Jeremiah 27:1-11, The Unity of God (4)

I want to comment briefly on several passages that speak of the unity of God, most of them in the NT.  But first, R. A. Torrey in his New Topical Text Book had this list that certainly will be great for our meditation.

His greatness and wonderful works. 2Sa 7:22; Ps 86:10.

His works of creation and providence. Isa 44:24; 45:5-8.

His being alone possessed of fore-knowledge. Isa 46:9-11.

His exercise of uncontrolled sovereignty. De 32:39.

His being the sole object of worship in heaven and earth. Ne 9:6; Mt 4:10.

His being alone good. Mt 19:17.

His being the only Saviour. Isa 45:21,22.

His being the only source of pardon. Mic 7:18; Mr 2:7.

His unparalleled election and care of his people. De 4:32-35.

·       Deut. 6:5: We know the limitations of the Law as Paul made clear.  But we should never forget that the Law required obedience from the heart.  It was never sufficient just to do the right things.  It had to be done with a right heart.

·       Deut. 12:1-28: Another implication of this doctrine is that there was to be only one place of worship in the land of Israel.  By definition, a “temple” or the “tabernacle” were the place where God dwelt with His people.  Since there is only one God, there must be only one dwelling place.  The very things this chapter warns against became snares in Israel. 

·       1 Kings 8:59-60: I find this interesting, that Solomon clearly knew “the unity of God.”  And he knew that this was a truth that Israel was to display for all the world to see.  It is interesting because, of course, Solomon gets a lot of credit for introducing idolatry into the Kingdom of Israel when he facilitated the idolatrous worship of his foreign wives.  He facilitated it; then apparently joined them in going through the motions.  Yet, when Solomon built the temple, the essence of his prayer of dedication was, “when we sin and pray in or towards this temple, hear and forgive.”  This one place was to be the focus of Israel’s worship.  In a later post I’ll tell you what Solomon was thinking, how he might have reconciled this idolatry with what he knew to be true of his temple.

·       Jer. 27:3: Solomon knew Israel was to display the one and only God to the nations.  So did Jeremiah and the other prophets.  While their primary ministry was to the people of Israel and Judah, they also gave messages to the surrounding nations, as Jeremiah did in this passage.  He made yokes for himself, so he could illustrate the message to Judah.  But then God instructed him to send the yokes to the surrounding nations because, “the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel” had a message for them as well (v4).

In our next post we will move into the NT and see that this doctrine has strong application for the Body of Christ.