Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
68 Zacharias: May the Lord God of Israel be blessed indeed!
For God’s intervention has begun,
and He has moved to rescue us, the people of God.
69 And the Lord has raised up a powerful sign of liberation for us
from among the descendants of God’s servant, King David.
70 As was prophesied through the mouths of His holy prophets in ancient times:
71 God will liberate us from our enemies
and from the hand of our oppressors![a]
72-74 God will show mercy promised to our ancestors,
upholding the abiding covenant He made with them,
Remembering the original vow He swore to Abraham,
from whom we are all descended.
God will rescue us from the grasp of our enemies
so that we may serve Him without fear all our days
75 In holiness and justice, in the presence of the Lord.
76 And you, my son, will be called the prophet of the Most High.
For you will be the one to prepare the way for the Lord[b]
77 So that the Lord’s people will receive knowledge of their freedom
through the forgiveness of their sins.
78 All this will flow from the kind and compassionate mercy of our God.
A new day is dawning:
the Sunrise from the heavens will break through in our darkness,
79 And those who huddle in night,
those who sit in the shadow of death,
Will be able to rise and walk in the light,[c]
guided in the pathway of peace.
How wild and raw are the emotions of Jeremiah in these days of anticipation! The pain and embarrassment of being publicly punished, the betrayal of his friends, and the ridicule of so many lead to an honest longing for vindication. But there are moments when God’s sustaining love fills the prophet with joy. His are not the rants of a madman. He expects to be vindicated. God has called him to speak truth to powerful people, and those words are becoming reality. To this promise, Jeremiah clings.
But as emotions often do, this sense of resolve again evaporates, leaving the painful awareness of his calling. He must continue to speak hard and frightening words to a people he still loves. He will soon witness the destruction of a country and city he still loves. At times, his task is almost unbearable; but as always, Jeremiah remains honest in his dealings with God who calls him into this role. Sometimes, pouring his heart out is all he can do.
21 It was during this ironic turn of events that the word of the Eternal came again to the prophet, Jeremiah. King Zedekiah sent Pashhur (not the son of Immer mentioned previously, but the son of Malchijah) and the priest Zephaniah (son of Maaseiah) to speak with Jeremiah.
How time changes things! Jeremiah, the rejected prophet, is now being petitioned by those in power. The same man who has been arrested and abused for prophesying God’s judgment is sent a request from the king himself because the words of Jeremiah are indeed coming true before the people’s eyes. Jerusalem now faces certain siege by the Babylonian king. Out of desperation, the same leaders who tried to silence the prophet are now asking him to speak up for them—to God!
King’s Messengers: 2 Please speak to the Eternal on our behalf. We desperately need your help because Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, is attacking Judah and is about to lay siege to Jerusalem. Perhaps the Eternal will respond to you, perform a miracle, and cause this dreaded king to withdraw his forces and leave us alone.
Jeremiah: 3 Tell King Zedekiah that 4 this is what the Eternal, the God of Israel, has to say: “I will indeed rise up and turn back the weapons of war you hold in your hands, the very weapons you plan to use against the approaching enemy—the king of Babylon and his army from Chaldea that now surrounds your city walls. I will bring that enemy inside your walls, into the city itself. 5 With My strong hand and powerful arm I will rise up and fight against you, fueled by My great wrath, anger, and fury. Do you think I will fight beside you? You misunderstand. 6 I will strike those who live in this city with a plague: both man and beast will die. 7 After that,” says the Eternal, “I will hand over King Zedekiah of Judah, his advisors, and the citizens of Jerusalem who survive the plague, the war, and the famine to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, their enemy, and those who seek their lives. In that dreadful day, he will slaughter them without mercy. He[a] will neither pity nor have compassion for them.
Eternal One (to Jeremiah): 8 Tell the people that I said, “I will give you the choice of life or death. 9 Stay in the city, and you will die by war, famine, or plague. But walk outside the city walls and surrender to the Chaldean army about to lay siege to your city, and you will live. You will be prisoners of war, but you’ll be rewarded with life. 10 For I have turned My back on this city, purposing evil instead of good. The city will be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon, who will burn it to the ground.”
11 To the royal household of Judah say, “Hear the word of the Eternal. 12 O house of David, this is what He has to say to you:
Administer justice each morning;
save the victim from the hand of the thief.
If you do not, My anger will burn and no one will be able to put it out
because they themselves have done evil.
13 I am against you, Jerusalem, enthroned high above the valley,
O rock of the plain,
You who boast, “Who will come down to fight against us,
and who will enter our homes?”
14 I will visit you, Jerusalem, and punish you for your wicked deeds.
I will start a fire in your forests that will surround you and consume everything.
So says the Eternal.
In chapter 9 we are reminded that what is most real, what is most true, is the unseen reality. The writer tells us that the temple in Jerusalem, the holiest place on earth, was merely a copy or shadow of another place, the heavenly temple. Whatever took place in this shadowy temple could not change the realities of alienation from God, sin, and death.
Every year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would don his priestly garb and enter the most holy place in the temple. His task was profound, his duty dangerous: he must appear before God carrying the sins of his people. All the sins of Israel were concentrated in him as he carried the blood of the sacrifice into the divine presence. But there was another day, a Day of Atonement unlike any other, when Jesus concentrated in Himself the sins of the world, hanging on a cross not far from the temple’s holiest chamber. Indeed, for a time, He became sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). But unlike the high priest, the crucified and risen Jesus entered the true temple of heaven and was ushered into the divine presence. At that moment, everything changed.
23 Since what was given in the old covenant was the earthly sketch of the heavenly reality, this was sufficient to cleanse the earthly sanctuary; but in heaven, a more perfect sacrifice was needed. 24 The Anointed One did not enter into handcrafted sacred spaces—imperfect copies of heavenly originals—but into heaven itself, where He stands in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 There He does not offer Himself over and over as a sacrifice (as the high priest on earth does when he enters the most holy place each year with blood other than his own) 26 because that would require His repeated suffering since the beginning of the world. No, He has appeared once now, at the end of the age, to put away sin forever by offering Himself as a sacrifice.
27 Just as mortals are appointed to die once and then to experience a judgment, 28 so the Anointed One, our Liberating King, was offered once in death to bear the sins of many and will appear a second time, not to deal again with sin, but to rescue those who eagerly await His return.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.