Jeremiah 52:32-33

Who remembers Jehoiachin? He was the king of Judah after Jehoiakim, and was summoned by Nebuchadnezzar, and was taken captive after only a few months of being king. Instead, his uncle, Zedekiah, was made king in Judah (by Nebuchadnezzar), who was evil (just like the rest of them).

The last chapter of Jeremiah deals with the end of the story of Zedekiah, who was eventually taken by Nebuzaradan (the captain of Nebuchadnezzar’s guard, remember?), along with all the princes of Judah, and his sons. His sons were killed before his eyes, before his eyes were put out. He was never killed by Nebuchadnezzar, though, just as Jeremiah prophesied.

Why I mentioned Jehoiachin was because the last few verses of Jeremiah deal with him primarily. Although he was an evil king (for as short a period as it was), as we are told in 2 Chronicles 36:9, the end of Jeremiah contains a story of mercy. The king of Babylon after 37 years is called Evil-Merodach, which isn’t a very promising name, but he shows kindness in that in his very first year as king, he goes to Jehoiachin and takes him out of the prison he has been in:

‘And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, and he ate bread regularly before the king all the days of his life.’ (Jeremiah 52:32-33)

This reminds me of how we should be treating everyone else. It does not matter what wrong they have committed. It doesn’t matter where they come from, who they are, what rank they are, how much power they have, or who they’re friends with. We must show everyone love. If this king of a pagan nation can show this mercy towards his apparent enemy, then is it not detestable if we do not show much more love towards people that we encounter? And the best way to show love is to show them Jesus.

What a time-relevant message from the last chapter of Jeremiah!

Jeremiah 51:20,24

God can use everything. He can take evil and use it for His good, and He can obviously use good for His glory. One obvious example is that of Judas Iscariot, or of the crucifixion in general. The act was evil in every respect, and Judas’ betrayal was evil (Jesus said it would have been better for him if he had never been born – notice he says better ‘for him’). However, through those acts were wrought the greatest good for us, and the greatest glory for God, that has happened since the start of history.

Likewise, we find in Jeremiah, that God uses something much larger and more complicated than one person, in fact He uses a whole nation for His purpose:

‘You are My battle-ax and weapons of war:
For with you I will break the nation in pieces;
With you I will destroy the kingdoms;’ (Jeremiah 51:20)

He is talking about Babylon, the great nation which is the focus of much of the book of Jeremiah. The greatest nation on earth at the time, and seemingly indestructible. And what does God say of them? They are merely His tools: they are His weapons of war – His axe as it were. He picks them up when and as He needs them to break the nations, and then puts them down again. Indeed, He does more than put them down:

‘ “And I will repay Babylon
And all the inhabitants of Chaldea
For all the evil they have done
In Zion in your sight,” says the LORD.’ (Jeremiah 51:24)

He repays them for the evil they have done by Zion – that is, Israel. What they have done, by attacking Judah is evil, and they must be punished for it. But in doing it, they were being used by God to fulfil His purposes, which was the chastisement of His people, and the destruction of a few nations around Israel who had done evil in the sight of the LORD (see chapter 49). God is ultimately powerful.

How does this challenge or affect us? Well it affects our relationship with Him, because we realise that we must fear Him, that is, revere Him. We are ‘sheltered from the storm’, as it were, but the storm still rages, and we fear it out of awe. God is not someone that we banter with. He is the awesome Creator and Sustainer of the Universe, who will use mighty nations for His purpose just as easily as we cook toast. It challenges us by showing us our weakness. What right do we have to keep things back from this awesome God? How can we pretend to know how to run our own lives? Let’s give it all to Him, and trust that He will use what we give for His glory.

Jeremiah 50:6

‘My people have been lost sheep.
Their shepherds have led them astray;
They have turned them away on the mountains.
They have gone from mountain to hill;
They have forgotten their resting place.’ (Jeremiah 50:6)

How many times has this passage described me! A lost sheep, running about in the wilderness, choosing my own path, before God comes and finds me and brings me back. I forget my resting place. I forget where everything that is good ever happens. I forget the peace that I have with Christ, and venture abroad, lost in my own mind. Oh Lord, please teach me to rest and abide in You, to experience absolute contentedness within Your meadows. And I thank you for all the times You have come to bring me back into the fold when I have disobediently wandered off. Thankyou.

Jeremiah 49:19b

Chapter 49 continues the judgment of the nations, but chapter 49 deals with more than one nation: it deals with Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar and Hazor and Elam. All of these seem to be a little less significant than say the Egyptians or the Moabites. There is so much said in the chapter that it is difficult to run through it all without a step by step analysis. However, what hit me in the chapter was two things: one doesn’t really have an application but was just a thought I had while reading.

How overjoyed Nebuchadnezzar must have been if he had had access to the words written here at the time of his reign! It seems he had to do almost no work at all – because God had already given up to destruction all the lands that he was about to plunder!

The second thing that hit me was from verse 19b:

‘For who is like Me?
Who will arraign Me?
And who is that shepherd
Who will withstand Me?’ (Jeremiah 49:19b)

We need to come back to this all the time. Every day we need to be reminded of this, because as humans we generally think too highly of ourselves. Let’s humble ourselves and consider God’s glory and greatness.

Jeremiah 48:7,11,26,27,47a

Chapter 48 is a judgment against Moab. You may recall that the Moabites were the descendants of Lot, Abraham’s nephew, who chose the good life in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah before they were destroyed (from which he was saved by direct intervention by God). However, since the early times, when Abraham got on well with Lot, things had turned pear-shaped between the nations spawned by both parties. Moab often fought with Israel, and chapter 48 of Jeremiah makes it clear how the Moabites thought of Israel:

‘For was not Israel a derision to you?
Was he found among thieves?
For whenever you speak of him,
You shake your head in scorn.’ (Jeremiah 48:27)

The two didn’t get along that well, then. It isn’t an attitude that we are unfamiliar with in our present day: anti-Semitic attitudes. To me, it seems almost like proof of God’s divine plans, that such a small nation of so little note could generate such hate and jealousy in all the other nations, at any time in history. There is no reason for such an attitude, but the very existence of it seems to me to show that Israel is indeed a nation central to God’s plans (to which humans unwaveringly majoritorily object to).

In any case, this is the context of the chapter. It is a chapter that announces the destruction of the Moabites in the near future (by God’s chosen destructive vehicle, Babylon). Now, we can get caught up in all the methods and language used in these passages of destruction, which all sound fairly similar. However, I believe the most useful thing to look at is usually why. God always provides a reason for the destruction of a nation (proving that He has no favourites and does not act willy-nilly). Now, I found 3 reasons for the coming judgment stated in this chapter, each of them getting more serious (in my opinion) as the chapter proceeds. I shall proceed to state each one, and attempt to show that we are not incapable of having the same sin in our own life, so that we should be warned.

