Jeremiah
24:1-10
After
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem Jeconiah the
son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, together with the officials of Judah, the
craftsmen, and the metal workers, and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord
showed me this vision: behold, two baskets of figs placed before the temple of
the Lord. 2 One basket had very good figs,
like first-ripe figs, but the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they
could not be eaten. 3 And the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs, the good figs very good,
and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”
4 Then the word of the Lord came
to me: 5 “Thus says the Lord, the God of
Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah,
whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. 6 I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them
back to this land. I will build them up, and not tear them down; I will plant
them, and not pluck them up. 7 I will give them a heart to
know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God,
for they shall return to me with their whole heart.
8 “But thus says the Lord: Like
the bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat Zedekiah the
king of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land,
and those who dwell in the land of Egypt. 9 I will make them a horror to
all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a reproach, a byword, a taunt, and a curse
in all the places where I shall drive them. 10 And I will send sword, famine,
and pestilence upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land
that I gave to them and their fathers.”
There are
good figs and there are bad figs in the world. There are people who have faith
in God and there are people who do not care about God. There are people who
seek to follow Christ’s example and those who desire to follow the example of icons.
There are many occasions when we can narrow everything down into two different
categories: the good figs and the bad figs.
God has
used the Babylonian forces to judge his own people. He has seen the wickedness
of the land before and he sent in the Israelites to whip them out. These bad
figs were allowed to survive. God has had enough of their corruption and sends
in the Babylonians. God will eventually send in the Greeks and the Romans. It
will not be because God does not love his people, but because they no longer
care about what he actually has to say.
God speaks
to this world each and everyday. He has called people by the Gospel to proclaim
his truth and his Law to the World. God speaks to the World through His Word.
He speaks about the corruption and lose of responsibility in the world. He even
speaks a word of Hope.
There are
good Figs! There are some figs worth eating. They are not worth eating because
they have done anything. They are worth Eating because Christ has claimed them
and made them his very own. He has even made you a good Fig. He will plant you
in an eternal vineyard and you will never be plucked away again. There are good
figs and there are bad figs, and bad figs corrupt good figs. Stand ready, and
know that God is at your side.
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