Okay, well, we're taking a little break today from our class on the law. It was study leave week for me, so I have two things to share with you. The first thing is gonna be a video. about 15 minutes long, and it's from the OPC's Disaster Response Committee, and I think you'll really be encouraged by it, and we'll have a little discussion after we've seen it, just kind of processing it together. And then the second half of the class, as there's time, I was going to share about what I did this past week on my study leave week, which was to go to the Evangelical Theological Society in Boston. So that's the plan for today. So we'll start by watching this video about the OPC disaster response. Hello, I'm David Nagla, the OPC disaster response coordinator. The video you're about to watch was created to tell the story of the OPC disaster response effort in western North Carolina following the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. Some of you may have been following the story through the updates that have come to you by the Storm Report and Facebook. We debuted this video at General Assembly to the 150 ministers and elders who were there, and many of them came up to me afterwards to tell me how impacted they were by the story. And so I responded that we would be rolling this video out to the congregations of the OPC that they might set aside a Sunday school hour or an evening during the week when they might watch the video together and discuss it. And we're doing this for two reasons. First, when my staff and I saw the video the first time, we were deeply moved by what we saw. And really, the one story of what God is doing through one small OPC church plant, who was actually not directly impacted by the disaster, but were surrounded by the devastation and displaced people, and felt compelled by the Lord to act. And secondly, we wanted you to rejoice in what the Lord is doing through this effort. We oftentimes feel very small, but we serve a big God who does big things. So thanks for taking the time to watch this video, and we trust you'll be blessed by the story. We're building homes with nails and with boards. But the way Jesus prepared a house for us is he went to the cross and there were nails there too. And he was crucified. He had to die on the cross for us to have a home in heaven. And that really makes it where the homes that we must build here on earth are really so easy. By the Lord's help, we're going to get this done. Because He went to the cross so that we have a home in heaven. And the beauty about that is that there's no storm that will ever destroy our heavenly home. The hurricane, I can't even remember the date now, but when it hit, we knew it was coming. And there were some projections that the water, the rain amounts were going to be catastrophic. Everybody kind of like, okay, we understand that. But what we didn't understand was the velocity of water, landslides, trees being, boulders being moved. just ripping the earth apart in a short period of time and then flooding it on top of that. You hear tornadoes coming, you hear hurricanes coming, you don't really stop to think that it's going to be you or is it really going to come. Even before it happened, I guess because we had lived in New Jersey before and we were there during the Sandy hurricane. It was mainly just thinking, let's get prepared. And I was surprised that at the supermarkets, people weren't so worried. I was thinking, this sounds like it could be dangerous. It is a hurricane. But the news in general was not the amount of water that did come. Mount Mitchell is about eight, maybe eight miles, maybe 10 straight line distance from the church. And it is the highest point east of the Mississippi. As soon as it hit the mountain, it had two places to go, either east or west. And, you know, the east portion of that rain was just significant to a point to where you cannot recognize the terrain as it used to be because it's totally changed. None of our folks were impacted by the storm. And so you could very easily just said, fine, we'll send some money somewhere, we'll gather up some jackets and clothing for the winter, those types of things. But again, because we're part of the community, we knew that people were hurting and they had nowhere to go. We were up watching the news that morning and a little after 6.30, we heard the rumble and didn't know what it was. And a few minutes later, our house was hit. It was knocked about 50 feet off its foundation. I remember hearing the trees and stuff ripping through the walls and the glass breaking and a cold burst of air hit me from behind and then I was unconscious for a while. All I remember is I heard something sound like wind and I got up, moved a little bit and then Then the lights went out, and then everything just pushed in on me. And the next thing I know, I could see daylight and feel the wind, and I was stuck. I couldn't move. It was like compacted in. She was buried in the house in the rubble, and I was unconscious for a while. And I yelled and yelled and yelled for him, and he couldn't hear me, I guess, because I thought he was dead. And then all I could do was pray. I prayed and prayed, God, don't let me die alone. If you want to take me, take me now, but let somebody find me. And then it wasn't long then I heard it. So here's the residue of the house. She was in mud over here and he was over here. You know, they got out of here. They got out of this eventually. They put them in this shed right here. That's where they stayed. They had water, some nibbles to eat. I think they were in