Nov. 7, 2012


Jeremiah 24
"What do you see?" God asks Jeremiah.   2 baskets of figs - the good ones, very good;  the bad ones, so bad , so rotten , they could not be eaten.  Both were set before the temple.  Offerings?  Who would offer a sacrifice of rotten figs?  Figs weren't used in sacrifices, were they?

So what is the significance?  Hosea 9:10 " I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw you forefathers as the earliest fruit on the fig tree in its season. "  But when they served Baal, they devoted themselves to shame and became as detestable as that which "they loved"
Micah 7:1 -  A first -ripe fig  is highly desired and is here compared to  a godly person- none to  be found.
Isaiah 28:4  The first-ripe fig prior to summer - so desirable that the person who sees it, as soon as it is in his hand he gobbles it up.
Figs are often dried and kept for food as cakes - Abigail brought them to David in IISamuel.
They did not become rotten because they were old.  They were rotten because of the tree.
Jesus looked for figs on a tree when he walked to Jerusalem.  When it did not have any produce, He cursed the tree and it withered.
He also gave a parable about the fig tree - when you see the leaves, you can know that the season has come - summer is here.  He compared that to His second coming.  Mark 13:28 -31  "Now learn the parable from the fig tree; when its branch has already become tender, and puts forth its leaves, you now that summer is near. Even so you too, when you see these things happening recognize that He is near, right at the door. Truly I say to you this generation will not pass away until all these things take place"

In Jeremiah's time, God compares the good figs to those who are going into captivity.  He tells them that He will:
Set His eyes on them.
Bring them up again.
Build them up.
Plant them and not pluck them.
Give them a heart to know Him.
Be their Lord and they His people.
He will be their God and they will return to Him with their whole heart.
They are desirable.  They are wanted and have value and worth to Him.  He is sending them out of the land for their good.

But the rotten figs are equated with those who stay in Jerusalem or run to Egypt.   They have not obeyed God's commands.  He has told them over and over that He will not rescue them any longer.  Leave or die. Jeremiah 21:8-9
  He will:
Make them a terror and an evil, a reproach, a taunt, a curse, in all places.
Send the sword, famine, and pestilence to destroy them and remove them from the land.
The sword - war, enemies, killing, violence,  bloodshed= death
famine- no rain, no crops, no food. =death
Pestilence -plague, destroyer,  fatal diseases - virus, infectious, contagious, epidemics. = death

Over and over the message is given and is consistantly the same- obey God, KNOW Him, return to Him.  If you do, He will be with you and help you, even if that means moving you out of where you are for a time.
Ignore or turn from Him, refuse His ways, stubbornly do your own thing - death will be all you can look forward to, for it will come.  If the sword doesn't get you, famine or disease will.
Choose life!  Choose God! He will help you.  You are desirable to Him.
Thank You Father, for Your marvelous grace.