The Summer is Ended - Jeremiah 8:20

TROWEL & SWORD

The Summer is Ended - Jeremiah 8:20

Alan Mackay

The media is shifting its focus from cricket to football. The equinox passes and the sunsets come earlier. The end of daylight saving looms. There’s a morning freshness in the air, and the autumn colours have started to appear. All signs that summer will soon be gone, again. And my memory goes to words recorded by the prophet Jeremiah long ago. Summer is ending.

Israel, the northern kingdom, had already come to an end - its people taken into captivity as God punished them for their continuing sinfulness.

The southern kingdom of Judah had suffered under the wicked King Manasseh, who reigned for 45 years (2 Kings 21), and the people had adopted pagan worship and morals. No longer was their chief end to glorify God. No longer did they live seeking to obey the Lord’s revealed Will, in gratitude for His love, mercy and deliverance.

Then, under King Josiah and Hilkiah the priest, the Law of God was re-discovered and read, and a spiritual reformation began to sweep Jerusalem (2 Kings 22,23). It was in this time and context that Jeremiah declared his message to the people of Jerusalem, a message which continues to have warnings for people of our time.

In Chapter 8, Jeremiah has declared the Lord’s message, that sin leads to punishment, and that is what lies ahead for the people, unless they repent and turn to God. V 20 is a statement of fact, a cry of despair from the people: THE SUMMER IS ENDED, AND WE ARE NOT SAVED. The stark reality of the coming winter has struck them. They do not have what will be needed to survive the winter.

- It makes me think how awful it must be to know that you are not saved, and how fearful someone in that situation must be.

- It reminds me of the 5 bridesmaids in Matthew 25:8, who did not have the oil they needed, and could not join in the wedding feast.

- It reminds me of the thief dying on the cross, who challenged Jesus, and did not share the faith of the other, who received the words of eternal comfort : “Today, you will be with me in paradise”.
(Luke 23:43)

- It reminds me of Felix, to whom Paul spoke about righteousness and the judgement to come; but Felix sent Paul away, until there was a more convenient time. (Acts 24:25)

- It makes me ask the question, how many people in our congregations are in the same situation as those of Jeremiah’s time....the 2008-09 summer is ended, and they are not saved.

- It makes me think of those living in communities around the places where our congregations meet and our members live.

I wonder whether they will ever do as Jeremiah called the people of his time to do: to turn to the Lord, to place their faith in Him, instead of relying on their own efforts, to trust Him totally, to worship Him as the Lord of their life.

I wonder how many in our community, our cities, our Nation also face the winter of Eternity, separated from God, and we have not yet told them that their only hope of salvation is in Jesus Christ.

As this summer has ended, how do things stand for you? Are you with the people of Jeremiah’s time, declaring “we are not saved”.

Or can you confidently confess –

“I believe in God the Father Almighty

I believe in Jesus Christ his only Son,
our Lord

I believe in the Holy Spirit

I believe in the forgiveness of sins

I believe in the life everlasting.”

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