The Iron Furnace
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Going to be in Baltimore this evening 6:30
This book can be a very depressing book. You just see Gods judgement toward Judah which was the southern Kingdom.
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
“Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant
God told Jeremiah to listen to the stipulations of His covenant and relate those terms to the people of Judah and Jerusalem.
God is telling Jeremiah to repeat the covenant that was given to Moses in Deut. 27:26.
‘Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law by observing them.’ “And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’ ”
Curses (3) are called down on the person who ignores the covenantal stipulations
You where under a curse if you didn’t observe all the words in the covenant. That means you would be under divine judgement.
Before they found the Book of the Law, the people didn’t know the Law. Now that they know the law their responsibility is great.
I respect more the person who is in a dark corner on the ground graveling before and Idol, then a member of a church where the Pastor is preaching faithfully the Word of God by they never responds to it. God can give the gospel to the idol worshipper, but the one who is hearing the word faithfully will be judged.
Cursed is the one who does not obey the words of this covenant.
Invoking of curses was common in the ancient near east.
You had Curses all over the place, they where written of papyrus, clay, on tomb walls as well as spoken.
Curses are to believed to unleash supernatural power. A divine power for those who violated a law of some kind.
A curse only can be opposed or reversed by neutralizing it with blessing.
The only way to get out of a curse or to reverse the curse was to neutralize it with a blessing.
Judges 17:1–2 (NKJV)
Now there was a man from the mountains of Ephraim, whose name was Micah.
And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you, and on which you put a curse, even saying it in my ears—here is the silver with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my son!”
Curses served to protect the terms of a contract .
Curses where given to those who claimed to be a prophet but gave a false report.
But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’
This curse was so harsh because it took honor away from God and placed it on themselves.
Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the Lord.
For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, And shall not see when good comes, But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord.
For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.
‘Cursed is the man who makes an idol or Dt 27:15 779
‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father Dt 27:16 779
‘Cursed is he who moves his neighbor’s Dt 27:17 779
‘Cursed is he who misleads a blind Dt 27:18 779
‘Cursed is he who distorts the justice Dt 27:19 779
‘Cursed is he who lies with his Dt 27:20 779
‘Cursed is he who lies with any animal.’ Dt 27:21 779
‘Cursed is he who strikes his neighbor Dt 27:24 779
‘Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to Dt 27:25 779
‘Cursed is he who does not confirm the Dt 27:26 779
“Cursed shall you be in the city, and Dt 28:16
For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.”
Deut. 27:26, is repeated. How this law brought forth a curse.
A curse is judgement without mercy.
A cruse isn’t blind depersonalized forces.
But we look at the curse as it was found in Gen. 3:14-19. The curse is Gods personal reaction from Himself towards sin.
its not like step on the crack you break your mothers back. Its God
But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”
Was it a curse for God to give to the people of Israel the Ten Commandments, the highest moral and ethical standard that any people had ever received and that ever had been given to mankind, until our Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed the Sermon on the Mount? Is this a curse? Surely not.
The law demanded perfection. And the breaking of one law brings a person under the curse.
We cannot gain divine acceptance by human efforts.
“The just hall live by faith”
This is what is expected from the child of God. These are the regulation that God has set, the demand He has set.
We can approach God one of two ways through the law which the requirements of it demand perfection or by grace through faith which is God is satisfied by the works of Christ.
Justified means declared rightoues.
Jeremiah 11:4 (NKJV)
which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God,’
This covenant is where God promised to supply all material and spiritual needs for Israel in return for undivided worship and obedience.
The iron furnace is symbolic for Israels slavery in Egypt
The image of the "iron furnace" is employed as a powerful figure of speech to convey the idea of severe suffering or oppression.
Christian people are generally at their best when they are in the furnace of affliction and being persecuted and tried.
David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Welsh Preacher and Writer)
Solitude is the furnace of transformation.
Henri Nouwen
