The reason why it is important to understand that Passover relates to the firstborn instead of all people (at the present time) is because the entire Scripture was written for the chosen overcomers, not for the whole world. Jesus spoke in parables for this reason… to hide the truth from the general masses of humanity, not to explain it to them. Matthew says,

¹⁰ Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” ¹¹ And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ¹² For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. ¹³ This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. ¹⁴ Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:

¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. ¹⁷ For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. (Matthew 13:10-17 ESV)

Later in this same chapter Matthew said,

³⁴ All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. ³⁵ This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:^[e]

The question we face now is, “Why does God make this so hard?” We have to turn back to Isaiah chapter 6, the chapter Jesus quoted above, in order to understand. Following is that chapter in its entirety.

6 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train^[a] of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³ And one called to another and said:

⁴ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. ⁵ And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

⁸ And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” ⁹ And he said, “Go, and say to this people:

This chapter begins with God revealing himself to the prophet Isaiah. Immediately upon receiving that revelation Isaiah “mourns” over his sinful condition and realizes he is “poor in spirit,” so poor in fact that he even calls his lips unclean. By responding in this way Isaiah shows that he, initially at least, qualifies to begin walking as an overcomer. In response to his heart’s cry “without guile” God sends a seraphim to touch his lips with a live, hot coal. This represents (is a type of) the baptism of fire (roasting the lamb) that every overcomer must go through. At this point Isaiah qualifies for the ministry of the word of God. God asks who will go to preach for Elohim and Isaiah volunteers. Then God gives him his marching orders. Isaiah will indeed preach the word of God (it is sweet in his mouth), but its outworking will be bitter (eating bitter herbs) because no one will understand him.

Then Isaiah wonders, how long will this go on? How long will it be until people will finally begin to understand your Word? God answers that this will not occur until judgments come and until the holy seed (firstborn, firstfruits, overcomers) are a mere stump in the land, all that is left of that huge tree today which sees itself as the Kingdom of God on earth, the Church. The overcomers will have been the only ones:

1. Who applied the blood of the Passover lamb to the doors and lintel of their lives (souls),
2. Who ate the lamb with unleavened bread (representing a soul without guile and hyprocrisy which has embraced the true doctrine of Christ, or as Paul says, “not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
3. Who ate the lamb with bitter herbs (they submitted to a life of travail and bitterness of soul as they worked out their soul’s salvation in fear and trembling)
4. Who ate the lamb roasted in the fire, not boiled in water or eaten raw (the overcomers submitted to the baptism of fire allowing God’s word to burn the dross, the sin, out of their souls)
5. Who roasted and ate the lamb whole, with its head, legs, and inner parts (they did not pick and choose the words of God they would apply to their lives; to them the Word of God is as a seamless garment which conveys one truth, God’s truth, and one law, and all of it is to be eaten)
6. Who ate the lamb without breaking its bones (Of course the people of Israel did not pick up the whole lamp and pass it around for each person to take a bite of it; they cut the joints and marrow with a sharp knife. This represents the truth of Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Overcomers learn to discern the word of God and submit to the Spirit’s work in them. They understand that the Word seeks to convert their souls, not just bring their spirits a one-time salvation that does not affect their earthly lives)
7. Who ate all the lamb in one night (who consumed Christ’s flesh and blood during their one life time, that is, who assimilated his word into their very souls and made it part of them during their earthly life, thus becoming one flesh with Christ; since they attempted to eat all of Christ what remains of him that was not eaten (not understood or assimilated during their lives) will be “burned in the fire;” it will be imputed to them by faith at their judgment just before their glorification)
8. Who ate the Passover lamb (Christ) with their loins girded (according to Ephesians 6:10-18 they learned of and submitted to Christ having their most vulnerable body parts protected with the belt of truth)
9. Who ate the Lamb with their feet shod with the Gospel of peace (again according to Ephesians 6)
10. Who ate the Lamb with his staff in his hand (the staff or rod represents the blossoming almond tree rod of Jeremiah 1:11; this speaks of new life, resurrected life, which will first be displayed in each overcomer, each firstborn manchild, the firstfruits of God)
11. Who ate the Lamb in haste (in some mystery I don’t understand the obedience of the overcomers hastens the coming of the Day of the LORD according to Peter,
    