1) ‘For because you have trusted in your works and your treasures,
You also shall be taken.
And Chemosh shall go forth into captivity,
His priests and his princes together.’ (Jeremiah 48:7)

What is the sin here? They trusted in their own works and treasures. Why is this bad? Why is this sin? Well, we are in Jeremiah, and a key verse right at the start of Jeremiah, which I have heard so many times since I started Jeremiah (all of a sudden it seems to be the main verse in the Bible!) is Jeremiah 2:13 – ‘For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns – broken cisterns that can hold no water.’ (Jeremiah 2:13) The sin is both turning away from God, and trying to find satisfaction in things done by oneself. It seems that Moab had completely ignored God, and were trusting their satisfaction to their own ‘good’ works and their material possessions. That’s where they found their ‘happiness’. This is a sin, very offensive to the God who made them, and the Universe around them. Think about it: Image you were a billionaire and adopted a son from Africa, someone who had never even had a full plate of food for a meal, and decided that because you loved them so much you would give them all of these things: toys galore, brand new label clothing, all the cool appliances and computers they could want, a brilliant education...the whole Richie Rich deal. Now imagine that the kid was so taken by all these things that they completely ignored you and spent all their time mucking around with all the stuff you had given them: how would you feel? Well, take that scenario to the infinite limit, and that is how God feels when we ignore the satisfaction and love that He can give us, and instead search for satisfaction in the temporal things He has given us. This is indeed sin.

2) ‘Moab has been at ease from his youth;
He has settled on his dregs,
And has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
Nor has he gone into captivity.
Therefore his taste remained in him,
And his scent has not changed.
Therefore...’ (Jeremiah 48:11)

This verse got my attention straight away (I’m a sucker for analogies). It means two things to me: one is the real meaning, and the other is what came to mind from the imagery. Let’s get what it really means first. According to Macarthur (whose study Bible I so conveniently have), the analogy comes from common practice in wine making. While making wine, the wine was kept in a wineskin for a while so that the dregs (nasty parts) could settle to the bottom, whereupon the wine was poured into another wineskin where it was left til the dregs again settled to the bottom (those that were still in the wine that is), and the process was iterated (repeated) until theoretically no dregs were left and the wine was pure and sweet. Thus, this verse is saying that Moab has not undergone painful purging of sin in the past (ie. He has been at ease form his youth) which would have got rid of some of the sin from within, and over time made the nation more and more impure. Rather, it has been free of pain and judgment from its early days (remembering that its early days would have been rather God-centred, given that Lot was their father), leading it further and further into sin. Thus, the bitter taste of the dregs (or sin) remain in Moab.

How can this be applied to us? Well I think in two ways (one passive and one active). Actively, it shows that we are to discipline in order to purify. For example, with our children (when we have children...), the Biblical method is no doubt to discipline the child, to uproot evil by admonition as it comes, rather than to let them ‘settle on their dregs’ so that they are at ease from their youth. This will only lead to harsh judgment in the end.

Passively, we are to expect to be disciplined by God, in order to purify us. We know that we are not perfect yet, and will not be until glorification, and so the process of sanctification carries on, with us being poured from one wineskin to the next...each pouring leaves some of us behind, some dregs of sin, but also strains at the very nature of who we are, and therefore can be painful. Let us expect this, and welcome it.

The second meaning I took from it, and it is very similar to the first, is something that the mere imagery reminded me of (unbeknownst of the true analogy on display). The impression I first received was one of personal disregard of sin. Ignorance of sin personally. For instance, if I watch certain shows that are non-conducive to my profession of faith in a Holy God, and yet purposely ignore this sin, and incorporate it as ‘a part of my life’ (for my own pleasure), then I am ‘settling on my dregs’, just letting sin stay in my life with my passive permission. This will inevitably lead to greater and greater decay (‘a little leaven leaven’s the whole lump’), and necessary judgment from God in the long run.

3) ‘Make him drunk,
Because he exalted himself against the LORD.
Moab shall wallow in his vomit,
And he shall also be in derision.’ (Jeremiah 48:26)

The third and most vile sin of the Moabites was to exalt themselves against the LORD. I tend to believe that this was a symptom of the previous two: they rested on their own treasures and works, thinking more and more that they were both satisfied and justified because of completely naturalistic things, while letting sin grow and grow in their midst. Eventually, their own contorted view was such that they were better than God, that their own plans and own sinful pleasures were better than anything God had to offer (in an explicit, rather than implicit sense). This apparent madness (to us) was a logical progression from the former, not so mad (to us) sins. And yet again, it is a trap that we ourselves fall into.

When we ‘tell’ God what to do in our lives, and expect things of Him for our own desires, we are exalting ourselves above Him. What right do we have to demand things of the God who not only made us, but the infinitely huge and infinitely complex Universe that surrounds us? It is an absurd notion, but one that many of us take to breaking point.

And here is the final point I wish to make: God’s grace. For through all that has been said of Moab, the last verse of the chapter says:

‘”Yet I will bring back the captives of Moab
In the latter days,” says the LORD.’ (Jeremiah 48:47a)

What grace! The punishment given is enough to admonish them for the sins they have committed, and God will bring the captives back to their own land in the latter days (this obviously hasn’t happened yet – further proof of the ‘latter days’ referring to a time not yet happened).

The application? Inevitably you have read the sins here and found yourself guilty on at least one account. The challenge is to change it. But remember that God is gracious and is willing to forgive all the sins you commit, which is the only way you will ever grow and become more pure in Him.

Jeremiah 47:6-7

Jeremiah continues his prophecy of the destruction of nations round about Israel. This chapter is against the Philistines, whose primary cities were Tyre and Sidon and Ashkelon it seems (Jeremiah 46:4,7). The Lord is using the Babylonians for more purposes than capturing His own people to teach them a lesson. While they’re at it, they are inflicting punishment on all those nations that have sinned against the Lord greatly.

We come again to the greatness of the LORD. So often stated and yet so often forgotten in practice. His Holiness is beyond even the most perfect thing we would imagine. Sin is absolutely intolerable to Him. We can be sure that when we do sin (apart from His forgiveness of course), that He will bring punishment on that: perhaps not straight away, but it will happen. What you sow is what you reap. God is not to be trifled with. That message cannot be stated enough. The time will come when He chooses to turn the sword on you:

‘"O you sword of the LORD,
How long until you are quiet?
Put yourself up into your scabbard,
Rest and be still!
How can it be quiet,
Seeing the LORD has given it a charge
Against Ashkelon and against the seashore?
There He has appointed it."’ (Jeremiah 47:6-7)

And who can escape His sword? Therefore let’s not play games and mess about in this life. This is serious. If you have been saved already, it is not less serious, for chances are, your best friend hasn’t. Make the most of now.