there 12 plus hours before eventually somebody came. We had a man in our congregation who grew up here. He knows the mountains and he knows the people. And his heart went out to him. His name's Jimmy. And Jimmy spoke to myself and Johnny in the session, listened to him about building homes. That's when the idea thought of maybe OPC Disaster Response can come and help with volunteering and they can actually build these very true solid homes. We had three men from the Committee on Back Home Ministries, David Nakhla, Joe Trotman and Seth Long, they came and walked the ground with us. And this was probably the telling moment when they looked at us and said, we see what you see, and we understand what you want to do. And it's people of God who may not be churched and or who are churched, and their churches cannot help them. And so if we have the means and we have the gifts and graces, let's go. Let's do it. A few days after the storm, when everybody kind of took care of their own surroundings, quite a few of us just went around looking for how to help others. Jimmy and Steve, they went up this highway, Highway 80, and met with Mr. Clyde, and his trailer home got quite flooded. On that very day, he was about to go visit his brother to see how he was faring. He never made it there because a wave kind of shoved him up to a driveway. And his brother died in a trailer home that got washed away. And this is a team behind us from a PCA church in Kingsport, Tennessee. And they're building one of the Chalmers homes for us. And Clyde is overjoyed. I was beginning to believe that there wasn't that many good people left. I remember the first day they came, they didn't mention anything, they were just visiting. Jimmy, I just met him right here, didn't know him from Adam. And found out a lot about him, found out a lot about me, and we're actually pretty good brothers now. Found a friend. There is good people left. True Christian people. What did you think about when we said we're going to build one? You don't hear about that kind of thing happening. I automatically felt like, OK, I don't have enough money for you to build me a house. I can't afford this. So yeah, this isn't going to happen. At first, honestly, I thought it was just a bluff. It's a blessing. I'm thankful. I don't have to worry about where we're going to lay our head. We're going to have water. And I'm not going to be toting water. I have a place to give us a bath. It's the blessing that comes behind it. It's the people taking time away from their families, their homes, to help us. I thought it was a miracle. I mean, it was unbelievable, you know. That somebody wanted to help us. I mean, you know. Because we're nobody. Yeah. You are somebody. God's people. Knowing that I'm going to get a new home and seeing it happen helps me to feel closer to Jesus. It helps me know that no matter what happens, He has my back and He's holding me up. He's going to take care of us. As I've been involved in coordinating volunteers to come and participate in this OPC sponsored project. One of the things that has stood out to me is that whether or not someone is part of an OPC church really never comes into the conversation. We're talking about individuals desire to help in the name of Christ. When you suffer together, it has opened up that unity in Christ. And some of those walls, many of those walls, just evaporate. And you're willing to not even think about them. And it's precious because it is true, right? We are one in Christ. And so it's good to see the effort of working together. The legacy I would like to resonate long-term for our community would be to Realize that regardless of the destruction Which is a picture of death? that death does not win, Christ wins. That they would realize that this literally is the Lord Jesus showing love to them. But we just pray that it really grasps their heart where they cannot but go to some church and worship the Lord. It seems like just when you're ready to give up, something happens to help you keep going. And that's what OBC did for us. We'd ask, Father, that your name be glorified and shouted from the mountaintops for the good work you've given us to do and help us to bring it to completion. We pray this in Christ's glorious and strong name. Amen. You're probably feeling something similar to what we felt when we first watched it. You feel for the people and what they're going through, but you also see what God has done and is doing through this effort. We serve an awesome God who controls the wind and the storm and also shows his mercy and grace in the midst of the storm. I want to give you two things before handing it back to your teacher or leader who will finish out your class. Number one, when you hear OPC disaster response, whether it's in the storm report or prayer request or new horizons, let's say, I hope this video is what comes to your mind. There's a lot going on in life and in the church. And when you get updates, it's easy to gloss over it. Yeah, that's OPC Disaster Response. It's a denominational organization that helps people. Which is true, of course. But really, this video, this story, is what OPC Disaster Response is all about. And you as a congregation, you as a family, you as an individual, are part of it. It's part of what it means to be a member of the OPC. So don't forget that. Number two, there are those of you for whom this will really hit home. A few of you will watch this and say, in your heart, that's me. That's my thing. There are those who are simply wired to help in these kind of situations. Some people can't imagine