    ⁸ But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you,^[a] not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. ¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies^[b] will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.^[c]

    ¹¹ Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, ¹² waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! ¹³ But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:8-13)

12. Who became circumcised by faith in Christ before they ate of him, their Lamb (“For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. (Colossians 2:9-15)
13. Who came out of Babylon and refused to eat the Passover Lamb with uncircumcised foreigners (overcomers did not fellowship in Christ with those who refused to acknowledge, accept, and consume Christ in faith also)
14. Who ate the Lamb in One House, God’s House, as a firstborn son of God (“Therefore, holy brothers,^[a] you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, ² who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s^[b] house. ³ For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. ⁴ (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) ⁵ Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, ⁶ but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.” (Hebrews 3:1-6, ESV)

Yes, many are called, but few, very few are chosen. For the vast majority of those called the word of God spoken to Isaiah and quoted by Christ has proved true:

“‘Keep on hearing,^[c] but do not understand;
keep on seeing,^[d] but do not perceive.’
¹⁰ Make the heart of this people dull,^[e]
    and their ears heavy,
    and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
    and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
    and turn and be healed.”

I didn’t say it. The LORD said it.

¹⁹ You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” ²⁰ But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” ²¹ Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? ²² What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, ²³ in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— ²⁴ even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? ²⁵ As indeed he says in Hosea,

²⁷ And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel^[c] be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, ²⁸ for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” ²⁹ And as Isaiah predicted,

³⁰ What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; ³¹ but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness^[d] did not succeed in reaching that law. ³² Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, ³³ as it is written,

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:1-7, ESV)

The message of God’s Word remains the same from beginning to end; it is the story of God creating man in his own image, in his own likeness. He begins the story by recounting his creation of all the plants in the world and announces that each plant bears seed within itself “according to its kind.” He then creates the manifold animals upon earth and says that fish, birds, beasts, and creeping things were created “according to their kinds.” Then Genesis 1:27 proclaims,

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

This tells us that God created man after his, God’s, own kind. In many previous posts I have taught that God did not fully make man in his image in the beginning. He used the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil to help accomplish that. This is why after Adam and Eve ate of that tree’s fruit God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” (Genesis 3:22) Even, then, however, man had not been fully conformed to God’s image. For now, having the knowledge of good and evil, man had to learn which things are good and which things are evil and also to choose the good instead of the evil. Thus when Cain began to choose evil things instead of good God told him that he must learn to rule over sin. Cain did not accept God’s rebuke and advice and went on to murder his brother Abel.

Later in history God chose a particular nation, Israel, to whom he further revealed the concepts of good and evil through his Law. Paul said, “if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, `You shall not covet.’” (Romans 7:7) Paul then further explained the purpose of God’s Law saying, “It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.” (Romans 7:13) History, however, proved that men could not obey God’s Law in the power of their flesh. Paul therefore proclaimed,

What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:9-20)

The knowledge of sin is the knowledge of good and evil. The Old Covenant proved to us that men cannot be good in the power of their flesh, but that they can want to be good. God established the New Covenant so that goodness, i.e. perfection, could become reality in those who truly desired it. He specifically promised this New Covenant in the Book of Jeremiah and he proclaimed its actual coming through the work of Jesus in the Book of Hebrews. Hebrews says,

“This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws on their hearts,
and write them on their minds.”  (Hebrews 10:16

The New Covenant takes the external knowledge of good and evil and makes it internal. This is why Jesus declared that the Kingdom of God is within us. This is why Paul proclaims in Romans 8:

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8: 1-17 ESV)

