This is The Living Word Bible Study for groups and individuals, using the readings set for Sunday, October 23, 2022 (Revised Common Lectionary).
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Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22 — An appeal to God on the basis of His covenant
Joel 2:23-32 — The promise of being able to be right with God
Luke 18:9-14 — Humble repentance, not proud piety, finds God’s peace
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 — Paul knows his righteousness is in Jesus
• Theme: How ideas of merit we hold prevent us receiving God’s gracious gift
Psalm 84:1-7
1-2 How lovely is Your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the Living God.
3-4 Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young — a place near Your altar, Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they are ever praising You.
5-6 Blessed are those whose strength is in You, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.
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• See also this week’s linked article, telling the story that unfolds through the Scriptures
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Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22 — An appeal to God to remember His covenant
Instructed not to intercede, the prophet appeals to God’s merciful reputation
7 Although our sins testify against us, do something, Lord, for the sake of Your name. For we have often rebelled; we have sinned against You.
“Our sins testify” — the prophet’s plea shows the other side of the coin to Joel’s prophecy, also in a time of severe drought, here seen as God’s judgment.
8 You who are the hope of Israel, its Saviour in times of distress, why are You like a stranger in the land, like a traveller who stays only a night?
“Hope for Israel” — widely-used covenant name for God.
• For further study, read Jer. 17:7, 13, 50:7; Psalm 71:5, Acts 28:20, Col. 1:27, 1 Tim. 1:1
9 Why are You like a man taken by surprise, like a warrior powerless to save? You are among us, Lord, and we bear Your name; do not forsake us!
“We bear Your name” — meaning, ‘we belong to you’.
10 This is what the Lord says about this people: “They greatly love to wander; they do not restrain their feet. So the Lord does not accept them; He will now remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins.”
“They love to wander” — those called back to God may still hedge their security between Him and idolatrous worship.
19-20 Have You rejected Judah completely? Do You despise Zion? Why have You afflicted us so that we cannot be healed? We hoped for peace but no good has come, for a time of healing but there is only terror. We acknowledge our wickedness, Lord, and the guilt of our ancestors; we have indeed sinned against You.
“Our wickedness… the guilt of our ancestors” — Jeremiah pleads for the people, recognising their sins, but his intercession has been decreed unacceptable, vv.11-12: Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not pray for the well-being of this people… I will not listen…’
21 For the sake of Your name do not despise us; do not dishonour Your glorious throne. Remember Your covenant with us and do not break it.
“Remember Your covenant” — despite the injunction, Jeremiah pleads the historical promise of God, Leviticus 26:44-45 — “… For their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors… to be their God…”
22 Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies themselves send down showers? No, it is You, Lord our God. Therefore our hope is in You, for You are the One who does all this.
“Send down showers… It is You, Lord” — the Israelites believed that weather was in the gift of God.
Joel 2:23-32 — The promise of being able to be right with God
23-24 Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for He has given you the autumn rains because He is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
“Be glad” — repeated unfaithfulness leads to judgment — like drought — but in the Lord’s greater plan, turning to Him releases blessing. Joel’s contemporary, Jeremiah, has a similar message.
“He sends… showers… as before” — rain withheld as God’s disfavour, Jeremiah 14:22 (below) and Jer. 3:3, Hosea 6:3.
25 “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten — the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm — My great army that I sent among you.
“The locust swarm” — symbolic of the invading armies.
“My great army” — in the sense that Yahweh is the sovereign lord of history.
26 “You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will My people be shamed.
“God, who has worked wonders” — in coming out of Egypt, Exodus 14:21-22, 15:11. Now the promise is to restore the crops and food supply.
27 “Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other; never again will My people be shamed.
“I am in Israel” — a reversal of the Lord’s departure, Ezekiel 10:18, see Ezekiel 8-11.
“You will know” — pointing to the coming reign of King Jesus, Zeph. 3:14-20.
28 “And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
“Afterward” — beyond the immediate restoration, in the time of the Messiah.
“I will pour out My Spirit” — referenced by Peter speaking to the crowd on the day of Pentecost.
29 “Even on My servants, both men and women, I will pour out Mmy Spirit in those days.
