Saturday after Sexagesima Sunday
Posted on February 26, 2022 by under
Scripture: Jeremiah 11:1-7 (NKJV)
11:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; 3 and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant 4 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,’ 5 that I may establish the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them ‘a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as it is this day.”’”
And I answered and said, “So be it, Lord.”
6 Then the Lord said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: ‘Hear the words of this covenant and do them. 7 For I earnestly exhorted your fathers in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, until this day, rising early and exhorting, saying, “Obey My voice.”
Devotion
We should not think that because we Christians are partakers of the Gospel the Law has become meaningless. When the Lord established His covenant with the people of Israel at Sinai, it was done in earnest. He meant what He said, both the blessings and the curses. St. Paul affirms the veracity of God’s words: “The Law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good” (Rom. 7:12).
The Law is God’s holy standard of what His people are supposed to do and what they are not to do. It teaches us what sin is. The strict sentence of Moses determines that all people are sinners and incapable of earning salvation by following God’s commandments. Thanks be to God, then, that we are not saved by the Law but by His grace in Christ! Ultimately, the purpose of the Law was to drive us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. While sinful man could not keep the Covenant of the Law, Christ did. He perfectly kept the Commandments in thoughts, desires, words, and deeds. And by imputing His righteousness to us by faith, He fulfills in us what the Law requires.
Now, having brought us to Mt. Zion rather than to Mt. Sinai, the Lord still commands us to hear His voice, to walk in His ways, and to trust in Him for our deliverance. “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it” (Heb. 4:1).
Prayer: O Lord God, Who seest that we put not our trust in anything that we do: Mercifully grant that by Thy power we may be defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