We see here that we cannot please God and fully obey his Law by the power of our flesh. Only through the power of the Spirit will we ever have strength to “submit to God’s Law.” So, does this mean that I now have to learn all the Old Testament Law and seek power to submit to every jot and tittle of it? This is the crux of the issue we face today with the Judaizers who seek to place Christians back under Mosaic laws.  But Paul answers this question in the negative repeatedly, especially in the Book of Galatians, and the Book of Hebrews also clearly answers “NO!” when it says,

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,

“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body have you prepared for me;
6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”

8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:5-10)

The verse in bold above means that Jesus Christ did away with the Mosaic Law in order to establish his will. Christ made a new covenant with us in order to make our will and his will one. This does not happen simply because we make a one-time confession of faith. John says,

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. (John 1:12 KJV)

This “power” mentioned here is the Holy Spirit whom God sends to those who believe. Then, as Paul teaches in Romans above, if we will but “set our minds” upon the things of the Spirit, then God will faithfully see that we live “according to that Spirit.” This, and only this, is how we fulfill God’s command to Cain,  “Sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:7, ESV)

In light of these things I will next interpret my daughter’s dream… (to be continued).

The Book of John reveals Jesus as both the Son and the Father. 

Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also: and from henceforth you know him, and have seen him. Philip said unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it will satisfy us. Jesus said unto him, Have I been so long a time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? he that has seen me has seen the Father; and how say you then, Show us the Father? Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me, he does the works. (John 14:6-10 KJ2000)

In this passage Jesus proclaims that if someone has seen him, then he has seen the Father.  We tend to take this idea lightly and continue to think of Jesus as only “the Son.”  Yet, John also says,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (John 1:1-4 KJ2000)

This verse proclaims that Jesus created all things.  Created all things.  Made man in His image on the sixth day. Yes, it is Jesus who is our Creator.

When Israel fell from faith in God and worshipped gods who are not they began to offer their children to their false idols. When he rebuked them for this Jesus said, “They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spoke it, neither came it into my mind.” (Jeremiah 19:5 KJ2000)  Again, “And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.” (Jeremiah 32:35 KJ2000)  (Note: Yes, Jesus is Jehovah of the Old Testament and it is Jesus who said these things.)

But we continue to think of Jesus as only the son and malign the Father by saying that he sent his son to earth to die for our sins. You fathers and mothers, would you send your son purposely to die for your other sons and daughters? Or, would you go yourself and willingly die for your children?

God never intended our sons to pay the price of our sins. He never wanted anyone to sacrifice his son for his benefit. But we, as a nation and a world, have sacrified our sons and daughters in wars for our empires and in abortions for our pleasure. A true Father would never do such a thing. A Father would die for his sons and his daughters.  And that’s what Jesus did. He died for his sons and his daughters, us. Jesus IS our Father in heaven.

But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out. (Numbers 32:23 KJ2000)

We live in the generation in which our sins and the sins of our fathers have found us out.  We can no longer hide from the results of our lies, our thefts, our murders, and our immoralities.  If there is any particular sin, then know that we ourselves, our fathers, our mothers, our friends, and our brothers have certainly committed it, and plan to do so again.  And we are all the time thinking up new ways to sin with body and brain. We live in a time of utter lawlessness.  No one can count on anyone doing the right or moral thing. From President to Congress to Supreme Court to teacher to car maker to plumber we all act lawlessly.  Just this week the Democrat chairman of America’s House of Representatives’ Rules Committee, Alcee Hastings, announced, “When the deal goes down, all this talk about rules, we make them up as we go along….” Didn’t you always think that Congress functioned by particular rules?  Now you know it doesn’t.  Today the power elite simply decide their outcome and make rules accordingly.  Welcome to the “real” world.

