Jeremiah 25:32-33 – Wrath's One Effectual Firewall
32 Thus says the Lord of hosts:“Behold, disaster shall go forth
From nation to nation,
And a great whirlwind shall be raised up
From the farthest parts of the earth. 33 And at that day the slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or be shouldered; they shall become refuse on the ground. Jeremiah 25:32-33, New King James Version
CS Lewis's fictional demon Screwtape is tutoring his nephew on a rearguard action after their human target has become a Christian. Not surprisingly, pride is still a choice weapon. Screwtape says of the "patient's" upward mobility, "the new circle in which he finds himself is one in which he is tempted to be proud for many reasons other than its Christianity. It is better educated, more intelligent, more agreeable society than any he has yet encountered."
Jeremiah 25:32-33 also warns us of the deadly distraction of "other than." Perhaps, schooled in the Bible, we are not surprised when God's glory, His wrath, His insistence on justice roars across national borders that humans in our dealings with each other deem so significant. Of course, we chortle, we would not associate salvation when one's national citizenship. How simpleminded!
Yet where else do we subliminally suppose we will find recourse in the day of trouble? Have we, as Screwtape hopes of his patient, set up a subconscious border in the desirability of the company we keep, believing this will justify us, bridge the gap between perfect holiness and our self-satisfaction?
May it not be so, brothers and sisters. Is eloquence our firewall that we think will forestall accountability? That will not hold. Have we begun to believe that we, in the deeds of our ministry, are of a separated tribe that will not be touched? Oh, pierce our pride, Lord, before it is too late!
May we revert to the humility of the Israelite slaves in Egypt. As they painted the blood of the Lamb on their doors, be they overseers with access to Pharaoh or the slowest slaves gathering straw, so may we simply plead the blood of Jesus upon us, now and forever. Only His righteousness will He recognize as Judge of all men. Only two groups will exist in that day, the justified who trusted in Him alone, and the condemned with all their divisions and their arguments.
By His grace, we would keep from over-complicating the sweet identity in Him He has granted by grace. "The discovery of Christ is never genuine if it is nothing but a flight from ourselves," confronts Thomas Merton of this predilection to pretense in No Man Is an Island. " On the contrary, it cannot be an escape. It must be a fulfillment.
Shed of the accretion of tribal affiliations we so readily pick up, we agree with Merton, "I cannot discover God in myself and myself in Him unless I have the courage to face myself exactly as I am, with all my limitations, and to accept others as they are with THEIR limitations. Evasion is the answer of superstition."
Practiced as we are at such evasions, this morning's mercies, confrontational though they may be, are new. He grants ears to hear over the cultural din. He grants eyes to see Him as the things of Earth grow strangely dim. Repent and rest in Him alone! He is the firstborn of many brethren, the new identity not only of the self, but of the self's true community.
From nation to nation,
And a great whirlwind shall be raised up
From the farthest parts of the earth. 33 And at that day the slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or be shouldered; they shall become refuse on the ground. Jeremiah 25:32-33, New King James Version
CS Lewis's fictional demon Screwtape is tutoring his nephew on a rearguard action after their human target has become a Christian. Not surprisingly, pride is still a choice weapon. Screwtape says of the "patient's" upward mobility, "the new circle in which he finds himself is one in which he is tempted to be proud for many reasons other than its Christianity. It is better educated, more intelligent, more agreeable society than any he has yet encountered."
Jeremiah 25:32-33 also warns us of the deadly distraction of "other than." Perhaps, schooled in the Bible, we are not surprised when God's glory, His wrath, His insistence on justice roars across national borders that humans in our dealings with each other deem so significant. Of course, we chortle, we would not associate salvation when one's national citizenship. How simpleminded!
Yet where else do we subliminally suppose we will find recourse in the day of trouble? Have we, as Screwtape hopes of his patient, set up a subconscious border in the desirability of the company we keep, believing this will justify us, bridge the gap between perfect holiness and our self-satisfaction?
May it not be so, brothers and sisters. Is eloquence our firewall that we think will forestall accountability? That will not hold. Have we begun to believe that we, in the deeds of our ministry, are of a separated tribe that will not be touched? Oh, pierce our pride, Lord, before it is too late!
May we revert to the humility of the Israelite slaves in Egypt. As they painted the blood of the Lamb on their doors, be they overseers with access to Pharaoh or the slowest slaves gathering straw, so may we simply plead the blood of Jesus upon us, now and forever. Only His righteousness will He recognize as Judge of all men. Only two groups will exist in that day, the justified who trusted in Him alone, and the condemned with all their divisions and their arguments.
By His grace, we would keep from over-complicating the sweet identity in Him He has granted by grace. "The discovery of Christ is never genuine if it is nothing but a flight from ourselves," confronts Thomas Merton of this predilection to pretense in No Man Is an Island. " On the contrary, it cannot be an escape. It must be a fulfillment.
Shed of the accretion of tribal affiliations we so readily pick up, we agree with Merton, "I cannot discover God in myself and myself in Him unless I have the courage to face myself exactly as I am, with all my limitations, and to accept others as they are with THEIR limitations. Evasion is the answer of superstition."
Practiced as we are at such evasions, this morning's mercies, confrontational though they may be, are new. He grants ears to hear over the cultural din. He grants eyes to see Him as the things of Earth grow strangely dim. Repent and rest in Him alone! He is the firstborn of many brethren, the new identity not only of the self, but of the self's true community.
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