Chapter 1 - 4
Introduction
I give you the introduction taken from my old KJV Study
Bible.
"The book of Jeremiah has preserved the message and writings of
the prophet who served as God's messenger throughout the last
four decades of the kingdom of Judah, 627 - 586 B.C. With the
decline of Assyrian power after 650 B.C., Josiah had the
opportunity to assert himself politically and religiously. By 605
B.C., the Babylonians advanced to Palestine and ultimately the
city with its temple was destroyed.
Jeremiah's warning that judgment was coming was favorably
received until 609 B.C., the date when Josiah was killed in
battle at Megiddo. After that many of the civil and religious
leaders openly opposed Jeremiah. As a messenger of God faithfully
warning his people, he was subjected to much suffering and
narrowly escaped death as the pressures mounted. His message was
primarily concerned with the national and international
involvement facing his people at that time. He assures them,
however, that they would be restored after 70 years of Babylonian
captivity. Likewise he predicts the ultimate restoration of
Israel (chap.31).
Since the book is not arranged in chronological order it is
difficult to outline....."
You are going to notice from the CONTEXT that MUCH of this
prophecy in the book of Jeremiah is for the LAST DAYS, THE END
TIMES, AND INTO THE AGE TO COME, WHEN THE MESSIAH SHALL REIGN ON
EARTH AS KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
This will not be a commentary on every single verse, but a
main overview of the prophetic events that concern us for the end
times up to the coming of the Messiah Christ to establish the
Kingdom of God on earth.
CHAPTER 1
Jeremiah is one of the VERY FEW in the entire Bible that was
called and chosen for his prophetic ministry before he was formed
in the womb, and was sanctified, set apart for the work of the
Lord before he came forth from the womb. He was ordained to be a
prophet to the nationS - plural, not just Judah and the Jews
(verse 5).
The House of Israel had already gone into captivity by the
Assyrian power from 745 to 718 B.C. Yet you will find Jeremiah
giving prophetic warnings both bad and good to those people who
had long disappeared from the land of Palestine. Indeed, the
context of much of Jeremiah's prophecy is for the end of this age
and into the coming new age of the Kingdom of God on earth under
Jesus Christ.
Jeremiah was not pleased with God calling him to be a
prophet to the nations. He made the excuse that he was too young -
a child! What age Jeremiah was is not given to us, but he may
well have been a young teenager when he was to warn the nations.
God did not accept the excuse Jeremiah gave and he was told that
the Lord would send him and that he was to speak what the Eternal
commanded him. He was to be NOT afraid of their faces: for God
would be with him and deliver him from death. The Lord then put
forth His hand and touched the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, "I have
put My words in thy mouth" (verses 6-9).
Once more in verse 10 God tells Jeremiah that he is set over
the nationS and over kingdomS, to root out and to pull down, and
to destroy, and to throw down, to BUILD, and to PLANT.
He is told God will hasten His word to perform it (verses
11-12).
Interesting how God looks at time. The book of Revelation
also tells us that Jesus will come quickly. The prophecies are in
the main yet to come to pass, so with the Lord a few thousand
years or more is less than nothing, I guess when you compare it
to eternity it is less than nothing. Also, when the prophecies DO
take place, it will be a relatively very short time to Christ's
return. The book of Revelation gives us 42 months, 1260 days, a
time, times, and half a time - about THREE and a HALF years!
It is from the NORTH that an evil will come upon the land of
Palestine. The families of the North kingdoms will come against
Jerusalem and the cities of Judah for their wickedness and sins
in departing from the true God (verses 15-16).
The original captivity of Judah by the Babylonian power was
not from the north but from the EAST - Babylon is EAST of
Jerusalem, not the north. The context of the first chapters of
Jeremiah is the time of the end, the punishment to come upon
Judah (the Jews) and the house of Israel (a good portion of the
Western world). The armies to come against Jerusalem and the Jews
will come from the northern kingdoms of the Europe Beast power
now rising in the nations of Europe. It is that Empire that will
rise up and eventually sweep down into Palestine, defeating the
"king of the South" (Egypt and her Arab confederacy) as told to
us in Daniel 11:40-45. That Europe Babylon Beast power, led by a
false prophet and his great religious church that is drunk with
the blood of the saints, shall surround Jerusalem, make it
desolate, and cause the Great Tribulation to come upon the
Western world. All this is covered in many in-depth studies on
this Website.
Jeremiah is to be STRONG, and to speak unto the nations and
to Judah. He will be like a iron pillar towards the whole land of
Judah and her people and her leaders (verses 17-18).
Jeremiah will have mighty opposition but God will be with
him.
CHAPTER 2
The word came to Jeremiah, God said go and tell Jerusalem:
He remembered them in the wilderness, Israel was holiness to the
Lord, and protected her (verse 19). They are the firstfruits of
His increase and those opposed to them would offend God (verses 1-3).
Now ALL the families or tribes of Israel are to HEAR! God
asks them what iniquity have they found in Him to make them
depart far from Him. He tells our nations of the Western world
that they have become vain and walk after vanity, things that
will have no lasting character of righteousness in them. They do
not ask where is the God that brought them up out of Egypt and
worked miracles for them. God brought them into a land of milk
and honey, to eat the bounty of it, but Israel, all 13 tribes,
defiled themselves and made the heritage of God an abomination
(verses 4-7).
So it has been in modern times. The peoples of Israel have
spread abroad, were given lands of milk and honey in the new
world of North America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and
part of North-west Europe. But in time we forgot our God and have
gone a whoring after that which is evil and sin. We have departed
greatly from the days of the founding fathers who established the
new world on the Word of God. We have thrown God and the Bible
out of the window of just about every institution we have. We
have become more and more secular, more pleasure seeking, more
entertainment seeking, more sports crazy, more of all that can
keep the mind off our God and His Word.
Then there is the religious leaders of our day. They have
not really sought where the Lord is. Those that should be
handling the law of God, have not known the true Lord God; the
pastors have transgressed against Him, the prophets serve Baal
and do not speak the true prophetic words of the Eternal, they
speak what the people want to hear, they work in religion for to
make money and a profit (verse 8).
That is the true state friends of our Western world
religion, it is a false Christianity. Jesus said that the days
would come when MANY false prophets would arise and DECEIVE ...
not the few, but the MANY! THOSE DAYS ARE HERE NOW!
God will plead with Israel, but in no uncertain way. Do
pagan nations change their gods to other gods that are not gods,
the Almighty asks. No, is the answer, BUT the people of Israel
HAVE CHANGED their glory in the true God for that which is
useless and will profit nothing. Israel has committed TWO EVILS:
1. They have FORSAKEN the true fountain of LIVING WATER, and then
2. gone and hewed out water containers that have cracks and holes in
them, that cannot hold pure true water, that comes only from the
pure true God (verses 11-13).
Why has Israel become a spoil asks God. Why is it that
Israel must become a spoil for others to capture and destroy? Why
is it that they must go again into Egypt and Assyria as captives.
They were there once before but now they must go again. It is
because of their WICKEDNESS and their BACKSLIDING - that way of
life shall indeed REPROVE them. It is finally an evil result they
will face because they have forsaken God, and no fear of the Holy
One is in them (verses 14-19).
From the old time God delivered Israel and they said they
would serve Him, but then went a whoring after other gods and
ways of sin. God planted our people as holy ones, with good and
right laws, but then our people have turned to be a degenerate
plant of a strange vine (verse 20-21).
Our iniquity is so deep that even strong soap will not wash
it away. God is amazed that we can still say to ourselves, "I am
not polluted, I have not gone after Baal" (verses 22-23).
We are deluded into thinking we are Christian nations, that
our religion is good and right and pleases God. We have got into
the mind-set that "let's do our own thing." But even though all
from priest to prince are following the easy natural way and even
evolution as truth, though they have turned their back towards
God, yet in their time of trouble, that will surely come on them,
they will then say, "Arise, and save us." God will for a while
answer, "But where are thy gods that you hast made yourself, let
them arise, and let's see if they can save you in your time of
trouble. Judah, you have as many gods as there are cities in your
land" (verses 225-28).
Indeed, most people do not seem to realize that in the land
of Judah, the Holy Land, the people, from prince to average Joe,
as SECULAR! They do not as a nation have STRONG DEPTH of RELIGION
per se, let alone the true religion of God.
The time has come says God that it is useless to plead with
Him. He has allowed your children to see and face evil, to be
CORRECTED IN VARIOUS WAYS, BUT THEY WILL NOT BE CORRECTED. Your
own ways have brought the sword on them, and your ways have
devoured the true prophets. Some people like the maid does not
forget her ornaments, or a bride her fancy attire, but MY PEOPLE
says the Lord, "Have for FORGOTTEN ME DAYS WITHOUT NUMBER!"
(verses 29-32).
We have as a people of the Western world, taught others that
are wicked our wicked ways. It is out in the open for all to see,
not in some secret dark corner. We of the Western world deport to
Eastern nations many of our evil and wicked ways of life. Yet in
it all, we say we are innocent, and surely God's anger will not
come upon us. But God will plead with us in no uncertain way,
because we say we have not sinned. We shall be ashamed when in
Egypt again, just as when the Assyrian power took Israel slaves,
and they then became ashamed of their sins.
It will all come back on us. Our days of captivity once more
to our lover enemies, will show us our evil and sins and
wickedness. We shall hang our heads in shame as we enter
captivity and disgrace (33-37).
CHAPTER 3
It was a law in ancient Israel that a wife being put away
and becoming another man's wife, the original husband could not
marry her again if she became available to marry once more (see
Deut.24:4). Yet God says we have played the harlot with many
lovers, and He will take us back if we turn again to serve Him.
He wants us to look and see clearly the ways we have whored
ourselves and our wickedness. Note verse 3. "Therefore the
showers have been withholden, and there has been no rain, and you
have a whore's forehead, you refused to be ashamed."
I can not tell you that this or that "natural disaster"
has come directly from God, certainly the Lord has ALLOWED it to
come, yet this verse would seem to indicate SOME natural
disasters were given or allowed to come upon us to CORRECT us, to
turn us back to REPENTANCE and to serve God in spirit and in
truth. But it has all had little deep effect on us in any
spiritual way.
The Lord asks Jeremiah if he remembered the backsliding of
Israel, going after other gods, leaving the truth of the Lord. If
he remembered how God asked Israel to "Turn unto me. But she
returned not." God put away the spiritual adulterous Israel and
gave a bill of divorcement (captivity by the Assyrian power) from
745 to 718 B.C. Yet with all this her SISTER JUDAH FEARED NOT!
But also went and played the harlot. She also defiled the land
with spiritual whoredoms and spiritual adultery with false gods.
So Judah has also not turned to the true God with her whole
heart. Israel could be looked upon as being justified more than
her sister - treacherous Judah (verses 6-11).
Israel did get a new heart for a while in our modern times
over the last 3 and 4 hundred years. Many of our nations were
founded upon the Word of God, we proclaimed to be "Christian."
Judah was brought forth, allowed to return to the Holy Land,
allowed to form a nation in 1948. But did she seek to find the
true God and His true holy word as contained in the whole Bible
from Genesis to Revelation. NO! Judah, the Jews of the land we
call Israel today is MAINLY SECULAR! It's leaders do not search
for the truth of God. It's religious population (of Jews) in the
main will NOT accept Jesus as the Messiah and Savior, and the New
Testament as the word of God. In the modern world of today,
looking at it from a certain point of view, it can be said that
Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
Now the prophecy moves to the time when Israel shall in the
future be in captivity once more to our lover enemies, when we
shall be scattered as slaves in the land of the NORTH above
Jerusalem, in many of the lands of Europe, under the heel of the
Beast of Europe, during the last three and one half years of this
age. God will call, He proclaims, "Return, you backsliding
Israel, I will cause my anger to stop and be merciful, I will not
keep my anger going forever. Just acknowledge your iniquity, that
you have transgressed against the Lord your God, and that you
have not obeyed my voice. Turn, O backsliding children, for I am
married to you; I will take you one of a city, two of a family,
and I will bring you to Zion. I will give you PASTORS according
to my heart, and which shall feed you with knowledge and
understanding" (verses 12-15).
WHEN WILL THIS BE? WHEN IS THIS PROPHECY FOR? The next
verses make it plain, the context clearly tells us. It was not
for the days of Jeremiah. It is for a punishment captivity in the
LAST DAYS of this age! God will send Israel into captivity and
bring them out of it once more, right at the very end time of
this age. They will once more be RESTORED and be INCREASED. They
shall no more be seeking any "ark of the covenant" - it will not
even come to mind. AT THAT TIME THEY SHALL CALL JERUSALEM THE
THRONE OF THE LORD; and all nations shall be gathered unto it, to
the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem: neither shall they go any
more after the imagination of their evil heart. In those days the
HOUSE OF JUDAH SHALL WALK WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, and they
shall come TOGETHER out of the land of the NORTH to the land that
I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers. But I said,
How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant
land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? And I said, You
shall call me, MY FATHER; and shall NOT TURN AWAY from Me. Surely
as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you
dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, says the Lord
(verses 16-20).
Read those verses again. Get the CONTEXT! It is clear, this
prophecy is for the very END TIME, when Jerusalem shall be the
throne and capital city of the earth. When Israel and Judah shall
be ONE again in the land of promise. It is a prophecy for the yet
FUTURE, JUST AS GIVEN IN EZEKIEL 37, where the two sticks become
ONE.
The prophecy moves back in verse 21 to 25 to Israel's
lament. To her shame and wickedness and sins. To God calling her
to TURN, to REPENT, to CONFESS her sins. TO REALIZE SHE HAS
SINNED AGAINST GOD EVEN FROM HER YOUTH.