This explains why our nation pulled down its public displays of the Ten Commandments and why our churches no longer preach against sin.  For many, sin no longer exists because, they say, “Christ did away with sin.”  The very people who received God’s grace of forgiveness thus turned against him through profane acts of lawlessness, like supporting abortion on demand (wasn’t abortionist George Tiller executed in the very church which failed to excommunicate him?) and by ordaining practicing homosexuals and pro-abortion radicals to their ministries (what else would you call practicing lesbian and Dean of a “Christian” school, Katherine Ragsdale?).  Isaiah prophesied of these people, saying, “Let grace be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.” (Isaiah 26:10)

Our past several presidents, including Barack Obama, all represent judgment from God.  None have spoken out against the lawlessness and tyranny in our land.  None have put an end to the child-killing business of abortion.  None have supported laws to prohibit pornography and grossly violent movies and games.  None have encouraged the masses of thieves and lazy citizens to work and stop collecting welfare.  None have spoke openly for righteousness and God’s holiness and urged their nation to repent of their many sins!

God poured unlimited grace upon his people, especially in America.  We once lived in a Christian nation.  At one time we truly were a “land of uprightness,” but no more.  We turned grace into lawlessness and now all deal unjustly.  Indeed there is no justice in the land.

Many of us live in families where certain of our members have become very ill or have gotten into serious legal troubles.  Serious illness often comes from sexual permissiveness, illegal drug use, eating the wrong foods, drinking too much alcohol, or smoking too much tobacco.  Serious legal troubles often come from these same things plus stealing, lying, and other selfish behaviors.  Jeremiah says, “Have you not brought this unto yourself, in that you have forsaken the LORD your God, when he led you by the way?” (Jeremiah 2:17 KJ2000)

God makes us responsible for our problems.  He has taught us his ways, yet we continually refuse them and devise our own paths.  Jeremiah lived at that time when those paths had reached their end, or goal.  Today, we too live in the time when society’s, or Mystery Babylon’s, ways have reached their end.  The book of Jeremiah shows us exactly what we can expect barring some massive nationwide, perhaps worldwide, move of genuine repentance.

Following the above reprimand Jeremiah proclaims, ‘Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backslidings shall reprove you: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that you have forsaken the LORD your God, and that my fear is not in you, says the Lord GOD of hosts.” (Jeremiah 2:19 KJ2000)

This explains why great and profound judgments have begun to befall this once Christian nation.  And notice this, the judgments do not come from some supernatural source.  The judgments come from man himself.  We now live in a police state on the verge of ruining health care and intent upon bankrupting each one of us.  We beat the drums of war against all nations on earth.  How long until one, or more, beat those drums against us?  Then, be sure, our wickedness will have corrected us, for we shall be too busy nursing our wounds and burying our dead to fulfill our lusts.  Then, because we failed to mourn for our sin now, we will cry for the foul breath we breathed while time remained to heal our land.

Remember, when Jeremiah uttered his prophesies near the year 600 BC, Israel had been dispersed from its northern kingdom for over one hundred years.  They were no longer a unified people.  The Assyrians had divided them and sent them to various places within their dominions.  According to the prophesy of Hosea Israel had become “not my people,” no longer a cohesive nation under God.  Yet Jeremiah prophesies to Israel as well as Judah and we know that Israel and Judah comprised separate nations with separate callings.  Further, as we study the prophets we begin to realize that since God still prophesies to Israel there must be (or must have been) a manifestation of the Israelite nation after their subjugation and deportation in 721 BC.  It has been proven that modern day Israel is not this manifestation because that nation consists of Jews (Judah), not the northern ten tribes.  I believe that it has also been proven that the northern tribes migrated to Europe, England, and then America, and that the waning world powers of England and the United States of America fulfill the prophesies of abundance to Joseph through his sons Ephraim and Manasseh.

But, it is just as true that many of the prophetic utterances concerning Israel deal with the decline, debauchery, and ultimate devastation of these two great Israelite empires.  This is the subject at hand in the opening chapters of Jeremiah.  Although all of these verses describe England and the British Empire as well, my focus here will be upon America.  Consider,

And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat its fruit and its goodness; but when you entered, you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. (Jeremiah 2:7 KJ2000)

America was founded by Christians yearning for greater religious freedom.  They wanted freedom to read their Bibles and serve God according to their consciences.  God brought them to a vast wilderness, a plentiful country full of fruit.  Their country, which ultimately became the United States of America, became perhaps the most moral and certainly the richest nation in the world’s history.  America became a “Christian” empire whose dominion reached around the entire earth.  Concerning morality, I remember that when I was young, less than ten years old, my mother would allow me ride my bike alone anywhere within my city, a city with a population of 30,000 people. 

