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.