It is our nature to FORGET our God when we are in a
time of plenty. It is our nature to then saturate ourselves with
pleasure and physical goods, and party with wine, women, and
song. Yet in times like that the Eternal God still has those who serve
Him and call out the truth of the Lord and shout out that we need
to TURN BACK and love and serve our God.
CHAPTER 4
If Israel (the Western world) will RETURN unto God, IF they
will put away their abominations out of His sight, then you will
not have to go into captivity and destruction. Then God speaks to
Jerusalem and Judah ... circumcise the foreskins of your heart;
lest the FURY of your God comes as like a fire, and burn that
none can put out, to dissolve your evil ways. God's warning is to
go to Jerusalem and Judah. It is to go to Zion, that an evil from
the NORTH, and a GREAT DESTRUCTION is to come! The lion is come
out from the trees, the great destroyer of the Gentiles is on his
way; he is coming to make the land DESOLATE, to lay waste the
cities, even without an inhabitant. The hearts of all people will
faint in that day, from the prince to the priest to the prophet
(verses 1-9).
Jeremiah sees how God has allowed mighty deception to come
upon Jerusalem, as they think "peace" will be a reality, but the
truth is only a SWORD is to come - like the wind it will come to
fan the people. The enemy from the NORTH shall be as the chariots
of a whirlwind: his war machines swifter than the eagles. A great
WOE is to come, a mighty SPOILING!
A cry is going forth to Jerusalem to wash her heart from
WICKEDNESS, that she may be saved from this time. From afar the
watching voices of God's true servants cry out against the cities
of Judah, because of her rebelliousness against the Lord. It is
because of your wickedness that this destruction is to come on
you.
The servant of the Lord is pained in heart, he cannot hold
his peace, he must shout out, for the sound of the war trumpet
comes, the alarm of war is sounded. Destruction upon destruction
is upon the whole land. Oh how long must this be the servant of
the Lord cries out, the sound of the war trumpet. It is because
the people are foolish, not knowing the true God; they are
children of no understanding: they are wise to do EVIL, and to do
GOOD they know not how (verses 10-17).
The destruction to come is mighty, upon the land and heaven,
no light will shine, and the mountains will tremble, and the
hills be moved. Men will hardly be there, the birds of heaven
will flee. The fruitful place will be as a wilderness, the cities
broken down at the PRESENCE OF THE LORD, and by HIS FIERCE ANGER!
(verses 23-26). The time setting is thus clear, it is the time of
the end, when God shall shake the earth.
The land will be indeed DESOLATE, yet not a full end of all
people (verse 27).
The purpose of God is to be fulfilled, the heavens will be
black, the Lord will not change His mind (verse 28).
The whole city of Jerusalem shall flee for the noise of the
army, they shall flee to the hills and woods as Jesus said they
needed to do, when they saw in the last days, the city of
Jerusalem surrounded by armies and the desolation was close at
hand (see Mat.24; Mark 13; Luke 21). The cities of Judah will be
forsaken. It will be no good to deck yourselves out in your fine
clothes and jewels. It will be in vain to try and win the peace
of your lover enemies, they will only despise you, and they will
indeed seek your life.
It will be a time of anguish and travail as a woman who
brings forth her child, the voice of the daughters of Zion will
cry out; they will spread their hands saying, "Woe is me now! For
my soul is wearied because of murderers" (verses 28-31).
All this prophecy is in context, a prophecy of the very end
time, the last three and one half years, or 42 months, or 1260
days of this present age. Judah (the Jews) of the Holy Land,
Israel (the peoples of North-Western Europe, the British
Commonwealth and the United States of America) will be under the
heel of the German-led Beast power of Europe, the Babylon Woman
of the book of Revelation. The Beast-man and the False-prophet of
Revelation shall lead and direct a mighty 7th resurrection of the
Holy Roman Empire in Europe. It will come against an Arab king of
the south in the last days. It will defeat the king of the South
and then march into the holy land. It will surround Jerusalem
with its armies and bring destruction on that city and all the
cities of Judah. It will then turn its might against the British
Commonwealth of nations and the United States of America. It will
crush the Western world. It will rule the Western world with its
false Christian religion. It will impose the "mark of the Beast"
on all its citizens. It will persecute and kill many true saints
of God. It will reign until the day of the Lord comes. It will
turn to conquer the Eastern world, the East will counter-attack.
The war that comes would obliterate every human life from off the
planet if not stopped by the coming of Christ.
Jesus will come, to fight against those who will be
destroying the earth. He will destroy the armies of the West and
the East in the battle of Armageddon, at Megiddo. Israel and Judah
will be restored, they will come with weeping and a repentant
heart from the lands of their enemies, to be united as ONE people
back in the land of promise.
So will begin the 1,000 years of the Kingdom of God on
earth, under the leadership of the Messiah, Jesus the Christ.
......................
To be continued
Jeremiah For Today!
Chapters 5 to 9
CHAPTER 5
We now enter a number of chapters that over and over again
DENOUNCE the sins of Israel and Judah. During this time of 2008
as I write, when the election for the President of the United
States of America is in full swing, and emotions and expectations
are high once more, just as they were for the time when Bush was
elected for the White House (he's now going down in history as
the least popular President in the popular rate polls since
Richard Nixon [when he had to re-sign from being President]); to
say that our leaders are FAR from God, far from turning our
nations back to the true ways of the Lord, far from taking away
some gross sins such as abortion and same sex marriage, would
seem to most people as FANATICAL in perspective. That perspective
is still mild when you listen to how the Eternal speaks to Israel
and Judah through the book of Jeremiah.
God asks us to run through the streets of Jerusalem (hence
Judah - the Jews in the Holy Land) and see if you can find a man
that executeth JUDGMENT, that SEEKS TRUTH; if you can God says He
will pardon that city and the Jewish people. God says many may
say He lives, but in practicality they talk with falsehood. The
Lord's eyes are on the real truth of the matter. He has at times
stricken them, consumed them, in many different ways, BUT they
still will NOT be CORRECTED, they have made their faces harder
than a rock; they REFUSE to RETURN to Him. They are FOOLISH, they
know NOT the WAY of the Lord, nor the judgment of God. Some of
their old famous men did know the way of God, but the moderns
have broken that knowledge, they are corrupt and simply do not
know the ways of the true God of Israel. They have transgressed
in many ways and their backsliding has increased. God cannot
pardon them. The children have also forsaken the path of truth
and righteousness, and have moved into sexual sins as never
before, like neighing horses they have fallen into adultery and
into the harlot's house.
God says, "Shall I not visit with punishment for these
things; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?"
The answer is obviously YES He will punish (verses 1-9).
The DESTROYER is to come! But not to make a full end. Her
battlements are to be taken away, there will be no defence in
that day.
Is this just said to Judah? No, it is said to BOTH the House
of Israel and the House of Judah, for BOTH have dealt
treacherously against the Lord (verses 10-11).
Oh, you Jews, and you people of North-Western Europe and the
British Commonwealth and the United States of America, you may
say NO EVIL will be upon us, neither shall you see the sword or
famine: but your prophets shall become as wind, the word of truth
is not in them, so indeed they shall be taken away as with the
wind (verses 12-13).
This prophecy is for BOTH Judah and Israel. Listen O house
of Israel, a mighty nation, an ancient nation, a nation you do
not understand, they are mighty as their past history has shown
only too well during the 20th century, with starting two world
wars. They shall eat your fruit, they shall impoverish your
fenced cities with the sword (verse 17). This is the nation of
Assyria (the German people today) and God will again use them to
punish Israel and Judah (see Isaiah 10).
There will not be a full end. When they ask as to why this
punishment, it is for your serving false gods and forsaking the
holy ways of the Lord. So in serving strange gods you will serve
strangers in the land that is not yours (verses 18-19).
All this is to be declared in the House of Israel and
published in Judah (verse 20). Ah, yes, as Israel had already
gone into captivity decades before Jeremiah walked the streets of
Jerusalem, this is a prophecy not so much as for his day, but for
the time of the end, when Israel and Judah will FALL TOGETHER
under the heel of the modern Babylon the Great.
All the tribes of Israel are FOOLISH people, they have no
understanding, which means their leaders are just as foolish and
just as much without understanding. They are a people with eyes
but they see not, with ears but they hear not. Will you not fear
the God who sets the bounds of the sea and the sand? You are a
people that have a REVOLTING AND REBELLIOUS HEART! You will not
fear the One who gives the rain. Your iniquities and sins will
hold the good things from you; among you are found WICKED men,
like those who set a trap. You have perverts and bi-sexual, you
have homosexuals, you have child molesters, and all who seek
after the sins of wrong sexuality (verses 21-26).
We as a people are full of DECEIT, whereby many become waxen
rich in material wealth. We are FAT, we pass-over the deeds of
the wicked; we judge not as we should the cause of the fatherless
and the needy. Yes we do some things for such people, but obviously
it is not enough as God sees it. We will spend trillions of dollars
in Space exploits while we do not enough for the needy and the widows
and the orphans. Shall God not visit with punishment such a people?
Yes, He says He will!
Your prophets O Israel and Judah, do give false prophecy. Your
priests bear rule out of their own mind, and you love to have it
so. They tell you what you want to hear; the truth of God they
and you do not want. So what can you do to stop the end result of
it all? Nothing! (verses 27-31).
It is only a matter of TIME, the WHEN of God's punishment is
up to Him, but the certainty of it is only a matter of time. If
our nations will not REPENT of our sins we WILL face all that is
written. God is no respecter of persons. Many nations in past
history have FALLEN because of their sins and wickedness. It
shall come upon us as it came upon them!
CHAPTER 6
A prophecy directly to Zion and Jerusalem, hence the people
of Judah.
The daughter of Zion is to prepare for WAR, the dark of the
night is come and she is to be destroyed. It is Jerusalem that is
to be visited for as a fountain cast out its water so she is
casting out her wickedness; there is violence; before the Lord
there is continual grief and wounds. God cries out for her to be
INSTRUCTED, lest He make her DESOLATE, a land not inhabited. But
the Eternal One knows their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot
harken to Him. The Word of the Lord is a reproach to them; they
have no delight in it. So the Lord is weary of holding back His
fury, He will pour it out. All, young and old, man and woman,
will feel His anger. It must be so for from the least of them to
the greatest of them all are given to covetousness; from the
prophet to the priest every one deals falsely. They have tried to
heal the bruise of the people by saying, "Peace, peace; when
there is no peace" (verses 1-14).
The people of Judah and Jerusalem, are NOT ashamed of the
ABOMINATIONS of sin that they practice; they do not even blush;
so they shall indeed fall with those that fall: at the time God
says it is to happen it will come to pass (verse 15).
I have said it many times already. The people of the land we
call Israel today are SECULAR!! They are not even trying to
follow the ways of the Lord. They have rejected Him and His word,
they will not accept Jesus the Christ as Messiah, as their Lord
and King.
Some, like this Website, try to tell them to TURN and to
serve the Almighty, to walk in the good and perfect way so true
peace and rest they can have, but they WILL NOT DO SO! God then
says, "Hear, O earth: behold I will bring EVIL upon this people,
even the very thing they think about (war and death) BECAUSE they
will NOT harken unto My words, nor to My LAW, but they REJECT it!
(verses 16-19).
There will come a people from the NORTH country, a GREAT
NATION from afar. They will have the weapons of war; they are
cruel; THEY WILL HAVE NO MERCY; THEY ROAR LIKE THE SEA, THEY WILL
COME AS MEN OF WAR TO DESTROY JERUSALEM, to lay bare the daughter
of Zion (verses 22-23).
God tells the daughters of His people: "Gird you with
sackcloth, and wallow yourself in ashes: make ready to mourn, as
for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the SPOILER SHALL
SUDDENLY COME UPON YOU" (verse 26).
Why will the spoiler come? Because, "They are all grievous
REVOLTERS, walking with SLANDER: they are as BRASS and IRON; they
are all CORRUPTERS ... the WICKED are not plucked out of them.
People round about shall call them REPROBATE SILVER, because the
Lord will REJECT them (28-30).
Many may be saying the Lord is too hard on the people of
Judah and Jerusalem. Many will look and say are they not just
trying to live life as others do in other nations. And maybe that
is so, but they are not just anyone in any nation, they are the
children of Judah, one of the tribes of Israel called and chosen
to be a special people in the world, a people to show all others
the true ways of the true God. They are to be a light of
righteousness in a dark world. But they have REJECTED the
teachings of the Lord; they go about doing their own thing; they
have like the rest of Israel, thrown God out of the window,
rejected His LAW. They just live according to what seems right to
them, but that way ends in death and destruction. It will come,
for what a man sows that shall he reap.
CHAPTER 7
Jeremiah is now commanded to stand in the gate of the Lord's
house and proclaim:
"Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah, that have some
resemblance of religion. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel,
AMEND YOUR WAYS AND YOUR DOINGS, and you will continue to live in
this place. Trust not in lying words, 'We are the temple of God,
the temple of God.' It is only by THOROUGHLY AMENDING your ways
and doings, executing JUDGMENT one with another and your
neighbor. If you oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and
the widow, if you shed not innocent blood, neither walk after
other gods to your hurt. Then I will cause you to dwell in this
place, in the land that I gave to your fathers. But you trust in
LYING words, that cannot profit you. Will you steal, murder, and
commit adultery, and swear falsely, and worship and serve gods
that are no gods, then come and say to me, we have the freedom to
do these things, we will do anything we like to do" (verses 1-
10).
