Tuesday May 14th, 2019 Jeremiah 50:17-20
In those days and at that time, says the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and none shall be found; for I will pardon the remnant that I have spared. (verse 20)
Jeremiah, like Ezekiel, ministered to people who soon would be, and then were, carted away into exile by the Babylonians. Like his contemporary, Jeremiah pulls no punches: the sin of God’s people and their stubborn resistance to God’s will was the ultimate cause of their disaster. Jeremiah is often called the weeping prophet because the message of God was so difficult to hear and even more difficult to deliver; it drove him to tears.
But on occasion, God gave Jeremiah happy words to report. Like today’s reading. There will come a day when God’s punishment would be over and God would gather the scattered people of Israel and Judah and bring them home. But even greater than that, God would forgive the sin of the people, the very sin responsible for their exile. This forgiveness would be complete; even if one looked to find any hint of that sin, they would fail.
We live in this age of forgiveness. Because of God’s work in and through Jesus, our sin is forgiven; not a trace remains. What a wonderful God we serve.
Forgiving God, thank you for your gift of forgiveness. Amen. — DAB
Contributed by Forgiven
Jeremiah, like Ezekiel, ministered to people who soon would be, and then were, carted away into exile by the Babylonians. Like his contemporary, Jeremiah pulls no punches: the sin of God's people and their stubborn resistance to God's will was the ultimate cause of their disaster. Jeremiah is often called the weeping prophet because the message of God was so difficult to hear and even more difficult to deliver; it drove him to tears.
But on occasion, God gave Jeremiah happy words to report. Like today's reading. There will come a day when God's punishment would be over and God would gather the scattered people of Israel and Judah and bring them home. But even greater than that, God would forgive the sin of the people, the very sin responsible for their exile. This forgiveness would be complete; even if one looked to find any hint of that sin, they would fail.
We live in this age of forgiveness. Because of God's work in and through Jesus, our sin is forgiven; not a trace remains. What a wonderful God we serve.
