Jeremiah 15-24/Colossians/Hebrews 1-4

Jeremiah
15: An interesting section that is a dialog with God and personal lament of Jeremiah

16: Along with judgments, Jeremiah is again called to act out his prophecy by not taking a wife, bearing children, or attending feasts.

17: The heart - upon which is written in indestructible ink the sin of Judah - which is like a tree planted by waters when it trusts God - but which will fall when it is deceitful. Also a passage on the Sabbath - which means it wasn't being kept.

18: The potter and the pot. God's rights over his people are absolute. They plot against Jeremiah who speaks against their leaders. Jeremiah again laments.

19-20: Jeremiah goes to proclaim the Lord's decision - this is not a preaching for repentance but the announcement of a judgment - I have pronounced. Pashur arrests him, and Jeremiah renames him "Terror-all-around." Now Pashur, as well as Jeremiah, will be the source of the bad news.

We then have another lament of Jeremiah, parts of which sound a bit like Job. He wishes he had never been born.

21: Later, Jeremiah is asked to prophecy for Zedekiah, who is regent after a first invasion by Babylon. The news is not good. There is not hope - those who wish to live should surrender.

22: The sons of Josiah are judged for two reasons: The worship other gods and they do not do justice in the land. The pronouncement here - though a brief offer of forgiveness is at the beginning - is again somewhat final.

23: Prophecies against kings (shepherds) is accompanied by the promise of a king who would do justice and establish the kingdom of God. The prophet then takes aim at other prophets, those who claim to speak for God but don't, and those who proclaim that "all is well," rather than Jeremiah's warnings.

24: The basket of figs: The remnant will be the good figs - the one who go into exile; these God will preserve. The bad figs are Zedekiah and his court - those who remain behind or seek to maintain some semblance of power.

Colossians
Colossae is a town along the Lycus river kind of in the middle of modern day Turkey. The church was founded by Epaphras, and it appears Paul had not visited it when he wrote the letter. Since the letter was likely written by Paul very late in life, it is unlikely he ever visited.

The introduction is one of the more powerful ones, and the letter contains more liturgical type language than Paul's others. He will notice the phrase in v. 12, "share in the inheritance of the saints in light" which is a common liturgical phrase.

We have been transferred out of a kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of his Son - who Paul then goes on to describe in doxological terms - the basis for the security and power of Christ.

Paul describes his ministry in 1.24-2.6. He then begins the meat of the letter - a warning against people who were trying to make certain spiritual practices necessary for salvation. There also appeared to be some kind of mystical magic - binding one self to elemental spirits - which has various interpretations. Paul's point is that we are set free by Christ.

Chapter 3, Christ again becomes the focal point as Paul lays down the rules for community living - in which Christ is all in all. He encourages them to pray - "keeping alert in it with thanksgiving" (remember your blessings?). This wraps up chapter 4 and the final greeting to various people.

Hebrews
Hebrews is a unique work in the New Testament. It is a letter, but it is a very general one - an open letter to all the Jews scattered throughout the empire. It also has no author, and no claim to author. Some ascribe it to Paul, but from the early church there were scholars who strongly disagreed. Today few would ascribe it to Paul. The main point of the letter is to show how Jesus fulfilled the sacrificial system as its high priest as well as its offering.

1: Christ is supreme - not a prophetic word but the perfect expression of God - the exact imprint. Christ is also greater than the angles and the one who sustains all of creation.

2: It was fitting that Christ become one of us, so that he could lead us out of death and into life. By dying he destroyed death and rescues us from it, leading us out of it, and into fraternal fellowship.

3: Comparison of Jesus and Moses, the greatest leader of the Jews. While they were alike in faithfulness, Jesus was a son, not a servant. Moses served in the house, Jesus over it. We then hear the exhortation to not harden our hearts and rebel, but trust in God and his Son.

4: A discussion of rest - which starts in 3 and concludes here. Did the Israelites find rest during Joshua's time? No, for David speaks of entering "rest." God rested on the 7th day, but that was pointed to the past. To rest in God is to trust in him and seek him through Jesus.

Verses 12 and 13 are two of the great verses in Scripture, explaining the power, meaning, and purpose of Scripture. It is alive and discerning. We do not simply read it; it reads us and lays us bare. That is why it should be read, and what its true nature is.

The author then introduces the idea of Jesus as High Priest which he will elaborate on for some time and which we will pick up next week.