The CONTEXT of this chapter is in the time of Jeremiah, what
was taking place and what God was going to do to Judah and
Jerusalem, but it is still a lesson for us today. As they say
history often repeats itself IF people will not learn the lesson
of history. So as we read this prophecy set in the time frame of
the days of Jeremiah we still need to take it to heart, for the
same overall lesson applies to the Jews today who live in the
temple of God, the holy land, we call the State of Israel.
From the New-Living Translation:
11 "Do you think this Temple, which honors my name, is a den of
thieves? I see all the evil going on there," says the LORD. 12 "Go
to the place at Shiloh where I once put the Tabernacle to honor
my name. See what I did there because of all the wickedness of my
people, the Israelites. 13 While you were doing these wicked
things," says the LORD, "I spoke to you about it repeatedly, but
you would not listen. I called out to you, but you refused to
answer. 14 So just as I destroyed Shiloh, I will now destroy
this Temple that was built to honor my name, this Temple that you
trust for help, this place that I gave to you and your ancestors.
15 And I will send you into exile, just as I did your relatives,
the people of Israel."
Yes, the House of Israel had already gone into captivity
when Jeremiah was sent to warn Judah and Jerusalem. God is no
respecter of persons. Sin eventually brings destruction and
death. All empires, large or small, have faced the result of
their sins and their rebellion. In the original captivity of
Israel and Judah we had about 100 years between each of their
captive punishments, but in the last days, at the time of the
end, all prophecy shows BOTH Israel and Judah will fall TOGETHER!
We see here that PHYSICAL anything, does not win favor with God
over heart-felt obedience and walking in His true ways and
commandments.
Judah's Persistent Idolatry
16 "Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray
for them, and don't beg me to help them, for I will not listen to
you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing throughout the towns
of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 No wonder I am so
angry! Watch how the children gather wood and the fathers build
sacrificial fires. See how the women knead dough and make cakes
to offer to the Queen of Heaven. And they give drink offerings to
their other idol gods! 19 Am I the one they are hurting?" asks
the LORD. "Most of all, they hurt themselves, to their own
shame." 20 So the Sovereign LORD says: "I will pour out my
terrible fury on this place. Its people, animals, trees, and
crops will be consumed by the unquenchable fire of my anger." 21
This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Away
with your burnt offerings and sacrifices! Eat them yourselves! 22
When I led your ancestors out of Egypt, it was not burnt
offerings and sacrifices I wanted from them. 23 This is what I
told them: 'Obey me, and I will be your God, and you will be my
people. Only do as I say, and all will be well!'"
Here is one of the key sections of Scripture that show
"animal sacrifices" were NOT originally a plan of God for Israel
to have as part of their worship towards the Lord Almighty. It
was ADDED because of their hard-heart and to give emphasis to SIN
and to that which is WRONG and CORRUPT and EVIL. The shedding of
animal blood was to give emphasis to the fact that SIN can only
be cleansed and washed away by the blood of the Messiah Savior.
24 "But my people would not listen to me. They kept on doing
whatever they wanted, following the stubborn desires of their
evil hearts. They went backward instead of forward. 25 From the
day your ancestors left Egypt until now, I have continued to send
my prophets - day in and day out. 26 But my people have not
listened to me or even tried to hear. They have been stubborn and
sinful - even worse than their ancestors. 27 Tell them all this,
but do not expect them to listen. Shout out your warnings, but do
not expect them to respond. 28 Say to them, 'This is the nation
whose people will not obey the LORD their God and who refuse to
be taught. Truth has vanished from among them; it is no longer
heard on their lips. 29 0 Jerusalem, shave your head in mourning,
and weep alone on the mountains. For the LORD has rejected and
forsaken this generation that has provoked His fury.'"
The Valley of Slaughter
30 "The people of Judah have sinned before my very eyes," says
the LORD. "They have set up their abominable idols right in my
own Temple, defiling it. 31 They have built the pagan shrines of
Topheth in the valley of the son of Hinnom, where they sacrifice
their little sons and daughters in the fire. I have never
commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to
command such a thing! 32 So beware, for the time is coming," says
the LORD, "when that place will no longer be called Topheth or
the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.
They will bury so many bodies in Topheth that there won't be room
for all the graves. The corpses of my people will be food for the
vultures and wild animals, and no one will be left to scare them
away. 34 I will put an end to the happy singing and laughter in
the streets of Jerusalem. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and
brides will no longer be heard in the towns of Judah. The land
will lie in complete desolation.
CHAPTER 8
1 "In that day," says the LORD, "the enemy will break open the
graves of the kings and officials of Judah, and the graves of the
priests, prophets, and common people. 2 They will dig out their
bones and spread them out on the ground before the sun, moon, and
stars - the gods my people have loved, served, and worshipped.
Their bones will not be gathered up again or buried but will be
scattered on the ground like dung. 3 And the people of this evil
nation who survive will wish to die rather than live where I will
send them. I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken!
When God decides to punish there is no messing around as we
say, it is punishment that will bring much sorrow, pain, and
finally full and deep repentance.
Deception by False Prophets
4 "Jeremiah, say to the people, 'This is what the LORD says: When
people fall down, don't they get up again? When they start down
the wrong road and discover their mistake, don't they turn back?'
5 Then why do these people keep going along their
self-destructive path, refusing to turn back, even though I have
warned them? 6 I listen to their conversations, and what do 1
hear? Is anyone sorry for sin? Does anyone say, 'What a terrible
thing I have done'? No! All are running down the path of sin as
swiftly as a horse rushing into battle! 7 The stork knows the
time of her migration, as do the turtledove, the swallow, and the
crane. They all return at the proper time each year. But not my
people! They do not know what the LORD requires of them.
Knowing the ways and commandments of the Lord, knowing His
mind, having the mind of Christ in you, is the key to having God
walk with you. It would seem that when Israel and/or Judah fall
into sin they just cannot turn out of it. It seems to be our
nature that makes it extremely difficult to turn from sin once we
are deeply caught in its clutches. It would seem only HARD
PUNISHMENT gets the Israelites out of deceptive sin and a stiff-
hard-heart, towards correctly serving the Almighty One.
8 "How can you say, 'We are wise because we have the law of the
LORD,' when your teachers have twisted it so badly? 9 These wise
teachers will be shamed by exile for their sin, for they have
rejected the word of the LORD. Are they so wise after all? 10 I
will give their wives and their farms to others. From the least
to the greatest, they trick others to get what does not belong to
them. Yes, even my prophets and priests are like that. 11 They
offer superficial treatments for my people's mortal wound. They
give assurances of peace when all is war. 12 Are they ashamed
when they do these disgusting things? No, not at all - they don't
even blush! Therefore, they will lie among the slaughtered. They
will be humbled when they are punished, says the LORD. 13 I will
take away their rich harvests of figs and grapes. Their fruit
trees will all die. All the good things I prepared for them will
soon be gone. I, the LORD, have spoken!"
The ones who are supposed to be wise, the ones who are to
teach the way and law of the Lord, have FALLEN SHORT, they have
MISSED THE MARK, they have REJECTED THE TRUTH, they are as Jesus
said the blind who lead the blind, and both shall fall into the
ditch. Death and destruction shall come on all the leaders and
those who follow them, in their wrong way of life.
14 "Then the people will say, 'Why should we wait here to die?
Come, let's go to the fortified cities to die there. For the LORD
our God has decreed our destruction and has given us a cup of
poison to drink because we sinned against the LORD. 15 We hoped
for peace, but no peace came. We hoped for a time of healing, but
found only terror. 16 The snorting of the enemies warhorses can
be heard all the way from the land of Dan in the north! The whole
land trembles at the approach of the terrible army, for it is
coming to devour the land and everything in it - cities and
people alike.'
17 "I will send these enemy troops among you like poisonous
snakes you cannot charm," says the LORD. "No matter what you do,
they will bite you, and you will die."
Such is death, such is knowing you are sent to die for your
sins and rebellious ways. God will eventually punish the children
that He loves, to correct them, to bring them back to serving Him
in spirit and in truth. It is one of the great written lessons of
God dealing with Israel and Judah through the centuries. SIN
finally brings DEATH!
Jeremiah Weeps for Sinful Judah
18 My grief is beyond healing; my heart is broken. 19 Listen to
the weeping of my people; it can be heard all across the land.
"Has the LORD abandoned Jerusalem*?" the people ask. "Is her King
no longer there?" "Oh, why have they angered me with their carved
idols and worthless gods?" asks the LORD. 20 "The harvest is
finished, and the summer is gone," the people cry, "yet we are
not saved!" 21 I weep for the hurt of my people. I am stunned and
silent, mute with grief. 22 Is there no medicine in Gilead? Is
there no physician there? Why is there no healing for the wounds
of my people?
Do YOU weep at times for the sins of Israel and Judah today?
We have many terrible and huge sins ... crimes, killings, drugs,
drunkenness, sexual immorality, adultery, abortion,
homosexuality, lesbianism, same sex marriage, broken homes, hate,
violence, child abuse, and on and on it goes. We have an outward
form of religion but it has no power to make our nations live
closer to the way of the Lord. We have doctors, medicine,
hospitals, but there is no real healing of our hearts and minds.
The overall of the way our nations live has angered the Holy One.
He will have to punish us, a very severe punishment, to bring us
back to Himself in humble repentance.
CHAPTER 9
1 Oh, that my eyes were a fountain of tears; I would weep
forever! I would sob day and night for all my people who have
been slaughtered. 2 Oh, that I could go away and forget them and
live in a shack in the desert, for they are all adulterous and
treacherous.
Judgment for Disobedience
3 "My people bend their tongues like bows to shoot lies. They
refuse to stand up for the truth. And they only go from bad to
worse! They care nothing for me," says the LORD.
4 "Beware of your neighbor! Beware of your brother! They all take
advantage of one another and spread their slanderous lies. 5 They
all fools and defraud each other; no one tells the truth. With
practiced tongues they tell lies; they wear themselves out with
all their sinning. 6 They pile lie upon lie and utterly refuse to
come to me," says the LORD.
7 Therefore, the LORD Almighty says, "See, I will melt them in a
crucible and test them like metal. What else can I do with them?
8 For their tongues aim lies like poisoned arrows. They promise
peace to their neighbors while planning to kill them. 9 Should I
not punish them for this?" asks the LORD. "Should I not avenge
myself against a nation such as this?"
10 "I will weep for the mountains and wail for the desert
pastures. For they are desolate and empty of life; the lowing of
cattle is heard no more; the birds and wild animals all have
fled.
11 "I will make Jerusalem into a heap of ruins," says the LORD.
"It will be a place haunted by jackals. The towns of Judah will
be ghost towns, with no one living in them."
12 Who is wise enough to understand all this? Who has been
instructed by the LORD and can explain it to others? Why has the
land been ruined so completely that no one even dares to travel
through it?
Are you friend wise enough to understand what the God of
Israel has here written and preserved? Can you see behind and
beyond the nice sounding politics of those who would desire to be
your leader of your Nation, your State, your Province, your Town
or City. Yes, they may be sincere, they may want to see good
things coming to pass, a better future, better prosperity, better
health, equal pay for equal work, a greener economy, peace and
not war. They may say all this, promise all this, yet they do NOT
have the heart or the mind to TURN our people BACK to serving the
Holy One of Israel in spirit and in truth. No matter who comes to
lead your nation, the downward slip into more sin and a moving
away from the Word of the Lord, is and will be, ever heading
down. Are you wise enough to see the picture as God sees it?
Why did it come on Judah in the days of Jeremiah? Why will
it come on us, at the time of the end? Here is why!
13 The LORD replies, "This has happened because my people have
abandoned the instructions I gave them; they have refused to obey
my law. 14 Instead, they have stubbornly followed their own
desires and worshipped the images of Baal, as their ancestors
taught them." 15 So now, listen to what the LORD Almighty, the God
of Israel, says: "Look! I will feed them with bitterness and give
them poison to drink. 16 I will scatter them around the world,
and they will be strangers in distant lands. Their enemies will
chase them with the sword until I have destroyed them
completely."
They were to be destroyed completely, the destruction was to
be full and complete, but not every single person was to be
destroyed.
Weeping in Jerusalem
17 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Think about what is
going on! Call for the mourners to come. 18 Quick! Begin your
weeping! Let the tears flow from your eyes. Hear the people of
Jerusalem (Heb. Zion) crying in despair, 'We are ruined! Disaster
has come upon us! We must leave our land, because our homes have
been torn down.'"
20 Listen, you women, to the words of the LORD; open your ears to
what he has to say. Teach your daughters to wail; teach one
another how to lament. 21 For death has crept in through our
windows and has entered our mansions. It has killed off the
flower of our youth: Children no longer play in the streets, and
young men no longer gather in the squares. 22 And the LORD says,
"Bodies will be scattered across the fields like dung, or like
bundles of grain after the harvest. No one will be left to bury
them."
23 This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man gloat in his
wisdom, or the mighty man in his might, or the rich man in his
riches. 24 Let them boast in this alone: that they truly know Me
and understand that I am the LORD who is just and righteous,
whose love is unfailing, and that I delight in these things. I,
the LORD, have spoken!"
Are you coming to KNOW the Lord more and more? Are you
growing in grace and knowledge? Are you understanding the mind
of God more each day as you study His word?
25 "A time is coming," says the LORD, when I will punish all
those who are circumcised in body but not in spirit 26 the
Egyptians, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, the people who live in
distant places, and yes, even the people of Judah. Like all these
pagan nations, the people of Israel also have uncircumcised
hearts."
Truly God is no respecter of persons. All nations will be
punished in time for their sins and for the way of living that
seems right in their eyes but which are the ways of death.
