GENIE IN A BOTTLE OR SOVEREIGN LORD AND MASTER ~ A Study in Jeremiah

She was a wretched whore. He was her enemy. Yet He had set His love upon her in eternity past, long before her birth. Before He created her, He had chosen her to be His bride. He watched over her, protected her, saved her, delivered her from harm, always drawing her to Himself. When He brought her out of Egypt, she was grateful He was her LORD and Master. She knew that everything He did was done from a heart of pure love, and she worshiped Him. Then hard times came. One day something happened that caused her to become dissatisfied…something inside her was unsettled, and she longed, at times, to go back to Egypt where ‘life was good’. One by one, the temptations came luring her, enticing her, whispering to her, and drawing her back to where she came from. She hears the distant echoes of her Husband calling to her, but she no longer hears His voice as one of love but rather restriction, bondage, and control. Deceiving herself as she justifies her sin, she determines to take control of her own life. She must follow her own heart. Picking up the pace on the path leading away from home, she begins a sprint toward Egypt. One day she realizes that she is far from home. No longer able to hear the voice of love calling to her, she is aware of the bonds that imprison her—bonds she has fastened herself, shackles more binding than anything she has known before. In despair, she admits that she has chosen to run away from a good and faithful Husband, the only One who has loved her with an everlasting love. She cannot quite remember how she got here. How would she ever get back home? Does she even desire to do so? Quite the sad state.

There are those in the world who do not know God, yet they consider themselves Christians. They may look at one whom they view as extreme and wonder why someone would ever want to be in submission to anyone as Lord and Master. It is a foreign concept to natural man. Yes, they may cry out to God when they are in trouble, even expecting Him to heal their land and rescue them from trials, but this is not the same as having Him rule over and control their lives, they reason. What they have is a genie in a bottle to rub only when they need Him to grant one of their wishes. For the rest of their lives, He must stay in the bottle. They do not know God.

‘Return, O faithless sons,’ declares the LORD; ‘For I am a master to you, and I will take you one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.’ (Jeremiah 3:14) This word translated master is ba‘al. It means to marry, be lord (husband) over, to rule over, to have dominion over. It literally means, ‘I took possession over you.’ It describes for us a picture of rightful headship. Master comes from the same root from which comes the name Baal. God is saying, ‘I am your Ba’al (your Husband); return to Me!” Their false gods could not deliver what they promised. Israel had bought their lies. The false gods had them in their snares; Israel’s loving and forgiving Husband was still pursuing His unfaithful wife to restore her to Himself.

Salvation is of the Lord. If He were not sovereign LORD over all His creation, none of us would ever repent and return to Him. He called us, just like He is calling Israel and Judah in these pages. That call is effectual for the elect. They will return. Why does He call to His own who want nothing to do with Him? Because He is a God of love who is gracious to the ungracious, faithful to the unfaithful, and loving to the unloving. While we are running hard from Him with no intention of turning, He is calling us. Those who love Him have heard this call and have responded because His grace is irresistible. Those whom He has elected through sovereign grace will turn. Notice how it says, “I will take one from the city and two from a family.” Those running from Him cannot turn themselves around and have no desire to do so. This effectual call is based upon His choosing some from before the foundation of the world. All those will come to Him willingly. God’s effectual call comes with a power to turn us back towards Him. That is why it is effectual. Many are called, but few are chosen. Few in relation to all who have ever lived is a remnant, but nonetheless still a multitude.

So, here’s where things get heated for some. When we approach salvation from a human perspective, we are going to fight this idea of Master, Lord, predestination, and election. There will be those who immediately throw up their hands and demand, “What about my free will? What about my free choice?” Friend, you do not understand your desperate condition, or you would never say such a thing. Your sin nature is so bound up in the depths of depravity, that unless the Lord picked you up and carried you back to Himself, you would never come. You love the world and all your fleshly desires far too much to ever want Him for who He is. Now, you can try to create a god you feel comfortable worshiping, a god fashioned by your own hands, but it is not the God of the Bible. It is futile to worship at the altar of self. You would never know the way back home, nor would you want to go there if God did not save you from yourself.

Even though God in judgment had taken the ten tribes into captivity, there would be a remnant who would return to Him. ‘I will take you one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion,’ is a promise of restoration. He would take them back, and they would be grateful to have Him as their master and Lord once again. They would not all come back, but He would receive unto Himself any who did turn back. Those who come home to Zion would be the elect. Those who had a heart to hear God’s plea and resulting promise would respond. And this time, they would never leave Him. He would see to it by giving them new hearts after His own heart, and they would listen to His Word as words of life. When they turn, the blessings will be poured out upon them for all eternity.

The following promises have not yet been fulfilled for Israel. This portion of Scripture is speaking about the Millennial Kingdom when Israel will be back in her land.

In Jeremiah 23:1-4 says: “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” declares the LORD. Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are tending My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them, behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds,” declares the LORD. “Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. I will also raise up shepherds over them and they will tend them; and they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the LORD.

 “Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding. (Jeremiah 3:15) I love this. As I wandered through the wilderness of false teaching back in the 80’s when I had been given a false assurance of my salvation, God was faithful to put sound teachers in my life who fed me with knowledge and understanding. I have no doubt that He was in complete control of replacing the lies I was told with sound doctrine as He kept watch over my soul, guarding what was His. The faithful teaching of sound doctrine by godly men in my life made all the difference in the world in my salvation. Why? Through His Word, they brought me into a relationship with a God whom I could know intimately and personally. I was no longer seeking mystical illusions meant to feed a frenzy of emotional responses and euphoric experiences. I remember telling my mother in 1979 after having returned from a highly charged prayer meeting that the feeling was better than any high any man could know. But I did not know God. Nothing—absolutely nothing compares to knowing God. As we feed on His Word, we can know this very One who created us and grow to be more like Him.

When Israel is back in her land, God will give them shepherds to teach them.

It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,” declares the LORD, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again. At that time, they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of the LORD,’… (Jeremiah 3:16-17a) God’s presence on His Throne in Jerusalem will be among them. They will no longer need the Ark of the Covenant as a sign of His presence with them.

…and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the LORD; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart. In those days, the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.” (Jeremiah 3:17b-18) Not just Israel, but all the nations will give allegiance to the One who sits upon the Throne as the ruler of all. Righteousness will be the norm in the land because unrighteousness will be quickly dealt with. Worship will be genuine, not hypocritical; and Israel (the northern kingdom) and Judah (the southern kingdom) will join together in unity once again. Lastly, they will be home in their Promised Land dwelling in peace and safety. Some say that Israel has replaced the church and that God is finished with Israel. Scripture just does not line up with that thinking unless we begin to interpret text in less than a literal sense. God is not finished with Israel any more than He is finished with any of His elect when they sin. How do I know that? God is a covenant-keeping God, and He is faithful. And all He does is based upon His love for His own and for His great glory!