“I will take away their harvest, declares the LORD. There will be no grapes on the vine. There will be no figs on the tree, and their leaves will wither. What I will give them will be taken from them.”
~ Jeremiah 8:13
Hi James and Ellen,
How important do you think that it is to God that you are always thinking of Him as your Father God? How important do you think that it is to God that you are not worshipping other gods? How important do you think that it was to God that His specially chosen guys and gals – who were the Israelite people group’s guys and gals, always thought of Him as their Father God? Do you think that God cared when His specially chosen guys and gals began to worship other gods? God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were alive over 2600 years ago and who lived in Judah had begun to worship inanimate gods that were made by hand from wood, metal and stone. How do you think that God felt when He saw His specially chosen guys and gals – after He had divinely led them to the land that He had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that their extended families would always have to live in as their very own land, offering gift offerings to lifeless, inanimate, inert wood, metal and stone gods instead of worshipping Him with special gift offerings? How do you think that God feels today when He sees the guys and gals who He specially elected before He created planet Earth believing that they are really incredible because of how influential they are, because of how many things that they have amassed and because of how much money that they have earned instead of worshipping Him by giving their lives as living sacrifices for Him to use to further His kingdom on planet Earth?
Jeremiah was one of God’s prophet spokesmen. God to Jeremiah was his Father God. God to Jeremiah resides in heaven. When Jeremiah was living on planet Earth, prophet spokesmen were given messages by God to pass on to His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land that He had given them to always to have to live in as their very own land. Jeremiah is considered to be one of the greatest prophet spokesmen who God used to spread His messages of hope and doom. God called Jeremiah through a vision to do what Jeremiah did as one of God’s prophet spokesmen. Jeremiah wrote down the messages that God gave to him to pass on to His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem. The messages that God gave to Jeremiah and which Jeremiah wrote down are compiled in one of the books that make up the Bible. The book goes by Jeremiah’s name. Has your dad and/or ma ever told you that you have to change or else? Has your dad and/or ma ever told you that you will be facing an awful punishment if you do not change? Has your dad and/or ma ever told you that what you are doing is wrong for you to do? Your grandpaa is pretty sure that most kids do not like to be told to change or . . . your grandpaa is pretty sure that most kids will push the life parameters that have been put on them by their dad and ma just to see when their dad and/or ma will level that awful punishment on them if . . . your grandpaa is pretty sure that most kids think that whatever it is that they are doing is totally not wrong to do so . . . the messages that Jeremiah received from God unambiguously confronted God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem to change their ways or else, to expect to be horribly punished because of what they were doing and to accept as fact that what they were doing was wrong for them to do.
Jeremiah 8 begins with what God is going to do with the bones of His specially chosen guys and gals who had not accepted Him as their Father God. God through Jeremiah states that He will have the bones of kings, officials, priests, prophets and every other guy and gal who lived in the land of Judah who had not made a decision of faith to accept Him as their Father God that He will take their bones out of the graves where they had been buried so that their bones will be bleached and crumbled by the firmament – the sun, moon and stars, which they had worshipped instead of worshipping God. It was a gross indignity and a sacrilege for a guy or gal to have their bones scattered around the ground like the bones of a dead animal instead of being buried in some kind of burial vault. Verse 13 begins a two chapter alert that is read aloud every year on the ninth of Ab in Jewish synagogues. The ninth of Ab is the day when the temple of God in Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 B.C. by the Babylonian army. The ninth of Ab is the day that the city of Jerusalem was razed in 70 A.D. by the Roman army. God had Jeremiah begin this section by saying, “‘“I will take away their harvest, declares the LORD. There will be no grapes on the vine. There will be no figs on the tree, and their leaves will wither. What I will give them will be taken from them.”’” This message that God gave to His specially chosen guys and gals through Jeremiah about 2600 years ago still applies today. When your grandmaa and grandpaa started to become very involved in the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in Aberdeen, South Dakota, your grandpaa was asked by the pastor of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church to preach a sermon one Sunday. Your grandpaa does not remember the text that he used but . . . your grandpaa does remember an illustration that he used in the message that he preached on that Sunday. Your grandpaa remembers talking about a dirty plate – asking the guys and gals who were in the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church that Sunday if they ate their meals off dirty plates. Your grandpaa is quite sure that guys and gals would not want to eat their meals off dirty plates. Your grandpaa suggested that dirty plates can be much like the lives of the guys and gals who were listening to him speaking. The point that your grandpaa wanted to make in his message was whether or not God the Spirit enjoys residing in the lives of guys and gals who live dirty lives. Do you think that God the Spirit lives in the life of a guy, gal or kid who has not willingly given his or her life to God the Father as a living sacrifice?
Jeremiah 8 (345)