This is the lesson we need to get from the passages we have
read about the original destruction that was to come on Judah in
the days of Jeremiah. It is written for our instruction, it was
recorded (see Jeremiah 30:1-3) for the time will come once more
that Israel and Judah will need to be punished for their sins, to
again go into captivity, to once more be delivered from the lands
of their enemies, to be brought, with weeping and crying, with a
humble repentant heart, back to the land of promise, under the
mighty arm of the Messiah Christ Jesus, to be the delight of God
forever more.
...................
To be continued
Jeremiah For Today
Chapters 5 to 10
CHAPTER 10
God now addresses a prophecy to the HOUSE OF ISRAEL. They
had gone into captivity about 80 or so years before Jeremiah was
sent to Judah to warn them of their coming punishment. We need at
this point to stop and explain some phrases. A key to
understanding the prophets is to keep in mind the phrases "house
of Israel" and "house of Judah" or "Israel" "Judah" - they are
NOT meaning the SAME people though all of them are technically
Israelites, coming from Jacob who had his name changed to Israel.
In the time of the prophets Israel and Judah were SEPARATE
KINGDOMS - Israel or the House of Israel was just that Israel or
House of Israel, comprising 10 tribes. Judah or the House of
Judah was indeed Judah or the House of Judah, three tribes. All
scholars recognize the DIVIDING of the 13 tribes of Israel AFTER
the days of Solomon. In type a prophecy concerning the House of
Israel MAY apply also to Judah and a prophecy concerning the House
Judah in type MAY apply to the House of Israel. The lessons for the one
MAY apply also to the other. Sin is sin and often the SAME sins
are practiced and committed by the same brothers or sisters - the
same sins can run in the family, as we say, "Like father like
son" - "Like mother like daughter." The prophets NEVER confused
the TWO kingdoms. Certain prophets were sent to Israel in the
main and certain prophets sent to Judah in the main, with also
prophecies to the other and/or many Gentile nations also.
Whatever may be said about "phrases" BEFORE the dividing up
of the 13 tribes of Israel, the prophets NEVER confused who they
were speaking to - either Israel (the 10 tribes) or Judah (the 3
tribes) or other nations as God gave them utterance. Yet the
lessons for the one could well apply to the other.
Here we come to a somewhat famous section of Scripture - the
first verses of chapter 10. The section on the "Christmas tree"
as some would claim. Then others, probably more correctly, would
argue this section has no specific bearing on our modern
Christmas tree. The section deals with taking a tree and
fashioning it, painting and decorating it and making it into an
idol to bow down and worship gods before it.
That being said, the fact of history is that some "trees"
were worshipped or had special mystical powers to some pagan
nations. Other nations would worship UNDER certain trees because
of some magical power those peoples gave them. The fact is also
that trees were often by some nations cut down and placed here or
there at certain times of the year, again for magical purposes in
mind.
Then we should ask the question: "What has a decorated tree
in a home or church building got to do with the birth of Christ
anyway!?" For that matter what has a jolly fat fellow with a long
white beard and a ho, ho, ho, got to do with Jesus' birth? And
again, what has a bunny and eggs got to do with the death and
resurrection of Christ? What has dressing up in weird costumes of
demons and devils and witches and dead men's bones at Halloween
(many Christians and even "churches" practice this custom) got to
do with Christianity per se. Where did the phrase "trick or
treat" come from?
A little time on the Internet will surely tell you that all
of these "customs" have nothing to do with true Christianity, but
come from pagan nations in various worship rites of their various
false gods. I have given you articles on this Website that cover
the origin of many of these customs.
So it is unimportant arguing over these first verses of
Jeremiah chapter ten, as to whether they are specifically talking
about our modern Christmas tree or the wooden upright idols
nations have had for thousands of years. The truth of the matter
is that either way or BOTH ways, our nations are full of PAGAN
RITES - full of false customs, traditions of devils and demons,
and that MOST of so-called Christian religion has ALSO EMBRACED
these false HEATHEN idols in one form or another.
GOD SAYS THEY ARE VAIN, THEY CANNOT SPEAK, THEY CANNOT WALK,
THEY ARE USELESS. YOU NEED NOT BE AFRAID OF THEM, THEY CANNOT
BRING EVIL OR BRING GOOD; THEY ARE GOOD FOR NOTHING!!!
And the sad truth also is that such customs OFTEN REPLACE
the TRUTHS of God's true religion.
Modern BABYLON THE GREAT (as we see in the book of
Revelation) has DECEIVED AND BLINDED the minds of tens of
millions around the world, nay, now it is well over a BILLION,
with her false customs and doctrines of demons as the apostle
Paul told Timothy would come in the last days.
Not only are over a BILLION people who call themselves by
the name of "Christian" deceived but many of these false customs
branded on the Western world by Babylon the Great, have been accepted
by tens of millions in the EASTERN world have also now adopted them,
even if they do not specifically call themselves "Christian."
BUT it is the LORD GOD, who made the heavens and the earth,
who formed the land and the sea, who made the creatures in the
sea, on the land, and that fly in the air. It was the wisdom and
care and power of God that made all that is made throughout the
universe. It is GOD, the true Holy One, that makes the thunder,
the lightning, the hail, the rain, the snow, the wind, the stars,
and all that there it. The false gods have made none of this.
They are truly useless and can do no good or evil, they are made
only by the hand of man out of the physical material that the
Eternal made and brought into being.
All people who make and worship these idols of their hands
are STUPID and BRUTISH in their knowledge, the formed image is
FALSEHOOD AND THEIR IS NO LIFE IN THEM. THEY ARE VAIN AND THE
WORK OF ERROR. THEY WILL ONE DAY PERISH. BUT HE WHO CALLED JACOB,
ESTABLISHED ISRAEL FOR A GREAT PURPOSE TO THE WORLD, HE IS THE
TRUE GOD, HE IS THE ONE TO BE CALLED THE LORD OF HOSTS!! (verses
1-16).
Now God turns His attention once more to proclaiming that
Judah and Jerusalem will be CAST AWAY - DEPORTED - PUNISHED IN
CAPTIVITY! One of the reasons for this punishment is that the
"pastors" have become BRUTISH; THEY HAVE NOT REALLY SOUGHT THE
LORD. It is as Jesus said it would be, that MANY FALSE PROPHETS
(pastors and prophets [there is a glut of prophetic books on the
market today]) would come in the last days and DECEIVE MANY, not
the few, BUT THE **MANY**!!
Because of the many false pastors and because the people
love to have it so, love to be told what they want to hear, so
they can lead their Christian life according to their own will
and desires, their own customs and traditions (see Mark 7 and
Jesus' words on customs and traditions of men) ... because of
this, God says His people will be CAST OUT - SCATTERED ABROAD!
Again we are told the NOISE OF THE GREAT BRUTE to come and
destroy is from the NORTH. This mighty force will come sweeping
down and make all the cities of Judah DESOLATE (verses 17-22).
Last night (August 28 - 2008) I was watching the reported
concern that Iran is close to having nuclear weapons! How
Iran has already sent a space ship into outer-space. I was
watching the reported concern that the Jews in the Holy Land ARE
HAVING OVER THIS PROSPECT of Iran with the nuclear bomb! I was
watching the technology - space age technology that the people of
the land we call Israel, HAVE! It is MIGHTY indeed. I was
watching how the Jews over there in the Holy Land will need to
make sure they have a defence system that can answer to the war
machine Iran is now close to having.
It is somewhat hard to figure that a defence and counter-
attack system that the Jews have could be OBLITERATED - could be
DESTROYED - could become useless, and that such a nation could be
DESTROYED in any easy manner. Yet the prophecies of your Bible
tell us that when the time is right, when God decides that enough
is enough, that sins and wickedness IN HIS PEOPLE have come to
the full, an ENEMY, OUR LOVERS, IN A EUROPEAN CONFEDERATE EMPIRE,
WILL SWEEP DOWN FROM THE NORTH, NOT ONLY TO DESTROY THE KING OF
THE SOUTH, THE ARAB CONFEDERATE, BUT WILL MARCH INTO PALESTINE
AND THE CITY OF JERUSALEM, TO LAY IT DESOLATE, AND TO EMPTY ALL
THE CITIES OF JUDAH IN THE HOLY LAND.
AND FURTHER MORE, THIS BRUTE POWER FROM THE NORTH WILL THEN
TURN ITS ATTENTION TO ATTACKING AND DESTROYING THE BRITISH
COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. IT WILL
SUCCEED! THIS BABYLON THE GREAT, THIS LAST RESURRECTION OF THE
HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, WILL THEN RULE THE WESTERN WORLD!
AS IMPOSSIBLE AS ALL THIS MAY SEEM TO US TODAY, WHEN THE
TIME IS RIGHT, WHEN THE LORD ALMIGHTY SAYS IT MUST BE SO, THEN HE
WILL BRING IT TO PASS, JUST AS HE HAS FORETOLD BY HIS PROPHETS!
But back now to the foolishness of man and the idols he
makes for himself. Jeremiah says, "O Lord, I know that the way of
man is not in himself, it is not in man that walketh to DIRECT
his steps" (verse 23).
Man, left to himself, without any guide book, is a LOST
SOUL! The world that has more and more in the last 100 years,
thrown God and the Bible out the window, told God to "get lost" -
"I'll do it my way" - will find that doing it on their own will
only bring death and destruction. In the long run of it all, man
without God is LOST!
Jeremiah says, "O LORD, CORRECT me, but with JUDGMENT, not
in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing" (verse 24).
Do YOU cry out those words? Do you WANT to be CORRECTED? Do
you desire God to GUIDE you, to LEAD you, to WALK with you, and
in LOVE and kindness, to CORRECT you where you are wrong? Do you
hunger and thirst after righteousness? Do you SEARCH the
Scriptures daily to prove what is the right and acceptable way of
the Lord? I hope you do, but I can tell you the VAST MAJORITY,
even those who call themselves by the name "Christian" DO NOT
utter the words of Jeremiah as in verse 24. Their mouth is far
from speaking those words, and their mind-set is even FURTHER way
from the heart of those words.
Jeremiah finishes this section by asking God to avenge Jacob
- Israel, for the destruction the enemy has brought on Judah,
Jerusalem, and as we have seen in other prophecies, indeed ALL
the tribes or nations of Israel (verse 25).
CHAPTER 11
Jeremiah is again to speak unto the people of Judah and
Jerusalem.
Have you noticed? Have you seen throughout the prophets so
far? God does not even mention the "good intentions" of Israel or
Judah's leaders. As I write in 2008 we are into an election for a
new President of the United States. The candidates have, as far
as the ears of the world is concerned, given some pretty up-beat,
and dynamic speeches, they even throw the name of "God" into the
talk at times. Oh, they say they will do this and do that and
promise this and promise that, and how the United States will
move forward into the once again "good times" if they and their
party are elected to sit in the White House. And it is possible
that "some" good times may come again, for the USA and other
Western nations. But the Holy One of Israel does NOT EVEN TAKE
NOTE OR SAY ANYTHING ABOUT those positive promises from the
leaders of Israelite nations. When you stop and think about it
there is a VERY GOOD REASON God takes no note of these "positive
things" and "positive promises" from leaders of our nations. THE
SIN AND CORRUPTION AND WICKEDNESS is FAR HEAVIER in our lands,
than a few dynamic speeches by political leaders.
THE SINS OF OUR LANDS HAVE NOT BEEN TURNED BACK. AS A
PEOPLES WE HAVE TOLD GOD TO GET LOST!!! We really do not, when
it comes down to the nitty-gritty, when the rubber meets the
road, want to LIVE by EVERY WORD OF GOD!
So, as it is for Judah, so it will be for ALL Israel. If we
do not want to live by the COVENANT of God, which is LIVE by the
WORDS of the Eternal, and be His people, and so inherit the land
of milk and honey.
He tells Jeremiah to go and proclaim it in the cities of
Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. And so it is today, the
words of the Lord are going forth via the open Internet and
Websites of the true servants of the Almighty.
God told our fathers to serve and obey Him, but they would
not. They wanted to do their own thing. They wanted to walk and
live according to their own heart and mind, what they thought was
right and good. So it is today, and so the CURSE of the covenant
will come upon us as it was to come upon Judah in Jeremiah's day.
God says BOTH the house of Judah and the house of Israel
have BROKEN the COVENANT (verses 1-10).
EVIL will then come! What a man sows that shall he reap. It
is really just that simple. The people of Judah, the Jews, are
sowing sin and wickedness, and so they will reap evil. It will
make no difference if Judah and the people of Jerusalem seek
after false gods, the gods of war and war machines. The day is
coming when none of those things will save them. The Holy One
says the gods of Judah are as many as their cities. The day so
comes that God says to His servants like Jeremiah, do NOT pray
for this people, for God will not hear such prayers!
The Lord God HAS PROMISED that evil WILL COME on the house
of Israel and the House of Judah (verses 11-17).
The people of the land would not hear Jeremiah. They even
tried to get rid of him. So today, the Jews will not listen, the
people of Israel will not listen. They have moved so far from the
Lord of hosts and His truth contained in His word, that the true
prophet of God is thought of as a crack-pot, a fanatic, a crazy-
man. If such a man was to speak before the Congress of the United
States and was to SHOW MY PEOPLE THEIR SINS, he would be declared
a false prophet. The false prophets today (as in Jeremiah's day)
would claim to be the true prophets of the Lord and the true
prophets would be declared to be the false prophets. Surely the
people and the leaders of all Israel have it up-side-down and in-
side-out. They call black, white, and white they call black.
For this, God says they shall die by the sword, their sons
and daughters shall die of famine; there is no way out! It is
just a matter of time, the time when God says they have sinned
enough, punishment and destruction must now come (verses 18-23).
