The Beauty of Cleveland

The Beauty of Cleveland

Thursday, April 2, 2015

He Made Up His Mind

As you read this post, you're probably going to wonder what Jesus has to do with it. You might even think it's a little depressing, but bare with me, y'all. I promise it gets better. First of all, I would like to express how excited I am about the Lord lately. I've been raised pentecostal, but I honestly don't think I've been this excited about the Lord before. It's different, but it's pretty amazing. It's to the point where if someone asks me why I'm excited, I'll start talking with my hands in wide motions and my voice will gradually get louder. Don't believe me? Try it. I can't explain it y'all. God is just so good, which is the point of this post.

I know you're probably thinking "Brook, this isn't depressing at all. What were you talking about?" It's about to get rough, but then it'll get better! It's always about how we finish, right? *everyone says right*

I was reading in Jeremiah 6 the other day. If you've read Jeremiah 6, you know it's about how God has made up his mind to punish Jerusalem. Who wants to read about that? God is a loving dude. That He is, but He is also to be feared. That's something I forget most of the time. In this passage God is describing to Jerusalem how He has made up His mind to punish them and all the suffering that is about to happen. What stood out to me was verses 20 and 26. Verse 20 says, "What do I care about incense from Sheba or sweet calamus from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please me." Verse 26 says, "O my people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes; mourn with bitter wailing as for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us." You're probably catching the depressing tone of the verses. You were warned, but it's true. If we look at these verses with a sense of destruction, they are depressing. God is being scary and we don't like that. At least, I didn't. But what happens if we look at these verses in a different light? What if we look at them at a place out of God's pain for his people? The verse about their offerings not being good enough probably was because their offerings were not pure. God wanted their offerings to be good enough, but they weren't. Let's take a look at that last verse, though. "O my people, put on a sackcloth and roll in ashes; mourn with bitter wailing as for an ONLY SON for suddenly the destroyer will come upon US."

Most of you are probably like, "Ok... so you bolded words in the verse and I still don't get it." Y'all. What if God didn't only make up his mind about punishing Jerusalem, what if He was describing how He had already made up His mind about sending His only son and He was describing the pain He was going to endure? Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament. Their sacrifices were not good enough. They never were. That's why they had to keep sacrificing, but God sent the ultimate pure and holy sacrifice to cover all sins. What if His thought process was, "Yes. I have made up my mind to punish you, but I have also made up my mind to suffer with you. The later generations of your family will not have to endure this, because I am sending my son to save you. It will hurt me tremendously, but your salvation is more important than my pain." My mind was blown when I started thinking about this. God could be describing the gospel to a group of people who won't even be alive to see it.

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