helping in difficult circumstances. but there are those when difficult circumstances arise, move towards them. If you're one of those people who's saying, that's me, that's my thing, I'd love to help people when disaster strikes. We would love to hear from you. We've created a list of insiders, disaster response insiders, who are on a separate email list to whom we send requests when we need volunteers to help. So you can go to our website, opcdisasterresponse.org. You can click on the big red button that says, I'm ready to volunteer. It'll take you about five minutes. You can do it now on your phone. or maybe you can send yourself a reminder to sign up later. Thanks for watching this video, and thank you so much for supporting the work of OPC Disaster Response through your giving and your prayers, and for some of you, through giving your time and your talents. And I'll now hand this back over to your teacher or leader to finish out the class. OK. Well, yeah, thank you for watching that with me. And just wanted to open it up and ask if there are any just sort of general responses to what you saw, things about it that impacted you or that struck you about the video. Yeah, Mike? I guess I kind of heard of it, but I I kind of heard of that, but I didn't realize. I mean, we're a small denomination. That's kind of a big impact thing. Yeah, and it was one of the things that they were suggesting just to talk about for a little bit. As the OPC, we are small. But how would you guys say the video shows that that doesn't need to define us or constrain us, I guess is what I mean. Well, it's it seemed to start with one person in that church. Yeah. And then it involved the response team. But then it sounds like the PCA got involved as well. And so I think, you know, with any of those situations, you have an opportunity to partner with Christians from all kinds of different places. And the more you know, the better, the more you can do. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, Scott. I know sometimes I think when I'm talking about disaster response, in my mind I'm thinking big. Helping thousands of people. In this case, what really was drawn out for me was the fact that they were helping a family or two. It doesn't have to be big. It's helping those in need, whether it's just one or two, or a dozen or a thousand. And whatever we can do, as an OPC, we are small. But when we can impact even one life for Christ, then we've done what he's asked us to do. Yeah, and you can see the amazing impact that that had on those people's lives. Like, wait, what? You're doing this for me? Yeah, I was also struck just, you know, the disaster hit and it didn't directly affect the church. But then when it all was over and it's like, wow, we dodged that one kind of thing, they didn't just say, well, on with life. They actually went and started driving around the places nearby that were hit and talking with people. And I thought that was really an amazing picture of love. It isn't just sort of like, well, dodge that bullet. So I thought that was great. Yeah, and I think another key transition moment was when they realized the need, and they knew it was beyond them even to do one home. They didn't just say, well, what can we do? Nothing. Oh, well. They then enlisted the aid of the denomination and brought in a bigger team. So anyway, I just want to remind you that part of the joy of being in the OPC, part of a denomination, and not just like a bunch of little isolated independent churches, is that we can then partner together. You know, if you have a church that has maybe just a handful of handy people, That's great, but then if you have all those handy people together across many churches, you can have an army of people who can make a big impact. Yeah, I was reminded of the passages in the New Testament where it speaks of the churches gathering together money and resources to go help out fellow churches that were in need. But I could also, from inference, we could also say that they were gathering resources for their hurting neighbors around them, the poor and the needy. And it's just a wonderful way to show the love of Christ to our neighbor. I'm sure those complete strangers who had no understanding of the gospel, the church, they saw the outward faith of these Christians. And they were like, wow, look at that. Those aren't the stuffed shirts I thought they were, those people genuinely love me, they care for me. Right, yeah, and it's an opening. Yeah, we were talking, what was it, last Sunday, about open doors, right? This would be an example of an open door. First to serve, but then, of course, as part of that, opportunities to speak of Christ, too. Cool, well, unless there's other thoughts, I just want to encourage you to to remember that as a denomination, there are lots of wings of what we're doing together. You know, we've got our foreign missions, we've got our home missions, we've got things like this, the disaster response. There's actually a diaconal committee that each presbytery has, and there's also that spans the whole denomination that helps with people's special needs that go beyond what one church can do. So just know that there are tons of opportunities to serve, and God has wired some of you to serve in certain ways. And again, I just wanna encourage you, if God is giving you a gift, there's a duty to use that gift, to be a steward of that gift for the glory of God. So yeah, any other thoughts? Yeah. I mean, you mentioned that there's, you know, the presbytery effort, diaconal, and denominational. And I guess we sort of know