CHAPTER 12
Jeremiah pleads to know how long the land will mourn. God
does not here directly answer that question. The Lord just says
He has forsaken it and given His dearly beloved to the enemy. His
beloved is like a speckled bird with all the birds around against
it. It is the fault of the pastors, whom God says have trodden
down His beloved and made it desolate. Yes, the spoilers are come
against it; it is the Lord's doing and no flesh will have peace.
They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns.
Then, the enemies shall not escape, the ones who have caused
Israel and Judah to inherit sorrow. God will cause His people,
even Judah, to come OUT of the hand of the enemy. Then God's
people will come back to the Holy Land, and if the other nations
will diligently learn the ways that His people now live, and to
swear by the holy name of Israel's God, as the enemy taught God's
people to swear by Baal, then they, those nations, will be built
into what is right and good; but if they (those enemy nations)
will NOT obey the Lord then they shall come under destruction
(verses 1-17).
These last few verses are some of the verses in the prophets
that tell you the beginning of the 1,000 year reign of Christ on
earth may not go smooth for some nations who refuse to obey the
commandments of God. We also see this in Zechariah 14 concerning
those nations that will not keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
CHAPTER 13
Jeremiah is told to get a linen girdle, soak it in water and
wear it. Then he is to put it in a hole in the rocks at
Euphrates. After many days he went back and found the girdle
marred and worthless. So we are told, that in like manner God
will mar the pride of Judah and Jerusalem. The Eternal says the
evil people, who walk after their own imagination of heart, will
be as the girdle, good for nothing. As a wet girdle will cleave
to the lions of a man, so God caused the whole house of Israel
and the whole house of Judah to cleave to Him. They were to be a
light for God, praise for God, a glory to God, in the eyes of
other nations (see Deut.4), but they would not hear and obey
(verses 1-11).
We are given the example of the bottles filled with wine.
All the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem will be drunk as with
wine. They will not know right from wrong, and so the Lord will
have to punish them, there will be no pity, no mercy, only
destruction (verses 12-14).
Jeremiah calls out for people to put away PRIDE and SIN!
They are to give God glory otherwise there will be darkness,
death and even gross darkness. If they will not hear then
Jeremiah will weep, because God's flock will be carried away as
captives. He cries out to the king and queen to humble
themselves. If humility does not come then Judah will be carried
away captive. He tells them to lift up their eyes and see what is
happening in the NORTH. If they say, "Why is this going to
happen?" The answer is simple ... for the greatness of thine
iniquity. If the Ethiopian can change the color of his skin, if
the leopard can change its spots then you also can do good that
are accustomed to do evil. It just will not be possible! So, they
will be scattered as stubble blown away by the wind. It is going
to be Judah's pay-day, for they have forgotten the Lord their
God, and trusted in utter falsehoods. So they will be as a shamed
women, skirts upon the face and nakedness appearing.
It is not pleasant the way God puts it to Judah. Listen O
Jews of Jerusalem, your Holy One says, "I have seen thine
adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, and
thine abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O
Jerusalem! Will you be clean? When, after what?" (verses 15-27).
The answer is that Judah and Jerusalem shall be clean, but
it will take the Great Tribulation to come on the earth, to come
on Jacob Israel, and Judah Jerusalem. All that is written in the
prophets will need come to pass before Judah and Jerusalem are
spiritually clean and acceptable in God's sight.
CHAPTER 14
Judah is beyond deliverance
Jeremiah gives us the lament of mourning because of the
punishment of Judah. He calls out that God will rescue them. The
answer given is: "They have loved to wander from Me. I will for
now not accept them. I will visit upon them their iniquities. You
will not pray for this people. When they fast I will not hear
their cry; I will consume them by the sword, by famine, by the
pestilence" (verses 1-12).
Jeremiah tells God that their prophets say to them that evil
will not come, only peace will come. God answers that "Their
prophets prophesy lies in My name. I sent them not! I did not
give them a commandment not did I speak to them. They prophesy a
false vision and the deceit of the human heart. So, to the
prophets that come in My name, when I sent them not, that say
sword and famine will not come; it is by sword and famine that I
will consume them. And the people to whom they prophesy shall be
cast into the streets of Jerusalem, and there will be none to
bury the dead wives, sons, daughters: their wickedness shall come
upon them. You shall cry, tears will run down your face, for in
the field will be they who are slain with the sword and in the
city those who are sick and dead with the famine" (verses 13-18).
Judah is then personified as a person asking God to forgive,
to heal, to do good; as a person confessing their wickedness and
their sins. To remember the covenant made with their forefathers.
As a person acknowledging that it is God only who rules the
elements of nature(verses 19-22).
CHAPTER 15
What a shocking reply God gives. Though Moses and Samuel
stood before Him, His mind cannot be changed. If they should ask
how it will be, the answer is: "Such as are for death, to death;
and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for
the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to the
captivity. Appointed over them is four things: the sword to slay,
and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts
of the earth, to devour and destroy. and I will cause them to be
removed into the kingdoms of the earth. Jerusalem will indeed
mourn. You have FORSAKEN ME! You have gone BACKWARDS, therefore I
will stretch out My hand and DESTROY you, I am WEARY with your
false repenting. I will fan you with the fan. Swift will come
your punishment ... even the residue of them will I deliver to
the sword before their enemies" (verses 1-9).
Jeremiah will have protection
God promises Jeremiah that the enemy will entreat him well
in the time of evil to come. He is to pass into a land that he
knows not. Jeremiah tells God he did His will, he spoke His
words, the Lord's word was a rejoicing to him. He tells God he
did not stand in the assembly of the mockers, he was willing to
stand alone and be counted as faithful to the crying out of God's
indignation. But now Jeremiah is doubtful if the Lord will help
and heal the pain he feels (verses 15-18).
God answers: "And I will make thee unto the people a fenced
brazen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall
not prevail against thee: for I an with thee to save and to
deliver thee. And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the
wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible"
(verses 20-21).
What a section of Scripture! Jeremiah is to lay it all out,
tell it as it is! Judah will feel God's indignation, so will
Jeremiah be there when it all begins to happen, for the
destruction of Judah was like that of Israel, it took place over
a number of years. For Judah it would take from 604 B.C. to 586
B.C. when the city of Jerusalem finally fell in death and
destruction. But Jeremiah was promised to have protection through
it all, and he was given assurance that God was with him as he
continued to preach the truth and warning from the Most Holy One.
The truth of what is yet to come at the end of this age upon
Judah and Israel is being proclaimed near and far. The warning is
going out. The SINS of Israel and Judah are being made clear. The
chances of them as nations REPENTING is just about zero. So
the anger of the Lord and the punishment He has promised to visit
them WILL COME TO PASS! In the last 42 months of this age, there
will be TWO WITNESSES in Jerusalem (Revelation 11) - they will
have protection from God, none will be able to hurt them until
the appointed time. They will BOLDLY PROCLAIM the truths of the
Eternal One. Many will hear and many will REPENT! Their work will
not be in vain.
That is for then, NOW is for the present. YOU can at this
time choose to REPENT OF SIN, humble yourself, confess your sins,
accept Jesus as your PERSONAL Savior, and be a part of God's work
and a child in His family now, today! Then in the age to come you
can have a part in bringing the entire earth and the nations upon
it under the rulership of the Kingdom of God.
.....................
To be continued
Jeremiah For Today
Chapters 16 to 23
Chapters 16 to 22 have to do with the life of Jeremiah as it
went during the days of his warning to Judah. Chapter 23 is to do
with the time of the end and the coming of the Messiah to
establish the Kingdom of God on earth.
Certainly MANY lessons can be learned from these chapters.
You see how many of them you can find and apply to your life and
the life of your nation.
From the New-Living Translation:
CHAPTER 16
Jeremiah Forbidden to Marry
The LORD gave me another message. 16 He said, "Do not marry or
have children in this place. 3 For this is what the LORD says
about the children born here in this city and about their mothers
and fathers: 4 They will die from terrible diseases. No one will
mourn for them or bury them, and they will lie scattered on the
ground like dung. They will die from war and famine, and their
bodies will be food for the vultures and wild animals.
Judah's Coming Punishment
5 "Do not go to their funerals to mourn and show sympathy for
them," says the LORD, "for I have removed my protection and peace
from them. I have taken away my unfailing love and my mercy. 6
Both the great and the lowly will die in this land. No one will
bury them or mourn for them. Their friends will not cut
themselves or shave their heads in sadness. 7 No one will offer a
meal to comfort those who mourn for the dead - not even for the
death of a mother or a father. No one will send a cup of wine to
console them.
8 "And do not go to their feasts and parties. Do not eat and
drink with them at all. 9 For the LORD Almighty, the God of
Israel, says: In your own lifetime, before your very eyes, I will
put an end to the happy singing and laughter in this land. The
joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard.
10 "When you tell the people all these things, they will ask,
'Why has the LORD decreed such terrible things against us? What
have we done to deserve such treatment? What is our sin against
the LORD our God?' 11 Tell them that this is the LORD's reply: It
is because your ancestors were unfaithful to me. They worshipped
other gods and served them. They abandoned me. They did not keep
my law. 12 And you are even worse than your ancestors! You
stubbornly follow your own evil desires and refuse to listen to
me. 13 So I will throw you out of this land and send you into a
foreign land where you and your ancestors have never been. There
you can worship idols all you like - and I will grant you no
favors!
Are our lands today stubbornly following the traditions and
ways that we have devised in our hearts? Can you find any
political leader today who is not only living by every word of
God but is actively turning back the people to following the way
of the Lord as revealed in His Bible? NO THERE ARE NO SUCH
LEADERS TODAY!!
Hope despite the Disaster
14 "But the time is coming." says the LORD, "when people who are
taking an oath will no longer say, 'As surely as the LORD lives,
who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.' 15
Instead, they will say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought
the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the
north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.'
For I will bring them back to this land that I gave their
ancestors."
A fulfilment in the days of Jeremiah when Judah was allowed
back in the holy land after 70 years captivity in Babylon, BUT
there WILL YET BE ANOTHER FULFILMENT AT THE END OF THIS AGE, AS
WE HAVE SEEN IN THE WORDS OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH, AS WELL AS IN
THE PROPHECIES OF JEREMIAH.
16 "But now I am sending for many fishermen who will catch them,"
says the LORD. "I am sending for hunters who will search for them
in the forests and caves. 17 I am watching them closely, and I
see every sin. They cannot hope to hide from me. "8 I will punish
them doubly for all their sins, because they have defiled my land
with lifeless images of their detestable gods and filled my
inheritance with their evil deeds."
Judah, the Jews today, are living according to their own
heart and mind, they are not in the main, a religious people,
they are SECULAR, and hence all that is written here applies to
them in this very age of the 21st century.
Jeremiah's Prayer of Confidence
19 LORD, you are my strength and fortress, my refuge in the day
of trouble! Nations from around the world will come to you and
say, "Our ancestors were foolish, for they worshipped worthless
idols. 20 Can people make their own god? The gods they make are
not real gods at all!"
21 "So now I will show them my power and might," says the LORD.
"At last they will know that I am the LORD."
A prophecy to be yet again, with even more power and
splendour, to come to pass in the last days of this age.
CHAPTER 17
Judah's Sin and Punishment
1 The LORD says, "My people act as though their evil ways are
laws to be obeyed, inscribed with a diamond point on their stony
hearts, or with an iron chisel on the comers of their altars. 2
Even their children go to worship at their sacred altars and
Asherah poles, beneath every green tree and on every high hill.
Here we see the worship UNDER "sacred" trees, the
imagination of the heart. We still today use "a tree" at the
secular or "Christian" (in quotes you'll notice) time we call
Christmas.
3 So I will give all your wealth and treasures - together with
your pagan shrines - as plunder to your enemies, for sin runs
rampant in your land. 4 The wonderful inheritance I have reserved
for you will slip out of your hands, and I will send you away as
captives to a foreign land. For you have kindled my anger into a
roaring fire that will burn forever."
"Forever" can mean "until the conditions apply" - we have
seen God's anger towards them will not be eternal in length of
time.
Wisdom from the LORD
5 This is what the LORD says: "Cursed are those who put their
trust in mere humans and turn their hearts away from the LORD. 6
They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the
future. They will live in the barren wilderness, on the salty
flats where no one lives.
7 "But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the
LORD their hope and confidence. 8 They are like trees planted
along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months
of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they go right on
producing delicious fruit.
Read Psalm 1. And do not put your faith and trust in a mere
human, test them with the word of God, see Isaiah 8:20.
9 "The human heart is most deceitful and desperately wicked. Who
really knows how bad it is?
A mistranslation here. Note your KJV version, note the
"italic" word. There is no word "is" in the Hebrew. The truth of
the matter is the heart of man is NOT ALWAYS deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked. Depending on the environment and
up-bringing of a person, SOME unconverted hearts CAN BE (in the
terms of morality and standards of the world) quite GOOD,
PLEASANT, AND NICE. There are many people out there, who profess
NO RELIGION, who do not think about God, do not read His word,
yet can be in the way they live, BETTER, NICER TO BE AROUND, MORE
CHARITABLE, KINDER, LOVING, MORE HUMBLE, than some who call
themselves "Christian" to the SHAME of those who consider
themselves a Christian and regular "church attender."
Certainly the heart of mankind CAN BE DESPERATELY WICKED.
The truth is the heart of man is not born or automatically
desperately wicked. See Deut.1:39. There is a time in a child's
life where God says they do not know good or evil, they are
innocent. Samuel is a fine example. He was an innocent child and
was put in the service of the Temple. With good teaching, a good
environment, Samuel NEVER had a heart that was deceitful or
desperately wicked.
