Why Did God Make Fire Ants Mean?
April 26, 2019 at 9:43 am | Posted in Q&A | 1 CommentTags: ants, curse of death, death, design in the curse, fire ants, Genesis 3, pain and sin, Romans 5, sin
Question (from a four year old*): Why did God make fire ants mean?
Answer: In the Garden of Eden, before Adam and Eve sinned, ants were not mean, and they didn’t hurt anyone. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, He cursed our world with pain and death (Genesis 3:17-19; Romans 5:12). Now, He allows fire ants to hurt people to remind us that we live in a sinful world, and that we are sinful people, and that sin hurts, so that we will also remember that we need God to forgive us, and that, if we trust Jesus, we can live in a place where fire ants are nice again, and no one gets hurt or dies.
*Here is a more “grown-up” response: https://answersingenesis.org/evidence-for-creation/design-in-nature/design-in-the-curse/?utm_source=twitter-aig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=designinthecurse-4314&utm_campaign=20150702&fbclid=IwAR3vm_nkOUD824tX8ZaxcIFzUjyq_sr6B1YWged2JMU7DimZI8ZEileT1us
Prayers Answered with Pranks
April 22, 2019 at 11:18 am | Posted in Biblical prayer, Luke | 4 CommentsTags: Biblical prayer, commentary on Luke, fatherhood, Jesus sense of humor, Luke 11, model prayer, prayer, Sunday School lessons on Luke, the Holy Spirit, the Lord's prayer
Jesus continued teaching His disciples about the model for prayer with this concluding thought:
If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
Luke 11:11-12
What do we make of this strange illustration which sounds so foreign to our modern ears? Can you imagine a child asking his father, “Dad, may I have some bread?” and the father responding with some sort of cruel practical joke? “Okay, Son, I have some bread for you right here… [reaches behind his back]… Ha! JK! It’s really a rock! Did you break your tooth?”
Or the son asking, “Dad, what do you have there? Is that a fish? I wanna see…” and the father responding, “Sure, Son, here you go… Whoa, it’s a snake – look out!”
It sounds ridiculous, and it just gets worse: “Dad, I’m hungry, how about an egg?” Dad: “Hmmm… I dunno – try this instead!” [hurls a scorpion at him].
Maybe I’m just obtuse, but this seems like a really tough passage of Scripture. The disciples were trying to make sense of the correct model for prayer and Jesus started going on about this crazy dad terrorizing his son. And I’ve read several commentaries which go to some length to assert that maybe a loaf of bread can look like a stone, and maybe a fish can sort of look like a snake. After all, neither have arms or legs, they say, so Jesus must have been teaching about deception, warning against being deceptive in prayer. And I’m certainly no scholar, so that might be the correct interpretation, but an egg being confused for a scorpion? Seriously?
I tend to think that Jesus was being humorous here (albeit with a serious point), and that we just don’t “get” the ancient Near-Eastern connotations with our Western modern mindset. I draw this conclusion because the next verse reveals what I believe to be Jesus’s point:
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
Luke 11:13
God is “our Father,” but he is not like “A father.” In other words, earthly fathers are evil. (If you are a father who is reading this, that is probably not very affirming, but that’s what it says.) Jesus wants us to talk to God the way a child talks to his dad, and, while an earthly dad is not always competent, appropriate, or trustworthy, even a really sketchy earthly dad who loves his child wouldn’t give the kid a scorpion or a snake in response to a serious request for food. Based on this line of reasoning how much MORE will God (the perfect Father) give His Spirit to those who ask HIM?
It seems like Jesus was changing the subject when He brought up the Holy Spirit, but He really wasn’t. The Holy Spirit – to Old Covenant believers – was not a permanent indweller. Rather, He was given at specific times for specific ministries. When my kids ask for candy, I won’t give them a hand grenade, but I might give them an apple instead. I – despite being evil – WANT to give them good gifts, but I don’t always get it right when deciding what’s “good.” Our Heavenly Father, on the other hand, has given us the Holy Spirit, and He’s always good. The Bible says that He will guide us into all truth. We need to ask God for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and we can be confident that He will help us.
