the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 3 of 5
Jeremiah 35:1-11
This time Jeremiah has a job to do which turns out to be more encouraging. God has told him to invite the members of the house of the Rechabites into the house of the LORD in order to put them to the test. Will they drink the wine which the prophet pours for them? These men firmly refuse the cups which are given to them and explain why. As true Nazarites they have vowed to abstain from that which speaks of the joys of the world (Numbers 6:1-3). Moreover, in accordance with the character of strangers on the earth where they are just passing through (v. 7) they neither sow seed nor build houses but live in tents. All of this behaviour, they maintain, was commanded them by their ancestor, Jonadab, that faithful man who, in 2 Kings 10:15, is shown to us standing firmly for the LORD.
Many of us have had parents or grandparents who have taught us — without our always understanding it — separation from this world where the Christian is a stranger as was his Lord. This separation should be practised more than ever on the eve of His return (Revelation 22:11-12). He does not ask us to abstain from the joys of the world without first having given us, in Himself, a "joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Peter 1:8).