This verse in Jeremiah, verse 9, has been OFTEN MISUSED and
ABUSED by religious preachers.
10 "But I know! I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret
motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what
their actions deserve."
Yes, God looks to see if THAT particular heart is "deceitful
and desperately wicked."
Jeremiah's Trust in the LORD
11 Like a bird that hatches eggs she has not laid, so are those
who get their wealth by unjust means. Sooner or later they will
lose their riches and, at the end of their lives, will become
poor old fools.
12 But we worship at your throne - eternal, high, and glorious!
13 0 LORD, the hope of Israel, all who turn away from you will be
disgraced and shamed. They will be buried in a dry and dusty
grave, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living
water.
14 0 LORD, you alone can heal me; you alone can save. My praises
are for you alone! 15 People scoff at me and say, "What is this
'message from the LORD' you keep talking about? Why don't your
predictions come true?"
It is no different today. Many will say that what I'm
telling you the prophets have foreseen and what WILL come to
pass, in Europe, the West, and the East, leading to the Great
Tribulation and the last 42 months of this age are predictions
that have been told to you for 60 or more years. People today
will say, "What is this message from God you keep saying? Why do
they not come to pass?"
16 LORD, I have not abandoned my job as a shepherd for your
people. I have not urged you to send disaster. It is your message
I have given them, not my own. 17 LORD, do not desert me now! You
alone are my hope in the day of disaster. 18 Bring shame and
terror on all who persecute me, but give me peace. Yes, bring
double destruction upon them!
So it will be in the end-time of this age. The things you
read about on this Website WILL COME TO PASS, and DESTRUCTION
will be DOUBLED. The Lord will not be PATIENT with our nations
forever, in HIS TIME, all will come to be as written.
Observing the Sabbath
19 Then the LORD said to me, "Go and stand in the gates of
Jerusalem, first at the gate where the king goes out, and then at
each of the other gates. 20 Say to all the people, 'Listen to
this message from the LORD, you kings of Judah and all you people
of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem. 21 This is what the
LORD says: Listen to my warning and live! Stop carrying on your
trade at Jerusalem's gates on the Sabbath day. 22 Do not do your
work on the Sabbath, but make it a holy day. I gave this command
to your ancestors, 23 but they did not listen or obey. They
stubbornly refused to pay attention and would not respond to
discipline.
24 "But if you obey me," says the LORD, "and do not carry on your
trade or work on the Sabbath day, and if you keep it holy, 25
then this nation will continue forever. There will always be a
descendant of David sitting on the throne here in Jerusalem.
Kings and their officials will always ride among the people of
Judah in chariots and on horses, and this city will remain
forever. 26 And from all around Jerusalem, from the towns of
Judah and Benjamin, from the western foothills and the hill
country and the Negev, the people will come with their burnt
offerings and sacrifices. They will bring their grain offerings,
incense, and thanksgiving offerings to the LORD's Temple.
27 But if you do not listen to me and refuse to keep the Sabbath
holy, and if on the Sabbath day you bring loads of merchandise
through the gates of Jerusalem just as on other days, then I will
set fire to these gates. The fire will spread to the palaces, and
no one will be able to put out the roaring flames.'"
Of all the SINS God could have given emphasis to, sins that
nearly all people would name FIRST on the list, the Lord chose
the sin of SABBATH BREAKING!!
DO YOU THINK THE SABBATH COMMAND IS THE LEAST OF
COMMANDMENTS? Most would say it is. I am reminded of the verses
that say, "My ways are not your ways, My thought are not your
thoughts" says the Almighty. As unimportant as the Sabbath
commandment is to most, it is not so to the Lord!! For Judah in
the days of Jeremiah, the Sabbath commandment meant LIFE or
DEATH! Why you may ask?
If as NATIONS we were willing to OBEY the Sabbath
commandment, to keep it holy, to do not our regular work on the
Sabbath day, if we were willing to DELIGHT in observing the
Sabbath, the 7th day of the week, as it is written; then our
nations would KNOW the TRUE GOD! We would then be willing to
follow him, to worship Him in spirit and in truth. We would be
willing to live by His every word. Our lands would be willing to
turn from sin to righteousness. Obeying, what many consider the
"least commandment" would mean we would then obey what many
consider the greater commandments. Our lands would be HEALED in a
way that would SHOCK the rest of the world.
Yes, that is why God has said IF you obey the Sabbath
commandment you will live happily and prosperously in the land
forever. It is a mind-set, breaking the least of the commandments
means you go on to break all the others. So it is with modern
Judah and Israel. So it will be again - we will face the anger
and punishment of our God for all of our sins!
The Potter and the Clay
CHAPTER 18
1 The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 2 "Go down
to the shop where clay pots and jars are made. I will speak to
you while you are there." 3 So I did as he told me and found the
potter working at his wheel. 4 But the jar he was making did not
turn out as he had hoped, so the potter squashed the jar into a
lump of day and started again.
5 Then the LORD gave me this message: 6 "0 Israel, can I not do
to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the
potter's hand, so are you in my hand. 7 If I announce that a
certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and
destroyed, 8 but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will
not destroy it as I had planned. 9 And if I announce that I will
build up and plant a certain nation or kingdom, making it strong
and great, 10 but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to
obey me, I will not bless that nation as I had said I would.
11 Therefore, Jeremiah, go and warn all Judah and Jerusalem. Say
to them, 'This is what the LORD says: I am planning disaster
against you instead of good. So turn from your evil ways, each of
you, and do what is right."
12 But they replied, "Don't waste your breath. We will continue
to live as we want to, following our own evil desires."
So today, the voice of the true servants of the Lord,
shouting out the sins of our nations, is not heard, not listened
to. People, leaders, preachers of religion, just keep on saying
they will live according to their own desires, according to the
way that seems right to man; but it will end in DEATH!
13 Then the LORD said, "Has anyone ever heard of such a thing,
even among the pagan nations? My virgin Israel has done something
too terrible to understand! 14 Does the snow ever melt high up in
the mountains of Lebanon? Do the cold, flowing streams from the
crags of Mount Hermon ever run dry? 15 These can be counted on,
but not my people! For they have deserted me and turned to
worthless idols. They have stumbled off the ancient highways of
good, and they walk the muddy paths of sin. 16 Therefore, their
land will become desolate, a monument to their stupidity. All who
pass by will be astonished and shake their heads in amazement at
its utter desolation. 17 I will scatter my people before their
enemies as the east wind scatters dust. And in all their trouble
I will turn my back on them and refuse to notice their distress."
What a state to be in, a time when God will NOT HEAR, will
have no mercy, will turn His back on you. That day is coming
again for Israel and Judah. Truly it will be a DARK day.
A Plot against Jeremiah
18 Then the people said, "Come on, let's find a way to stop
Jeremiah. We have our own priests and wise men and prophets. We
don't need him to teach the law and give us advice and
prophecies. Let's spread rumors about him and ignore what he
says."
19 LORD, help me! Listen to what they are planning to do to me!
20 Should they repay evil for good? They have set a trap to kill
me, though I pleaded for them and tried to protect them from your
anger. 21 So let their children starve! Let the sword pour out
their blood! Let their wives become widows without any children!
Let their old men die in a plague, and let their young men be
killed in battle! 22 Let screaming be heard from their homes as
warriors come suddenly upon them. For they have dug a pit for me,
and they have hidden traps along my path.
23 LORD, you know all about their murderous plots against me.
Don't forgive their crimes and blot out their sins. Let them die
before you. Deal with them in your anger.
Not only was Jeremiah told to NOT PRAY for Judah and/or
Israel, but here we find a true servant of the Holy One, praying
that destruction and sorrow will speedily come. Yes, it must be
so from the lips of God's true prophets, for in punishment and
destruction comes REPENTANCE and a turning back to God with a
true heart and mind.
Jeremiah's Shattered jar
19 The LORD said to me, "Go and buy a clay jar. Then ask some of
the leaders of the people and of the priests to follow you. 2 Go
out into the valley of the son of Hinnom by the entrance to the
Potsherd Gate, and repeat to them the words that I give you. 3
Say to them, 'Listen to this message from the LORD, you kings of
Judah and citizens of Jerusalem! This is what the LORD Almighty,
the God of Israel, says: I will bring such a terrible disaster on
this place that the ears of those who hear about it will ring!
4 For Israel has forsaken me and turned this valley into a place
of wickedness. The people burn incense to foreign gods - idols
never before worshipped by this generation, by their ancestors,
or by the kings of Judah. And they have filled this place with
the blood of innocent children. 5 They have built pagan shrines
to Baal, and there they burn their sons as sacrifices to Baal. I
have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed
my mind to command such a thing! 6 So beware, for the time is
coming, says the LORD, when this place will no longer be called
Topheth or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the Valley of
Slaughter. 7 For I will upset the battle plans of Judah and
Jerusalem and let invading armies slaughter them. The enemy will
leave the dead bodies as food for the vultures and wild animals.
8 I will wipe Jerusalem from the face of the earth, making it a
monument to their stupidity. All who pass by will be appalled and
will gasp at the destruction they see there. 9 I will see to it
that your enemies lay siege to the city until all the food is
gone. Then those trapped inside will have to eat their own sons
and daughters and friends. They will be driven to utter despair.
10 As these men watch, Jeremiah, smash the jar you brought with
you. 11 Then say to them, 'This is what the LORD Almighty says:
As this jar lies shattered, so I will shatter the people of Judah
and Jerusalem beyond all hope of repair. They will bury the
bodies in Topheth until there is no more room. 12 This is what I
will do to this place and its people, says the LORD. I will cause
this city to become defiled like Topheth. 13 Yes, all the houses
in Jerusalem, including the palace of Judah's kings, will become
like Topheth - all the houses where you burned incense on the
rooftops to your star gods, and where drink offerings were poured
out to your idols."
What words from the Eternal One, it is beyond sobering, it
is mind-blowing. The destruction of Judah and Jerusalem in the
days of Jeremiah was beyond words to imagine what it must have
been like.
Yet, the prophets tell us the time is coming when
TRIBULATION on Judah, Jerusalem, and all the world, will BE AS
NEVER BEFORE OR NEVER AGAIN AFTER. You need to read Matthew 24;
Mark 13; Luke 21. Jeremiah was told it (Jer.30:7) - Daniel was
told it (Dan.12:1) and Jesus told it (Mat.24:21). All the
tribulations that have gone before will be as a Sunday afternoon
picnic in comparison.
14 Then Jeremiah returned from Topheth where he had delivered
this message, and he stopped in front of the Temple of the LORD.
He said to the people there, 15 "This is what the LORD Almighty,
the God of Israel, says: I will bring disaster upon this city and
its surrounding towns just as I promised, because you have
stubbornly refused to listen to me."
Jeremiah and Pashhur
CHAPTER 20
1 O Now Pashhur son of Immer, the priest in charge of the Temple
of the LORD, heard what Jeremiah was saying. 2 So he arrested
Jeremiah the prophet and had him whipped and put in stocks at the
Benjamin Gate of the LORD's Temple.
3 The next day, when Pashhur finally released him, Jeremiah said,
"Pashhur, the LORD has changed your name. From now on you are to
be called 'The Man Who Lives in Terror.' 4 For this is what the
LORD says: I will send terror upon you and all your friends, and
you will watch as they are slaughtered by the swords of the
enemy. I will hand the people of Judah over to the king of
Babylon. He will take them captive to Babylon or run them through
with the sword. 5 And I will let your enemies plunder Jerusalem.
All the famed treasures of the city - the precious jewels and
gold and silver of your kings - will be carried off to Babylon. 6
As for you, Pashhur, you and all your household will go as
captives to Babylon. There you will die and be buried, you and
all your friends to whom you promised that everything would be
all right."
It is MODERN BABYLON (the whore woman that rides the Beast,
the Babylon of the book of Revelation, that will bring
destruction on Jerusalem, Judah and Israel in the last days. It
is all expounded in detail on this Website.
Jeremiah's Complaint
7 0 LORD, you persuaded me, and I allowed myself to be persuaded.
You are stronger than I am, and you overpowered me. Now I am
mocked by everyone in the city. 8 Whenever I speak, the words
come out in a violent outburst. "Violence and destruction!" I
shout. So these messages from the LORD have made me a household
joke. 9 And I can't stop! If I say I'll never mention the LORD or
speak in His name, His word burns in my heart like a fire. It's
like a fire in my bones! I am weary of holding it in!
10 I have heard the many rumors about me. They call me "The Man
Who Lives in Terror." And they say, "If you say anything, we will
report it." Even my old friends are watching me, waiting for a
fatal slip. "He will trap himself," they say, "and then we will
get our revenge on him."
11 But the LORD stands beside me like a great warrior. Before Him
they will stumble. They cannot defeat me. They will be shamed and
thoroughly humiliated. Their dishonor will never be forgotten. 12
0 LORD Almighty! You know those who are righteous, and you
examine the deepest thoughts of hearts and minds. Let me see your
vengeance against them, for I have committed my cause to you. 13
Now I will sing out my thanks to the LORD! Praise the LORD! For
though I was poor and needy, He delivered me from my oppressors.
14 Yet I curse the day I was born! May the day of my birth not be
blessed. 15 I curse the messenger who told my father, "Good news
- you have a son!" 16 Let him be destroyed like the cities of old
that the LORD overthrew without mercy. Terrify him all day long
with battle shouts, 17 for He did not kill me at birth. Oh, that
I had died in my mother's womb, that her body had been my grave!
18 Why was I ever born? My entire life has been filled with
trouble, sorrow, and shame.
