Devotion 1 of 2: Jer 21
This is another significant chapter describing Jeremiah’s ministry toward Judah. King Zedekiah of Judah asks Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord whether King Nebuchadnezzar will attack or will the Lord save them (v.1-2). Jeremiah’s reply was brutal: Yes, an attack will come, but it is God who will fight against Judah, and many will die of pestilence and famine (v.3-6). And those who remain God will deliver into Nebuchadnezzar’s hand to be killed by the sword (v.7).
The only way of survival was for the Jews to defect to Babylon (v.8-10). Most of them would be taken as captives to Babylon. I am still praying about how these defectors apply to the endtime. They seem to represent true believers because they believe Jeremiah’s prophecy that Nebuchadnezzar would invade, and they follow his advice and defect to avoid being killed, but what does their captive to Babylon symbolize to us?
So, Nebuchadnezzar symbolizes AC in the endtime. God did not rescue Judah from his invasion, and neither will God spare us from AC by rapturing the church before AC appears! Let’s be the Jeremiahs of the last days and warn our Christian friends to prepare to face AC and witness to the world that Jesus is the only way to salvation!
デボーション1/2：Jer 21
これは、ユダに対するエレミヤの働きを描写したもう一つの重要な章です。ユダ王国のゼデキヤ王はエレミヤに、ネブカデネザル王が攻撃してくるのか、それとも主が彼らを救うのか、主に尋ねるように求めます（1-2節）。エレミヤの答えは残酷なものでした。はい、攻撃は来るでしょう。しかし、ユダと戦うのは神であり、多くの人が疫病と飢饉で死ぬでしょう（3-6節）。そして、生き残った者たちは、神がネブカデネザルの手に引き渡され、剣で殺されるでしょう（7節）。
ユダヤ人が生き残る唯一の方法は、バビロンに逃亡することでした（8-10節）。彼らのほとんどは、捕虜としてバビロンに連れて行かれました。私は、これらの逃亡者たちが終末にどのように当てはまるかについて、今も祈っています。彼らは真の信者を表しているように見えます。なぜなら、彼らはエレミヤの預言を信じ、ネブカドネザルが侵攻してくるという預言を信じ、彼の助言に従って殺されないように逃亡したからです。しかし、彼らがバビロンに捕らえられたことは私たちにとって何を象徴しているのでしょうか。
確認のためですが、ネブカドネザルは終末の反キを象徴しています。神はユダを彼の侵攻から救い出さなかったし、反キが現れる前に教会を携挙して私たちを反キから救うこともないでしょう！終わりの日のエレミヤになって、キリスト教徒の友人たちに反キに立ち向かう準備をするよう警告し、イエスが救いの唯一の道であることを世界に証ししましょう！
この箇所の日本語訳はまだありません。英語の原文を表示しています。
Devotion 2 of 2: Acts 21
This chapter describes Paul’s travel from Miletus through Caesarea to Jerusalem and the riot that led to his arrest. In Caesarea, the prophet Agabus prophesized that if Paul went to Jerusalem, he would be arrested (v.10-11). Paul’s friends begged him not to go, but he was not afraid of death, so he went (v.12-15). Paul is our example of not being afraid of AC’s threats of death but remaining loyal to Jesus!
When Paul got to Jerusalem, he reported to the elders about God working mightily among the Gentiles (v.19). Then they told him of myriads of Jews getting converted, but how they were zealous for the law and had heard that Paul was teaching that Jews should forsake circumcision and the law (v.20-21).
Paul was not teaching that Jews should forsake the law. That was fake news. He was teaching that keeping the law wasn’t necessary for salvation. They had to believe in Jesus for salvation! But the elders recommended that Paul go through a purification rite to show the Jewish believers that he was keeping the law (v.22-25).
So, in the early church the struggle between the Judaistic Christians and Grace Christians continued. Later, when the Jewish believers found Paul, they caused a riot and almost killed him (v.31). The struggle finally changed dramatically in 70 AD, when Jerusalem was crushed by the Romans and the temple was destroyed. The Jews were scattered, and the Judaistic Christians were greatly weakened. The Christian Church became more and more grace- and Gentile-centered.
— Pastor Elmer Inafuku