Reading from Wednesday, October 13

Note. This was written on Friday night in a Word doc. I was on a short vacation with Jilly and we didn't want to pay $15 for internet in the room. So here it is - written shortly after returning from the Jimmy Eat World concert.

Wow what a night. Jilly and I took a mini road trip up to Boston today. For what purpose? To see Jimmy Eat World. And holy crap. It was by far the best show I’ve ever seen. Those guys are so freaking good it’s not even fair. They came out boom, boom, boom, hit after hit – all played to absolute perfection. If I see you on a regular basis, ask me about it. It was incredible.

But this isn’t a music blog, it’s a Bible blog. So let’s do the Bible.

Reading for October 13
Jeremiah 22:1-23:20
OK cool, a couple things to look at here. Chapter 22 is fairly consistent with the rest of the book – Israel is doomed and God will bring the doom to them. Chapter 23 then gets into a little hope. Check this out:

 ⁵ "The days are coming," declares the LORD,
       "when I will raise up to David ^[e] a righteous Branch,
       a King who will reign wisely
       and do what is just and right in the land.

 ⁶ In his days Judah will be saved
       and Israel will live in safety.
       This is the name by which he will be called:
       The LORD Our Righteousness. 

As a Christian, I would interpret these two verses as a clear reference to the coming of Jesus. As we saw a few weeks ago, others may interpret this to mean something completely different but based on my beliefs, that’s where I think God is going with this.
The other thing that sticks out to me here is that God starts to shift the blame off of Israel and onto a set of false prophets who had apparently led Israel down this road of betrayal and destruction.

¹ "Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!" declares the LORD. ² Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: "Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,"

And then at the end of the chapter God describes his fury as a storm in a beautifully terrifying analogy:

 ¹⁹ See, the storm of the LORD
       will burst out in wrath,
       a whirlwind swirling down
       on the heads of the wicked.

 ²⁰ The anger of the LORD will not turn back
       until he fully accomplishes
       the purposes of his heart.
       In days to come
       you will understand it clearly.

Boom.

2 Thessalonians 1:1-12
Hey – new book!

A few nights ago we got our first tangible look at heaven, now we see our first glimpse of hell.

⁶God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you ⁷and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. ⁸He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ⁹They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power ¹⁰on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed.

Again, many churches focus so much on this aspect of the faith, when I think we should be focusing on improving this world now. I mean if we are to believe that God created each one of us, and that we will ultimately live with him for eternity, then our time on earth is only a sharp intake of air compared to an everlasting lifetime of steady breathing. So why not bring us all into heaven to begin with? Well…I don’t know why, but if you believe all of the above to be true, then you have to agree that we are here for some purpose. What purpose that is may be a mystery, but we can’t simply focus on not going to hell. Then we are besmirching our task on earth – whatever it may be.

Psalm 83:1-18
This still leaves a bad taste in my mouth:

⁹ Do to them as you did to Midian,
       as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,

 ¹⁰ who perished at Endor
       and became like refuse on the ground. 

If you don’t know why, search for the Midianites genocide entry from back when I was reading Numbers. I kind of freaked out that night.

Proverbs 25:11-14

 ¹¹ A word aptly spoken
       is like apples of gold in settings of silver.
 ¹² Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold
       is a wise man's rebuke to a listening ear.
 ¹³ Like the coolness of snow at harvest time
       is a trustworthy messenger to those who send him;
       he refreshes the spirit of his masters.
 ¹⁴ Like clouds and wind without rain
       is a man who boasts of gifts he does not give.

Word up.