Commentary on "Baruch: Building a Legacy in a Crumbling World"

PHIL HARRIS

 

Day 6: Thursday, December 23, 2010 - What Is in It for Me?

 

Overview

Today we are taking another look at Jeremiah chapter forty-five. The lesson makes an obvious point that Baruch is feeling sorrow, pain and wondering what his future is. Whatever we think his lifework may have been Baruch certainly had reason to be concerned about his very life.

The key to understanding this message from God to Baruch can be found in the second half of the last verse:

And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold, I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the LORD. But I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go." (Jer. 45:5 ESV)

 

Observations

In all wars, the spoils of war go to the victor. The victor is the one who decides who lives and who dies. Remember, God said he was allowing Babylon to attack, destroy and take Judah captive because of their unrepentant hearts. God is in full control and has the power to distribute the ‘prizes of war’ as he sees fit.

Since Baruch is credited with writing most, if not all, of the book of Jeremiah at the dictation of Jeremiah, his lifework has been preserved for thousands of years and accepted as part of the holy inspired word of God. Not many others have been able to work at the side of one of God’s prophets and receive this kind of recognition.

The lesson then compares this to our salvation and the apparent defeat of Jesus on the cross. What is three days in the grave when compared to his assured resurrection that we have celebrated for almost two thousand years? God planned this before the foundation of the world, Eph. 1:4.

For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father." (John 10:17,18 ESV)

 

Summary

1. In both examples, that of Baruch and the defeat of Judah and the death of Jesus on the cross, God was fully in charge. God planned and knew the outcome before the foundation of the world. God foreknew and ordained his solution for our sin even before Adam had sinned. In the case of Israel, God knew the outcome of Judah’s sin even before his brought the Hebrew people out of slavery in Egypt.
2. God is the victor and to the victor goes the privilege of distributing the prizes of war.
3. While we really know very little about Baruch we can see his imprint, his lifework, when we study God’s prophecies in the book of Jeremiah. What more could any person ask of God other than our very life, our eternal salvation? That is what was in it for Baruch and the same thing applies to each of us.

 

GO TO DAY 7

 

Copyright 2010 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. November 24, 2010. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.

The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.

 

Official Adventist Resources

Standard Edition Study Guide Week 13

Teacher's Edition Study Guide Week 13

Easy Reading Edition Study Guide Wk 13

Search the Complete Published Ellen G. White Writings