09/24/2007
Jeremiah 12:14-16(NRSV)
14Thus says the LORD concerning all my evil neighbors who touch the heritage that I have given my people Israel to inherit: I am about to pluck them up from their land, and I will pluck up the house of Judah from among them.
15And after I have plucked them up, I will again have compassion on them, and I will bring them again to their heritage and to their land, everyone of them.
16And then, if [my enemies] will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, “As the LORD lives,” as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people.
The Lord is repeatedly pronouncing destruction of Israel through Jeremiah because she has repeatedly turned from God. But this passage is interesting because it addresses not Israel, but her neighbors.
It is saying that Israel will be devastated, but, those neighbors who sweep in to collect the spoils will also be judged. However, If those neighbors turn to God, (just as they turned Israel away from God), then they would be counted as part of Israel’s inheritance.
This is the mystery that Paul speaks of in the New Testament. The mystery of how a nation, or even a person who is not a Jew can become part of the chosen; to be adopted.
We as Christians enjoy this adoption. Most Christians are not of Jewish heritage and we are thus not the “chosen” ones, yet, by calling on God and seeking Him, He has adopted us into His chosen. What I see in this passage in Jeremiah is that even before the time of Christ, God extended this offer for adoption outside the Jewish people. God has always sought people, we are the ones that have hidden from Him, we are the ones that have denied Him.
We should be thankful for the gift of His adoption and we should also be ambassadors to those who are not yet adopted.
Jeff Justus
Cleff Publishing
www.cleffpublishing.com
©2007 Cleff Publishing, all rights reserved.
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