“TWO BASKETS OF FIGS!”

Jeremiah 24:1-10                                                             (ESV)

“1 After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, together with the officials of Judah, the craftsmen, and the metal workers, and had brought them to Babylon, the LORD showed me this vision: behold, “TWO BASKETS OF FIGS” placed before the temple of the LORD.

2 ONE BASKET had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, but the OTHER BASKET had very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten.

3 And the LORD said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" I said, "Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten."

4 Then the word of the LORD came to me:

5 "Thus says the LORD, the GOD of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.

6 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.

7 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.

8 "But thus says the LORD: Like the BAD FIGS that are SO BAD THEY CANNOT BE EATEN, so will I treat Zedekiah the king of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt.

9 I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a reproach, a byword, a taunt, and a curse in all the places where I shall drive them.

10 And I will send sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they shall be UTTERLY DESTROYED from the land that I gave to them and their fathers." 

The message to me this morning is rather clear.  In Jeremiah’s vision, there were “TWO BASKETS OF FIGS”, ONE BASKET had very good figs, and the OTHER BASKET had very bad figs.  

Scripture doesn’t indicate that the ONE BASKET that contained very good figs had any characteristics setting them apart from the OTHER BASKET, other than they were GIVEN A HEART TO KNOW WHAT I AM THE LORD! The OTHER BASKET was SO BAD THEY CANNOT BE EATEN!  Both were CREATED by the same CREATOR, but some were delicious, HE has planted them and HE would not pluck them up, and some of them were so bad they could not be eaten!

So it is with we humans.  Some of us have the opinion that we are special and can do NO WRONG.  Scripture states that the ONLY REASON we are going to Heaven is because ALMIGHTY GOD has CHOSEN us to be redeemed by the sacrifice of JESUS.  John 15:16 tells us that we did not choose HIM, but HE CHOSE us!  We are chosen to be GOOD FIGS for HIS GLORY, not to be set on a shelf and be admired by “this world”!  The OTHER BASKET of people won’t understand what they have done wrong, but they have never been CHOSEN by their CREATOR!

While it is true that GOD creates some of us who won’t qualify to be one of the CHOSEN, we must do our part to share the GOOD NEWS of JESUS, and how HE “transforms” lives from the rejected to THE CHOSEN!  Our CREATOR states there are “TWO BASKETS OF FIGS”!  Which one will you be in???