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Jeremiah 21:5. "I myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and strong arm, in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath." (And here I was thinking I would get a hopeful Christmas reflection this morning!). This is God speaking to King Zedekiah through Jeremiah. Babylon is attacking Judah, and Zedekiah has sent messengers to Jeremiah to plead his case, hoping that "perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all his wonderful deeds, and will make [Babylon] withdraw from us." (Jeremiah 21:2). They learn, however, that not only is God not going to deal wonderfully with Judah, He is in fact so angry, furious, and wrathful with them, He is going to fight against them Himself. (I have also journaled about this passage several times before, including in Zedekiah's Sorry He Asked!, and Mercy Requires Repentance.)

 

Much like me this morning, Zedekiah was hoping for a message of salvation, and instead got one of destruction. Zedekiah knew that the Jews are God's people, and Babylon is their enemy, so surely God would come to Judah's aid? Maybe God just wasn't aware that Babylon was attacking? So he sent messengers to Jeremiah to ask for God's help. This is after Jeremiah has been ignored, mocked, beaten, and placed in the stocks for his prophecies warning of coming destruction, so it is more than a bit cheeky for Zedekiah to send messengers to Jeremiah. Jeremiah, though, does not hold their past behavior against them, and gives them God's true words - the same message he has been trying to deliver to them for some time - destruction is coming because God is very angry with you.

 

Judah was bad, really bad at this point, and God knew the only way to save the people was to allow them to be conquered, the temple destroyed, and for them to spend seventy years in exile. Thus, even in His anger, God is seeking His people's good. He wants them to turn back to Him, but they are so deep in their sin, they don't even see how wrong they are (that's how we get Zedekiah being so blind that he thinks God might just not know that Babylon is attacking, and might be persuadable to come to their aid).

 

Why did I get this reading on Christmas Day? I think God is giving us a similar message. Yes, He loves us, so much so that He sent His only Son to save us, but that is a gift worth so much more than we are living up to. We are acting just as badly, and we are just as blind, as Judah was before they were conquered. We are so deep in our sin, culturally, that many don't even see it as sin, and we are harming our children and leading them astray. This has to be put right, and maybe the only way for that to happen is for us to live under the rule of our enemy, for a while at least (see Exile is Coming, But We Can Do It From Home This Time).

 

This is a spiritual battle, and it certainly seems like evil has the upper hand at the moment. But remember that even as He allowed His people to be taken into exile, God gave them comfort, instruction, and hope for the their return. (He did this through Jeremiah, as well!) So while we may be in exile for a while, God will see us through it, and He will bring us to a much better place than the one we have created for ourselves.

 

The gift of His Son at Christmas is the ultimate proof of the lengths God will go to save us from our sin. While we might suffer for a while in exile, He will always be with us, and He will save us. So I guess I got a hopeful Christmas message, after all!