FBC Morning Light – August 8, 2022

Good Monday morning to you. Did you have a good Lord's Day yesterday? I hope that you learned something from God's Word. You learned something about what he is like, maybe learned a little bit about what he likes, and that your heart was refreshed in what you heard as you worshiped the Lord yesterday.

Jeremiah 33:3 and the Difference Between Revelation and Devotion

Today, on this Monday morning, we are looking in Jeremiah, and I want to focus on chapter 33, part of our Scripture reading for the day. I want to first of all address verse 3, because I've heard verse 3, shall we say, misapplied.

As is often the case in the Bible, there is a primary application of a verse of Scripture, and there may be some acceptable secondary application. Let me just look at this verse with you. I remember memorizing this verse as a child, Jeremiah 33, call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not, is the King James Version.

I read from the New King James in these devotional times, and it says basically the same thing, call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know. I've heard that verse applied in an inappropriate way where you're basically encouraged to ask God to give you special revelation, that you don't know which way to go, you don't know what kind of a decision to make, and so you just take this verse and say, God, I'm calling to you, you said you'd answer me, you'd show me great and mighty things which I don't know, so somehow reveal to me what I need to do, reveal to me the decision that I need to make.

Then I sit back and close my eyes and wait for God to make that revelation. That's really not the way this verse should be applied. That is the way it was applied for Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a prophet, and he was in a position to receive special revelation.

You read the book of Jeremiah, and he's receiving it over and over and over again. The word of the Lord comes to him. The Lord came to him and spoke to him in a direct way. He received direct special revelation.

You and I don't. We've received the recorded special revelation from God, which is his word. Let's just focus on the application for Jeremiah. The Lord said to Jeremiah, call to me, I'll answer you, and I will reveal some things to you that you don't know.

That's especially seen in that word, mighty. He says, I'll show you great and mighty things that you don't know. That word, mighty, could be perhaps better translated, inaccessible. I'll show you great and inaccessible things that you don't know, things you can't know, because they are inaccessible.

They're great things. They're things that are beyond your comprehension, beyond your imagination. What are those things? If you continue on in reading, the Lord says, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, the houses of the kings of Judah, which have been pulled down to fortify against the siege mounds and the swords.

The Chaldeans have come. The Babylonians have come and have besieged Jerusalem. They're going to destroy it. The Lord says, they come to fight with the Chaldeans, but only to fill their places with the dead bodies of men whom I will slay in my anger and my fury, for all whose wickedness I have hidden my face from this city.

One aspect of the great and inaccessible things that Jeremiah doesn't know that the Lord is revealing to him is that great devastation is coming upon Jerusalem and Judah, punishment, chastening for the sins of God's people against him.

Judgment, Restoration, and the Hope of Healing

But the Lord goes on to say, that's not the end of the story. Here's something that you couldn't imagine when you see the devastation, when you see the destruction. And he goes on to say, behold, I will bring it health and healing.

I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. He goes on to describe the restoration that the Lord promises to bring to his people, to Judah, to Israel. He says, it shall be to me, Jerusalem, a name of joy, a praise, and an honor before all nations of the earth, who shall hear all the good that I do to them.

They shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I provide for it. So the good and the great and inaccessible things that Jeremiah can't imagine, partially the judgment, but he can imagine that, because that's already started.

The siege mounds have already been set against the city. But the more inaccessible things are the great restoration that the Lord promises to his people. I think there is a lesson in that for us, and that is that God will chasten his people.

If we continue down a path of disobedience and we profess to be his child and are his children, we will not go down that road without impunity. We will not go down that road without suffering consequences of it.

There will be chastening for that. But that isn't the end of the story. God doesn't chasten us just to make us miserable. God chastens to restore. That's the message that came to Jeremiah. Going back to verse 3, and what's the application of that for us?

Approaching Scripture with Humility in Devotion and Teaching

I think it is appropriate to apply this verse in this way. When I come to the Scriptures, I open the Bible for my devotion time, or I go to church and I'm going to sit before a Sunday school teacher and the pastors he preaches, I think it's perfectly appropriate to call unto the Lord and say, Lord, I'm calling upon you.

Please answer me and show me some things today from your Word that I don't know or that I need to be reminded of. You approach the Lord with that kind of humility, and I think the Lord will be pleased to honor that.

So, a good way to apply Jeremiah 33. I hope you have a good rest of your day. Let's close in a word of prayer and ask the Lord's blessing upon it. Father, thank you for this encouraging verse from your Word and the passage of Scripture before us.

I pray that you would bless as we apply that verse in our opportunities of opening your revelation to us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, have a good Monday. I hope your week gets off to a great start.

Good day.