I guess the burden that Jeremiah was carrying, having to
speak that all this evil and pain and sorrow and destruction was
to come on Judah, Israel and all the world, would have made at
times, the strongest man wish he had never been born, certainly
not called to such a job as Jeremiah was called to do.
No Deliverance from Babylon
CHAPTER 21
1 The LORD spoke through Jeremiah when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur
son of Malkijah and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, to
speak with him. They begged Jeremiah, 2 "Please ask the LORD to
help us. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has begun his attack on
Judah. Perhaps the LORD will be gracious and do a mighty miracle
as he has done in the past. Perhaps he will force Nebuchadnezzar
to withdraw his armies."
3 Jeremiah replied, "Go back to King Zedekiah and tell him, 4
This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I will make your
weapons useless against the king of Babylon and the Babylonians
who are attacking you. Yes, I will bring your enemies right into
the heart of this city. 5 I myself will fight against you with
great power, for I am very angry. You have made me furious! 6 I
will send a terrible plague upon this city, and both people and
animals will die." 7 "And then," says the LORD, "even after King
Zedekiah, his officials, and everyone else in the city have
survived war, famine, and disease, I will hand them over to King
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He will slaughter them all without
mercy, pity, or compassion."
8 "Tell all the people, This is what the LORD says: Take your
choice of life or death! 9 Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will
die from war, famine, or disease, but those who go out and
surrender to the Babylonians will live. 10 For I have decided to
bring disaster and not good upon this city," says the LORD. "It
will be captured by the king of Babylon, and he will reduce it to
ashes."
Judgment on Judah's Kings
11 "Say to the royal family of Judah, Listen to this message from
the LORD! 12 This is what the LORD says to the dynasty of David:
Give justice to the people you judge! Help those who have been
robbed; rescue them from their oppressors. Do what is right, or
my anger will burn like an unquenchable fire because of all your
sins. 13 I will fight against this city of Jerusalem that boasts,
'We are safe on our mountain! No one can touch us here.' 14 And I
myself will punish you for your sinfulness, says the LORD. I will
light a fire in your forests that will burn up everything around
you."
When God is against you, it makes no difference what your army has
for weapons or how mighty you have built up your war machines. When
the Lord decides you are for destruction, then for destruction you
will be.
A Message for Judah's Kings
22 Then the LORD said to me, "Go over and speak directly to the
king of Judah. Say to him, 2 Listen to this message from the
LORD, you king of Judah, sitting on David's throne. Let your
officials and your people listen, too. 3 This is what the LORD
says: Be fairminded and just. Do what is right! Help those who
have been robbed; rescue them from their oppressors. Quit your
evil deeds! Do not mistreat foreigners, orphans, and widows. Stop
murdering the innocent!
That last sentence could well be talking about ABORTION as
putting it in the modern context of Israel/Judah.
4 If you obey me, there will always be a descendant of David
sitting on the throne here in Jerusalem. The king will ride
through the palace gates in chariots and on horses, with his
parade of officials and subjects. 5 But if you refuse to pay
attention to this warning, I swear by my own name, says the LORD,
that this palace will become a pile of rubble."
A Message about the Palace
6 Now this is what the LORD says concerning the royal palace:
"You are as beloved to me as fruitful Gilead and the green
forests of Lebanon. But I will destroy you and leave you
deserted, with no one living within your walls. 7 I will call for
wreckers, who will bring out their tools to dismantle you. They
will tear out all your fine cedar beams and throw them on the
fire. 8 People from many nations will pass by the ruins of this
city and say to one another, 'Why did the LORD destroy such a
great city?' 9 And the answer will be, 'Because they violated
their covenant with the LORD their God by worshipping other
gods.'"
A Message about Jehoahaz
10 Do not weep for the dead king or mourn his loss. Instead, weep
for the captive king being led away! For he will never return to
see his native land again. 11 For this is what the LORD says
about Jehoahaz, who succeeded his father, King Josiah, and was
taken away as a captive: "He will never return. 12 He will die in
a distant land and never again see his own country."
A Message about Jehoiakim
13 And the LORD Says, "Destruction is certain for Jehoiakim, who
builds his palace with forced labor. By not paying wages, he
builds injustice into its walls and oppression into its
doorframes and ceilings. 14 He says, 'I will build a magnificent
palace with huge rooms and many windows, paneled throughout with
fragrant cedar and painted a lovely red.'
15 "But a beautiful palace does not make a great king! Why did
your father, Josiah, reign so long? Because he was just and right
in all his dealings. That is why God blessed him. 16 He made sure
that justice and help were given to the poor and needy, and
everything went well for him. Isn't that what it means to know
me?" asks the LORD. 17 "But you! You are full of selfish greed
and dishonesty! You murder the innocent, oppress the poor, and
reign ruthlessly."
18 Therefore, this is the LORD's decree of punishment against
King Jehoiakim, who succeeded his father, Josiah, on the throne:
"His family will not weep for him when he dies. His subjects will
not even care that he is dead. 19 He will be buried like a dead
donkey - dragged out of Jerusalem and dumped outside the gate! 20
Weep, for your allies are all gone. Search for them in Lebanon.
Shout for them at Bashan. Search for them in the regions east of
the river. See, they are all destroyed. Not one is left to help
you.
21 When you were prosperous, I warned you, but you replied,
'Don't bother me.' Since childhood you have been that way - you
simply will not listen! 22 And now your allies have all
disappeared with a puff of wind. All your friends have been taken
away as captives. Surely at last you will see your wickedness and
be ashamed. 23 It may be nice to live in a beautiful palace lined
with lumber from the cedars of Lebanon, but soon you will cry and
groan in anguish - anguish like that of a woman about to give
birth.
When it is time for God to punish modern Judah and Israel,
all her friends and lovers will have gone, nay, it is said that
it IS our LOVERS who will be our deadly ENEMY.
A Message for Jehoiachin
24 "And as surely as I live," says the LORD, "I will abandon you,
Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. Even if you were the
signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off. 25 I will
hand you over to those who seek to kill you, of whom you are so
desperately afraid - to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the
mighty Babylonian army. 26 I will expel you and your mother from
this land, and you will die in a foreign country. 27 You will
never again return to the land of your desire.
Many would never return, they died in one way or another. It
was a new generation that were finally allowed to return to
Jerusalem, 70 years after captivity in Babylon.
28 Why is this man Jehoiachin like a discarded, broken dish? Why
are he and his children to be exiled to distant lands? 29 O
earth, earth, earth! Listen to this message from the LORD! 30
This is what the LORD says: "Let the record show that this man
Jehoiachin was childless, for none of his children will ever sit
on the throne of David to rule in Judah. His life will amount to
nothing."
The Righteous Branch
CHAPTER 23
1 "I will send disaster upon the leaders of my people - the
shepherds of my sheep - for they have destroyed and scattered the
very ones they were expected to care for," says the LORD.
2 This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to these
shepherds:
"Instead of leading my flock to safety, you have deserted them
and driven them to destruction. Now I will pour out judgment on
you for the evil you have done to them. 3 But I will gather
together the remnant of my flock from wherever I have driven
them. I will bring them back into their own fold, and they will
be fruitful and increase in number. 4 Then I will appoint
responsible shepherds to care for them, and they will never be
afraid again. Not a single one of them will be lost or missing,"
says the LORD.
5 "For the time is coming," says the LORD, "when I will place a
righteous Branch on King David's throne. He will be a King who
rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right throughout
the land. 6 And this is his name: 'The LORD Is Our
Righteousness.' In that day Judah will be saved, and Israel will
live in safety.
AH, AS ALL BIBLE SCHOLARS KNOW THIS IS A PROPHECY OF THE
COMING OF THE MESSIAH IN POWER AND GLORY TO ESTABLISH THE KINGDOM
OF GOD ON EARTH! JUDAH TO BE SAVED! ISRAEL TO DWELL SAFELY!
THE CONTEXT IS REGATHERING OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH, APPOINTING
OVER THEM TRUE GOOD SHEPHERDS, GATHERING THEM FROM ALL THE LANDS
GOD HAS SCATTERED THEM AT THE TIME OF THE END. AS I'VE SAID
BEFORE, EVERYWHERE IN PROPHECY, THE PEOPLES OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH
ARE SCATTERED IN CAPTIVITY IN THE LANDS OF THEIR ENEMIES, AT THE
COMING OF CHRIST. IT IS THE MESSIAH THAT DELIVERS THEM FROM THAT
CAPTIVITY AND RESTORES THEM TO THE HOLY LAND, WHERE THEY WILL
LIVE IN PEACE AND SAFETY AND OBEY THE LORD THEIR GOD. SALVATION
POUR OUT ON THEM.
7 "In that day," says the LORD, "when people are taking an oath,
they will no longer say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who
rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.' 8 Instead,
they will say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the
people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the
north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.'
Then they will live in their own land."
Judgment on False Prophets
9 "My heart is broken because of the false prophets, and I
tremble uncontrollably. I stagger like a drunkard, like someone
overcome by wine, because of the holy words the LORD has spoken
against them. 10 For the land is full of adultery, and it lies
under a curse. The land itself is in mourning - its pastures are
dried up. For the prophets do evil and abuse their power.
11 The priests are like the prophets, all ungodly, wicked men. I
have seen their despicable acts right here in my own Temple,"
says the LORD. 12 "Therefore, their paths will be dark and
slippery. They will be chased down dark and treacherous trails,
where they will fall. For I will bring disaster upon them when
their time of punishment comes. I, the LORD, have spoken!"
Over and over again, the Lord speaks about the FALSE
ministers, the false priests, the false prophets, in all of
Israel. It is they and the political leaders, those in public
office, that God puts the blame on, as to the punishment and
destruction that He must pour out on all the 13 tribes of Israel.
They did not lead the people into the true ways of the Lord, they
did not speak the truth and righteousness of the Holy One. All of
them, the spiritual and secular leaders, will be exposed, they
will be shown to be the FALSE PROPHETS, even through the disaster
that Israel and Judah must face.
13 "I saw that the prophets of Samaria (the House of Israel) were
terribly evil, for they prophesied by Baal and led my people of
Israel into sin.
Notice that God is NOT excluding Israel in all of what must
come to be - punishment and destruction. There it is, the
PROPHETS (spiritual and secular) are not just sinners, they are
"terribly evil" and they teach by "Baal" - simply pagan false
teachings which lead Israel to SIN!
As you may see and listen to the leaders of Canada and the
USA in those countrie's election this fall (the year 2008) for
Prime-minister and Presidents. As you listen to flowery and
sometimes dynamic speeches, that sound Oh so good, so promising,
so positive, you need to remember God hears none of the fine
oratory, tone of voice. He sees not the charisma of personalities
or how the words coming out of their mouth are put together. God
sees behind it all, behind the fan-fair, behind the banners,
behind the exited shouts of individuals claiming their party and
its leader should rule the country. God in His prophetic word,
sees none of this, sincere as it may appear. The Lord sees the
mounting and terrible SINS of our people. He sees us breaking
what some consider the least commandment (which should then be
the easiest to obey) - the Sabbath day, and He sees us KILLING
the innocent children by the thousands through abortion. He sees
the ever rise of homosexuality and Lesbianism and same sex
marriage. He sees our ever thirst for VIOLENCE on TV and in
movies. He sees the immorality mounting on prime time TV sick-
coms. He sees our ever more acceptance of EVOLUTION and throwing
Him out of all our institutions of education. He see our white
collar and blue collar crimes. He sees our drug addictions, our
prostitution, our drunkenness, our sexual immorality, our rise of
perverted people towards children. He sees our gangs of thugs
killing each other and innocent by-standers as well. He sees the
crazy amount of money spent on sports people and film-stars and
our obsession to travel into space, to planets that are mere
rocks of nothingness.
God sees all of this, not withstanding, our hype over
political elections. He sees the falsehood of our spiritual and
physical leaders in Israel.
14 "But now I see that the prophets of Jerusalem are even worse!
They commit adultery, and they love dishonesty. They encourage
those who are doing evil instead of turning them away from their
sins. These prophets are as wicked as the people of Sodom and
Gomorrah once were."
Wow, what a condemnation to Judah, to the Jews in Jerusalem
and the Promised Land.
15 Therefore, this is what the LORD Almighty says concerning the
prophets: "I will feed them with bitterness and give them poison
to drink. For it is because of Jerusalem's prophets that
wickedness fills this land. 16 This is my warning to my people,"
says the LORD Almighty. "Do not listen to these prophets when
they prophesy to you, filling you with futile hopes. They are
making up everything they say. They do not speak for the LORD! 17
They keep saying to these rebels who despise my word, 'Don't
worry! The LORD says you will have peace!' And to those who
stubbornly follow their own evil desires, they say, 'No harm will
come your way!'
18 "But can you name even one of these prophets who knows the
LORD well enough to hear what he is saying? Has even one of them
cared enough to listen?
The time is coming, when the false prophets will be exposed.
Anyone who is willing to listen to God, is told, to not have
anything to do with Israel's and Judah's false prophets,
ministers, leaders. God cannot name one of them that hears what
He is saying. In fact He says there is none of them who even
cares enough to listen. As far as I know not one of them is
studying from this Website, and I certainly know not one of them
is emailing me or calling me on the phone to learn what God
teaches and says.
19 Look! The LORD's anger bursts out like a storm, a whirlwind
that swirls down on the heads of the wicked. 20 The anger of the
LORD will not diminish until it has finished all his plans. In
the days to come, you will understand all this very clearly.
Oh, you bet we will come to know all this in its time. Its
time of this prophecy of chapter 23 is the time when the Messiah
Christ will come in power and glory to rule all nations with a
rod of iron.