Jeremiah 46:28

‘“Do not fear, O Jacob My servant," says the LORD,
"For I am with you;
For I will make a complete end of all the nations
To which I have driven you,
But I will not make a complete end of you.
I will rightly correct you,
For I will not leave you wholly unpunished."’ (Jeremiah 46:28)

Chapter 46 is a judgment against Egypt, land of the river Nile, who was almost unimaginably strong in the Israelite’s minds, and from where they had once escaped. Now they were back there, due to their fear of Nebuchadnezzar and his army, completely against God’s command. They supposed that Egypt would be an impregnable defence behind which they could shelter. However, God makes it clear that Egypt herself would be conquered by the large Babylonian army in this chapter.

Now, after this sin (piled on top of the rest – for which they were originally taken captive) you might expect God to finally give them up and treat them like the rest of the nations. However, He is still unfathomably gracious towards them. He says that He will make a complete end of all the nations that He drives them to (notice this doesn’t mean Egypt, since He didn’t drive them there, but it does mean Babylon), but He will not make a complete end of them. Is this because they are less sinful? I can hardly imagine it to be so: as we have just discussed, there were many sins which led them into captivity, and even more atrocities and rebellions after captivity. No, I don’t think they sinned any less than the other nations.

You see, here we find something almost incomprehensible to our human minds, and definitely incomprehensible in its entirety. We see God’s elective love. He sovereignly chooses to bestow His grace on the nation of Israel, to fulfil His purposes for the world (ie. So a Saviour may one day be born). There is nought else that it could be: He directly says that He will make a complete end of all the nations to which they are driven, but never make a complete end of them. We can only ask ‘why?’ There is no logical answer but to invoke God’s elective love. He loves His people Israel for no other reason than He chose to.

Hard to fathom: yes. But easy to receive. For it is this same love that He has bestowed upon us, and that we benefit from daily. And yet also He loved the whole world with an unconditional love, so that He sent His own son Jesus to die a brutal death to ransom us from eternal torment.

As we look at the character of Israel, let’s not forget that she is somewhat like ourselves as individuals. Let us take joy in her triumphs and the Lord’s blessing upon her, and learn from her mistakes.

Today, let us revisit the subject of God’s love anew, and appreciate all that He has done for us: not only in His unconditional love expressed as the ultimate sacrifice, but also in His elective love – He chose me!

Jeremiah 45:3b-5

I encourage you all to read Jeremiah 45. It is very short, with only 5 verses, and is an absolute gem of a chapter. It contains the mystery of the preciousness of life, along with the mystery of happiness despite suffering. And these two, I feel, are inexorably linked.

‘Thus you shall say to him, 'Thus says the LORD: "Behold, what I have built I will break down, and what I have planted I will pluck up, that is, this whole land. And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I will bring adversity on all flesh," says the LORD. "But I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go."'"’ (Jeremiah 45:4-5)

Jeremiah is saying this to Baruch, his scribe, who apparently is almost dying of suffering, saying: ‘I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest’ (Jeremiah 45:3b).

Verse four instantly reminded me of the phrase: ‘He gives and takes away’, made famous of course by the song ‘Blessed be Your name’. What God builds He breaks down, and what He plants He plucks up. The earth is His playground, and so it should be, since He is the glorious creator who own every atom of it. Some kingdoms are powerful by our human standards, and yet they are merely play-things, like little children playing ‘king of the castle’ to God. Some men are powerful, some dynasties last centuries, and yet all of it is mere insignificance in God’s eyes. Anyone who wields any ‘power’ on this earth was merely given it by God for a temporary period. He builds them up, he breaks them down. He plants movements and nations, and plucks them up just as readily. The earth is His, and all that is in it.

This is a happy thought! Because we know that our God is good and perfect and loving and gracious. And if He exhibits this kind of absolute control over our Universe, then we can feel perfectly happy with anything that comes about in it. Anything that happens is merely a projection of His will. The cruellest suffering on our part is nought but happiness, because we know that the Lord wills it so. That is, unless we do not trust Him. If this is the case, then any bad thing that happens will be amplified because we attribute blame to God: this will increase our unhappiness. We see that a good view of God’s sovereignty and goodness is integral to being happy.

Secondly, we see the preciousness of life. Do we seek great things for ourselves? Do we seek to become the head of some company, or to be a competitive athlete, or a world-class musician, or to become extremely wealthy? Do not! For God brings adversity on all flesh: that is, in this life there is no way to win. There is always an enemy. There is always the curse. There is no point in seeking great things for ourselves. But let’s change our focus. Let’s receive God’s life. And that shall be as a prize to us, wherever we go.

You see, God isn’t criticizing ambition here. He is not saying: ‘do not do your best!’ He is telling Baruch to change his focus: rather than chasing all the things of this life which would make him great, he should rely only on God to give him his life. And that small gift, as it were, will be a prize to him, whatever he is doing and wherever he is. Why? Specifically because God gave it to Him. God, the source of ultimate pure life. There is no curse in what God has for you. There is no enemy.

I really liked this chapter, and I hope you all can gain something out of it.

Jeremiah 44:16-17

What a terrible thing it is when we reject God! When we make up our own minds instead of listening to His voice. Israel had been warned many times before, by the prophets, not the least of which was Jeremiah, and yet they had never gone back on the terrible things they were doing: they never repented. And thus, God wrought destruction upon them. Now, the remnant few had decided to disobey God again by going to Egypt (see the last two chapters – 42-43). Jeremiah brings them a new prophecy, a new warning, to stop their idolatrous ways (again they were offering sacrifices to the ‘queen of heaven’ – probably an Egyptian goddess or some-such), a final chance. But they openly reject it saying:

‘"As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you! But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and saw no trouble.”’ (Jeremiah 44:16-17)

They make up their own minds, using their own twisted logic. They saw that times had been good while they worshipped other gods, and when Jeremiah had originally told them to stop, it had brought about destruction. So, why stop? Isn’t it obvious that it was because they stopped that hard times had come about? Well of course, this is all very twisted logic, because the Bible makes it clear that they didn’t in fact stop when God asked them to, which is the reason for the hardship they now endure. However, their minds were searching for some validation of their desires, and so it came to this shoddy reasoning. Jeremiah, in the rest of the chapter, points out their mistakes and declares that indeed, they will keep their vows to their false gods and thereby meet with destruction.

I suppose the lesson from this is: how often do we justify our own actions with twisted logic that the fallen world has given us? How much have our minds been tainted by the sin in the world? Of course, as Christians, we are not lost as these people in the story are. We have the Holy Spirit indwelling us, teaching us wisdom and discernment. However, our minds are still in the world, and the world system will taint us wherever possible. We need to regularly be in the Word so as to ‘renew’ our minds to be thinking in harmony with God. We also need to suppress and reject our own desires in favour of Gods.

Living life our own way has disastrous consequences, because, let’s face it, we’re not the smartest people!

