Sermon and Worship Resources

Showing 376 to 400 of 797 results

Jeremiah 3:6-4:4

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... case, the previous example of the northern kingdom (Israel) is cited. Earlier, they had turned against the Lord, and he responded by allowing the Assyrians to defeat them. In the language of the oracle, he divorced them. But instead of learning from this vivid historical example, Judah continued to behave similarly. Indeed, Judah was more unfaithful than Israel. The prophet Ezekiel radically develops this idea in his two allegories of the unfaithful sisters, Israel and Judah (Ezek. 16 and 23). Additional ...

377. Not One is Upright

Jeremiah 5:1-31

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... , though this will not be fully developed until later (Jer. 30–33). The oracle also anticipates the obvious question that will follow the judgment: Why has the LORD our God done all this to us? After all, the people likely grew up learning of their special relationship with Yahweh and the judgment will throw that relationship into question. The answer is clear and emphatic. They suffer because they betrayed God by worshiping other gods. They have broken the covenant. Since they have worshiped foreign gods ...

378. False Religions Worthless

Jeremiah 7:1-29

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... 11:17; Luke 19:46). The people may think that God is not aware of their activities, but he challenges them by saying, I have been watching! (v. 11). 7:12–15 Those presuming they are safe because their city, Jerusalem, houses the temple should have learned their lesson from what happened at Shiloh. Before the temple, God’s home was represented by the tabernacle, a tent-like structure that conformed to the fact that the people of God were not yet firmly established in the land. During the judgeship of Eli ...

379. God and Idols

Jeremiah 10:1-16

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... off danger. Divination of all sorts, including astrology, was practiced by the nations that surrounded Israel and was part of their religious practice against which Jeremiah inveighs. Verse 3 begins a motive clause explaining why God’s people should not learn the ways of the nations and in the description it becomes obvious that more than astrology is meant. The warning is against pagan religion in general. The warning presupposes that idolatry was a temptation, and most of the Old Testament testifies ...

380. At the Potter's House

Jeremiah 18:1--19:15, Jeremiah 20:1-6

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... behalf of God, describes the horrors of the coming siege. The inhabitants of the city will run out of food and then eat their children (see 2 Kgs. 6:24–31, for such a description during an earlier siege) and then one another. From 2 Kings 25:1–7, we learn that the siege began against Jerusalem on January 15, 588 B.C. (Hebrew translates: “on the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign”) and did not end till all the food ran out on July 18, 586 B.C. (by the ninth day ...

381. God Rejects Zedekiah’s Request

Jeremiah 21:1-14

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... named Zephaniah (see Additional Notes) as his ambassadors. Now that his back is against the wall, the king, who has mistreated Jeremiah, asks him to pray to the Lord with the hope that the Lord will perform wonders and deliver them from the Babylonians, who, we soon learn (v. 4) are besieging the city. A king asking a prophet to intercede with the Lord in this kind of situation is not at all unusual. After all, the prophet served as the conscience of the king and as one who could represent the king’s ...

382. Freedom for Slaves

Jeremiah 34:8-22

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... Zedekiah and the people of Jerusalem. Covenant is a term that is used for human legal agreements as well as the divine-human relationship. The covenant carries potential punishments for disobedience to the terms of the agreement, and below in vv. 18–20 we will learn of a ritual that brought that reality home to the participants in the agreement. But the use of the term covenant here also alerts the reader that the present situation, as bad as it is, simply represents an even more dire betrayal. Just like ...

383. A Message About Babylon

Jeremiah 50:1--51:64

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... city without violence while the Babylonian leaders were drinking (Xenophon, Cyropaedia vii 5; Herodotus I 191; Nabonidus Chronicle [ANET, 306]). 50:16 After the Persians defeated the Babylonians, they allowed all the people exiled by Babylon to return to their homelands. We learn this about Judah from the recording of the Cyrus Decree in 2 Chronicles 36:23 and Ezra 1:2–4. The Cyrus Cylinder, a document from the Persian government itself, states that Cyrus permitted other nations to return home and restore ...