But look at us today.  I would not allow a young child out of my sight anywhere in the United States.  We have become a nation filled with incest, pornography, sexual abuse, adultery, homosexuality, theft, murder, and lies.  We are bankrupt, morally and financially.  Our latest president, Barack Obama, correctly states, “We are no longer a Christian nation.”  We have not been ”Christian” for a long, long time, and this is exactly what Jeremiah prophesied.

For pass over the coasts of Chittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing. Has a nation changed its gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. (Jeremiah 2:10-11 KJ2000)

Nations do not normally change their gods, says God.  Go to the surrounding nations and see.  The gods of the coasts of Chittim are the gods those people worshipped for time out of mind, and so are the gods of Kedar.  God expelled and dispersed the Northern tribes of Israel for exactly this same sin.  But, he is not talking to that kingdom in Jeremiah 2.  They had long since disappeared by this time. He speaks to a new nation which will arise from those people far, far in the future, a nation that came to be called the United States of America.

Is it not true that America has changed her God to a pagan one?  What did “Christian” America do when its Supreme Court kicked prayer out of its public schools in 1961?  What did “Christian” America do when that same court legalized murder by abortion in all 50 states in 1973?  What did they do in the 1980′s and 1990′s when public school teachers were told they could not keep Bibles on their desks, could not sing hymns in class, could not teach creation, and could not celebrate Christmas through song, plays, pictures, or anything else?  What did they do when it began to be taught that Islam and Satanism have the same freedom of religion in America as Christianity?  Nothing, nothing and nothing.

If Christians had withdrawn their children from the public schools when those schools began to teach paganism, then the entire public school system would have collapsed in a day. Yet Christian leaders, especially the national leaders with great radio and television ministries from the sixties to today, failed their people, just as prophesied by Jeremiah.

The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit. (Jeremiah 2:8 KJ2000)

The great ministers of our day became more concerned about their “great ministries” and their million dollar mansions than the truth.  They failed to counsel their people to leave the world’s schools and false teachings because they knew to do so would cost them mammon (worldly wealth).  Thus they walked after things that would not profit them spiritually.  This nation, therefore, lost its heritage and fell away from the one true God.  America has changed its God to gods that are not and we have reaped the whirlwind.  Can there be any doubt today that America has indeed changed its God of the Bible to gods of idolatry?

Sadly, every once-Christian nation of Europe has done the same thing.  Who today can point to a truly Christian nation in the world?  Who can even find a church now which confesses the mystery of Godliness and teaches the people to practice righteousness in the freedom of Christ?  So, as you read Jeremiah’s remarkable prophecies bear in mind that he speaks to this day and not only to the fallen Jews of his own time.

The first few chapters of the book of Jeremiah deal with God’s verdicts upon ancient Israel and Judah.  Ancient Israel, the 10 northern tribes which descended from Jacob, son of Isaac, correspond today to England and America especially.  Judah, the tribe today known as the Jews, has usurped the birthright name of Israel which really belongs to the northern tribes, and calls itself by that name.  Israel today should be know as Judah, not Israel.  Stephen Jones often writes about this distinction and a good summary can be found in his book Struggle for the Birthright which you can read by clicking on that title.  I encourage everyone to read this because it contains very basic information concerning the outworking of God’s plan in history.  Until we see the distinction that God makes between Israel and Judah we cannot even begin to understand the Old Testament prophecies.  For example, consider the following passage:

Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, since he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be recorded according to the birthright. For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and from him came the prince; but the birthright was Joseph’s) (1 Chronicles 5:1-2 KJ2000)