“My servants” — now with no age, gender or social distinction, not just prophets, priests and other special people.
30-31 “I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
“I will show” — OT prophesies are best understood as both near-term (the drought ending) and long-term (Jesus, Son of God appears and will come again) in their fulfilment.
“Sun… turned to darkness” — eclipses and other celestial signs would herald the end-time judgment.
32 “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.”
“Everyone who calls” — from Pentecost, all are invited into God’s personal covenant relationship; Gentiles and Jews together are saved through Christ, Romans 10:13.
Reflection
SUMMARY Israel and Judah have both shown consistent unfaithfulness, causing them to experience spiritual and terrestrial drought, but as the prophets intercede and the people turn again to God, His blessing is released.
APPLICATION What Joel saw in the Spirit was God’s long-range plan for a new covenant. This was to be a work of His Spirit that opened the way to knowing God in salvation for ordinary people — anyone — who confessed their need to God.
QUESTION How do these verses help us understand the relevance of the Pentecost outpouring for us?
Luke 18:9-14 — Humble repentance, not proud piety, finds God’s peace
Jesus contrasts a religious Pharisee unfavourably with a tax collector
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable:
10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
“To the temple to pray” — people went to the temple to pray, often around the times of morning and evening sacrifice.
11-12 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“The Pharisee” — renowned for their observance the law, this one stood apart and made his case using “I” five times.
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“The tax collector” — a social outcast for making commission working with the Gentile rulers claimed no good works but freely acknowledged he was a sinner — pleading the grace and mercy of God alone.
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
“This man… went home justified” — as shocking for Jesus’ hearers as calling the Samaritan the “true neighbour”, Luke 10:30-37.
Reflection
SUMMARY Jesus’ story about two different men who went to the temple to offer devotion to God teaches the kind of approach that God responds to. Humble recognition of need for God’s mercy was prominent in one and lacking in the other.
APPLICATION Jesus’ teaching point is how any that exalt themselves will be humbled while the stance of unpretentious reliance on God’s character will be rewarded. Putting our assurance in an imagined religious status or formula, or anything that we substitute for God Himself, is the mistake made by many Pharisees of Jesus’ time.
QUESTION What in common church practice can hinder rather than facilitate our experiencing God?
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 — Paul knows his righteousness is in Jesus
Awaiting execution, he is confident of the Lord drawing him safely to Himself
6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near.
“A drink offering” — Paul pictures his death in the language of OT sacrifices.
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
“Finished the race” — three decades as an envoy of the kingdom, 36-68 AD.
8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing.
“Crown” — plaited garland placed on the head of a winner. Believers make a decision for salvation and receive the imputed righteousness of Christ — then run the lifetime race for the assured prize.
16 At my first defence, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them.
“Deserted” — to stand with a man accused of a capital offence was risky. Paul, like Jesus, forgives those whose support flagged.
17 But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth.
18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to Hhis heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
“Rescue me” — as Paul expected to die soon (v. 6) the rescue is spiritual, his transition to heavenly glory.
Reflection
SUMMARY Paul, under arrest in Rome, deserted by those who would speak for him at trial and awaiting execution, reflects on having completed the gruelling course set for him without any wavering of faith. He assures readers that despite the world’s judgment of him, he is assured that Jesus his Lord is the One who will speak for his right standing in the judgment that matters.
APPLICATION Paul’s qualification in heaven is not the decades of courageous mission enterprise or his suffering — but having finished the course keeping the faith. Trusting in Jesus as Saviour and Lord is everything.
QUESTION What were Paul’s shorthand phrases frequently used to convey the source and ground of our righteousness as those belonging to Christ?
PRAYER Lord, we ask Your forgiveness for ever thinking that some good thing we did, would count towards eternal life.
We renounce as false and unspiritual the part of us that in our humanness is like the self-assured Pharisee, making a show of his prayer in the Temple.
We announce as true our need of You, and our humble reliance on Your goodness and mercy.
Only You can give us a new start, new life and new hope.
And only You can offer the defence for us before the judgment of heaven of truly having chosen to belong to You.
We receive again Your rule in our lives — Lord Jesus. Amen.
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