. Philippians 3 calls on us to place our citizenship in Heaven. We need to look up from the conflicts of this world and look heavenward.

lesson by Tim Smelser

And the Stones Cried

Among the psalms of worship, lament, intercession, history, and others, are a collection of songs that proclaim God’s greatness as seen in nature. Three of these are Psalms 29, 148, and 19. Psalm 29 describes God as a thunderstorm, His voice and nature seen in the thunder, in the waves, in the winds, in the animals taking shelter – all of these proclaim glory to God. Likewise, all nature is called to praise Jehovah in Psalm 148, from creatures of the deep to the stars of the heavens. Finally, the heavens testify God’s name in Psalm 19.

Nature is called upon time and again to give praise to God. Jesus calls on this imagery during the last week of His ministry. As He rides into Jerusalem in Luke 19:36, multitudes welcome Him in praise. They sing from Psalm 118 as Jesus passes by, calling Him their king, bearing testimony of His name. In verse 39, the Pharisees call on Jesus to rebuke His overenthusiastic followers, understanding the undercurrents of their worship. Jesus responds by claiming that, should His followers fall silent, nature itself, even the stones on the ground, would cry out.

When the Stones Cried Out
By the end of this week, Jesus is arrested, tried unfairly, and crucified. Who testifies on Jesus’ behalf now? In Matthew 26:56, the disciples abandon Him. Later in the same chapter, Peter goes so far as to deny association with the Christ. In verses 59-61, no religious leaders testify in Jesus’ name. In fact, they seek false testimony to condemn Him. In John 19, none in the multitudes – many of whom would have been praising Jesus earlier that week – cry out for Jesus’ release. Instead, they call for His death.

Pilate partially tries to speak on Jesus’ behalf. One of the thieves on the cross expresses belief, but who would listen to the testimony of a criminal? Then, in Matthew 27, after Jesus cries, “It is finished,” darkness descends for three hours – in the middle of the day. The veil of the temple tears top to bottom, and the earth shakes, rocks torn and broken. Up to this point, silence has been the only testimony for Jesus. Now, the rocks cry out in testimony of Jesus’ divinity.

The Testimony of Living Stones
In the last supper of John 17, Jesus prays that the Father will glorify Him with His past glory. Hebrews 1:3 calls Jesus the radiance of God’s glory, and John 1 equates Jesus with God. These rocks testify God’s glory among man as in Psalms 29, 148, and 19. They proclaim the culmination of salvation’s wondrous plan. When all others are silent, nature proclaims God’s glory.

Two thousand years later, stones still cry out His glory. In I Peter 2:5, Peter calls those who follow Jesus living stones. Philippians 1:11 calls on us to be filled with righteousness as testimony to God’s glory. Every word and action of our lives should proclaim God’s glory. When all others are silent, we should bear testimony of our God and Savior. As living stones, we proclaim His greatness with one voice, living for Him and because of Him.

lesson by Tim Smelser