Normally, the birthright would go to a man’s firstborn son, but Reuben, the son of Leah, sinned against his father and so Israel bypassed him in favor of the firstborn of his second wife, Rachel.  This explains why the name Israel went with the ten northern tribes rather than staying with Judah in Jerusalem.  The name would have stayed with the northern tribes even if Reuben had received the birthright name because Reuben made up one of those tribes.  Nevertheless, the “prince,” the LORD who is the son of David, came through the Jews (Judah).  The Jews played the preeminent role in the first coming of Christ, while Israel will have the lead part at the second coming of Christ.  Again I refer you to another of Stephen Jones’ excellent books, Laws of the Second Coming. This is a “must read” book.

Now, with this historical background firmly in mind, read the first several chapters of Jeremiah.  Jeremiah preached to Judah one hundred years and more after the fall of Israel in 721 BC.  We have named him “the weeping prophet” because he prophesied and grievously mourned as he watched the destruction of Judah and its capitol, Jerusalem.  Assyria deported the Northern Tribes of Israel over a hundred years before Jeremiah prophesied, yet he speaks to them as if they still exist, and as if they can actually hear him.  God calls to them through his prophet and entreats them to repent and come back to him.  They were idol worshipping sinners whom God “divorced,” yet he says they were more righteous than the Jews of that day.  He still loves them and wants them to return.  But, they never did, at least not to their homeland, and not to their Old Testament religion.  Instead, as we search history, we find that they became the people of Europe, England, and America, the main people on earth who embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ.  And now we find the state of these Christians and their churches to be that in which Israel found itself just before judged and exiled by God more than 2700 years ago.  Knowing these few facts and recognizing the fallen state of Christianity will now allow us to begin understanding Jeremiah’s prophesy.

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We have had quite an extraordinary event occur around our house this weekend, our third grandson was born Friday, March 12, and his name is Jeremiah Clive.  Now, we do  not take big events like this lightly around here.  We see God at work in all things and especially in the birth of babies!  We had all begun to read through the Bible again on January 1 and I noticed that I had no “fresh bread” for our weekly family Bible reading today.  I asked if anyone else did and, no, no one did.  So, I suggested, in light of our big event, that we begin reading the book of Jeremiah.  Everyone agreed.

I do not claim that Jeremiah Clive’s birth means anything prophetically with respect to the world, our nation, or even any family beyond my own, but it might.  God has not spoken an audible word to me telling me so, but it may yet be so.  We live at the beginning of the third and seventh days of God’s creation, and many prophecies deal directly with this day, the Day of the Lord.  So we read the first few chapters of Jeremiah this morning … and I could smell the bread begin to bake….

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet unto the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. (Jeremiah 1:5-6 KJ2000)

God sovereignly chooses and appoints his prophets.  Jeremiah himself prophesied to the nations, not just to Israel and to Judah, but to the nations.  His words yet resound to the nations because they have not been fulfilled.  Only some of his many prophecies have come to bear fruit and I believe the remaining ones will shortly bud, blossom, and bear.  When God called him Jeremiah answered, “Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child.”  What type of child cannot speak except for a very young one, indeed a baby?  Could this itself prophesy a day when God calls another Jeremiah forth, one who literally cannot speak? Could this be the day when Jeremiah’s prophecy truly unfolds?

Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what see you? And I said, I see a branch of an almond tree. Then said the LORD unto me, You have well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it. (Jeremiah 1:11-12  KJ2000)

Exactly nine years ago God led my family and I to resettle from Kansas City to Salem, Missouri.  When we arrived we bought a Christian bookstore and promptly renamed it The Almond Branch.  After buying and moving into the building my daughter drew a lovely almond branch on the west inner wall and wrote the words from Jeremiah 1:11-12 in beautiful calligraphy around the branch.  You see, in 2001 we fully expected to see God “hasten his word to perform it.”  After six years the bookstore closed, but the building remains my office, it still bears the name The Almond Branch, and we still expect to see the fulfillment of God’s prophetic word very, very soon.

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