this, but just to point out, at our church, we probably, on average, send about $2,800 per member here. to the denomination and the presbytery in part for things like this. That's right. We do that twice a year and it adds up to a good bit of money. Yeah. If you remember our budget, there's a huge section of that that is giving, passing basically the giving we receive up to presbytery and the denomination. And then of course there's also the thank offering going on right now, which is another way of boosting those group efforts. And so definitely one of the ways we can contribute to something as meaningful as what you just saw is through our giving. Like how awesome is it to think that like, you know, it was some of our money that went to fund those homes, right? So sometimes we don't see all where it's going. In fact, we never really see, but yeah, thanks for that reminder. Appreciate that. Why don't I just pray and ask God to bless these joint efforts that we have. Lord, thank you that as a church, we really are one With all true Christians throughout the world and in a deep, deep way, we are one with our fellow members of the OPC and we are so thankful, Lord, to be part of a denomination that loves you and that is committed to showing love to our neighbors too. And we thank you for Mr. Nakula and the others who serve in the OPC disaster response team. We thank you for the ways in which they organize and rally church members together to serve in times of great need. We pray that you would help us, Lord, to be quick to offer ourselves in the times when we are needed, that Lord, we would use our gifts and our funds and our prayers, Lord, to build up the body and to build up also those who are presently outside of your people. We thank you for just the beautiful example of Christian love that we saw in the video. We thank you for the compassion of the saints there in North Carolina who realized there was a great need right next to them and didn't just sort of let it pass by, but who took action. And we pray that we would have that kind of love, just like in the Good Samaritan parable, that, Lord, we would see those in need and not think, oh, someone else will take care of this, but rather, Lord, that we we would see the opportunities and take them for your glory. And we ask all of this in Jesus name. Amen. Okay, well, in the second half, I just wanted to share about my trip to ETS and then also share a little bit about the paper that I delivered there. So Evangelical Theological Society is this huge organization that meets regionally throughout the year, but every year, once a year, the week before Thanksgiving, they meet together in one big national conference. And sometimes it also involves people from other countries, actually quite a few people from other countries who I got to see there. It's a very large gathering. This year, There was a little over 3,000 pastors, scholars, and others who were present at the conference. And it is really, in terms of the evangelical world, it is the academic conference. And so to be a member of the ETS, you basically have to sign on to two things. First, that you believe that the Bible is without error. And you second have to believe that God is triune. And then within that, there's a lot of variety. So there's obviously Reformed people like myself, but then there's plenty of others of varying different denominational and confessional backgrounds. But basically it's all Protestants who believe the Bible. And the way it works is it usually lasts for three days, and there are sessions that happen concurrently where people will give papers, and they'll be on different topics. So there'll be like the section on the Old Testament prophets and papers on that. There'll be a section on biblical theology. There'll be a section on you know, Baptist history, you know, like all these different things. And so, you know, months beforehand they send out a call for papers and people will submit their basically an abstract, like a couple of paragraphs, like this is what I would like to talk about. And then people who run the ETS go through all of those and they say, yeah, we'll have these folks give their papers and we'll slot them in these sessions. And so in addition to those concurrent sessions that are papers that people come and they share, there's also what are called plenary sessions which are on a unified topic. So the topic this year was the 1700th anniversary, excuse me, anniversary of the Nicene Creed. So Nicaea, Council of Nicaea was in 325, it's not 2025, And so there were a number of really top-notch papers given to the entire ETS, so like imagine it, 3,000 people, who, you know, informing us and talking about what was going on in Nicaea and why is it important. So yeah, and then in addition to that, they have the book haul. And in the book haul, it's like all the major evangelical publishers have all their books out. And the books are like all the newest ones that have just been published. So like, as you wander around the book haul, you're seeing like, whoa, that book came out, check that out. You know, and you're looking around seeing all this. In those book areas, there's obviously the people just sort of running them, but then there's also the publishers themselves there. In other words, the editors. And so if you're interested in doing a new book, you can talk to the editor and say, hey, I'm interested in doing a book about this. Would you guys think you'd be interested in picking that up? And so there's that opportunity. Yeah, and they have amazing conference discounts. Every