Read Jeremiah 35-36 at Bible Gateway.
Have you ever noticed that the LORD likes to teach by object lesson? He wants Judah and the men of Jerusalem to understand that He desires them to obey His commandment. So, He has Jeremiah bring in all the men of a single family, whose father commanded them not to drink wine, to set before them wine to drink, and command them to drink. The men refused to disobey the commandment of their father. By this object lesson, God is trying to teach Judah and the men of Jerusalem that He also desires them to obey His commandment.
He wanted to teach Judah that He wants their hearts to be pliable and yield to His direction, so He sent Jeremiah to the potter’s house and had him watch the potter make vessels from clay. He wanted to teach Israel about the ministry of Messiah, so He instituted Sabbath rest and feast days, which prophesy of Messiah, not by words, but by actions. The act of Israel resting on the Sabbath day, proclaims that under the kingship of Messiah during the 7th millennium, the earth will have rest — Israel witnesses to this truth, not by words, but by action.
We can go back even further — when God wanted to teach mankind how greatly He loved us, He created them male and female, declared to Adam that it was not good that he should be alone, and created a woman fit for him. He gave man a wife to cherish, and then told us that He was our husband, that He was our bridegroom and we were His bride. He created families, parents and children, and then told us that He was our Father and we were His sons and daughters. He was teaching us how great His love for us is, by letting us experience the love of husbands and wives, fathers and sons firsthand for ourselves.
When Jesus came, He taught the people in parables — He gave them object lessons involving fathers and sons, landowners and tenants, kings and servants, farmers and fields, seed and harvest, in order to teach them what living in His kingdom was like.
If as parents there is something we want to teach our children — take a page from God’s book. Create an object lesson. 🙂
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