![]() Roll the story forward and that is exactly what happened. Jeremiah did this because God had said, “Houses and fields shall again be bought in this land” (32:15). īuying the field was an action full of hope, like buying stock when the market has crashed. Then he says to his colleague, Baruch, “Take these deeds… and put them in an earthenware vessel, that they may last for a long time: For thus says the Lord, ‘Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land’” (32:14-15). Jeremiah did an extraordinary and very public thing: He bought a field: “Hanamel my cousin came to me in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin’” (32:8). Who wants to buy land in a place that is about to be taken over by enemies? Values collapse. Think about it: What happens to the economy of a country when an army is laying siege to its capital city? The economy goes into melt down. But King Zedekiah, in Jerusalem, didn’t want to hear it, so Jeremiah was placed under house arrest in the palace: He was shut up “in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the King of Judah” (32:2). Jeremiah had already prophesied that the city would fall, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I am giving the city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it’” (32:3). They were piling up earth building mounds so that they could launch an assault on the city (32:24). The Babylonian army had circled the city. The heading at the beginning of the chapter in the English standard version (ESV) says, “Jeremiah buys a field during the siege.” Jeremiah 32 gives us glimpses of the glory of God. ![]() Not only does he create, but he upholds the universe by his own power. Think about who God is… the God who creates the moons and the stars. When a person grasps the splendor, the reality, and the wonder, he or she will be brought into the good that the Bible calls “the fear of the Lord.” The Fear of God: A Cord of Three Strands 1. The fear of God is a cord of three strands: The splendor of the God’s glory, the reality of God’s judgment, and the wonder of God’s love. So, clearly we need to understand this fear of the Lord that brings good to the life of a Christian believer. Notice how the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit are joined together. Fearing God was a mark of the early church at its best: And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied (Acts 9:31).And these words were written to Christian believers! In the New Testament we read, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. The command to fear God is a New Testament command (1 Pet.Jesus said this about his Father in heaven, and he said it to his disciples! Fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Mat.The New Testament speaks often of the fear of God Read the book of Deuteronomy or the book of Hosea. The Old Testament is full of the love of God. We are to fear him as we love him, and we are to love him as we fear him. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That is a complete misunderstanding of what the Bible is and what the Bible says. The evolutionary view of the Bible lies at the heart of this view of the Bible, that in ancient times people had a primitive view of a God to be feared, but that in more enlightened times people have come to a mature view of a God to be loved. I want to do what I can to dispel the idea that there is a God to be feared in the Old Testament and a God to be loved in the New Testament, and that the fear of God is therefore not for us. Then God says, “This will be for their own good and for the good of their children, and this will be forever.” That means there will never be a time on earth or in heaven when God’s people will not fear him in holy wonder and reverence and awe. If they don’t fear me, it will mean trouble for the next generation.” Look at what he says: “My people will fear me. God is speaking to his own people, a people who are in a covenant relationship with him. For many people, the fear of God sounds more like an enemy than a friend, “Fearing God? Surely this is something that we are trying to get away from, something we are trying to get rid of!” It sounds more like a dysfunction than a sign of spiritual health.īut the Bible presents the fear of God as a friend a friend who will do us a great deal of good: “I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them” (Jeremiah 32:39). My first task today is to make the case that the fear of God is a friend. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them.
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