scholar's temptation, you know, to buy everything. Yeah, and then a huge part of it is just being able to network and connect with people that you don't often get to see. So you go to like, say, the section on Jeremiah, and in that room is gonna be just about every evangelical scholar who's working on Jeremiah. And you get to talk with them and meet them. I also get to see friends from PhD days, hear about what they're working on and talk with them. And so that's always really cool. And my kids make fun of me, but it's also kind of like, the Hollywood of theological nerds like me. So you're just walking around, and man, there's Kevin DeYoung. There's all these people, really big-name people, wandering around at this thing. So yeah, it was a really rich time. The moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep, it's like stuff going on. I got to go to a couple of special breakfasts for Crossway and Zondarin. If you've written books for a publisher, they'll do these special events and share about what they're doing. But then I also was able to give a paper, and I just wanted to share a little bit about it, just give you a little taste of what one of the things that happened there was. So now that I've completed the commentary on Jeremiah, I have all these spin-off projects. there's only so much that you can pack into a commentary because you have a word count limit. And a lot of what sometimes doesn't get to fit into a commentary is discussions of like big overarching themes in the book. So I decided to do a paper on Jeremiah's theology of exile. How does he view the exile? And I'm just going to summarize it for you briefly here and then maybe we could talk about it for a little bit. Basically, what I realized as I was looking at the book of Jeremiah is that, you know, he has this opening verse, 110, which says, the Lord has set you, Jeremiah, over nations and over kingdoms to pluck up and to overthrow, but then also to build and to plant. And so there's those two phases, right? Plucking up and overthrowing, that's judgment. And then building and planting, that's God's plan to restore his people after he's judged them. And so it may seem like it's just sort of this simple, you're judged and then you're restored. But as I was going through the book, I realized there's actually a really important phase in the middle, which I call ameliorated judgment or lightened judgment. And so what I sought to do in my paper was just to talk about this phase and then to think about, okay, so here are the passages that show that this is actually a phase of God's plan and God's story. And then at the end, just talking about how does this phase of ameliorated or lightened judgment How does it show what God is doing in history? So I came up with four examples of different kinds of ameliorated judgment. And the first is in the passage of the good figs. So let me just read this to you. So this is after God sends away the first group of exiles. In 597, Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem and he took King Jehoiakim, who was reigning at that time. And then he also took the prophet Ezekiel and a whole bunch of other people, kind of the elites of Jerusalem. He took them with him to Babylon. And after that, Jeremiah sees this vision of figs. And he has two big figs that he sees in the vision, the basket of really good figs and the basket of really rotten, terrible figs. And this is how God explains the good figs. Then the word of the Lord came to me. This is 24, four. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, like these good figs, so I will guard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. Chaldeans, another word for Babylonians. I will set my eyes on them for good and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down. I will plant them and not pluck them up. I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart. So do you hear what God's saying about these good figs? What are some things he's saying? These are people who went into exile. What is God saying he's gonna do for them? What is he saying about them? Well, if you're looking at the passage, it says that he has eyes on them for good. Mm hmm. Yeah. And that he'll bring them back. Yeah. So he has a good plan for them. Right. And that's a pretty amazing thing, because if you think about all the passages before this, it's God saying, I have plans for you for destruction. So if you flip back to chapter 18, It has this whole thing about the potter and the clay and how the potter is God and the clay is the people. And God's saying, look, if you look in verse 11, I am shaping, this is 1811, I'm shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return everyone from his evil way and amend your ways and your deeds. So God is planning against them. He has a plot against them for disaster and not for good. And the people say, and he says, look, you guys are still wet clay. And the people say, that is in vain. We will follow our own plans and everyone will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart. In other words, the people aren't going to repent. And so what has God set up before them? He has decided for disaster. They will face the disaster of exile. And yet, now that they've gone into exile, God's saying something different. He's saying, I have plans for you for good and not for disaster. And then he lists what those things are. He says, I'm going to build you and plant you. That should make us ring in our minds like, whoa, that's the theme verse, chapter one, verse 10, build and plant. In other words, God now has an eye