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N this chapter, we find Jeremiah
writing of a reasonable desire to see the sword of God sheathed (Jeremiah
47:6). But again, we shake our heads from side to side, realizing that there
are still far too many who have an appointment with death. As long as we
stubbornly deny that we are sinners in need of a Savior, the sword must remain
in the hand of the Almighty. There is only one way to escape, and that is
through justification by grace, through faith in the blood Jesus Christ. It is
the Christ who voluntarily submitted Himself to the sword of the Father's wrath
in order to deliver us from it. What a waste if a man plows ahead anyway, right
on until he impales himself on the point of the instrument of God's holy
vengeance against evil!
Now, in the days of Jeremiah, the
area of Gaza on the bank of the Mediterranean was inhabited by idolatrous
Philistines. Today it is controlled by Palestinians who mostly worship Allah...
the god of Islam. He was invented by the false prophet Mohammed over a half a
millennium after Jesus’ earthly ministry ended (& 400 years after the canon
of Scripture was complete). When Jehovah of the Jews commanded through Moses
that His people were to "have no
other gods before" Him, it was a command which extended to the whole
of the human race (Exodus 20:3). Yet the people in Gaza who rejected God for
one reason during the days of the Old Testament prophets have descendants today
who reject Him for other reasons. But God's sword will be felt in that land
again. While the Jewish Jesus died even for the sins of every Arab Muslim, they
must repent of their sin & unbelief (just like the rest of us) if they are
to find hope, comfort, peace & salvation. If they don't, the reaping sword
of God's holy wrath is prepared & ready to devour still.
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