384. The Fall of Jerusalem

Jeremiah 52:1-30, Jeremiah 52:31-34

Understanding Series

Tremper Longman III

... us, these numbers add up to 4,600 people. But we must remember that these people would be the leadership of Judah, and so their forced departure would be particularly difficult for the native population that remained behind. And many did remain behind, as we learn from Jeremiah 40–41. It is also possible that this number refers only to adult males. At least that is the way many understand the discrepancy between the number given for the 597 exiles here in Jeremiah (832) and the number given for the same ...

385. Israel Punished and Restored

Hosea 2:2-23

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... at one place where God “put his name” (Deut. 12:5; cf. Acts 4:12). The New Covenant in the New Age (2:16-23): In 2:2–15 we saw Yahweh’s desire for an intimate, inner relation with his people, and from 2:15 we learned that Israel would, indeed, “answer” the Lord’s desire for that relationship. This oracle, which the NIV correctly translates as poetry (contra RSV prose), now details how such a new communion between God and his people can come to be. Yahweh is the speaker throughout, and every ...

386. Judgment Against Israel

Hosea 5:1-15

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... punishment could be greater than to be entirely loosed from the hand of God, for that means that one is cut off from the very source and sustainer of life itself. Chaos and death are the inevitable consequences, as Israel in the time of Hosea will finally learn. Yahweh’s Use of the Syro-Ephraimitic War (5:8-15): When we moderns read the Scripture, we are tempted to divest it of its historical contexts and to turn it into timeless truths and principles. The result is that we deny the basic testimony of the ...

387. A Call to Repentance

Joel 1:13-20

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... to cry. As Isaiah had said, “The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner’s manger” (Isa. 1:3; cf. their presence in every Christmas crèche), and so the beasts of the field (wild animals) pant or “long for” God, verse 20. Joel wants the priests to learn a lesson from the beasts and to cry to God as the animals of the field cry to their Lord. The prophet therefore composes a prayer for the priests to pray on the day of repentance, verse 19. But the fire mentioned in the prayer is not a natural ...

388. Judgment of Israel's Neighbors

Amos 1:1-2:5

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... where God dwelt in the midst of his people above the ark in the Holy of Holies and where alone he would put his name, according to Deuteronomy (12:5 et passim). The worship of northern Israel was no worship and would soon come to an end. Deuteronomy learned its exclusive lesson well from the prophets. Additional Notes 1:2 The NIV has omitted the “And,” that is at the beginning of the v. in the original Hb. Because Yahweh’s voice is often connected with thunder in the OT (Ps. 29; Exod. 19:19 RSV), the ...

389. A Lament and Call to Repentance

Amos 5:1-17

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... courts by the powerful and corrupt, Amos mentions the exacting of fines of grain from poor farmers, verse 11a, b (cf. Prov. 17:26; Exod. 21:22). The rich then sold such grain commercially and used the proceeds to build houses for themselves out of stone—an art learned from the Phoenicians in the time of Solomon (cf. l Kgs. 5:17; 6:36; Isa. 9:10)—rather than out of the clay bricks that crumbled so easily. And they could afford vineyards with the best layouts in the choicest locations (cf. Isa. 5:1). The ...

390. Israel’s Ill-Placed Confidence

Amos 5:18-27

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... as on the Sabbath (Amos 8:5), and that people gathered for a meal (1 Sam. 20:5, 18, 24, 27). By faithfully observing this day, Israel was in a position to properly observe the remaining days, set up, as they were, on the lunar calendar. Paul learned of some in Colossae who were giving undue attention to New Moon celebrations (Col. 2:16). Purim. Beyond the festivals commanded in the law of Moses, the Jews added two more to their sacred calendar, one during the postexilic period and one between the Testaments ...

391. Locusts, Fire and a Plumb Line

Amos 7:1-9

Understanding Series

Elizabeth Achtemeier

... (cf. Deut. 32:22). And that fire, too, is associated with the day of the Lord (cf. Joel 1:19–20; 2:3, 5, 30). Amos’s intercession is not for forgiveness, as it was in 7:2. No forgiveness was granted then, and perhaps the prophet has learned by this time that no forgiveness will be forthcoming. Rather, Amos simply begs, “cease” (RSV), stop! That is, halt the judgment! And God, in pity for this little people, heeds the prophet’s cry. (See the comments on 7:1–3 above.) 7:7–9 Evil cannot remain ...

