This is the Most Amazing Grace

Relevant Scripture: Jeremiah 5, Genesis 18, Exodus 14, Jeremiah 16, Luke 9

So as I was reading through the Bible today a strange thought hit me. I was reading in Jeremiah 5 and right up front in verse one you read, “Wander through the streets of Jerusalem. Look and investigate; search through her squares and see whether you find anyone—even one person there—doing justice and seeking truth. Then I'll forgive them.” The thing that struck me as weird was that these people, had Solomon’s Temple sitting in the city. The very seat of God on earth was a constant reminder that the one true God was living in their midst. They had all of this going for them, and yet…

see whether you find anyone—even one person there—doing justice and seeking truth….

If even one person was able to be found, then God was forgive the people of the city. His people. This invokes thoughts of Sodom & Gomorrah’s destruction, but the saving number for Jerusalem was even greater than it was for those cities. Abraham had haggled God all the way down to 10 righteous people (Genesis 18). Here, in the city where God Himself had set His throne, all He wanted was one righteous person. If Sodom were given that bargain then it would’ve been saved, based solely on Lot’s actions when the angels came into the city.

I couldn’t fathom how, in the midst of all of the reminders of who the LORD is, they could’ve fallen so far that not even one person could be found to stand in the gap for Jerusalem.

I thought of Israel, coming out of Egypt and committing the debauchery at the foot of Mount Sinai, right after they had seen the mighty hand of God separate the waters of the Red Sea. I’ve marveled in the past at how they could’ve fallen so far, so fast after seeing what they’d seen.

But I always come back to this: how much more amazing is the miracle that has been done in my life…

If we turn a few pages in the book of Jeremiah and we get to chapter 16 then we’ll read about an event so powerful that the exodus out of Egypt will be overshadowed.

"Therefore, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when it will no longer be said, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought up the Israelis from the land of Egypt.' Rather it will be said, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelis up from the land of the north and from all the lands to which the LORD had banished them.' I'll bring them back to their land, which I gave to their ancestors. (Jeremiah 16:14-15)

There’s another verse in the Bible which, I think, will inform us of what this Greater Exodus which the prophet Jeremiah was speaking of really was. In Luke 9:28-36 we see an account of what is commonly referred to as the Mount of Transfiguration, where Jesus is speaking with Moses and Elijah. In verse 31 we read, “Appearing in glory, they were speaking of Yeshua’s departure, which was about to take place in Jerusalem.” The word which is translated as ‘departure’ is the Greek word ‘exodos’. Do you wanna guess what word we get from that word? That’s right, exodus.

Since the time of Yeshua, is there anything in the world which has been proclaimed more than the death and resurrection of the Messiah? Has there ever been anything which has been pronounced more than that exodus from the captivity of sin and death that the Messiah has led His people on?

So, the Israelites coming out of Egypt may have messed up something fierce at the foot of Mount Sinai…



…but how much more severe is our mistake when we put other things in front of our worship of our Lord and Savior?

And, to bring this all back to where we started here today, we can look at Jeremiah 5 in wonder at how there could’ve been none righteous in Jerusalem when the Temple of the LORD was sitting in their midst, but how do we parse that in light of 1 Corinthians 6:19, where we read that the body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit? It’s possible to argue over exactly what the meaning of this verse really was, but what we generally don't argue over is that the Holy Spirit is living in us. The whole point of the Temple in Jerusalem is that it was God’s home on earth. The Temple is the place that God chooses to call His home on earth. In light of this, if you are one of the redeemed of Messiah then you are a temple of God. And If I want to be amazed that the people of Jerusalem could’ve fallen so far when they had the throne of the LORD right down the street, how much more amazed should I be that we can have a throne inside of us and we don’t act like it ALL THE TIME?

I’m not saying this to try to condemn anyone out there, because I’m looking at myself more than anyone else right now. I’m amazed at how filthy I am, and how much growth I have to do. I’m amazed that, being the Temple of the Holy Spirit, God hasn’t burned me to the ground. 

This is the most amazing grace, and it’s up to me to remember it!