Rising above the Rules
April 19, 2019 at 2:26 pm | Posted in Inlaws, Outlaws, and Scofflaws, John | 5 CommentsTags: commentary on John, healing on the Sabbath, John 5, John 6, legalism, pool of Bethesda, Sunday School lessons on John, the Lord of the Sabbath, the Sabbath
Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.
John 5:2-3
What made these handicapped folks think that this pool could help them? They thought an angel would come along every now and then and cause a noticeable disturbance in the water, and that the first one – but ONLY the first one – to enter the water would be healed or “made whole.”
And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
John 5:5
Was this man desperate? Or perhaps only resigned? He had been “infirm” – lacking firmness – for 38 years. Some commentators see in this detail a symbolic reference to the inability of the Israelites to heal themselves of the unbelief that kept them wandering in the wilderness for 38-40 years.
When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
John 5:6
Jesus saw him “lie.” He was lying down, but he was also perhaps being less than completely honest when he said:
The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
John 5:7
That wasn’t really an answer to what Jesus asked him: “Wilt thou be made whole?” “Do you want to be healed?”
Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
John 5:8
Jesus did not engage in a lengthy dialogue. He just gave a simple direct command.
And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.
John 5:9
He was healed and STRENGTHENED – “made whole” – instantaneously or immediately.
The Pharisees had developed 39 rules concerning the Sabbath. These were not part of Scripture, but were given authority by them AS THOUGH they were part of Scripture. This is one of the meanings of legalism – adding man-made rules or traditions to God’s Word and trying to endow them with binding authority. One of the 39 rules forbade carrying anything.
The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.
John 5:10
This gives us telling insight about the Jewish religious leaders and their psychological mindset, their pride, and the object of their praise. They worshiped the Sabbath itself to the exclusion of the Lord of the Sabbath.
Watering Down the Truth about Jesus
April 17, 2019 at 11:54 am | Posted in John | 9 CommentsTags: Biblical water, commentary on John, divine healing, faith healing, Jesus the Living Water, John 4, John 5, Matthew 8, Sunday School lessons on John
In Cana Jesus had performed His first miraculous sign (water into wine at a wedding) at the request of a mother (His own). Now at His return to Cana, He performed another miracle – this time at the request of a father.
So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death.
John 4:46-47
This man did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God, but he was desperate, so he pleaded with someone he thought of as a well-known faith-healer.
Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.
John 4:50
Jesus was often compassionate in answering the prayers of even those without saving faith. This is similar to – but not the same event as – another healing recorded in Matthew 8.
And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.
Matthew 8:5-13
That time the father was clearly identified as a gentile as opposed to the father in John 4 who was likely Jewish. A belief in Jesus as a miracle worker is not saving faith, but belief in Jesus as the Son of God is.
Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house.
John 4:50-53
The key link is that the father – not having seen his son healed – “believed the Word” of Jesus.
After it was established that John the Baptist baptized with physical water, but that Jesus would perform a greater baptism (John 1), and after Jesus turned water into wine (John 2), and after He talked to a religious leader about being born of water and the spirit (John 3), and after He talked to a Samaritan woman about drawing and drinking water from a well (John 4), where do you think He went in John 5? To a pool of water, of course!
Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.