392. The Lord Promises to Bless Jerusalem

Zechariah 8:1-23

Understanding Series

Pamela J. Scalise

... the lands and cities among which God’s people are dispersed, who will say to the Jews, “Let us go with you.” Isaiah 2:2–4 (and Mic. 4:1–3) gives a stirring picture of many peoples coming to the Lord at the temple in Zion in order to learn to walk in the Lord’s ways. The portrayal in the final oracle (v. 23) is on a more personal level, ten men from all languages and nations and one Jew. Genesis 10 gives a verbal map of the world in terms of its nations, families, and languages (Gen. 10 ...

393. Jesus Heals the Official’s Son

John 4:43-54

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... must yet become sight. He who demanded no verification is given verification nonetheless (vv. 51–53). On his way back to Capernaum, his servants come out to meet him with the good news that his child will live. On inquiring at what time the fever had broken, he learns it was at the very time when Jesus said to him, “Your son will live.” The repetition of these exact words in verses 50 and 53 (cf. also v. 51) both verifies the miracle and makes the point that Jesus’ words are life-giving words. The ...

394. Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

John 6:1-15

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... –15, 22–24; cf., e.g., Mark 1:35–37; Matt. 4:25–5:1). This pursuit becomes the occasion for Jesus to teach the crowds what “following” or coming toward him (vv. 2, 5) actually entails (6:26–59). Many turn back when they learn discipleship’s cost, but “the Twelve” (with Simon Peter as their spokesman) affirm their faith and are established as Jesus’ helpers and companions (6:60–71). The reference to the Passover (v. 4) is in keeping with the author’s tendency to place Jesus’ deeds ...

395. Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

John 9:1-12

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... 34 even though he is not yet Jesus’ follower. He testifies to what Jesus has done for him (v. 11), and he will doggedly “stick to his story” through a whole series of interrogations. Ironically, he does not know Jesus’ whereabouts (v. 12) and (we learn later) fails to recognize him when he sees him. Additional Notes 9:2 Who sinned, this man or his parents? Behind the disciples’ question is not only the biblical notion that children are sometimes held accountable for the sins of their parents (e.g ...

396. The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

John 9:13-34

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... him (7:25–36, 40–52). He was suspected of “deceiving the people” (7:12); those who believed in him were called a crowd that “knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them” (7:49). It comes as no surprise, therefore, when we learn that the authorities tried to rid the synagogue of anyone who claimed to follow Jesus as the Messiah. Their fear of messianic movements is summed up two chapters later at a meeting of the ruling Council: “Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we ...

397. The Plot to Kill Jesus

John 11:45-57

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... be identified with the group looking for Jesus according to 11:55–56. The crowd in 12:9 was clearly in violation of the command given by the chief priests and Pharisees (11:57) that if anyone found out where Jesus was, he should report it. They learned that he was in Bethany and did not report it, but instead went there themselves to see him. It is perhaps no accident that the command of the priests and Pharisees is first mentioned in connection with the group from the country that was looking for Jesus ...

398. The Last Passover

John 12:1-11

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

399. The Triumphal Entry

John 12:12-19

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... ” is about to begin (v. 23); the paradoxical nature of Jesus’ kingship is about to be revealed (vv. 24–33). Left unanswered in verse 12 was the question of what precipitated the joyous welcome in the first place. How did the great Passover crowd learn that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem? Verses 17–18 were appended to the narrative to answer that question, but in so doing they raise questions of their own. First, they complicate the picture of the triumphal entry with their distinction between the ...

400. Jesus Predicts His Death

John 12:20-36

Understanding Series

J. Ramsey Michaels

... , but Jesus has in mind a redemptive and universal vision (cf. 6:40: “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life”). He therefore does not answer their question directly; the reader never learns whether or not the interview was granted. Instead, Jesus announces that his hour has come (contrast 2:4), the hour for the Son of Man to be glorified (v. 23). Only when he is glorified in death and resurrection will the Greeks (and all other Gentiles ...

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