Jeremiah 43:9-11

Trouble will follow you wherever you go. That’s what happens when we try to outrun God’s commandments. If we disobey his voice because we are afraid of some trouble that it will bring, undoubtedly we will find the same trouble or worse wherever we run to. The interim leaders of the Judean rabble had asked Jeremiah to seek what the Lord would have them do. However, the Lord wanted them to stay in Judah. They didn’t want to do this at all – since they thought Nebuchadnezzar would for sure be back to slaughter them all pretty soon. Instead they wanted to run to Egypt: a ‘safe’ place.

Well, we know that throughout the Bible, Egypt can be seen as a symbol for the world. It was where the Israelites had come from into the Promised Land, in the exodus. It is a good illustration of how we came out of the world, and while currently in the wilderness, heading for the Promised Land, one day we will enjoy the bliss of heaven. Now, these Judeans wanted to go back into Egypt. It was safer, more secure. More comfortable. A wise option. So they thought. But it was disobedience to God’s command. God wanted them to stay in Judah.

Thus, when they got there, God tells Jeremiah:

‘Take large stones in your hand, and hide them in the sight of the men of Judah, in the clay in the brick courtyard which is at the entrance to Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes; and say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I will send and bring Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden. And he will spread his royal pavilion over them. When he comes, he shall strike the land of Egypt and deliver to death those appointed for death, and to captivity those appointed for captivity, and to the sword those appointed for the sword.”’ (Jeremiah 43:9-11)

Trouble will follow them. What they sought to escape, they have only run into. Man’s wisdom is folly.

Let’s take a lesson from this. Sometimes God’s commands and His will imply possible risk. It implies danger often. But running from this, back to the world, will only result in meeting that danger head-on, without God’s protection. Let’s be confident that whatever the danger, doing God’s will is the way to go: because He can always protect us!

Jeremiah 42:5,19b-20a

‘So they said to Jeremiah, “Let the LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not do according to everything which the LORD your God sends us by you.’ (Jeremiah 42:5)

The leaders of the army of Judah, who had scattered and then returned under the leadership of Gedaliah (who was killed last chapter), were now lost for answers. So they came to Jeremiah for help. Or so it would seem. They asked Jeremiah to ask the LORD what they should do, and they promised to obey, whether it sounded good or bad. They even asked the LORD to be their witness.

However, nothing is ever as it seems, because these leaders already had plans to run off to Egypt with the remnant, to escape more impending disaster and famine. Yet, when Jeremiah asked the LORD what they should do, the answer was very clearly: stay in Judah and I (God) will relent from destruction, if you go to Egypt then all the destruction that you seek to escape will be brought upon you.

It seems that despite all the lofty promises the leader’s made, that they didn’t obey or listen to this prophecy, any more than they did Jeremiah’s prophecies of impending invasion by the Babylonians. Indeed, Jeremiah says:

‘Know certainly that I have admonished you this day. For you were hypocrites in your hearts when you sent me to the LORD your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the LORD our God...’ (Jeremiah 42:19b-20a)

It is well to remind ourselves not to make empty promises. They mean nothing and only hurt others. Moreover, we should never promise God anything that we cannot, or will not, do. Let’s examine our motives for searching the Word for answers. Are we just trying to find the answers we want? Or are we faithfully studying the Word to understand what God wants? We can always obey the first, but that doesn’t achieve anything.

Jeremiah 41:6-7

Chapter 41 (with roots in chapter 40) of Jeremiah, is a really good action story. Gedaliah was appointed governor of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar (or more precisely, Nebuzaradan, his captain of the guard). When the leaders of Judah’s army realised that Gedaliah had been appointed governor, they came back from everywhere they had been dispersed to (40:7). Back where Gedaliah governed they had a good time, gathering grapes and making wine and things. One of the captains of the army told Gedaliah that another leader of the army had only come back to kill him, but Gedaliah didn’t listen to him. When I read it the first time, my first thought was: he is telling a lie. The mood is very happy and it seems like Gedaliah is a good governor whom all the people like, and this little seed of distrust seems like a lie to cause unrest. Johanan (the leader who told Gedaliah about the supposed assassin, Ishmael) even offered to go secretly and kill Ishmael for the king. I’m not sure that this improved his trustworthiness .

However, the next chapter (41) tells the story of how Gedaliah invited Ishmael and ten of his men ‘round for dinner in the second month of his ‘reign’. Ishmael and his men proceeded to kill Gedaliah. They didn’t even stop there. They killed all the Jews and Chaldeans who were with Gedaliah!

So the first lesson is to always check. Something may sound like nonsense but if you don’t check it out, you could be fooling yourself all along. And it could have dire consequences. It takes effort, to check all these things out. Sometimes we have to think about things we rather wouldn’t, and sometimes we have to talk to people that make us feel uncomfortable. But a little effort can go a long way. In this case, it would have saved Gedaliah’s life. I think it was fair enough that he didn’t believe Johanah, but it would definitely have served him well to check out the reality!

Now, some people (80 men says verse 4) who were mourning for Jerusalem (which, remember, had just been taken captive and burnt), were passing through near Mizpah (where Ishmael killed Gedaliah, and was still residing). The story says:

‘Now Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went along; and it happened as he met them that he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam!” So it was, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah killed them and cast them into the midst of a pit, he and the men who were with him.’ (Jeremiah 41:6-7)

Talk about a mass murderer! 80 defenceless mourners all killed and thrown into a pit! What tragedy might have been avoided if only Gedaliah had been careful and actively watchful.

We hear stories about people who are ruthlessly disciplined. People in the army, for example. Sometimes we think they might even go overboard: I mean, who cares if your shoes aren’t perfectly clean? How is that going to save your country? But it is all a mindset. It is a mindset of absolute discipline because they must always be thorough and always be careful. If they are not, even the slightest defect in attention could amount in the slaughter of many of their friends. It was this type of discipline that someone in Gedaliah’s position ought to have had.

But think about it. Are we not soldiers of Christ? In Sunday School we sing the song: ‘I’m in the Lord’s Army!’ What does this mean? That we go about ‘killing’ people with the Bible? No, it means that we are to be disciplined and have a strategy. We are in the same position as Gedaliah in that respect. We must pay attention to every detail. Every belief must be scrutinized, every action evaluated. And we must take action against those parts of us that are not up to standard (there are always some of those!)

Let us be mindful of the part of us that is the soldier!

Jeremiah 40:2-3

‘”The LORD your God has pronounced this doom on this place. Now the LORD has brought it, and has done just as He said. Because you people have sinned against the LORD, and not obeyed His voice, therefore this thing has come upon you.”’ (Jeremiah 40:2-3)

This sounds very much like most of the rest of Jeremiah. The Jews have been taken captive, and they are walking back to Babylon in chains. But if you are clever, you may have noticed something about the way it was worded. Also I must confess I was a bit naughty and left out the context at the beginning of verse 2:

‘And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him: ....’ (Jeremiah 40:2a)

See, it starts with ‘The LORD your God’, not ‘The LORD our God’. This was a pagan captain of the guard saying this.

