The NXR Podcast - DAILY TRUTH - Christian Nationalism In Jeremiah 18

00:00:00.000 In less than a year, our podcast has gone from an average of 10,000 downloads a month

00:00:04.300 to 50,000 downloads. What made the difference? You leaving us a five-star review. The more

00:00:10.260 positive reviews, the more the algorithm picks us up, and more people are confronted by the law

00:00:16.360 and gospel of Jesus Christ. Help us press forward the crown rights of King Jesus by leaving us a

00:00:23.480 five-star review on your favorite podcast platform. Thanks.

00:00:27.720 The nation whose God is Yahweh will be blessed. The nation who fears the Lord will be exalted.

00:00:35.540 That's not a verse in the Bible that is just particular to Israel under the Old Covenant.

00:00:40.640 That is a promise that is true for any nation. Any nation that would fear the Lord,

00:00:46.680 Any nation who declares his God is Yahweh, then God will honor and exalt that nation.

00:00:53.940 Any nation that turns its back on God, God will ultimately judge that nation.

00:00:58.880 Now, God is slow in his judgments because he is long-suffering.

00:01:03.980 He is slow to anger.

00:01:05.400 The character and nature of God includes incredible patience.

00:01:11.340 But this is not because God is lax.

00:01:13.440 this is not because God has lowered the bar this is only because God is kind and because God is

00:01:20.120 long-suffering but nations today will be exalted when they fear the Lord and they will be eventually

00:01:27.400 it may take decades it may take centuries but eventually they will be decimated if they rebel

00:01:33.840 against the Lord and so now there's some verses that I want us to look at this is Jeremiah now

00:01:38.800 notice the reason I'm using this is because I want us to see that Jeremiah chapter 18 verses

00:01:44.680 6 through 11 is not speaking exclusively of one nation under the old covenant, namely Israel,

00:01:51.220 but rather it's giving a pattern, a framework, a grid that applies to any nation, not just Israel

00:01:58.580 under the old covenant, but any nation, and not just before Christ, but even after Christ in this

00:02:05.080 New Testament age as well. Jeremiah chapter 18, verse 6 through 11, it says this, behold, like the

00:02:12.580 clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. He's speaking to Israel in that

00:02:19.120 instance, but now verse 7, if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, anytime,

00:02:27.020 not just in the Old Testament, before the coming of Christ, anytime, any nation or kingdom, if at

00:02:33.440 any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will pluck up and break down and

00:02:39.820 destroy it. And if that nation concerning which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of

00:02:46.200 the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a

00:02:53.120 kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice,

00:03:00.200 and we'll come back to that, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had

00:03:05.420 intended to do to it. Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,

00:03:12.160 thus says the Lord, behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you.

00:03:19.020 Return everyone from his evil way and amend your ways and deeds. God is speaking in this instance

00:03:28.360 through the prophet Jeremiah to Israel saying, I'm about to send disaster because of your wicked

00:03:35.720 ways, because of your moral rebellion against me. However, before you just decide that this is your

00:03:43.780 fate and there's no way out of it, let me give you a little lesson about my character as God.

00:03:50.320 This is the kind of God that I am. There are nations that I intend to do good to,

00:03:55.320 but if they rebel, they'll receive my judgment instead. However, there are also nations because

00:04:02.460 of the rebellion and their wickedness, I am sending disaster. And yet while disaster is

00:04:09.160 still on the way before it finally arrives, if that nation chooses to turn from their wickedness

00:04:16.240 and repent and call upon my name, I will relent in the evil that I intended to do to that nation

00:04:23.460 and the judgment that I intended to place upon that nation.

00:04:27.820 That's not just Israel, right?

00:04:30.300 He's speaking, God is speaking through Jeremiah to Israel,

00:04:33.240 but the example given in Jeremiah's word

00:04:36.320 or God's word to Jeremiah to Israel is to say,

00:04:38.720 this is the kind of God that I am.

00:04:40.720 This is the character that I possess,

00:04:43.580 not just in regards to you, oh Israel,

00:04:45.940 but this is the way that I work with

00:04:48.460 and treat all nations, all nations.

00:04:51.860 And this is precisely what God did in at least the case of, we might think of, Nineveh.

00:04:57.720 Nineveh was one of five capital cities, one of five capital cities that was under God's

00:05:06.320 judgment, or they were about to be judged because of their wicked ways, particularly

00:05:10.280 the sin of violence.

00:05:12.040 When the king of Nineveh chooses to repent, he says that every man should turn, every

00:05:16.640 man, woman, and child turned from their wicked ways, especially, and he names specifically,

00:05:21.860 the violence in their hands. Nineveh was a violent people, and they were doing violent atrocities to

00:05:29.120 Israel, especially starting their pre-invasion attacks into the northern tribes of the northern

00:05:34.780 kingdom of Israel, which is precisely where Jonah actually lived. The point is, Nineveh's not

00:05:40.380 Israel, and God relents in sending disaster because Nineveh turns. What I'm saying is that

00:05:47.300 there is a pattern here, and Jeremiah would be an example of this. Jeremiah chapter 18 verses 6

00:05:52.740 through 11, there is a pattern that God has set in place, not just for one nation under the old

00:05:59.120 covenant, which was unique. There's no disputing that. Israel under the old covenant leading up

00:06:05.100 to Christ, and particularly AD 70, and the ending, the rolling up of that garment, the completion of

00:06:10.720 the old covenant, Israel under the old covenant was absolutely unique. There's no disputing that.

00:06:17.100 But what we do, I think, as New Testament Christians, now 2,000 years removed from the

00:06:22.020 ministry of Christ, is that we pretend as though Israel is a unique nation, not just then, but still

00:06:27.440 today, aka Zionism, which is wrong. And not only that, not only do we still pretend that Israel

00:06:35.320 is unique today, we pretend as though God has no plan and no promises and no judgments for any

00:06:42.880 nation outside of Israel. And that is bad theology. Before Christ, under the old covenant,

00:06:51.020 God raised up nations and he brought them low. Not just Israel, other nations. After the coming

00:06:58.480 of Christ, in our day, in this gospel age, over the last 2,000 years, God has raised up nations

00:07:05.880 and brought them low. This is a principle that will continue until the end of this human age.

00:07:13.380 It will continue into the end of the age, until the end of time. And we see it plainly

00:07:18.600 on the pages of Scripture.

The NXR Podcast - September 06, 2023

DAILY TRUTH - Christian Nationalism In Jeremiah 18

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript