for I am with you," declares the LORD.
"Though I completely destroy all the nations
among which I scatter you,
I will not completely destroy you.
I will discipline you but only with justice;
I will not let you go entirely unpunished." Jeremiah46:28
Many people would not be comfortable with this verse.
We prefer passages that tell us that we are forgiven, and that God is merciful. We don't like to think about the consequences of our sin and we don't like to think about punishment.
But before I say any more about this passage, lets look at the circumstances that led to God saying this to Israel...
Jeremiah is in Egypt having been dragged there by a group who believe that Egypt will be safe from the Babylonians. There the Israelites have started sacrificing to idols again. Jeremiah has warned them in the strongest possible terms against this.
But look at their answer:
"We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD! 17 We will certainly do everything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our fathers, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem." (Jer44:16-17)
There are not many passages in the OT that articulate such defiant, deliberate and determined rebellion as this passage does. It is in the light of this level of intransigence that we must view our text verse and then our conclusion is: "Lord, why have mercy on them at all?"
This is the bottom line: every time we think about situations and circumstances where God has punished His people, we need to say: "He still doesn't treat us as our sins deserve."
It is ultimately Christ who suffered unimaginably on the cross taking on Himself all that we deserved.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@gracepresby.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