Often we find that non-Christians have some very intelligent and pertinent things to say about Christianity. Why? Well often they are not biased by traditions of the church, or caught up in the mindset that seems to take people in the church. Granted, neither are their eyes opened by the Holy Spirit, and thus on deep spiritual matters they are often at complete odds in their beliefs and views. However, I think we should be challenged at times by the way that even non-Christians will see something that is glaringly obvious, and yet we will consider it vaguely, as if we don’t have complete authority to say whether it is right or wrong.

For instance, most non-Christians would agree resolutely that homosexuals and Christianity do not mix. Even if they don’t fully agree with Christianity. And yet here we are, appointing them as elders and priests and whatever else.

I think we should be challenged to take a more plain-eye view of God’s word and what it really means for us. And we should be challenged to study it so that no ‘embarrassing’ situations like this arise.

Jeremiah 39:10

We know that God ruled Nebuchadnezzar. We know that all Nebuchadnezzar did and conquered was because God made it so. And we come across a very unexpected example of this in chapter 39.

‘But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left in the land of Judah the poor people, who had nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time’ (Jeremiah 39:10)

Judah has just been conquered. It had been besieged for 30 months (2.5 years), and then taken. All the princes had been killed, and the king had been blinded and taken captive. The rest of the people had been taken away to Babylon, and most of the city of Jerusalem had been burnt to the ground. And yet, the captain of the guard (under Nebuchadnezzar) decided to let the poor people who had nothing stay in the land, and even gave them vineyards and fields. We can just see God saying: ‘The first shall be last and the last shall be first’.

Let’s be confident that God works in each and every situation. Let’s trust that God will always be God, that He will never change, and that He will always be for our good.

Jeremiah 38:8-9

How faithful are we? To what extent do we go to spread the Gospel and the knowledge of God? Do we tell people only when we feel perfectly comfortable? Or do we distort the message so that we do feel more comfortable? Are we truly living the message?

Jeremiah had to tell many people God’s message as a life ministry. That didn’t mean just his close friends and other like-minded scribes and people. In chapter 39 he tells princes of Judah, and they, not being very inclined to his message, set about putting him in jail. Problem was, the ‘jail’ they put him in was actually a cistern with no water in the bottom. Instead there was mire. So he had no food or water, and if he sank too far into the mire he would die as well. What a pickle. When he finally got out (and we’ll look at that in a little while), what did he do but tell the king the same message! He did make the king promise not to kill him though. He didn’t change the message. And he didn’t shirk his duty. Remember his duty was to tell everyone God’s message, that he was given specifically by God. Doesn’t sound too different to us does it? Our whole life is a dedication to God, and a big part of that is telling other people about Him. Telling them the message He has entrusted to all of us specifically in the Bible. To what lengths do we go to accomplish this?

So, back to how Jeremiah got out of the cistern. It turns out that someone had overheard the talk amongst the princes of how they were going to treat Jeremiah. An Ethiopian no less. And he had the moral fibre and strength to go to the king and request that he be taken out.

‘Ebed-Melech went out of the king’s house and spoke to the king, saying: “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon, and he is likely to die from hunger in the place where he is. For there is no more bread in the city.”’ (Jeremiah 38:8-9)

How often do we see evil and do nothing about it? How can we sit back in our self-contented shells, blissfully unaware of the evil that goes on around us? Being faithful also requires action. This Ethiopian was a foreigner and stranger to Jeremiah, but he knew right from wrong. How much more we who have the Spirit of God in us!

Jeremiah 37:17

‘Then Zedekiah the king sent and took him out. The king asked him secretly in his house, and said, “Is there any word from the LORD?” And Jeremiah said, “There is.” Then he said, “You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon!”’ (Jeremiah 37:17)

This reminds me of our deceitful hearts. Sometimes we can go through all the right motions of ‘asking what God wants’, and study His word and learn all about Him. However if we fail to act on that knowledge, if we fail to repent and humble ourselves before Him, then it is all useless, and we are taken captive. Unless we actually obey what God says, then all our knowledge and ‘good work’ in seeking that knowledge is in complete vain.

Let us not deceive ourselves. Lord, let my heart be true, and when I seek You, let me heed your voice and act on it, not being proud, but being humble and able to amend my ways.

Jeremiah 36:32

Jeremiah 36 contains the story of God telling Jeremiah to write all the judgments He has against Judah on a scroll, and read it in the temple. Jeremiah gets Baruch to write down the words he says and take the scroll to the temple to read them out. Some of the princes heard the words and were afraid, and decided they must tell the King, but first of all they told Baruch and Jeremiah to hide unless the king didn’t like what he heard. He didn’t. In fact it says he wasn’t even frightened, but he threw the scroll into the fire and ordered the men to seize Baruch and Jeremiah. However, the LORD hid the two, and ordered them to write down another scroll.

God’s work will always get done, no matter how much adversity there is against it.

‘Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the instruction of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And besides, there were added to them many similar words.’ (Jeremiah 36:32)

Go against God, and God will just strengthen His plan! We must submit to His will so that we fit in with His plans.

Jeremiah 35:14

Jeremiah tells the story of a group of people descended from Rechab, called the Rechabites. Apparently, the son of Rechab, called Jonadab, had commanded all his sons and descendants not to drink wine or plant seeds or take up abode anywhere, but to live in tents. Jeremiah invites them to the temple and gives them all wine to drink and tells them to drink it, but even then they say no, obeying their ‘father’ Jonadab. This was to be a lesson for God’s children Israel, and should be a stark lesson for us.

‘The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; for to this day they drink none, and obey their father’s commandment. But although I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, you did not obey Me.’ (Jeremiah 35:14)

If we can obey man’s commandments, why can we not obey God’s commandments? They are obviously much more important. This challenged me, and I hope it challenges you too.

Jeremiah 34:17

Jeremiah 34 verse 8-22 tells the story of the nobles and princes of Jerusalem who were commanded by the King to set their slaves free (as was the law set by the LORD to set them free every 7 years). They obeyed (surprisingly!) but then it says they changed their minds and took them all captive again. The LORD pronounces judgment on them for doing so:

‘Therefore thus says the LORD: ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and every one to his neighbour. Behold, I proclaim liberty to you,’ says the LORD – ‘to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine! And I will deliver you to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth.’ (Jeremiah 34:17)

The LORD says He is setting them free to the sword, the pestilence and the famine, as if they were not free to it before. He has held them captive from the troubles of the world, held them under His arm as it were.

Freedom in the Bible is never seen as a state of being able to do absolutely whatever you want. It is a state of being freed from something into something better or more beneficial. Indeed, the slaves of the nobles were freed from their slavery into their own lives. That doesn’t mean they could just do whatever they wanted, as they still had to make a living for themselves. God proclaims liberty to the nobles, liberty from His divine protection to the troubles of the world. We as Christians have been set free from the power of sin and death, and now we are bondservants of Jesus Christ. We are all servants of something. There is no such thing as ‘true’ freedom. Or if there is, the meaning of ‘true’ freedom must be amended to be ‘ a state in which you are free to do as you were created to do’.

