Dear Readers and Listeners, Friends in Jesus Christ,
Our Watchword for today is taken from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, Chapter Four verse 14, “O Jerusalem, Wash your heart from wickedness so that you may be saved! How long shall your iniquitous and grossly offensive thoughts lodge within you,” (Amplified Bible). God gave his word to the prophet Jeremiah in visions and showed him that false prophets of his time taught peace, however, there would not be peace in Israel and Judah. The Temple of Jerusalem will not be the refuge for the people, because they have rejected their Lord. They worshipped idols, even the prophets and the priests working in the Temple of Jerusalem, were not speaking the truth to the people. Jeremiah was pleading with the people and the prophets to repent, and to renounce their wrongful practices and return the Lord, God of Israel, and worship him in truth. Jeremiah was astounded that their hearts were hardened and their faces were turned away from their God. The thoughts that were “grossly offensive” to the Lord were the thoughts rejecting him as God and his commandments, as the laws and ordinances of Israel. Jeremiah questioned God regarding these prophecies of doom that were given to him. He pondered how it could be that he received prophecies of salvation, however, now the prophecies of destruction were foretold. The Apostle Peter wrote in his First Letter, Chapter One, verses 10 to 12, “The prophets, who prophesied of grace, which was intended for you, (meaning those who received this blessing through Christ’s death), searched and enquired earnestly about this salvation. It was then disclosed to them that the prophetic services they were rendering, were not meant for themselves and their period of time, but for you,” (Amplified Bible). God did bring the captives back; Jerusalem and the temple were rebuilt. However, the salvation that came to all the nations came more than four hundred years later, through the death of Jesus. He was given as ransom for Jerusalem and all those who will believe and rejoice with Jerusalem, the Daughter of Zion, at the return of her King. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, seeing all those who praised him, he wept for Jerusalem. Jesus knew that it would be a short matter of time and the hearts of those in Jerusalem would turn against him, despite him wanting to protect them, like a mother hen would want to protect her young.
Those who lived in the times of Jesus, who carefully observed the scriptures, and trusted in the Lord, realized that Jesus Christ, was the Messiah, the One of whom all the scriptures foretold. However, just as the people were hard-hearted in the times of Jeremiah, Isaiah and the prophets of old, and rejected their warnings of the destruction of Israel and Judah and the Fall of the Temple, so were the people in the time of Jesus. It was not long after Jesus’ death and resurrection that Jerusalem was invaded and the Temple destroyed and laid ruin, just as Jesus foretold. John the Baptist, was the Voice who called in the desert, the one of whom the prophets foretold would call to prepare a straight pathway for the coming Messiah. John the Baptist preached with such conviction that the people were moved to seek the Lord and his ways, for the word of the prophets were silent in Israel and Judah for four hundred years. He called out the wicked rulers who were leading Israel astray, moreso he called out the priests and temple leadership and told them to repent. Many people were baptized by John and were asking what they should do to be righteous? He told them as we read in Luke Chapter 3 verse 8, “Bear fruits worthy of repentance,” (NRSVB). Repentance turns people around and softens their hearts to weep and recognise Jesus Christ and his redemption on the Cross for all.
Father, we ask you to work in us to bear fruit that gives glory to you and your Son. Amen.