John 5:2-3 (emphasis added)
True Fulfillment
April 15, 2019 at 12:07 pm | Posted in Biblical fulfillment, John | 5 CommentsTags: emptiness, identity in Christ, John 4, spiritual emptiness, spiritual food, spiritual nourishment, the Samaritan woman, the Will of God, the woman at the well
“He told me all that ever I did.” This was the testimony of the Samaritan woman (John 4:39) who met Jesus at Jacob’s well, and the conversation went from drawing and drinking water to a brief survey of the woman’s somewhat scandalous sexual history. But did Jesus really tell her that He knew “ALL” the things that she “EVER” did? How long would such a recitation have taken? How long would it take for someone tell your whole life story? How much would they have to say to convince you that they knew enough about you to know who you really were and what you were really about? Intellectually, we are able to affirm the doctrine of Jesus’s omniscience, so, by default, He must know everything we’ve ever done, said, and even thought. But how sobering is it to think that He might start describing our past aloud to us, to our face? The Samaritan woman revealed something about her own mindset when she said, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did…” (John 4:29).
Her whole identity in her mind was her sinful past. This is not necessarily a correct way of thinking even for a lost sinner. We are all more than our past actions, but it does have an element of reality to it, in that, before we met Christ, we were in bondage to our decisions, which were made in bondage to our sinful natures. In Christ, of course, believers certainly shouldn’t think this way. Our identity in Christ is both new and greater.
In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat?
John 4:31-33
Have you ever been the victim of the kind of misunderstanding that results when you and the person to whom you are speaking think you are talking about the same thing but are actually talking about completely different subjects? There is a classic preacher’s joke that utilizes this theme, and in which a lady is writing to inquire about a “BC,” which, to her, stands for “bathroom commode,” while the letter’s recipient thinks she’s asking about a local “Baptist church.” You can read it by clicking here if you like.
This device is used fairly frequently in the Gospel of John to advance the dialogue between Jesus and His listeners. In Chapter 3 the spiritual “new birth” is confused with natural birth, and, earlier in this same account of the Samaritan woman, the “living water” of eternal life is confused with water drawn from a literal earthly well. Here, Jesus’s disciples wonder how He can be “full” when He hasn’t eaten any actual food. The narrative is moved forward through this misunderstanding in the dialogue, and, once again, it is a misunderstanding between the material and the spiritual.
Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
John 4:34
This was what “filled Jesus up.” The more He served the Father and accomplished His will, the more satisfied and fulfilled He grew. One of the reasons that we, as Christians, sometimes feel so empty inside is that we have too much material or earthly-minded “junk food” filling us up superficially. Consider Jesus, who was filled with the purpose of God more so than worldly concerns. Which type of “meat” do you prefer? What nourishes your soul and your spirit? Your home, your friends, your family? A trip to Disney? Your hobbies? Or is it ministering in Christ’s name? Sharing the Gospel? Helping believers to grow? Reading your Bible? Doing the will of our Heavenly Father is where we should find our true satisfaction and spiritual nourishment in life.
Three Questions and Three Answers
April 12, 2019 at 1:31 pm | Posted in II Corinthians, Uncategorized | 2 CommentsTags: 2 Corinthians 5, Acts 9, Biblical reconciliation, Jesus Christ, Paul's conversion, Paul's salvation experience, reconciliation, road to Damascus, the Apostle Paul
The Apostle Paul’s salvation testimony is recorded at least three times in Scripture (Acts 9, 22:1-16, 26:1-23), but it is possible that Paul had the dialogue that occurred between Jesus and him on the road to Damascus in mind when the Holy Spirit inspired him to write II Corinthians 5:19-20. There are three answers there to three questions asked in Acts 9:4-6.
Q. Why are you persecuting Me? (Acts 9:4)
A. Because I am Your unreconciled enemy. (II Corinthians 5:19)
The Lord Jesus asked this question to Paul (still Saul at that time) because Paul was a sworn enemy of Christ and His followers. Although it is unlikely that you were a Jewish bounty hunter of Christians before you met Jesus, the fact is, in our sinful state, we were at enmity with God, and our treasonous trespasses against Him as our unacknowledged King would have been more than sufficient cause for Him to justly destroy us. However, as in the case of Paul, He was merciful. He made a way in Christ Jesus for the enmity to be slain, and for us to be reconciled to Him as we surrendered and received the adoption of sons. Now He has given to us the ministry of reconciliation, so that we might exhort others to cease their persecution of our loving Lord and join His family, too.