How does this challenge us? As Christians we have been set free to be with Jesus Christ. We are free to live in the way we were created (‘We are His workmanship, created for good works in Christ’). And God will never change His mind, like these corrupt nobles. But do we? Do we go and turn back to our old captivity? Do we run after the things of the world, the ‘broken cisterns that will hold no water’? What value we see in them is but illusion. Make sure your focus and life is in Jesus Christ, where we have true freedom.

Jeremiah 33:2-3

‘Thus says the LORD who made it, the LORD who formed it to establish it (the LORD is His name): ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’’ (Jeremiah 33:2-3)

Powerful words! The LORD makes a promise to Jeremiah, and I believe to every one of us, that if we call to Him (ie. Pray), He will answer us, showing us great and mighty things that we do not know. This shows three things about God:

1. He is powerful – ‘show you great and mighty things’. He must be indeed extremely powerful for Him to show us great and mighty things. In fact, He is all-powerful. He is omnipotent. He created the whole universe (the universe being a pretty insanely big and intensely complex place). Another way to look at it is that He has more power than the universe (having created it) and therefore by definition has infinite power over it. Never worry that God may not be able to work something in your life. That is absolutely nothing for Him to do. If He can make a star, or order the DNA in your body, then He can do absolutely anything else that you may need.
2. He is faithful – ‘I will answer you’. God promises that He will always do right by us. If we are walking in the Spirit and ask something of Him in prayer, He will answer it. In fact I heard when I was at Bundaberg that George Mueller, the famous British Christian who had a lot to do with orphanages used to write down every single prayer request he made, and when it was answered. Apparently he had been praying for a good friend of his to become a Christian for 27 years. The man he prayed for finally became a Christian at Mueller’s funeral. It is also said that over 1000 of his recorded prayers were answered within a day. God is faithful!
3. He is beyond our comprehension, and chooses to be – ‘which you do not know’. God is both beyond our comprehension, as the Creator of an infinitely complex universe, and chooses to express Himself in often incomprehensible ways. God is beyond us. We will never understand who He is completely. His love is wider and deeper than we can ever realise. Above that, He often chooses to answer our prayers in ways we would never expect. He does good for us that we can’t see. This glorifies Him, as the only One worthy of praise. If we could understand Him, we could be almost like Him. But we will never understand.

What a wonderful God we serve! Never forget who God is, and on that remembrance, never cease to pray!

Jeremiah 32:27

Jeremiah 32 is one big story, with a lot of dialogue from God. It is another object lesson for Jeremiah. He is told to buy the deeds for a field in Benjamin. He buys the field and then seals the deed in an earthen vessel so it will keep for a long time. He then asks God why he was to do such a thing, considering that soon the Babylonians (who were besieging Jerusalem) would take them all captive and the land would be desolate. He thought he would never even be able to see his land, and having bought it was useless since the Babylonians were taking over. He questioned why God would want him to do such a thing. But see what God says:

‘Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?’ (Jeremiah 32:27)

God tells him that He would let the Babylonians take Judah, and yet that the captives would be set free to return in the future.

Sometimes we think God is telling us to do something, but then some situation gets in the way or seems to prohibit it. We can tend to think that what God originally told us was either wrong or that we heard wrong. However, sometimes God wants to show us His power by placing that hardship in the way and showing us that He can overcome it. To show us that He plans further ahead than just the next step. We need to do whatever God asks of us, even if it seems plain stupid given the immediate circumstance, for in the end, God has it all planned out!

Jeremiah 31:3,18,21

Chapter 31 continues where chapter 30 left off – in fact the very first verse makes reference to the last verse of chapter 30, and plays a crucial role in determining the time-frame of the events described in chapter 31. The last words of chapter 30 are ‘In the latter days you will consider it’, obviously referring to the end times. Chapter 31 starts with ‘at the same time’, and so sets up the time-frame for the events of the chapter. It is again a chapter of restoration, but this time for Israel (as opposed to Judah).

‘The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying:
“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;
Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.”’ (Jeremiah 31:3)

I just noticed the two uses of love in this verse. His everlasting love is the unconditional type of love He has for Israel (and which He has for those that are redeemed). No matter what they do, He will still love them. Only this way can it be ‘everlasting’, otherwise there would be no guarantee they will would fulfill their side of the ‘condition’, and therefore no guarantee He would love them forever. No, this is His unconditional love. But because of this unconditional love, He draws them with lovingkindness. This is a more personal love. This love involves direct action – drawing in this case. This is love that demands a response. The one drawn must surrender. Lets not simplify God’s love into ‘He loves me’ and that’s it. Such a view cannot explain many things God does in the Bible, and leads us into error in one way or another. If God ‘just loves us’ then it doesn’t matter what we do. On the other hand, God’s love is not always conditional, and if we believe it is always conditional and demands repentance, then we will end up where that extremist Baptist church in America (the one that picketed Heath Ledger’s funeral apparently) is.

As the chapter progresses it deals more specifically with ‘Ephraim’ which is the 10 tribes of Israel. The LORD has recognized that they recognize that they need to repent.

‘I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself:
‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised,
Like an untrained bull;
Restore me, and I will return,
For You are the LORD my God.’’ (Jeremiah 31:18)

So the Israelites have finally come to the place of repentance. And the LORD is pleased with it, saying He will surely have mercy on them. But He says something interesting:

‘ “Set up signposts,
Make landmarks;
Set your heart toward the highway,
The way in which you went.
Turn back O virgin of Israel,
Turn back to these your cities.”’ (Jeremiah 31:21)

Jeremiah 30:3,11

Jeremiah 30 is all about the restoration of the people of Judah and Israel. It speaks of mainly the final restoration, in the last days (hence references to the ‘time of Jacob’s trouble’).

‘ “For behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,” says the LORD. “And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.”’ (Jeremiah 30:3)

The Jews were sent away from their land because of their sin. God was punishing them justly for their sin, and so had them taken captive by Babylon (and later by other nations before being completely dispersed by the Romans). But God was saying that this was just temporary. It is only chastisement (v. 14). He will restore them.

Does this not encourage us greatly today? There will have been times when we have felt so far from God, if we have been Christians for very long at all. There are things we do that we shouldn’t, and things we don’t do that we should and all in all it leads to us being taken captive, separated from our home land, far from the love we have known in Christ. Furthermore, God may punish us further for our actions in some way. And yet He promises always to restore us. All it takes is repentance, for the blood of Christ has already washed our sins away.

