Week of 12.11.2022 | Day One
Last week we focused on how the covenants between God and His people prepare us for Advent. Each one brought out a different element of God’s good plan for His kingdom. The covenants were a reminder of God’s faithful love. Trouble remained in the sinful hearts of God’s people. God’s promises were not taken seriously. Turmoil within Israel caused the kingdom to split into two kingdoms, the Northern Kingdom, Israel, and the Southern Kingdom, Judah. They went through hundreds of years of kings ruling over them, leading them away from God instead of to Him. Through those years of rebellion, God sent prophets–His messengers– to speak His words to the people. Jeremiah was one of those prophets. He brought harsh words of judgment to the Southern Kingdom of Judah. He called out the sin and rebellion that was rampant, warned them of the coming judgment as a result of it, pointed them to repentance and offered hope through God’s promise to bring restoration. His message was difficult to hear and unwelcome by the people. The Hope that Jeremiah spoke about would come from the line of King David to redeem his people and restore His kingdom, just as he designed it to be.
Read
Here are several suggested passages from Jeremiah. Guide your family through as many as you see fit, focusing on how the prophet points us to Jesus:
2 Peter 1:21; Jeremiah 2:13; Jeremiah 3:12-13; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Jeremiah 31:31-34;
2 Peter 1:21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Jeremiah 2:13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
Jeremiah 3:12 Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, “‘Return, faithless Israel, declares the Lord. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the Lord; I will not be angry forever. 13 Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the Lord your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the Lord.’”
Jeremiah 23:5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
Jeremiah 31:31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Discuss
What stood out to you about this section?
How does Jeremiah point us to Jesus?
What does this teach us about God?
What does this teach us about man?
How should we respond to what we read?
Pray
Lead your family in a time of prayer.
Consider the ACTS model (Adoration- Adore or praise God, Confession- Confess sin, Thanksgiving- Thank God, and Supplication- Ask God to supply our needs)