Salvation that Begins and Ends with God

Faith in idols and superstitions are not good investments.

“Hear the Word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: do not learn the way of the Gentiles; do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the Gentiles are dismayed at them. For the customs of the peoples are futile; for one cuts a tree from the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple. They are upright, like a palm tree, and they cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot go by themselves. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor can they do any good.’” Jeremiah 10:1-5

“Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven [the stars].” The Gentiles [the nations] are dismayed as they try to interpret the meaning of the star positions. This is a poor approach to problem solving. Knowing and having the help of the Creator of these things is better.

Others cut trees and shape them into images that need to be propped up to stand upright. Such superstitions are bad investments. Faith in idols and superstitions are bad investments. God urges us to turn from merchandise and methods aimed at transferring funds from your account to a merchant’s. God gives us a salvation that begins and ends with Him.

“Commercialism had become the besetting sin of Judah; money dictated their policies.” [1]

Commercialism will also be a besetting sin in the last days before the Lord returns. “Babylon... has become a dwelling place of demons... the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.” [2]

The God who created the universe and sustains it helps us. He sent His Son into the world to save us. Jesus resurrected from the dead after being crucified and placed in a tomb for three days. No other founder of a religion did this. The Lord Jesus Christ is a miracle worker.

“Inasmuch as there is none like You, O Lord (You are great, and Your Name is great in might), who would not fear You, O King of the nations? For this is Your rightful due. For among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like You. But they are altogether dull-hearted and foolish; a wooden idol is a worthless doctrine.” Jeremiah 10:6-8

Superstitious beliefs are worthless doctrines. Christians, “Do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Christianity is a revealed religion. Jesus Christ reveals the Kingdom of God to people via His Word and via the witness of His Holy Spirit. [3]

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” [4]

Jesus Christ reveals His Kingdom to us to save us from our sins, and to provide for us peace and hope. He said to His disciples, “I have told you these things, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble; but cheer up! I have overcome the world.” [5]

Jesus is the Messiah. Only He has the words of eternal life. [6]

In the Book of Revelation, before the sealed judgments are unsealed, those in heaven sing...

“You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” [7]

“Silver is beaten into plates; it is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the metalsmith; blue and purple are their clothing; they are all the work of skillful men.” Jeremiah 10:9

Tarshish is in Spain and Uphaz is in India. Both places are far from Israel. Distance does not endue with supernatural powers. People place high value on silver and gold, but silver and gold cannot save a soul. It is amazing what craftsman do with precious metals, but superior design does not impart divine character. Royal garments are made from blue and purple cloth, but royal clothes are not vested with God’s wisdom.

“The Lord is the true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath, the earth will tremble, and the nations will not be able to endure His indignation.” Jeremiah 10:10

Yes, only God is God. He lives! He is everlasting. No matter what some may do to sabotage faith in Him, He remains God. No matter how people twist His Words or try to erase them, His Word is settled forever in the heavens.

Stars, metal, and wood cannot transform a hateful heart into a loving one.

Jeremiah declared that God’s wrath makes the earth tremble. Nations cannot endure His indignation! The Apostle Paul wrote, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” [8]

“Thus you shall say to them: ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.’” Jeremiah 10:11

Jeremiah’s words, “Thus shall you say to them,” are in Chaldee, the language of the Babylonians. The Babylonians needed a reality check. Although they defeated the armies of nations, their gods were not God. There is an old Greek saying: “Whoever thinks himself a god besides the one God, let him make another world.” [9]

“He has made the earth by His power He has established the world by His wisdom and has stretched out the heavens at His discretion. When He utters His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens: and He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain He brings the wind out of His treasuries.” Jeremiah 10:12-13

Humankind has barely scratched the surface when it comes to understanding the wisdom and discretion with which God created the universe. God created all things with love. He orders the elements to work together in harmony to provide a livable climate for us. We need to understand God’s love, to understand rightly the universe which He created.

“Everyone is dull-hearted, without knowledge; every metalsmith is put to shame by an image; for his molded image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.” Jeremiah 10:14

They are dull-hearted because apart from God people only think in terms of profit and loss. God is love. His economy is based on love for one another. His love is at odds with the world’s selfish ambition. Paul wrote, “Professing to be wise, they became fools.” [10]

“They are futile, a work of errors; in the time of their punishment, they shall perish. The Portion of Jacob [God] is not like them, for He is the Maker of all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance. The Lord of hosts is His Name.” Jeremiah 10:15-16

God leaves no room for doubt. Idolatry is unequivocally wrong. Those who worship idols will perish. God is unlike them. God’s people are unlike them. Our inheritance comes from God.