for them for good. And even the fact that he says, I will reckon you as good. I'm trying to remember how the ESV renders that. Yeah, I will regard as good, verse five. So it's not like these people are good. Instead, God's saying, I'm going to consider you as good. I'm gonna view you as good, which is a picture, I think, pointing forward to how God will one day reckon us as holy and righteous in His sight through Christ. And there are a couple other really cool things, connections here. In chapter five, Jeremiah had sought for a virtuous Judean. And it was like, if you can find one of these, I'll not bring the exile. But he couldn't find a single one. And that was reinforced in chapter eight, verse 13, where God says, go and look on the fig tree for a good fig. And he couldn't find a single one. But now all of a sudden, in exile, God has found some good figs. The good figs are these ones who have undergone the judgment. What's interesting is that those who haven't undergone the judgment, who are left in Jerusalem, even though morally they're no better than the people who went, they are under God's curse, and he has only disaster planned for them. That's the end of chapter 24. So the first example then of ameliorated judgment is, yeah, you're in exile, but I'm going to choose to regard you now as good, and I'm going to have a plan for you that's good. That's something that they didn't have before they went into exile. So they're still under God's judgment, but now they have a positive future. There's another really good example of ameliorated exile in chapter 29 in Jeremiah's letter to these exiles. So Jeremiah actually writes a letter to these people who go away, and this is what he says. Jeremiah 29, verse four. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I've sent you into exile. What city is that, Babylon? And pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare, you will find your welfare. So here again is ameliorated judgment. They're in exile. They're like under God's wrath. They were like sent away. And what is God saying here? Build houses, plant gardens. And you're like, wait a second, build? I've heard this before, right? And yet it's obviously not the restoration, it's a little hint of it, right? He's telling them, look, exile's gonna be long. Stay there and enjoy what prosperity you can while you're in exile. Have children. What's that saying? It's saying pursue a future. This is an amazing reversal from what happened before where God said that they have no future. And it's really quite amazing. Jeremiah himself, in chapter 16, was forbidden from taking a wife and having children. And Jehoiakim, the king, was told that he will not have any offspring. Write this man down as childless, is what chapter 22, 30 says, to reign on the throne. And so, again, it's reversal. Jeremiah, he was not supposed to have a wife or children, why? Because he was picturing the futurelessness of the people. The fact that they are the people that are about to have their children cut off. One passage talks about, as many as the sand on the seashore and the stars in the sky, so will be the mourners for those who have lost children, which is obviously a reversal of the Abrahamic promise, right? Abrahamic promise was as many as the stars in the sky and sand on the seashore will be your offspring. Well, Jerusalem is gonna face such a disaster that they'll be like devoid of a future. And yet now once they've gone into exile, God says, I have a future for you. In fact, that's what the famous verse in 29.11 says. We'll start in verse 10. 29.10, when 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you. And I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place, for I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans for welfare, not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Can you hear the allusion back to 24 and the good figs? Plans for good, plans for welfare and not for disaster. And so again, God is ameliorating, he's lightening their judgment. Instead of exile being this place of just total devastation and kind of hell on earth, instead, God's saying, exile is the place where you guys can start thriving and having kids. Think of in Egypt, how the people grew very numerous, even while they were under bondage, right? It's like Babylon's becoming a new Egypt, a place where the people thrive outside of the land of promise. So there are a few other examples. I found one from the very end of the book, chapter 52, where King Jehoiachin, who was, you know, the one that was exiled in 597, he's actually brought out of prison. This is actually how the book of Jeremiah ends. He's brought out of prison, and the king of Babylon speaks kindly to him, and this is like 37 years after he's been exiled. And he gives him a nice seat in the throne area, the throne room. He puts off, Jehoiakim puts off his prison garments, and every day of his life, he dined at the king's table. And for his allowance, a regular allowance is given him by the king. What is this if not ameliorated judgment? God lightening the judgment and saying, hey, this guy's in exile, but I haven't given up on my people yet. So there's all this going on, but while there's also all this going on, there's also God's words of judgment to those who've been exiled. So if you look back on chapter 29, Chapter 29 describes these two prophets in verse 23 called, actually it's a little bit higher than that, but yeah, verse 21, there's these two false prophets in Babylon called Ahab and Zedekiah. And it says they're prophesying a lie. in God's name. In other