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The Indwelling Presence

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As Yahweh made clear to the prophet Jeremiah concerning Israel, “they will be My people and I will be their God,” it was obvious that He kept faithful to the covenant agreed upon at Mt Sinai and in the Moab desert. Yet after the many years and continued failures of His people, He would form an everlasting covenant for those who would be caused to seek and follow Him. It was and is now a new type of covenant that would change how His people would remain faithful (Ezekiel 16:60) to give hope for renewal and permanent restoration. This renewal would involve the restoration of His presence in the lives of His people. As planned from long ago, the fellowship between Yahweh and His people would become planted to grow in grace as His further interest progresses.

Prior to Judah’s exile into Babylon, and the removal of His presence among them, Yahweh’s people did not yet have the transformed heart that God said He would give them. In fact, He said that His Spirit placed within them would mean that He intends to take up residence within His people as compared to where He was before at the wilderness tabernacle and later in Solomon’s temple at Jerusalem (Ezekiel 36:25-27). It was to become His indwelling Spirit that defines the type of presence that would now occupy the inner-being of His people. They were to become a distributed personal space He would occupy as compared to a centralized location in Jerusalem at the temple.

In due course, the nation or tribes of Israel would become superseded through messianic prophecies about the kingdom of God that comes to the Earth via the way of the sea (Isaiah 9:1-2, Matthew 4:14-17). Not to replace Israel, God’s people, but to build upon it as His kingdom extends from Jerusalem to all individuals among the nations who would come to Christ in faith. Through a new covenant first for the Jews and then also for the Gentiles (Romans 1:16) where it is fulfilled that Yahweh’s Spirit would live within them. As born-again individuals with the Spirit of God within them among the nations across numerous generations, the new covenant applies to those who are of God’s kingdom.

The key point is that the God transforms the heart of His people. He does so through His Spirit and His word through Scripture. In order that His people would love, honor, and serve Him as their delight and ongoing desire. Where it is therefore made possible to consistently walk in the Spirit as described in Galatians 5:16-18 and fulfill the instructions that are given to us as a body of believers.

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The Choices We Make

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Daniel’s first two chapters involve his faithfulness when facing uncertain or adverse circumstances related to the Babylonian authorities above him. Specifically, Daniel was pressured to eat foods that would have defiled him as they were a violation of Jewish law. These were foods offered to pagan gods at the time and likely included pork, which was a forbidden food. Secondly, he was among a group of administrators who were condemned to execution because of their inability to define and interpret a dream Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, experienced. The king was insistent upon an explanation and interpretation from those made responsible for making clear the meaning of the dream.

As Daniel was a Godly man of conviction, prayer, and excellence, he serves as an example for people today who wish to honor Yahweh and others. Not specifically about forbidden foods, or to explain and interpret dreams of others, but to be an individual of character. With integrity, we can pray for others, and especially those in leadership. Then when it comes to having affirmed and settled beliefs about who God is and what He requires of us, we are in the same way consistent in living out those convictions. Whether in the little things in life or with wisdom, toward the more consequential matters in life.

Daniel lived his life in such a way that his life was a testimony to others and those foreign to Yahweh. His conduct, demeanor, influence, and persuasive nature helped enable him to love and serve God by how he made a difference in other people’s lives. Especially among those who were otherwise hostile to him and his beliefs. Confident and assertive, Daniel represents the character befitting one who is responsive to God and the needs of others. His win-win mindset served him well as He maintained his faithfulness to Yahweh. A talent gifted to him by God, he trusted and believed God for the well-being and blessings he continued to demonstrate. The wisdom of Daniel stemming from the relationship he lived out with God was responsible for the results under pressure we read about in the beginning of the book of Daniel.

His life exemplifies the fact God can use His people wherever they are. He can use His people in whatever circumstances they face. If or when we face hardship or tough situations, we can look to Daniel’s example about how we can honor God and those we are with. To make the right choices that glorify, honor, and serve God to assure that our lives’ testimony and witness point clearly to Him and the work He does within us. So that when we have the opportunity to give an apparent reason for the hope we have (1 Pet 3:15), we speak about God’s goodness and how He is very much worthy of our love and trust as He is the source of our confidence and faith.

