All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16 NIV)
My latest
post was kind of academic, but probably ignited by personal sentiment. It took me a while
to put it together especially among all the good seasonal distractions, so it almost
didn’t make it as a 2025 model. I finally hit publish on New Year’s Eve! This
one has no incidental stimulation. It is merely some ‘thinker material’ –
something that seems to accumulate in my head year in and year out. This topic is gaining some attention
thanks to my reading and participation in some enjoyable adult Sunday School
classes in our church in the last while.
Theology is such a large subject that most people want to steer clear of it. So no sparkplug incident, I predict few will read this. Instead of reading theology the preferred option is to find a tradition or a conviction or a “comfortable pew” as Pierre Burton said once upon a time,[i] or a standard go-to ‘nothing.’ That's okay with me; I still must write it.đŸ˜€These days, some things are changing; given the racial and humanitarian changes along with increasingly autocratic politicians, the inhabitants of this world are having second – or hundredth – thoughts about religion!
I have been thinking about the Babylonian captivity, right there in my Old Testament college memories of long
ago. It may be of specific interest at this point probably because
of my involvement in an Interfaith community in our city. And interestingly, it
is conversations with persons of other faith traditions that is getting me to
review some stuff right there in our Bible. It is in context of Muslims, Jews,
Aboriginals, Latter Day Saints, Sikhs, Seventh Day Adventists, and a variety of
both evangelical and progressive Christians, that Old Testament history is
gaining considerable intrigue, more-so than in the years when I was preaching sermons.
I am fascinated (inspired, relieved) in a new way to review some things of our Bible - the helpful way that it is arranged. There is law, prophets, and writings in the O.T. and gospels, epistles, and further review (e.g. Hebrews and Revelation) in the N.T. This morning, again in usual routine, my wife and I were reading from Jeremiah 31, an uncharacteristically positive chapter in that book generally thought of as the scolding “weeping prophet” warning his fellows, the people of Judah, that they have much suffering ahead of them because the Babylonians are coming. There are upcoming consequences for their lackluster self-centered living. Now, near the end of all that gloomy doomy material, near end of the book, surprise, we have that same prophet’s message of a joyful people coming back.
See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north
and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labor together; a great company, they shall return here (:8).
All is
well? Happy? Time warp? What gives? That opens a centuries old interpretive
scenario. This O.T. passage was written well before they returned, therefore
predictive of how happy they will be some day? Who will come back? It is clear
not all people left for Babylon in 587 BC. Some stayed back; there were
feelings, unresolved issues, family issues even, about all that. Even in Babylon they spent 70 years trying to figure out what to do in a strange land, but there would be a coming back.
Furthermore,
there are other ingredients, some of them extra-biblical, but historic. Other religious communions who were already coming into play. The Mormons, for example, see themselves as part of the action already there in the O.T. and the return to Jerusalem for them is an anticipated apocalyptic scenario for those who had skewered over to
America rather than go to Babylon back there (Yes, a little extrabiblical intercontinental
history). Then for our denominational palates, there are the Reformers, the
Dispensationalists, the Anabaptists (including dunkers and sprinklers), the
Charismatics, the Anglicans, Catholics, Episcopalians, most of them with
progressive and fundamentalist variations in their ranks.
Now back from this long-haired thinking, back to the lesson for this next
Sunday. John 14 is the chapter about Jesus going to prepare a place for us, no
specifics about how many (144000?) or who (only those who say Lord, Lord
correctly? Matthew 7:21). This first lesson of new year (Jan 4, 2026) will go into
some astounding undeniable material. Heavenly life is not only those who nicely
have claimed Jesus as the way and the truth (:6), or those who got baptized in
the right way at the right time, but a reminder that this includes a covenant
commitment with roots way back in the Old Testament! The way, the truth, and
the life also includes abundant living (John 10:10), hard living (Luke 8:34),
Jews and Gentiles with no distinctive genealogical qualifications (Galatians
3:28). It is trustful faith living according to the lesson book.
Now back to that Jeremiah 31 passage. Upon reading it devotionally a few days ago, we had an “aha” moment. My wife mentioned “They’re coming back from captivity not because they are perfect now, but by the grace of God.” Yes, so true! We found ourselves rejoicing, both of us suddenly hit by that New Testament message of grace already so present in the OT. Right there among the prophets is beginning of the New Testament. God’s grace, God’s unmerited favor, is so much what we need to claim these days. Nothing new really, but what a pleasant discovery.
This biblical message of grace hinted in Jeremiah, reinforced in Isaiah, a child
coming among us, and on this Epiphany Sunday we will note King Herod's anxiety about people perhaps worshiping a baby. Good whole Bible news! It’s all there,
adequately presented in the Word of God.
I hope we
won’t forget this; good news regardless of the circles of comfort or discomfort we find
ourselves in. Implications for 2026? Next time. Happy New Year!