words, they're saying they're sent by God, and yet they're saying false things about God. And one of the false things they're saying is that God's not gonna judge them. He's not gonna make judgment long and hard. In fact, that they shouldn't submit to Babylon. But God says, this is what I'm gonna do to these false prophets. Because of them, this curse shall be used by all. I'm gonna deliver those false prophets into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. He shall strike them down before your eyes. In other words, before the eyes of all those exiles. Because of them, this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon. The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, these false prophets, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire. You think of Daniel's three friends. They were put in the fire, but they weren't roasted. Why? Because of God's standing with them. These are ones who were roasted, and they were indeed roasted. Why? Because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel. They have committed adultery with their neighbor's wives, and they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. So here are these people who were in exile, and among the good figs, But it's clear that to be in exile isn't the only criterion for being a good fig. What this is showing us is that you not only have to be under God's judgment to be counted as a good fig, you also have to accept the judgment. You have to be willing to say, I'm in Babylon because we sinned. I'm in Babylon because we did wrong. And what are these false prophets doing? They're denying that. And they're saying, yeah, you know, we don't really need to be suffering here. God's going to bring us back real soon. It'll all be over by Christmas kind of thing. And so God says, well, in that case, Babylon will be a place not of ameliorated judgment. It's gonna be the place where you're roasting in the fire under my judgment. And there are a couple other examples of this. One of them is King Zedekiah. He's the last king of Judah. And God told him repeatedly through Jeremiah, hey, when the Babylonians come, I want you to surrender. I want you to accept the judgment, in other words. Go out of the city, surrender to the Babylonians. Can you imagine how hard that would be? Here's this like, you know, incredibly barbarous nation and they're surrounding your city and like, they've got all the siege works and all the weapons and they're just like, you know, ridiculing you, mocking you. And yeah, you go out of the safety of your walls, Zedekiah wouldn't do it. He wouldn't surrender. And part of what that means is he wouldn't accept that this is God's plan. In fact, when the Babylonians, two years later, so it was a two-year siege, well, technically an 18-month siege. When the end of the siege finally came and the Babylonians finally made a breach in the wall, even then Zedekiah tried to run away. He and a few of his men rode on horseback towards Jericho, but then were captured. And what happens is the king of Babylon speaks judgment over him and puts out his eyes and slays his children. In fact, that's the last thing he sees before his eyes are put out, is the death of his children. And so it's really, it's like the opposite of Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim, the second to last king, the one who actually surrendered, He's the one who eventually gets out of prison, 37 years later. Instead, Zedekiah is put in a prison that's called the house of visitations. The place where God is visiting him with his judgment. And so, all this just to say that there's these three phases, judgment, and then ameliorated judgment, and then restoration. And the ameliorated judgment is only for those who have first been judged, like you can't skip over the judgment to get to the restoration. No, you have to be judged, but then you also have to accept the judgment in order to be given the hope of a restoration and God speaking good things over you. And what I wanted to say at the end was just like, this is actually, I think, really useful for us because it shows God's compassion. It shows that, you know, he did need to judge. because of the wickedness of the people. But rather than just continuing to pour on the heat, what does he do? He says, my plan is to rescue these people. I know what I'm gonna do. Even though I've given the promise that I'm gonna rescue them, they need tangible signs of the building and planting that's to come. They need something to boost their faith. And so I'm going to give them these little tangible signs to boost their faith. Here's one of them. The command to build houses and plant gardens. The command to multiply. The promise that I will regard you as good figs and I'll give you a future. The knowledge that, hey, The heir of the throne of David, Jehoiachin, didn't just stay in prison, he was lifted out of prison and given this noble spot next to the king of Babylon. All these things are, they're not the restoration itself, but they're like little pledges of the goodness that's to come. And it's that idea that God is lightening the judgment and giving them pledges of something to come that I think is the key to understanding everything from 586 until the coming of Jesus. What is that whole phase about? From 586 to basically zero, year zero. What's that all about? It's about God's ameliorated judgment. They are under God's wrath and curse, you know, that whole time. Their sins, the sins of the people are not forgiven. They're under the foreign nations, and first it's Babylon, and then, you