It was because of the LORD's anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah,

and in the end He thrust them from His presence.

Jeremiah 52:3, NIV 

 

I think one of the reasons that we avoid reading books like Isaiah and Jeremiah is that they do not always fit with our preconceived views about God. We like to believe that regardless of what we do, God will always give us one more chance. We are convinced that God's grace means that we will never actually be punished for our sins, but this is just not so. In fact, if there has been one overriding message of Isaiah and Jeremiah, it is the fact that God will really punish those who refuse to come back to Him on His terms.

 

Some truths are just unpleasant!

 

But, isn't it true that these are the very types of things that we try to teach our own children? Isn't that why we bring them up to understand that there are consequences for bad behavior, just as there are rewards for good? Isn't it true that if we shelter our kids (or ourselves) from the fact that bad conduct will eventually have to be corrected, that they will spend a lifetime paying the penalties for not having learned that lesson?

 

Isaiah and Jeremiah were sent by God to warn the nation of Israel to repent or be punished. They chose punishment and that punishment turned out to be more than they could bear. It would have been better for they and their children had they learned that lesson without having to pay the consequences, but they didn't.

 

So they were destroyed,

 

It was a hard lesson! A lesson, I might add, that God did not want them to have to go through. But they would not learn the truth that unrepentant sin will eventually meet with terrible punishment. They did not believe it, and in the end God thrust them from His presence. It's not a fun thing to talk about, but it is a fact that we must accept just the same.

 

Some truths are just unpleasant! But we have to hear them, and learn them, if we are ever to repent and share in the blessings that God longs to shower upon His beloved children.

 

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.

Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books...

If anyone's name was not found in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:11-12, 15, NIV

 

Then the King will say to those on His right, "Come, you who are blessed by My Father..." Matthew 25:34, NIV

 

Today is day 16 of the 30 day challenge to read through the books of the prophets of God, with Jeremiah 47-52 being the reading for today. May God richly bless you as you seek to learn all of His truths and live by them!