Q. Who are You, Lord? (Acts 9:5)
A. I AM the One in Whom dwells God – God manifest in the flesh. (II Corinthians 5:19)
Paul answered Jesus’s question with a question of his own, but, in so doing, accidentally referenced the Lordship of Jesus, the God-man, fully human and fully divine, with not only the willingness, but the ability as well, to grant full pardon, forgiveness, and reconciliation: to make, in an instant, one of His worst enemies into God’s own child.
Q. What do You want me to do? (Acts 9:6)
A. Be My ambassador. (II Corinthians 5:20)
Paul went immediately from complete defiance of Jesus to total submission. Reconciliation between sinful men and the holy God can never be accomplished through our performance of tasks or our attempts at obeying His commands, but it is accomplished by the perfect obedience of the Son of God, His sacrificial death, and the gracious gift of saving faith. Once we have received this gift, we seize upon the privilege to obey Him and the awesome responsibility to represent Him in this world as His appointed ambassadors, preaching the “word of reconciliation.”
Babysitting Tips for Dads?
April 9, 2019 at 4:07 pm | Posted in Q&A | 4 CommentsTags: advice for dads, babysitting, Biblical Parenting, fatherhood, football
Question: Tonight is NFL Thursday Night Football, and my wife is going to a ladies’ Bible study, leaving me to babysit. What do I do?
Answer: Concerning the football game, hopefully your TV is equipped with one of those devices that lets you “save” the game while it’s playing in real time, so you can watch it later. If not, you may want to go old school and google “VCR.” This is like a big tape recorder from the olden days that you can somehow hook up to your TV and make a video copy of the game to replay later at your leisure.
Concerning the babysitting, you may want to rethink calling it that. Personally, I don’t care about the semantics, but there is a whole culture out there known as “Mommy Bloggers,” and they absolutely hate it when us dads call watching our own kids “babysitting.” Just FYI.
Concerning the “what do I do?” question, there are two schools of thought. The first school of thought involves duct tape, Benadryl, a continuous loop of YouTube videos showing monkeys chasing baby pigs on a propped-open laptop, and probably a visit from Social Services later this week.
The second school of thought involves you getting down on the floor with the kid – I’m talking about WAY down there, like flat on your stomach or at least sitting Indian-style – not just casually leaning over the edge of your recliner with one arm – and playing with tiny little baby dolls, action figures, trucks, dinosaurs, or tea-party sets, depending upon gender or interests. Really get into it. Give the little characters different voices, act out some age-appropriate drama or humor, make the dolls/action figures talk about God and Jesus at some point, and pretend like you are totally having the time of your life, and that this play-time is the most important thing you’ll do all year – more important than a business meeting, more important than shooting a 12-point buck, more important than getting the high score on Halo Kill Zone or whatever “grown-up” video games you’re into. Go all out, and give the kid total undivided attention for a long continuous period of time.
Lifting up the Son of Man
April 4, 2019 at 12:54 pm | Posted in John | 2 CommentsTags: commentary on John, fiery serpents, Jesus Christ, John 3, Nicodemus, Numbers 21, sin and death, Son of Man, Sunday School lessons on John, the brass serpent
Despite Nicodemus’s failure to grasp the concept of the water-spirit birth, Jesus, in His patience, gave him insight into another well-known Old Testament passage of Scripture: the account of the fiery serpents in Numbers 21.
God had sent a plague of venomous and deadly serpents to bite His people in the wilderness. This was because they had been rebelling against Him and complaining about the manna He had provided for them to eat and about the length of time they had been in the wilderness. Every serpent bite was a death sentence, but God, in His mercy, also provided a cure. He had Moses make a snake, of all things, out of brass. Just as the death rate for those bitten was 100%, so the cure rate for those who would raise their eyes in faith and behold the brass serpent was 100%. Many looked and lived, but many also stubbornly refused to look and died.
The brass serpent had been lifted up, just as Jesus would be “lifted up,” an ambiguous term, which at various times could mean physically held aloft, honored, exalted, or even (as in the case of Naboth, who was “set on high”) condemned by the people.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
John 3:14
Nicodemus no doubt knew something of the significance of the title “Son of Man” from the Book of Daniel. It was the title of the then-future heir of David’s throne, the Messiah, so he may have understood Jesus to be saying that the Son of Man would be “lifted up” in the sense of being exalted. However, Jesus was actually revealing a greater truth: that He would be lifted up as the Sin-Bearer, the way the brass serpent in the wilderness was lifted up, to be a symbol of death, but also to be looked to for salvation – the ONLY means of salvation.
He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 3:18
Just as those snake-bitten Israelites were already as good as dead – whether they took any further action or not – so those who do believe on Jesus are the ONLY ones who escape that condemnation.
The Water-Spirit Birth
April 2, 2019 at 1:48 pm | Posted in John | 14 CommentsTags: baptismal regeneration, born again, commentary on John, Ezekiel 36, Ezekiel 37, John 3, Nicodemus, Psalm 24, Sunday School lessons on John
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
John 3:5
Not all theologians, Bible commentators, or scholars agree on what Jesus meant by “born of water and of the Spirit.” Some theories include:
1. A contrast between the physical birth, with “water” meaning the “breaking of water” (amniotic fluid) from the mother’s womb. The problem with this interpretation is that “her water broke,” as far as we can tell, wasn’t an expression that was used back then. However, it is possible that Jesus could have meant that this second birth – this RE-generation – was being contrasted with the first, physical birth. Lending weight to this application is the obvious fact that Jesus called it being born “again.”
2. So-called baptismal regeneration. This theory, although perhaps the majority view historically speaking, is wrong. A belief that physical baptism through the immersion in, or sprinkling of, literal water is necessary for regeneration and eternal salvation goes against the vast majority of Scripture in describing salvation as being by grace through faith alone. It is not dependent upon any “work,” rite, ritual, or observable or administered (sacerdotal) initiation. When considering whether Jesus was communicating anything having to do with literal baptism when he mentioned being born of water, it is important to recognize that this concept would have been totally foreign to Nicodemus, the Jewish religious leader to whom he was speaking, and to the Jewish theologians who he represented.
There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, WE know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
John 3:1-2 (emphasis added)
Nicodemus may have come to Jesus alone, by night, but he was clearly a representative of a contingent of Pharisees (possibly the Sanhedrin itself) who thought themselves to be the ultimate authority on salvation – on seeing and entering the Kingdom of God. Despite this standing, Jesus, in the following verses, chastised him for not knowing things which he should have known, because they were indicated in the (Old Testament) Scriptures.
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
John 3:7 (emphasis added)
Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
John 3:10 (emphasis added)
This lets us know that the key to the phrase “born of water and of the Spirit” is found in the Old Testament, and not in some obscure text hidden or tucked away in some genealogy somewhere, but in a major prophecy.
And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
Ezekiel 36:23-25
There’s the mention of water, and, according to Psalm 24, who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord and who will stand in His holy place? Only those who have clean (washed by some supernatural metaphorical water) hands AND pure hearts. Ezekiel 36:25 promises that God will cleanse His people from the filthiness of their sin, not by baptism, but by His own divine hand sprinkling/splashing them with His power.
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Ezekiel 36:26-27
This was a prophecy about the New Covenant, and would have been very familiar to the typical Jewish scribe or rabbi, and certainly to a chief theologian of the Pharisees. It appears right before Ezekiel’s prophetic vision of the valley of the DRY bones – bones which needed to be revived – brought back to life – regenerated by some type of supernatural “water.”
And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
Ezekiel 37:3-4 (emphasis added)
“Son of Man” was the prophetic title which Jesus used to refer to Himself in John 3:14. Clearly regeneration by water and by the Spirit had been indicated and explicitly referenced in Old Testament prophecies.