know, Persia, and the other nations on up to Rome. But, like, God hasn't given up on them. And he's given them not just promises of the future, but pledges of it. The fact that they were eventually able to come back to the land in Ezra, Nehemiah. The fact that they were able to build this kind of mini temple that God didn't come back to. He didn't like come down and glory on that temple, but he did come back. And so we can call that ameliorated judgment. God's compassion shining through even when they're under wrath. and boosting their faith so that they would keep looking for the coming Redeemer who finally does bring the true building and planting that God had promised the Lord Jesus Christ. So any thoughts on any of this or questions? Yeah. I keep trying to say the word you're saying in my head over and over again. Ameliorated? What does that mean? It just means lightened. The opposite of ameliorate would be to intensify in a bad way. I think it's really interesting. Sometimes we think we get harsher punishment from God. That's Him really making it clear and almost yelling at us, stop doing this. Right. With the ameliorated punishment, it really forces us to put all our chips on the table. And God is asking me, or us, do you love me for who I am, or do you love me for the blessings I'm giving you? So God's not going to take away the blessings, but he's going to force us to choose to love him for his own sake. I think that's really interesting, and it's a much deeper commitment that we have to give him. Yeah, and again, it's the kindness of God that leads us to repentance, right? And so instead of like completely turning up the heat, what does God do? He gives them these little blessings, again, seeking to motivate them to repentance, to truly, like you said, truly seek his face. Did you wanna, yeah. It just, the way you put those, there's a lot of parallels. to other ways that God's acted through history. The exile from Eden is very much the same, in the sense that it's not, okay, now go and just wait to die, but continue multiplying, continue exercising dominion, pursue good. And then there's also the picture, it's a really good picture of the salvation process in the New Testament. I mean, we accept judgment. Yeah, we have to accept that we're sinners. With repentance, we die with Christ, and then we're raised. And we don't, again, we don't just kind of wait to die, but we still build this world You know, we don't retreat into pietism or whatever, so just a lot of good stuff about how to behave as a believer. Yeah, even now we are, in a sense, exiles awaiting the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're no longer under God's judgment, so we're not in the same phase. Like, we have the forgiveness of sins, we write with God, but there are parallels, like, to how they were to act in Babylon, to how we act now. And there's one other thing that you said, oh, just, yeah, the parallel after the garden and the failure there. One writer talks about, you know, when you look at Genesis 3, you know, he points out, like, there will be pain in childbirth, but there will be children. There will be, you know, sweat on your brow, thorns and thistles, but there will be bread, right? And so there's this compassion even when we're under judgment, yeah. Yeah, Pastor, I guess my question is more in terms of how well was your paper received, question one. Okay, yeah. And then along with that, I'm curious about, you know, in the scientific community, there is a peer review process. Right, yeah. Do you follow, or in this kind of thing, is there a peer review process or something like that followed to ensure Yeah, like soundness. Yeah, all that kind of good stuff. Yeah, great questions. Yeah, so only a handful of people came to my paper, which is pretty typical. It's a little disappointing. But there was some good discussion afterwards, and I think it was well received. And then to give a paper, there's no peer review. It's just simply your abstract is submitted, and the people who are looking at the abstract say, that sounds interesting. You can give the paper. But then if you want to publish something, That's when there's the peer review. So like all the major theological journals, you submit the paper, it goes out to two other peer reviewers, and they strip your name off and it's all anonymous, and then they give their anonymous feedback to you and the recommendation to the editor, should this be published or not? And then the journal is bound by whatever their judgments are. So, yeah. Well, thanks for listening and thanks for your questions. Let me just close with a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for when you brought judgment on your people. You did not make it this utter period of disaster and judgment that just kept on and on and on. We know there was much misery in the exile and in the sojourn in Babylon, but we also see your kindness to your people, especially in reinforcing to them the hope that they have. And we pray, Father, that we would remember you as a compassionate God. A God who loves to give pictures and tokens, pledges of the future grace that's to come. We thank you for the sacraments, these wonderful signs and seals of coming blessings. We pray even as we look forward to receiving the Lord's Supper today, that we would receive it as the pledge that it is of eternal life and the hope that we have that when you return, It will not be to destroy us, but instead to welcome us into your glorious kingdom. And we pray you would hasten that day. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen.