Jeremiah 3:12-13 KJV
Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.
Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
I don't know that I had ever considered this before, but these words have a missionary impact as well as an evangelistic one. Jeremiah is a preacher to the southern kingdom. His focus will be on Jerusalem and an effort to get them to repent and accept the judgment of God upon them through Babylon. But that does not mean that he has no interest in the northern kingdom of Israel. God calls upon him to preach to the north that they ought to return to the Lord as well as should the southern kingdom.
My focus this morning is on the longsuffering nature of God. The northern kingdom was in such poor spiritual condition that God would soon send them into such devastation that they have not regained their full heritage even today. Records were so destroyed that no one to this day knows which Jews are of the 10 northern tribes, only that they are Jews. And yet, God calls to them through the prophet
Return
I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you
I am merciful
And then God gives them such a simple step to return, "Only acknowledge thine iniquity..." If they would have simply acknowledged that they had "transgressed against the Lord" they could have been spared judgment.
God's call to us is not complicated and impossible to do. It isn't something that takes years of counseling and strict discipline to accomplish. It is this easy to return to the Lord and be restored to His side; "Only acknowledge thine iniquity..."
Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.
Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
I don't know that I had ever considered this before, but these words have a missionary impact as well as an evangelistic one. Jeremiah is a preacher to the southern kingdom. His focus will be on Jerusalem and an effort to get them to repent and accept the judgment of God upon them through Babylon. But that does not mean that he has no interest in the northern kingdom of Israel. God calls upon him to preach to the north that they ought to return to the Lord as well as should the southern kingdom.
My focus this morning is on the longsuffering nature of God. The northern kingdom was in such poor spiritual condition that God would soon send them into such devastation that they have not regained their full heritage even today. Records were so destroyed that no one to this day knows which Jews are of the 10 northern tribes, only that they are Jews. And yet, God calls to them through the prophet
Return
I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you
I am merciful
And then God gives them such a simple step to return, "Only acknowledge thine iniquity..." If they would have simply acknowledged that they had "transgressed against the Lord" they could have been spared judgment.
God's call to us is not complicated and impossible to do. It isn't something that takes years of counseling and strict discipline to accomplish. It is this easy to return to the Lord and be restored to His side; "Only acknowledge thine iniquity..."
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