Friday, August 30,
2013, 6:43 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “Do You Love Me?” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, your words to my
heart. I read Jeremiah 13:1-11 (NIV):
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%2013&version=NIV
This
is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your
waist, but do not let it touch water.” So I bought a belt, as the Lord
directed, and put it around my waist.
Then
the word of the Lord came to me a second time: “Take the belt you bought and
are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath and hide it there in a
crevice in the rocks.” So I went and hid it at Perath, as the Lord told me.
Many
days later the Lord said to me, “Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you
to hide there.” So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the
place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.
Then
the word of the Lord came to me: “This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way
I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. These wicked
people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their
hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this
belt—completely useless! For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all
the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,’ declares the Lord, ‘to
be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.’
The Linen Belt
We read in Revelation 19:8 that “Fine linen stands for the
righteous acts of God’s holy people,” which the bride of Christ was given to
wear. In the Old Testament times, the curtains of the tabernacle were made of
linen. When Jesus died and was buried, his body was wrapped in linen. And, Revelation
15 says the angels from heaven were dressed in clean, shining linen. Linen is
thus a figure of what is pure and what is righteous and holy.
Also the priests were dressed in linen, so linen here also
symbolizes the priestly ministry of God’s holy people. We, as followers of
Jesus Christ, are called to be, and we are being built into a spiritual house
to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ. We are chosen by God to be a holy nation, God’s special
possession, that we may declare the praises of him who called us out of
darkness into his wonderful light… and that we may serve our God. And we will
reign with him (see 1 Pet. 2; Rev. 1, 5, & 20). What this means is that we
are God’s special people, his servants and witnesses, and his divine agents to
bring the gospel and the love of Jesus Christ to the world around us.
Jeremiah was representing God in this symbolic act in order to
represent a spiritual truth. Yet, this spiritual truth goes beyond just that
time in history, but it applies yet to our lives today. Just as Jeremiah bought
this linen belt, Jesus Christ, through his death and resurrection, purchased
(redeemed; ransomed) us back for God, thus crediting us with Christ’s
righteousness and purity, represented by the linen belt. Thus, because of God’s
grace to us in purchasing us, and through our faith in Jesus Christ and in his
death for our sins, God binds us to himself to be his special people for his
renown, praise and honor, just like Jeremiah put this belt around his waist.
Not Touch Water
When God had instructed Jeremiah to wear the belt, he also
told him to not let it touch water. If we wear an article of clothing but we
never wash (cleanse) it, it will become dirty. This was to represent the
uncleanness of God’s chosen people.
When we come to faith in Jesus Christ, because of God’s
grace to us in providing us with salvation (his righteousness), we come into an
intimate relationship with God/Jesus Christ (the binding of God’s people to
himself). Yet, even though Christ’s righteousness is credited to our account
through our faith in him, still we are instructed that we must daily die to sin
and self (See Lu. 9:23-25), and that we must walk (live daily) in the Spirit,
and in his righteousness (See Gal. 5:16; Eph. 5:2; 1 Jn. 1:7; 2 Jn. 1:4-6; Rev.
3:4).
This passage in Rev. 3:4 says that those of us who have not “soiled”
our clothes will walk with Jesus Christ, dressed in white (purity and
righteousness), “for they are worthy.” In other words, being purified from all
sin takes place daily in our lives (See 1 Jn. 1:7). This is called the process
of sanctification. On the other hand, this soiling of our spiritual garments
takes place both when we do not have this daily cleansing, and also when we
remove ourselves from the protection of God in our lives and we, instead,
decide to mingle and mix with the sinful pleasures of this world. I believe
both are represented by Jeremiah’s next symbolic act.
Ruined and Useless
Then God directed Jeremiah to take the belt and to hide it
in the crevice in the rocks, so Jeremiah did as the Lord instructed. Many days
later the Lord told him to go dig up the belt and to take it from the place
where he had hidden it, so Jeremiah did that. Yet, now the belt was completely
ruined and useless. When we fail to walk in the Spirit, to allow God to work
this process of sanctification in our hearts daily, and when we, instead, remove
ourselves from Christ’s spiritual protection provided for us in this intimate
relationship with God, and we, instead, go out and mingle and mix with the
sinful pleasures of this world, then we become corrupted by the world around us
and we are no longer of any use to God for his eternal kingdom – i.e. for the
praise, glory and honor of his name and his reputation.
Yet, there is another meaning to take away from this
symbolic act of hiding the linen belt in the rocks. This has to do with God’s
judgments on his people because they had behaved wickedly, refused to listen to
God’s words, followed the stubbornness of their own hearts, and they followed
after other gods to serve and worship them. And, this happens to followers of
Jesus Christ, too, who don’t take care to walk in the Spirit and to daily die
to sin and self, and who, instead, remove themselves from God’s protective
care, and who willingly go the ways of the world to follow after their sinful
practices and desires.
Some people think God won’t judge his church for this, but
scripture says he will. The letters to the seven churches alone teach us that
the church can fall away from her pure relationship with Jesus Christ, and she
can and has gone after “other lovers,” thinking they will satisfy her. And, so God
calls his rebellious and/or wayward church to repent (turn from) her evil and
wicked ways and to return to following him in obedience, or else he will visit
her in divine judgment (correction and discipline). As always, God’s purpose in
judgment on his people is to get them to return to him in repentance and
obedience so that he can restore them to a right relationship with him, i.e. to
the pure and clean linen belt bound closely and intimately to her Savior and
Lord. He will do this so that we can be for his renown, praise and honor.
The Appeal
So, where are we in relation to all this today? Have we
soiled our clothes and gone off to follow after the ways of this world? Or,
have we remained faithful to our Lord by remaining in his love and in this
daily walk of faith? Jesus said if we love him, we will obey him. Do we love
him? Then, we need to do what he says.
Do You Love Me? /
An Original Work / July 24, 2013
Do you love Me now?
Will you seek My face?
I have given you
My love and My grace.
Will you walk with Me
Ev’rywhere I lead?
Will you find in Me
All of what you need?
Won’t you meet with Me
Down upon your knees?
Will you obey Me,
And do what I please?
Will you hear My voice
Speaking now to you?
I am couns’ling you
To abide in truth.
I have died for you;
Taken all your sins –
Crucified with Me,
You have been
forgiv’n.
I have set you free
From your slavery,
So that you can now
Live in victory.
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