As we see and experience God’s power through the work of the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to live as Daniel did. To make practical everyday choices about what we choose to believe and how we conduct ourselves among others in light of what God wants and values.

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The Path of Most Resistance

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In the New Testament, we read about how becoming a friend of the world puts God’s people at enmity with Him (James 4:4). To recognize and want all the same values, traditions, interests, and core beliefs as secular society, some individuals or churches come into opposition of Christ. Similarly, as there were numerous false deities in the ancient Near East, the people of nations surrounding Israel engaged in idol worship where it was forbidden to place anything above the value and supremacy of God. Yet, as the major prophets write about in explicit detail, that is exactly what God’s people did.

Like other nations, Israel wanted to serve wood and stone, or objects made with their own hands to worship and serve. Even worse, they participated in child sacrifices and served false gods to gain favor. Inevitable and growing destructive behaviors were carried out among the pagan nations to have a severely consequential influence on Israel. As we read in Ezekiel 20:32, we come to understand that the people of Israel wanted to be like other nations to form their own religious worldview and worship creation, or false deities rather than their Creator.

Today, modern Christians look upon the systems and objects of desire formed by modern society, and we want the same for ourselves. Too often, not just in an incidental, or healthy way, but as a preeminently common value above Yahweh. To have a bearing on how we are educated, entertained, governed, and how we are made prosperous and secure through economic beliefs and policies. All of which we adopt for ourselves while having separate priorities apart from Christ (Isaiah 53:6). As “being in the world yet not of the world” does not bear practical meaning to affect life choices, use of time, money, attention, behaviors, thinking, etc. All Christians are called to place Christ as LORD over everything and anything.

The full integration of secular society and the local church caters to its guests, members, and the public with initiatives, programs, or appeal with well-developed marketing messages absent the gospel or hardships that accompany abundant and eternal life in Christ. Compromise against biblical principles of service, living, and morality becomes inevitable. A church given to social appeal dilutes its purpose and mission as it caters to the “what’s in it for me” mindset. If an individual or group’s lifestyle, “self-truth,” or preferences cannot be accommodated, then secular churches lapse, temporarily or otherwise, into concession in its desire to serve a false “god.” A false god honored by how it operates. Moreover, social influences and pressures upon an individual can have a significant bearing on a Christian that does not honor Christ as Lord. A person is then inevitably subjected to the honor required of what seems right at best (Prov 14:12).

It is necessary to love others and steward creation, but love for Yahweh is most urgent.

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Realms of Distinction

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The four living creatures in Ezekiel 1:4-28 are real spiritual beings that Ezekiel saw in his vision. This was a supernatural experience that he encountered as what was revealed to him was a likeness of cherubim at Yahweh’s seat of power independent of position, space, or time. The anthropomorphic images Ezekiel perceived were for his comprehension within his surrounding environment as “the heavens were opened” before him (Ezekiel 1:1). The heavens were opened to reveal the vivid nature of God’s glory and that of His cherubim. The “heavens” that were opened were external to Ezekiel’s experience to indicate that the encounter was more than a theophany only internal to the prophet. The term “heavens” (samayim) refers to the abode of God and His angels. What Ezekiel saw, as written in Scripture, was a vision of who and what was from there.

The vision that Ezekiel encountered was not from his imagination. Since the Ezekiel 1 text does not indicate that the theophany was presented to anyone other than the prophet in proximity to what occurred, we cannot conclude that Ezekiel’s vision was open for everyone to see. In other areas of Scripture, we are presented with visions, and supernatural appearances among prophets and apostles recounted in detail. Either in a real descriptive sense or as a symbolic expression to convey meaning. For example, Christ’s transfiguration was an actual event that occurred to indicate the glorified state of Jesus physically. Conversely, for example, there were visions of John in the book of Revelation that conveys imagery to represent actual meaning (such as the lamb in heaven). What was revealed to individuals or groups in Scripture was determined by God, whereas what was given to an individual by dream or vision is the same yet only exclusive to that person.

God’s perfect will gives select individuals a specific reason to produce meaning for God’s glory and to communicate, meaning that He was transmitted. The messaging readers of Scripture get from encounters, visions, and dreams, have their purpose in alignment with God’s design and intent. While Ezekiel’s vision was not a practical reality in an Earthly sense, the encounter was very much real in a spiritual sense (Num 23:19). What constitutes reality, or the perception of it, is determined by God, not humanity’s limited capabilities. People are merely given the utility of sensory perception to interpret meaning as presented naturally or supernaturally. Either in a physical way or by what the spirit is situated to understand or perceive. The brain is the mind’s interface to the material world. God is the spirit’s interface to the spiritual realm. God has dominion and control over both as people are comprised of both flesh and spirit.

Ezekiel’s vision was a look into a representative nature of God’s presence. To include His glory, His cherubim, and the surrounding realm around which He occupied. If He chooses to peel back the heavens to reveal additional dimensions to individuals or groups, He is certainly capable of that (Jer 32:27).

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The Path of Inevitability

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During the reign of Jehoiakim (an evil king of Judah), between 609 and 598 BC, Yahweh instructed the prophet Jeremiah to bring the Rechabite’s entire household into Jerusalem within the temple of the Lord. Yahweh tasked Jeremiah to give the Rechabites wine to drink as they were in Jerusalem at the temple while invited. The Rechabites were the descendants of Rechab, a Benjamite, who were a nomadic family in southern Judah. They were people who lived in tents, and they were in Jerusalem for safety due to the continuing pressures from Babylon and Aram. The entire chapter of Jeremiah 35 is dedicated to the Rechabites, and their obedience to Jonadab, Rechab’s son, where Yahweh uses a relevant and useful family covenant to deliver a clear and necessary message to His people there in Judah.

When Jeremiah offered the Rechabites the wine placed before them in the temple, they refused to accept it. They explained that they were under an obligation to obey Jonadab never to drink wine all their days. This was an obligation to include their children, their wives, and all of their families. So even with the prophet Jeremiah’s social courtesy and implied pressure, they held to their oath and refused the pleasure of the wine to drink. They did not waver from their commitment, and they honored their obligation to their father and each other.

Yahweh knew of their commitment and arranged for this encounter with Jeremiah to compare the Rechabites and the people of Judah as one covenant is honored among members of a family. In contrast, another covenant was rejected between God and His people. With Jeremiah’s clear view about how wrong the people of Judah were to dishonor their covenant with God, he again hears from Yahweh. Yahweh’s words reached Jeremiah’s inner being to communicate a level of condemnation the people of Jerusalem could not recover from. So as a matter of course, Yahweh drew attention to the family of Rechab and their obedience. If people can hold an oath and covenant between each other, how is it that these people could not keep their agreement with their God, who has done so much for them?

After numerous prophets were sent from Yahweh to advise and warn His people, they refused to accept His messages, turn from their evil behaviors, and return to Him. The kings, priests, court prophets, officials, and people of Judah were all complicit in their immorality before Yahweh, and they continued in defiance while they knew and recognized His prophets. The obstinance with continued defiance and evil conduct brought about God’s anger, who made clear to them they would be destroyed.

It was decreed by their creator and God of heaven and earth; He would bring disaster upon them. All the Jerusalem inhabitants would face violence, hunger, sickness, loss of safety and property, exile, and enslavement. A people of God who were once protected and secured, were now to undergo destruction because they broke their promise to obey and follow Him. To honor, serve, and delight in Him as their God.

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When All Seems Lost

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Yahweh directly instructed Jeremiah to buy a field in Judah while Jerusalem was under siege (Jer. 32:24-25). The city was about to be burned, looted, with thousands of people killed. Those who were remaining would be marched off to Babylon on a long walk north of about 1700 miles. There they would stay for 70-years, but Jeremiah was to buy land back in Judah in the presence of witnesses. As if this transaction was a long-term property investment for shepherding, parceling, or immediate development for occupants. Jeremiah appeared puzzled by Yahweh’s instructions about the field he was to buy, so he brought it up to inquire about it.