He who sat on the throne said, “...He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” [11]

A day is coming when idols will be no more. “It shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I will destroy the names of idols out of the earth, and they shall be remembered no more: and I will take away the false prophets, and the unclean spirit out of the earth.” [12]

“Gather up your wares from the land, O inhabitant of the fortress!” Jeremiah 10:17

As for the time-being, Judah needed to prepare to be deported to Babylon.

“For thus says the Lord: behold, I will throw out at this time the inhabitants of the land, and will distress them, that they may find it so.” Jeremiah 10:18

As Adam and Eve were evicted from the Garden of Eden after they sinned, so the people of Judah were evicted from the Promised Land and taken captive to Babylon.

“Woe is me for my hurt! My wound is severe. But I say, ‘Truly this is an infirmity, and I must bear it. My tent is plundered, and all my cords are broken; my children have gone from me, and they are no more. There is no one to pitch my tent anymore or set up my curtains.” Jeremiah 10:19-20

Jeremiah aches for his countrymen. The pain that he feels for them is like the pain of a deep wound. His tent, meaning his people, has been robbed. The cords that held them upright are severed. There is no one to help them reset at this point. Jeremiah lamented, “My eyes run down with streams of water because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.” [13]

The root cause of Jerusalem’s problem was misguidance...

“For the shepherds have become dull-hearted and have not sought the Lord; therefore, they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.” Jeremiah 10:21

Jesus contrasted the difference between the one who shepherds for profit’s sake and the one who shepherds as a prophet for the sheep’s sake. He said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. [14]

“Behold, the noise of the report has come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, a den of jackals.” Jeremiah 10:22

Jerusalem rejected the voice of God. Jerusalem received the noise of an attacking army.

“O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.” Jeremiah 10:23

King David wrote, “The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord. He is their strength in the time of trouble.” [15]

God was bringing Jeremiah’s nation to a time of correction. He prayed, “O Lord, correct me, but with justice; not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing.” Jeremiah 10:24

King David prayed in a similar fashion, saying, “O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger, nor chasten me in Your wrath.” Thankfully, God is merciful to those who bless His Name and seek His mercy. David declared, “He [God] has not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.” “For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.” [16]

Jeremiah, like Jonah, relied on the Lord for mercy The Prophet Jonah wrote, “Those who regard vain idols forsake their own mercy.” [17]

“Pour out Your fury on the Gentiles, who do not know You, and on the families who do not call on Your Name; for they have eaten up Jacob, devoured him and consumed him, and made his dwelling place desolate.” Jeremiah 10:25

Jeremiah prayed that the full tide of God’s wrath would be on the nations who were attacking his nation. They neither respected God nor God’s ways. They were exceedingly cruel.

The Lord Jesus Christ revealed to us in the Book of Revelation two kingdoms, two cities, and two women. There is the Kingdom of Christ and the Kingdom of the Beast [the antichrist]. There is Heavenly Jerusalem and Babylon. There is the Bride of the Lamb and the Harlot Babylon. The Lord wants all people to be saved and indeed, there will be people from every tribe and language worshipping before His throne, but He requires from each of us an invitation and a separation.

The invitation involves inviting Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior. Ask Him to save you, to reveal Himself to you and to transform you from what you are into what God meant you to be.

The separation involves a firm commitment to the Kingdom of Christ, to Heavenly Jerusalem and to be solely married to the Lamb of God, that is, committed to glorifying Jesus Christ.

The one who hears the voice of the Good Shepherd Jesus speaking is urged by the Holy Spirit to say, “Come!” The one who is thirsty for the only salvation that begins and ends with God should say, “Come, Lord Jesus come!” “Please come to me!” The Holy Spirit says, “Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.” [18]

[1] Dr. Theo Laetsch, Bible Commentary Jeremiah, Concordia Paperback Ed., 1965, ©, page 124
[2] Revelation 18:2-3
[3] 2 Corinthians 4:18
[4] 1 Corinthians 2:5-14
[5] John 16:33
[6] John 6:68
[7] Revelation 5:9, 12
[8] Hebrews 10:31
[9] Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary
[10] Romans 1:22
[11] Revelation 21:5, 7-8
[12] Zechariah 13:2
[13] Lamentations 3:48
[14] John 10:11-13
[15] Psalm 37:39
[16] Psalms 6:1; 103: 10, 14
[17] Jonah 2:8
[18] Revelation 22:17