‘ “For I am with you,” says the LORD, “to save you;
Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you,
Yet I will not make a complete end of you.
But I will correct you in justice,
And will not let you go altogether unpunished.”’ (Jeremiah 30:11)

The LORD will never make a complete end of us. It’s never ‘all over red rover’. Where there is sin, there is always more grace. What a happy thought!

Jeremiah 29:11-13

Jeremiah writes a prophetic letter to all the captives in Babylon (after the second deportation in 597BC). He writes it to both encourage and instruct them. He encourages them by affirming that God will restore them to Israel in precisely 70 years, and he instructs them to live as if they had a long wait (70 years is a pretty long time!), and to be at peace in the land of Babylon. He instructs them not to listen to the false prophets who were telling lies (such as they would be delivered in less than 70 years – which would have caused the people not to settle down). Overall it is an encouraging letter, because of what God says to them:

‘For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.’ (Jeremiah 29:11-13)

Gods plans for them are all for their good. In that they can completely trust. Their problem (which led them to captivity in the first place) was that they would not repent. But God says that after 70 years they would repent, and they would turn to Him, and they would find Him.

John Macarthur Jr. writes: ‘What God had planned, He also gave the people opportunity to participate in by sincere (v. 13) prayer.’

It is the same for us. God has so many plans for us, but we must seek Him ‘with all our heart’ for them to come to fruition (sometimes – other times He will just do them anyway). It is an uncanny paradox – that He has it planned to happen all along, and yet it is up to us to see it happen. But what an encouragement to faithful prayer! He has already planned to answer our heartfelt prayers! This should not make us feel like we have to pray less, but we should feel the need to pray more, because we know He will answer them!

Jeremiah 28:6-9,16-17

In the previous chapter (chapter 27), God told Jeremiah to put a wooden yoke on his neck, before telling him that this yoke represented Judah, and how it was supposed to bend its neck to the Babylonians. Now, chapter 28 happens in the same year, although how far along in the year it does not say.

Hananiah the prophet was speaking in the Temple, to all the priests and the people, and also to Jeremiah. But what he was saying was contrary to what Jeremiah had prophesied. He was saying that within two full years, all the vessels of the Temple that had been taken would be brought back, and so would the king Jeconiah and all the captives (a.k.a everything). Now, you may expect Jeremiah to flip out over this and pronounce instant judgment upon Hananiah. However, what we read is this:

‘and the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! The LORD do so; the LORD perform your words which you have prophesied, to bring back the vessels of the LORD’s house and all who were carried away captive, from Babylon to this place. Nevertheless hear now this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people: The prophets who have been before me and before you of old prophesied against many countries and great kingdoms – of war and disaster and pestilence. As for the prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet comes to pass, the prophet will be known as one whom the LORD has truly sent.” (Jeremiah 28:6-9)

I want to note two things:

1. Although Jeremiah obviously knew that Hananiah was wrong, he did not immediately proclaim judgment on him, rather he said ‘let it be so!’ For what Hananiah said would have been a good thing to happen (at least in the minds of men). So Jeremiah agreed with his desires, but he still says that nevertheless, prophets who have been from God in the past have only ever prophesied destruction and war and famine – judgment. So for this prophet who prophesies peace to be true, the word of his mouth must come to pass. We see that Jeremiah goes about his rebuke in a manner of love. It is not a scathing attack, but rather a solemn pronouncement that he is likely wrong.

2. The second thing comes into the first, but it is that specifically it is the prophets of judgment who were from God in the past. Let us look back into the Bible and even taking into account prophets after Jeremiah, which prophet prophesied mostly peace? There are a few inklings of it in Isaiah, with prophecies of the Messiah or the Messianic Kingdom, but on the whole, each prophet’s main task was to proclaim judgment, or warn against it. So let us not be fooled in this day with prophecies or teachings of peace and prosperity and the ‘good life’. We should say ‘Amen! Let that be true! Nevertheless, I don’t see how it could be.’

Now, after Jeremiah’s gentle rebuke, Hananiah does something really silly. He pulls of the yoke from Jeremiah’s neck (which he must still be wearing), and breaks it. This was a visible symbol of his message. Now Jeremiah goes away for a while and the LORD says to him that they have indeed broken the yokes of wood –but that they will be replaced with yokes of iron! Just imagine Jeremiah walking back to the Temple with Hananiah standing there, and all the priests and people, and on his shoulders is a massive iron yoke. ‘Ha! Hananiah, try and break this yoke!’

And as a finale to the story, we have some true prophecy:

‘[Jeremiah said] Therefore thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will cast you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have taught rebellion against the LORD.’ So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.’ (Jeremiah 28:16-17)

The LORD always wins. Always.

I noted that in the very last sentence, it says ‘so Hananiah the prophet…’. It doesn’t just say ‘and Hananiah the…’ as if it happened and thus the prophecy was fulfilled. It is worded more as if it happened because of the prophecy. This is the mark of the true prophet of the LORD, for His words are the LORD’s, and so when he speaks, it is the LORD declaring something that will happen. Therefore you could say it is the reason for its happening.

I hope we are all encouraged by the stories of God’s people, like Jeremiah, who trust in the LORD, and whom the LORD delivers and speaks to.

Jeremiah 27:12

‘I also spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live!’ (Jeremiah 27:12)

The proud Israelites would have thought that Jeremiah was mad. Yes, the Babylonians were much greater than they, but didn’t they have God? What about all those famous victories in the past? Why should they just surrender and bend their necks to the Babylonians when they could fight it, and surely win?

Well, firstly, God wasn’t on their side at this point. And secondly, it wasn’t His will that they should fight. Jeremiah speaks God’s will to them plainly – ‘bring your necks under the yoke of Babylon’.

Sometimes the will of God in our lives is the opposite of what we expect it to be, or sometimes it doesn’t really make sense to us. But we should always earnestly seek what His will is, otherwise we could be making grave mistakes.

Jeremiah 26:8-9

Jeremiah 26 is placed before the previous two chapters chronologically. It is set at the start of Jehoiakim’s reign. It’s like it has said: this is what eventually happened, now this is why it happened – this is what led up to it. The LORD tells Jeremiah to go speak in the court of the Temple to everyone that goes in and out and all the priests and prophets. However, the words he says don’t exactly go down that well:

‘Now it happened, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, ‘You will surely die! Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without an inhabitant’?” And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.’ (Jeremiah 26:8-9)

The Temple was very important to the Jews, but it had become more an aspect of pride on their behalf, rather than a true place of worship. They felt superior because of their massive Temple and their rather unique theology (though apparently that theology didn’t affect their lives, hence the coming destruction). Thus, anyone prophesying against the Temple and against their beloved city of Jerusalem must be wrong. It was an act of treason to proclaim the downfall of the Temple or Jerusalem, such a high place did it hold in their hearts. But it was high in their hearts for the wrong reasons.