And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.
Ezekiel 37:13-14
The water and the Spirit are not two separate stages of the new birth. Jesus was talking about a water-Spirit birth – at once cleansing and giving new life – a true heart transplant surgery with antiseptic poured in – eternal antiseptic which eternally prevents infection/corruption.
The Deep End 
Very Naughty Figs
April 24, 2019 at 12:56 pm | Posted in Jeremiah | 5 CommentsTags: commentary on Jeremiah, false prophecy, Jeremiah 23, Jeremiah 24, prophetic dreams, regeneration, Romans 8:28, Sunday School lessons on Jeremiah, visions
Jeremiah 23 deals with the false prophets that Jeremiah battled against in his ministry. Apparently, having been left behind during Nebuchadnezzar’s deportation of the “best and the brightest,” they were emboldened to view themselves as especially favored by God. They prophesied that the captives would be coming home very soon – a prophecy in direct contradiction to Jeremiah’s true prophecies that conditions in Jerusalem were going to get even worse – much, much worse.
God told Jeremiah to tell them that their false prophecies and fevered dreams (unlike Jeremiah, who received his visions, oracles, and burdens while fully awake and lucid) were just the imaginings of their own evil hearts.
Jeremiah 24 contains Jeremiah’s vision of the figs. I’m intentionally calling it a vision, but we don’t know if God showed Jeremiah something prophetic in an everyday occurrence (like He had done in the case of the potter’s house), or if God supernaturally made Jeremiah “see” things which weren’t really there. Either case would qualify as a “vision,” but it wasn’t a “dream.” God was communicating clearly with a wide-awake (although not “woke”) Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 24:1
The “best classes” of people were taken away by Nebuchadnezzar. Those left behind, other than the false prophets, were mostly those who wouldn’t have been able, in the Babylonian leaders’ estimate, to contribute to Chaldean society.
I have three fig trees in my back yard, but I don’t personally care for the taste of figs. Seeing baskets of figs at the entrance of the Temple would not have been an uncommon sight during Jeremiah’s time. People were commanded under Old Testament law to bring an offering of “firstfruits.” That might explain one basket, but the other basket…
Jeremiah 24:2
“Very naughty figs” is a funny expression to us, but, to the people who heard Jeremiah say it, it would have sounded like a repetition-for-emphasis of the unfitness of these figs, probably mirroring the unfitness of the people and the leaders who went to – and ministered at – the Temple.
Jeremiah 24:3
Jeremiah mentions the good figs first, and we can almost see God urging him to be more specific as he emphasizes the evil of the evil figs to the fifth degree.
Jeremiah 24:5 (emphasis added)
Do you hear the echoes of Romans 8:28 in the phrase “for their good?”
The good figs represented those that had been carried away to Babylon. Despite what those still in Jerusalem thought about themselves, they were not only “bad eggs,” but bad figs – unsuitable for God’s acceptance or anyone’s use.
Compare Jeremiah 24:6 with Jeremiah 1:10:
Jeremiah 24:6
Jeremiah 1:10
Jeremiah got a glimpse of the future fruits of his faithfulness, and what he saw wasn’t all bad. Sure, there would be lots of rooting out, throwing down, and destruction, but there would also be some building up and planting.
Jeremiah 24:7
In this pivotal chapter we turn once again to the key theme of the heart. Bad figs can’t turn into good figs on their own, but God can transform a bad fig into a good fig. He can turn a wicked heart into a heart that wants to “know” Him. This means a heart that not only wants to get acquainted with Him and know more about Him, but a heart that wants an intimate relationship and true fellowship with Him. We call this regeneration. It appears in the Old Testament time and time again under this announcement: “They will be my people; I will be their God.” God’s people WILL turn to Him, and not like before, with all their half-turning, turning away, turning back, turning sideways shenanigans.