Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Aug 22 2019 - Jeremiah 30 – Promise of restoration

Jeremiah is told to write the words God has given him in a book or scroll (v.2). We are so thankful for this command. There are many prophets who came before Jeremiah of whom we read in the pages of Scripture but have little record of the word God gave them. Jeremiah's message to the people of his day was written in a book that generations to come, including ourselves, might read it. The Lord's word through Jeremiah that the exile would last seventy years was read and known by Daniel who turned it into prayer that the Lord would now rescue his people and bring them back from exile. In the same way, the passage we have read today looks beyond the immediate prospect of judgment to the day when God will again come to save his people.

Jeremiah's message concerning God's judgment had been rejected by the religious leaders in Jerusalem, but the people had begun to recognise that Jeremiah was bringing them a message from the Lord. Many, no doubt, were beginning to fear the power of the nations that dominated their region – particularly the growing threat from Babylon. Were they really about to be invaded?

Verses 5-7 and 12-15 of this chapter, describe what will shortly happen to the people of Judah. They have an incurable wound – a wound which no-one is able to heal (vv.12-13). God will allow them to be invaded and there will be no allies to rush to their defence. And all of this is because of a deeper wound which has been beyond healing; the wound of their many sins and great guilt (vv.14,15). Though judgment will come in the form of invasion by a foreign power it will be the Lord who will strike them (v.14). Verses 4-7 describe the fearful suffering of that day. Strong men will cry out in fear, turning deadly pale and clutching their stomachs like a woman who is going into labour. "It will be a time of trouble for Jacob" declares the Lord. But even as the Lord declares his judgment, he also adds a word of hope by adding, "but he will be saved out of it" (v.7).

Verses 8-11 and 16-24 describe what God will do to save his people after he has visited them in judgment. The Lord will break the powers of the nations that enslave his people, as he broke the power of Egypt long ago (vv.8, 16, 23-24). The Lord will gather to himself the people he has scattered in exile. He will raise up a new king to reign over them who is spoken of here as "David their king" (v.9). Under his rule, God's people will "have peace and security, and no one will make [them] afraid" (v.10). Even in the midst of judgment, the Lord wants his people to know, "I am with you and will save you" (v.11). In that day the Lord will heal their incurable wound and restore them to health, remaking them to be the people God created them to be (v.17).

In the short term, beyond the years of exile, the city of Jerusalem will be "rebuilt on her ruins" (v.18). But, as we shall see, that return to Judah and Jerusalem will fall far short of the freedom from captivity which the Lord here promises his people. The power of Babylon will be succeeded by Persia; the power of Persia by Alexander the Great and the Greek empire; the power of Greece by Rome. Israel / Jacob would remain in captivity to foreign powers, in exile in its own land.

But God's promise will not fail. In the fulness of his time he would send his own Son into the world as his Messiah, as David's greater son who would be king over his people. Jesus will be the demonstration that God is with us and will save us. He alone is able to cure the incurable wound of our sin and to draw people from every nation out of their captivity and gather them to be his people – one flock under one shepherd. By his death, resurrection and living presence he will give peace and security to his people. He continually addresses us saying, "do not be afraid" (v.10).

Father God, we thank you for these prophetic scriptures that point us to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the great salvation that is ours in him. Continue your work in us by your Spirit to release us from our captivity to sin and to self. Lord Jesus, help us to hear your voice telling us not to be afraid and assuring us of the peace and security which is ours in you.

Aug 22 2020 - Matthew 2:13-3:6 – Out of Egypt I called my son

Matthew is keen to demonstrate how the arrival of Jesus fulfils all of the promises of God in the Old Testament. Jesus' miraculous conception is the fulfilment of Isaiah 7:14 (Matthew 1:23). His birth in Bethlehem is in fulfilment of Micah 5:2 (Matthew 2:6). Even Herod's slaughter of the young boys in Bethlehem is seen as fulfilment of Jeremiah 31:15 (Matthew 2:18).

But is Matthew doing justice to these Old Testament Scriptures? Matthew tells us that Joseph is warned in a dream of Herod's determination to kill baby Jesus and told to take the child and his mother to the safety of Egypt. This, says Matthew, was to fulfil the prophecy of Hosea 11:1, "Out of Egypt I called my son" (Matthew 2:14). But the context in Hosea is not prophecy concerning the future, but God's lament over Israel's unrequited love; "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. But the more they were called, the more they went away from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images..." (Hosea 11:1-2). Surely Matthew is treating the text of Scripture like the worst of modern preachers; he takes a text out of context and simply twists it to his own ends.

On initial reading this may seem to be the case. But this is to betray a superficial understanding of the relationship between the Testaments. Matthew has a far richer understanding of promise and fulfilment.

Matthew is telling us that Jesus is the fulfilment of all that has gone before, not merely in the sense that he fulfils a few proof texts. In Jesus, the history of God's relationship with humankind receives a new focus. Israel was God's chosen one, God's firstborn son (see particularly Exodus 4:22). Israel was sent down into Egypt to be saved from death (by famine). Israel was called out of Egypt to be God's special people; "You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:4-6). They were to be a light to the nations; the means by which the God's promise to Abraham would be fulfilled and all nations would enjoy the blessing of knowing God.

But Israel failed to live up to the calling of God. God laments over his wayward people, "the more they were called, the more they went away from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images." Matthew's point is that where Israel failed, this child will succeed. He is God's firstborn Son. When he is called out of Egypt he will be faithful to God's call. When he suffers temptation in the desert, he will not rebel against God. He will succeed where Israel has failed. In him, every chapter of the story so far will find its recapitulation and its conclusion – its fulfilment. He is the Saviour of the world; the one in whom every nation on earth shall be blessed. The worship of the Magi and their gifts laid at the feet of the Christ-child anticipates the day when every knee shall bow to him and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus, I thank you that you came into the world to succeed where we have failed. All of the promises of Scripture have their ‘Yes’ and ‘Amen’ (‘It is true’) in you. I gladly worship you and own you as my Lord. Help me, like John the Baptiser, to attract others to your kingdom that they may turn from their brokenness, failure and rebellion to embrace the healing and hope that is to be found only in you. Help me to be one through whom your light shines in a dark and gloomy world.

Peter Misselbrook