Sometimes there are things in life that we treasure, and sometimes they definitely ought to be treasured. However, the way we pride ourselves on these things can sometimes get in the way of truth. Like for Jeremiah, the truth was that God would destroy the Temple and Jerusalem (given the people did not repent), and yet the priests and ‘prophets’ could not see that because they treasured the Temple too much – and for the wrong reasons. Be careful what you love, and for what reason. Everything must be for the glory of God. Sometimes we have traditions that we love and automatically think it is wrong to against them – but in the end tradition is only man made, not God-appointed. Let us be wary of this.

Now, the priests and prophets were adamant about killing him, and the princes of the land came to the Temple when they heard about it. The priests told them that he should die, and Jeremiah responds courageously that he had spoken the truth only, and that they could do with him as they wished, but if they did kill him, then innocent blood would be on their hands. The princes decided no to kill him. Here, God’s promise to protect Jeremiah, made in the very first chapter (and reinforced later on), is kept. We can count on God to keep His promises. That is what makes life bearable!

Jeremiah 25:33

Nowadays we often think God is just a loving, caring, forgiving God up in the sky, looking down and trying to help us wherever He can. Well, He is that. But He is not just that. If you read Jeremiah 25:30-38, you will see quite clearly that He is a Holy, just, fierce, powerful, almighty God as well.

The first part of chapter 25 is a proclamation against Judah (yet again) because of their unrepentance. However, from verse 15 onwards, the judgment turns onto all the nations (and I mean all- vs. 26).I believe the prophecy spoken will come to fulfillment in the end times, because it sure hasn’t come to fulfillment yet, although I think the foreshadowing was in the destruction of the Babylonian empire (to which it originally refers).

‘And at that day the slain of the LORD shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground.’ (Jeremiah 25:33)

This verse has obviously not happened yet, but shows what terrific power and anger the LORD has with all the wickedness of all the nations on earth.

We need to come back to God as a Holy and terrifying God. It is the fear of the LORD that is the beginning of wisdom. When we have a balanced view of the loving, forgiving God, and the Holy and powerful God, only then will our focus be right for life. Take some time to dwell on the awesomeness of God.

Jeremiah 24:5-6

Sometimes we get ‘sent’ to places in our lives that we both can’t understand and don’t wish to be in. We get put in situations that make no sense because of the apparent hardship we endure for seemingly no purpose. However, we know that God has a plan for us. We know that God means good for us, but we just cannot see how that is to happen.

‘ “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans. For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up.’” (Jeremiah 24:5-6)

God was providing another ‘object lesson’ for Jeremiah (remember the linen sash and the pottery). This one involved two baskets of figs, one extremely good and the other one full of rotten figs. The good figs, as it says in verse 5-6 represented those who had been taken captive. The bad figs represented the king Zedekiah and all those remnant who remained in Judah or lived in Egypt at the time. They would be brought nothing but trouble and hardship, violent death, famine and disease.

So God is looking favourably upon those who had been taken captive. That was His plan. Those who had been taken must have been thinking ‘oh, we are the unlucky ones. How come that evil king and all the ne’er-do-wells have been left behind?!’ They must have questioned whether God really intended good for them. But God meant it for good. For those who had been sent out of the land, He would bring back into it, and He would plant them there. But those who remained in the land would only encounter hardship.

So when we are put into situations that seem as if God has turned His back on us, just trust. He always does good for us. Always. If we could always trust that fact then I believe our lives would be so much richer and more joyous!

Jeremiah 23:16-17,29

‘Thus says the LORD of hosts:

“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophecy to you.
They make you worthless;
They speak a vision of their own heart,
Not from the mouth of the LORD.”’ (Jeremiah 23:16)

This struck me because of the second line: ‘They make you worthless’. It is obvious from other parts of the chapter, and other parts of the Bible, that the false prophets and false teachers tried to ‘build up’ their ‘flock’. For example,

‘They continually say to those who despise Me,
‘The LORD has said, “You shall have peace”’;
And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say,
‘No evil shall come upon you.’’ (Jeremiah 23:17)

They always come with a message of ‘hope’ or ‘peace’ or ‘love’. Something that would make people feel good about themselves. However, since they prophesied lies, that ‘good thing’ that they taught was the very thing that eluded those they taught it to. Hence Jeremiah says ‘They make you worthless’. For the words were not from God, they were just made up by man. And man on his own is completely worthless. What good scheme or plan can we devise? What knowledge can we know without God almighty?

And so the very prophets who gave their listeners a sense of worth and hope in fact made them worthless and hopeless. Those who taught peace brought war and captivity upon the nation.

Let us all be careful of those who come and say things that make us feel good about ourselves. For in the end, we should not feel good about ourselves, but only we should feel grateful for the righteousness that God has bestowed upon us. Be careful of anyone whose words give you worth, for it is likely that their words in fact make you worthless.

Conversely, let us preach and teach the Word faithfully so as not to deceive anyone into self-worth or water down the Gospel to make it more ‘appealing’.

‘ “Is not my Word like a fire?” says the LORD,
“And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?”’ (Jeremiah 23:29)

The Gospel, and all of God’s Word, was never intended to appeal to the inherent worth of the individual and therefore draw them into the teachings that it has. No, it was meant to crush and burn any scrap of self-worth that the individual has and in that breaking, make him new.

Jeremiah 22:3-5,15,16

Jeremiah speaks to the king of Judah, proclaiming his imminent captivity and destruction.

‘Thus says the LORD: “Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong and do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. For if you indeed do this thing, then shall enter the gates of this house, riding on horses and in chariots, accompanied by servants and people, kings who sit on the throne of David. But if you will not hear these words, I swear by Myself,” says the LORD, “that this house shall become a desolation.”’ (Jeremiah 22:3-5)

God is clear cut. If you do this thing, then I will be with you, If you don’t, then you will be destroyed. That’s the way it is. That’s the way it is for all of us – we go to heaven or hell. We trust God or we don’t. We love God or we love the world. See again, leading from yesterday’s thoughts, that God wanted the king to do something. He wanted true repentance evidenced by a change of action.

Some of us are sitting there saying ‘but we can’t do it on our own! God doesn’t mind that we do things wrong, it’s all about a relationship with him!’. Well, yes that is quite true. We cannot do it all our own. And it is all about a relationship with Him (for instance David didn’t have the best track record when it came to being pure and holy). But let’s take a look at verse 15 and 16:

‘ “Shall you reign because you enclose yourself in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink,
And do justice and righteousness?
Then it was well with him.
He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
Then it was well.
Was not this knowing Me?” says the LORD.’ (Jeremiah 22:15-16)

This is how we know God – obeying Him! That’s why James can say that faith without works is dead. That is why the Psalmist can say ‘I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts’ (Psalm 119:100 KJV). Let us not fool ourselves into thinking that we can know God in some mystical way and keep living out our own flawed lives, and that we’ll be okay. Knowing God means obeying God. It means doing righteousness and justice and helping the poor and needy. This is true religion.