Jeremiah 6:16 “Thus says the Lord: Stand at the crossroads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies; and walk in it and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’”

When Jesus opened His public ministry on earth, He did so with these words: “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.”  Later on, He would say to his followers that those who would take on themselves the yoke of Christ, they would “find rest for their souls.”

When Jesus stated this, He was quoting from the words of Jeremiah above.  Here we find a connection between the Gospel of the Kingdom and the invitation of Jeremiah to seek the ancient paths of our God and find rest for our souls.

If the path to finding rest for our souls is tied directly to the Gospel of the Kingdom, what is that gospel?  Is it the gospel message proclaimed by so many today?

Today we will explore the ancient path of the Gospel of the Kingdom as found in the scriptures.  If the Lord allows, next Sunday we will conclude this exploration with the steps the Lord has laid out for those who will indeed “stand at the crossroads and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies; and walk in it….”

What are these “ancient paths” that would bring rest for the soul of the seeker?

These ancient paths the Lord established before the human race was formed all the way back at the creation. These paths have been the design of our God for our relating to Him from the very beginning.  They have never changed, and are the focus of the new covenant our God has put into place between Himself and us.

All life has its source in our God.  He infused the plant world with one kind of life in the beginning.  This was day 3 in the creation account.   Then on day 5, our God created animal life, sparking a life in them that was different from the plant life already created.

Then He created Adam, giving him an expression of life different from either the plants or the animals.  He breathed into Adam His own life, and Adam became a soul alive with the very life of God.

Here is the beginning of the ancient path of life for all humans.  It is the life of God Himself in the human.  Here is the perfection of union between our God and the human being.  We shared one life between us, the life of God Himself.

Sadly, this life, the ancient path of the life of God live in and through us, would not last long.