“Behold, the siege ramps have reached the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, the famine and the pestilence; and what You have spoken has come to pass; and behold, You see it. ‘You have said to me, O Lord GOD, “Buy for yourself the field with money and call in witnesses”—although the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans’” (Jer. 32:24-25).

As if through the violence and capture of the land by the Chaldeans (Babylonians) was a transfer of ownership, it was not a permanent situation. Jeremiah was to follow-through to demonstrate to others the hope and promise of one day returning to Israel: the land of their patriarchal fathers. As the Lord declared long before the Babylonian exile and even before Israel’s return, a new covenant is repeated with Yahweh’s words “They shall be My people, and I will be their God (Jer. 32:38).” It was here that God’s people under siege began to see the hope for restoration that was given before them.

Immediately following Jeremiah’s apparent confusion, Yahweh’s following words were spoken: “Behold, I am YHWH, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?” (Jer. 32:27). With His declaration, the remaining context provides added details about the people’s condemnation, as they were both exiled and destroyed. In verses 37-44, it becomes clear what restoration specifically is. God promises an everlasting covenant where He will become permanently set within the hearts of His people. By His gracious and infinite mercy, He promises to place inside His people such a fear (profound reverence), that they will not turn away from Him.

It is strenuously vital to recognize the significance of this promise of restoration because it tells us who God is and what He is like. We see earlier written in Jeremiah the following: “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jer. 31:34).” Catch the enormous significance of this promise as it concerns what Yahweh does to implement the new covenant. As cross-referenced in Isaiah 43:25, He wipes out our transgressions for His own sake, and He remembers them no more (cf Heb. 8:12).  

To bring home Yahweh’s point, “is anything too difficult for me?” The new covenant’s far-view fulfillment is explicitly articulated in Scripture in numerous places. It was Jesus who informed His apostles, and new readers of Scripture, His death was the inauguration of the new covenant (Matt 26:28, Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20, 1 Cor. 11:23-26). Where through exceedingly dire circumstances, His people are given hope and a promise of restoration. To return to their land and inherit life beyond what they and their descendants have ever imagined possible.  

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The Court of the Prophets

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It would appear that Jer. 14:13 is where the prophet Jeremiah sets before Yahweh an attempt to excuse the Lord’s apostate people. He calls attention to the lies and deceit of the court’s false prophets, where he claims that they have an excuse by delusion and contradiction.

“Ah, Lord GOD!” I said, “Look, the prophets are telling them,
‘You will not see the sword nor will you have famine,
but I will give you lasting peace in this place.’ ” – Jer. 14:13

To infer that the prophet Jeremiah was wrong or mistaken, the kings, priests, officials, and people of Judah understood that they were safe and not under indictment and forthcoming judgment. Where just immediately before Jeremiah’s appeal, his prayer for mercy was on behalf of Judah for other reasons. Behind his plea was a severe drought throughout the land. Yet while their iniquities and sins were many, he acknowledged the situation and asked Yahweh not to abandon them. While in truth, the leaders and people of Judah had already abandoned God and the covenant their fathers made with Him.

So, the leaders and people of Judah were without excuse. Yahweh instructed Jeremiah to stop praying for their welfare and recognize that their prayers, fasting, and sacrifices were not accepted. Their sins would be called to account as Yahweh would remember them and hold the people accountable. Even if the court’s false prophets partly deluded the people, they were still guilty for the wrongs committed against Yahweh and each other. Their wrongdoings extended well beyond their delusion fed to them by false prophets set up by the kings and officials.

Yahweh, Himself spoke against the false prophets who claimed they spoke in His name. According to Yahweh, they were producing false visions, erroneous prophecies, and divination, which were an abomination as forbidden (Deut. 18:10) within the Mosaic covenant they rejected. While it appears that those falsely prophesied were self-deceived, they were making false assurances of peace that were not of God. Yahweh, Himself clearly made certain to Jeremiah that they did not receive instructions or commands from Him. Their fraudulent activity to inform the people of Judah was yet another manifestation of the wickedness within them. The false prophets were enjoined to the wickedness of the people by yet another evil.

By their assurances that the people of Judah would not suffer hunger and violence, they were in outright contradiction to Yahweh’s decrees. As prophesied through Jeremiah, the false prophets declared there would be no sword or famine in the land. To in effect dismiss the prophecy given to them by Jeremiah, the Lord’s chosen prophet to warn them and call them to repentance. The presence of the false prophets within the courts of the kings and officials was bad enough, but they also set about making claims that would contribute to the harm of Judah.

Those who were committing such grievous sin would become subject to that which they falsely prophesied. They would be thrown into the streets to starve and become exposed to violence. The very wickedness committed by them that Lord Yahweh returned to them resulted in their demise.

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The Wailing of Perdition

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The context of this passage is about Yahweh’s message to people who are about to undergo judgment. Both His people and outsiders alike are, in Jeremiah’s words, to become corpses like dung that fall on the open field. In descriptive language, Jeremiah produces symbolic meaning that expresses the most profound lament over Zion. The place where Yahweh’s presence once dwelt among His people. It is not only to become abandoned but also subject to destruction as decreed and prophesied. Jerusalem, the city of His people, was to become a heap of ruins. A place where wild beasts or predators often dwell, and it was by the will, intent, and direct action of Yahweh that this devastation was to occur. A straightforward and necessary result of betrayal and rejection of Yahweh, their God, and the God of all creation.

Thus says the Lord, “aLet not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the bmighty man boast of his might, let not a crich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts aboast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who bexercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I cdelight in these things,” declares the Lord.[1] – Jeremiah 9:23-24

For context concerning Jeremiah’s overall prophetic message, the second chapter of his book calls attention to Judah’s sins—namely, their practice of idolatry, social injustice, and religious ritualism. The third and fourth chapters of Jeremiah pertain to his call to repentance and how they were to escape destruction. Ultimately, inevitable and terrible judgment would come upon them because they refused to repent and return to Yahweh. They chose instead to plunge headfirst into the punishment prescribed by their God.

Immediately after these messages of the indictment (chapter 2), the call to turn back from evil (chapters 3-4), and unequivocal condemnation (chapters 4-6), Jeremiah’s distress highlights what could have been averted if they had chosen the opposite of what he wrote. As the beginning verses of chapter nine were filled with the depth of his grief, what could have turned about is a study in contrast. A lifestyle of lies, evil, adultery, treachery, betrayal, slander, fraud, and violence was leveled at them by Yahweh Himself. Moreover, Jeremiah’s distraught view of their rebellion gave a clear and specific indication of what people could do. Instead of lies, honesty. Instead of evil, good. Instead of adultery, faithfulness. Instead of treachery, loyalty. Instead of betrayal, devotion. Instead of slander and fraud, righteousness. There are numerous behaviors people could have undertaken to initiate a course correction and get themselves on a better path. The people could have humbled themselves with an appeal to Yahweh for His grace, mercy, guidance, and strength. To begin again in repentance and renew their covenant commitment with Him as they start to abide by His interests and desires.

As a matter of principle, as it was then, so it is today. Especially within secular Western culture, which has largely removed God from daily life. At a personal level and among institutions, both public and private. If they return to God, seek Him, and abide by His truth, there is restoration.

Verse 23) CROSS-REFERENCES
a Eccl 9:11; Is 47:10; Ezek 28:3–7
b 1 Kin 20:10, 11; Is 10:8–12
c Job 31:24, 25; Ps 49:6–9

Verse 24) CROSS-REFERENCES
a Ps 20:7; 44:8; Is 41:16; Jer 4:2; 1 Cor 1:31; 2 Cor 10:17; Gal 6:14
b Ex 34:6, 7; Ps 36:5, 7; 51:1
c Is 61:8; Mic 7:18

[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995),
Jeremiah 9:23–24.

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