21 "I have not sent these prophets, yet they claim to speak for
me. I have given them no message, yet they prophesy. 22 If they
had listened to me, they would have spoken my words and turned my
people from their evil ways. 23 Am I a God who is only in one
place?" asks the LORD. "Do they think I cannot see what they are
doing? 24 Can anyone hide from me? Am I not everywhere in all the
heavens and earth?" asks the LORD.
These leaders do not come from God. He did not send them. He
did not give them His message. If they were from God they would
be turning His people from their sins! God sees the sins, even if
the people and their leaders cannot.
25 "I have heard these prophets say, 'Listen to the dream I had
from God last night.' And then they proceed to tell lies in my
name. 26 How long will this go on? If they are prophets, they are
prophets of deceit, inventing everything they say. 27 By telling
these false dreams, they are trying to get my people to forget
me, just as their ancestors did by worshipping the idols of Baal.
28 Let these false prophets tell their dreams, but let my true
messengers faithfully proclaim my every word. There is a
difference between chaff and wheat! 29 Does not my word burn like
fire?" asks the LORD. "Is it not like a mighty hammer that
smashes rock to pieces?
Jesus said to His true servants that BEWARE if men shall
speak well of you, for so they did to the false prophets of old.
The Lord through His true prophets will be telling you what
the Eternal One tells you in His written prophets of old, and
that is just not popular today, when most want to hear smooth
things, they want messages of peace and safety and certainly NOT
TOLD their SINS, and where as individuals and nations we need to
CHANGE the way we think, say, and do. God's word and truth are at
times indeed like a MIGHTY HAMMER that smashes the rock to
pieces!
30 "Therefore," says the LORD, "I stand against these prophets
who get their messages from each other 31 these smoothtongued
prophets who say, 'This prophecy is from the LORD!' 32 Their
imaginary dreams are flagrant lies that lead my people into sin.
I did not send or appoint them, and they have no message at all
for my people," says the LORD.
Kinda plain it is. God pulls no punches at times, He lay it
all on the table.
False Prophecies and False Prophets
33 "Suppose one of the people or one of the prophets or priests
asks you, 'What prophecy has the LORD burdened you with now?' You
must reply, 'You are the burden! The LORD says he will abandon
you!' 34 If any prophet, priest, or anyone else says, 'I have a
prophecy from the LORD,' I will punish that person along with his
entire family. 35 You should keep asking each other, 'What is the
LORD'S answer?' or 'What is the LORD saying?' 36 But stop using
this phrase, 'prophecy from the LORD.' For people are using it to
give authority to their own ideas, turning upside down the words
of our God, the living God, the LORD Almighty.
As James was inspired to write, NOT MANY should be teachers
of the word of God, for a greater judgement is upon them. There
are many out there who claim they come from God, the land is full
of them, every town is full of them. But they are the ones who
turn upside down the truths of God. The time will come when they
will be paid the wage they have earned, and it will not be the
wage they expect.
37 "This is what you should say to the prophets: 'What is the
LORD's answer?' or 'What is the LORD saying?' 38 But suppose they
respond, 'This is a prophecy from the LORD!' Then you should say,
'This is what the LORD says: Because you have used this phrase,
(prophecy from the LORD), even though I warned you not to use it,
39 I will forget you completely. I will expel you from my
presence, along with this city that I gave to you and your
ancestors. 40 And I will make you an object of ridicule, and your
name will be infamous throughout the ages."
There it is; God will answer in no uncertain terms one day,
that day or time being the very last 42 months at the end of this
age as given in detail in the book of Revelation.
...............................
To be continued
Jeremiah For Today
Chapters 24 to 29
The following chapters are some of the events in the life of
Jeremiah as he warned the people of his day about the coming
punishment from the Lord.
You can take the lessons to learn as you meditate on the events
that look place. We shall see from the start of chapter 30, there
are indeed lessons and events with Israel and Judah that will yet
take place at the end of this age, and into the age to come.
I will present it from the New-Living Translation:
CHAPTER 24
Good and Bad Figs
1 After King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon exiled Jehoiachin son of
Jehoiakim, king of Judah, to Babylon along with the princes of
Judah and all the skilled craftsmen, the LORD gave me this
vision. I saw two baskets of figs placed in front of the LORD's
Temple in Jerusalem. 2 One basket was filled with fresh, ripe
figs, while the other was filled with figs that were spoiled and
could not be eaten.
3 Then the LORD said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?"
I replied, "Figs, some very good and some very bad."
4 Then the LORD gave me this message: 5 "This is what the LORD,
the God of Israel, says: The good figs represent the exiles I
sent from Judah to the land of the Babylonians. 6 I have sent
them into captivity for their own good. I will see that they are
well treated, and I will bring them back here again. I will build
them up and not tear them down. I will plant them and not uproot
them. 7 I will give them hearts that will recognize me as the
LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they
will return to me wholeheartedly.
8 "But the rotten figs," the LORD said, "represent King Zedekiah
of Judah, his officials, all the people left in Jerusalem, and
those who live in Egypt. I will treat them like spoiled figs, too
rotten to eat. 9 I will make them an object of horror and evil to
every nation on earth. They will be disgraced and mocked, taunted
and cursed, wherever I send them. 10 I will send war, famine, and
disease until they have vanished from the land of Israel, which I
gave to them and their ancestors."
Seventy Years of Captivity
CHAPTER 25
1 This message for all the people of Judah came to Jeremiah from
the LORD during the fourth year of Jehoiakim's reign (605 B.C.)
over Judah. This was the year when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon
began his reign.
2 Jeremiah the prophet said to the people in Judah and Jerusalem,
3 "For the past twenty-three years - from the thirteenth year of
Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until now - the LORD has been
giving me his messages. I have faithfully passed them on to you,
but you have not listened.
4 Again and again, the LORD has sent you his prophets, but you
have not listened or even tried to hear. 5 Each time the
message was this: 'Turn from the evil road you are travelling and
from the evil things you are doing. Only then will I let you live
in this land that the LORD gave to you and your ancestors
forever. 6 Do not make me angry by worshipping the idols you have
made. Then I will not harm you.'
7 "But you would not listen to me," says the LORD. "You made me
furious by worshipping your idols, bringing on yourselves all the
disasters you now suffer." 8 And now the LORD Almighty says:
"Because you have not listened to me, 9 I will gather together all
the armies of the north under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon,
whom I have appointed as my deputy. I will bring them all against
this land and its people and against the other nations near you.
I will completely destroy you and make you an object of horror
and contempt and a ruin forever."
Obviously "forever" here has a context of until the time
appointed.
10 "I will take away your happy singing and laughter. The joyful
voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard. Your
businesses will fail, and all your homes will stand silent and
dark. 11 This entire land will become a desolate wasteland.
Israel and her neighboring lands will serve the king of Babylon
for seventy years."
Again in context "Israel" is here the people of Judah, who
are Israelites, as Californians are Americans.
12 "Then, after the seventy years of captivity are over, I will
punish the king of Babylon and his people for their sins, says
the LORD. I will make the country of the Babylonians an
everlasting wasteland. 13 I will bring upon them all the terrors
I have promised in this book - all the penalties announced by
Jeremiah against the nations. 14 Many nations and great kings
will enslave the Babylonians, just as they enslaved my people. I
will punish them in proportion to the suffering they cause my
people."
The Cup of the LORD'S Anger
15 Then the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me, "Take from my
hand this cup filled to the brim with my anger, and make all the
nations to whom I send you drink from it. 16 When they drink from
it, they will stagger, crazed by the warfare I will send against
them."
The book of Revelation tells all that is to come on the
nations of this earth in the last 42 months of this age.
17 So I took the cup of anger from the LORD and made all the
nations drink from it - every nation the LORD sent me to. 18 I
went to Jerusalem and the other towns of Judah, and their kings
and officials drank from the cup. From that day until this, they
have been a desolate ruin, an object of horror, contempt, and
cursing. 19 I went to Egypt and spoke to Pharaoh, his officials,
his princes, and his people. They, too, drank from that terrible
cup, 20 along with all the foreigners living in that land. So did
all the kings of the land of Uz and the kings of the Philistine
cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and what remains of Ashdod. 21
Then I went to the nations of Edom, Moab, and Ammon, 22 and the
kings of Tyre and Sidon, and the kings of the regions across the
sea. 23 I went to Dedan, Tema, and Buz, and to the people who
live in distant places. 24 I went to the kings of Arabia, the
kings of the nomadic tribes of the desert, 25 and to the kings of
Zimri, Elam, and Media. 26 And I went to the kings of the
northern countries, far and near, one after the other - all the
kingdoms of the world. And finally, the king of Babylon himself
drank from the cup of the LORD's anger.
Probably Jeremiah went in "spirit" or "vision" to all the
nations. A way of telling us that God will deal with the nations
of the earth in His time plan and as we know from the book of
Revelation.
27 Then the LORD said to me, "Now tell them, 'The LORD Almighty,
the God of Israel, says: Drink from this cup of my anger. Get
drunk and vomit, and you will fall to rise no more, for I am
sending terrible wars against you.' 28 And if they refuse to
accept the cup, tell them, 'The LORD Almighty says: You must
drink from it. You cannot escape! 29 I have begun to punish
Jerusalem, the city where my own name is honored. Now should I
let you go unpunished? No, you will not escape disaster. I will
call for war against all the nations of the earth. I, the LORD
Almighty, have spoken!'"
It is indeed true that the Lord will start to shake the
nations of the world by first (after the fall of the king of the
South) allowing Judah, Jerusalem and the nations of modern Israel
(the majority of the Western world) to fall to destruction, then
it will be the end time Babylon of Europe and finally the kings
of the East (Russia, China, India, Japan etc.)
30 "Now prophesy all these things, and say to them, 'The LORD
will roar loudly against his own land from his holy dwelling in
heaven. He will shout against everyone on the earth, like the
harvesters do as they crush juice from the grapes. 31 His cry of
judgment will reach the ends of the earth, for the LORD will
bring his case against all the nations. He will judge all the
people of the earth, slaughtering the wicked with his sword. The
LORD has spoken!'"
32 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Look! Disaster will fall
upon nation after nation! A great whirlwind of fury is rising
from the most distant corners of the earth!"
33 In that day those the LORD has slaughtered will fill the earth
from one end to the other. No one will mourn for them or gather
up their bodies to bury them. They will be scattered like dung on
the ground.
No such destruction like this has come on the earth, but
when the events of the book of Revelation take place, the FULL
depth of these prophecies will take place. The destruction of
Judah in captivity to Babylon was a TYPE of what will come on the
whole planet earth in the last days.
34 Weep and moan, you evil shepherds! Roll in the dust, you
leaders of the flock! The time of your slaughter has arrived; you
will fall and shatter like fragile pottery. 35 You will find no
place to hide; there will be no way to escape.
36 Listen to the frantic cries of the shepherds, to the leaders
of the flock shouting in despair, for the LORD is spoiling their
pastures. 37 Peaceful meadows will be turned into a wasteland by
the LORD's fierce anger. 38 He has left his den like a lion
seeking its prey, and their land will be made desolate by the
sword of the enemy and the LORD's fierce anger.
Again, what was to befall Judah and her spiritual and
secular leaders was a type of what is yet to come on Judah,
Israel, and all nations, at the end of this age.
Jeremiah's Escape from Death
CHAPTER 26
1 This message came to Jeremiah from the LORD early in the reign
of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah. 2 The LORD said,
"Stand out in front of the Temple of the LORD, and make an
announcement to the people who have come there to worship from
all over Judah. Give them my entire message; include every word.
3 Perhaps they will listen and turn from their evil ways. Then I
will be able to withhold the disaster I am ready to pour out on
them because of their sins.
4 Say to them, 'This is what the LORD says: If you will not
listen to me and obey the law I have given you, 5 if you will not
listen to my servants, the prophets for I sent them again and
again to warn you, but you would not listen to them 6 then I will
destroy this Temple as I destroyed Shiloh, the place where the
Tabernacle was located. And I will make Jerusalem an object of
cursing in every nation on earth.'"
7 The priests, the prophets, and all the people listened to
Jeremiah as he spoke in front of the LORD's Temple. 8 But when
Jeremiah had finished his message, saying everything the LORD had
told him to say, the priests and prophets and all the people at
the Temple mobbed him. "Kill him!" they shouted. 9 "What right do
you have to prophesy in the LORD'S name that this Temple will be
destroyed like Shiloh? What do you mean, saying that Jerusalem
will be destroyed?" And all the people threatened him as he stood
in front of the Temple.
10 When the officials of Judah heard what was happening, they
rushed over from the palace and sat down at the New Gate of the
Temple to hold court. 11 The priests and prophets presented their
accusations to the officials and the people. "This man should
die!" they said. "You have heard with your own ears what a
traitor he is, for he has prophesied against this city."
12 Then Jeremiah spoke in his own defense. "The LORD sent me to
prophesy against this Temple and this city," he said. "The LORD
gave me every word that I have spoken. 13 But if you stop your
sinning and begin to obey the LORD your God, he will cancel this
disaster that he has announced against you. 14 As for me, I am
helpless and in your power - do with me as you think best. 15 But
if you kill me, rest assured that you will be killing an innocent
man! The responsibility for such a deed will lie on you, on this
city, and on every person living in it. For it is absolutely true
that the LORD sent me to speak every word you have heard."
16 Then the officials and the people said to the priests and
prophets, "This man does not deserve the death sentence, for he
has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God."
17 Then some of the wise old men stood and spoke to the people
there. 18 They said, "Think back to the days when Micah of
Moresheth prophesied during the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah.
He told the people of Judah, 'This is what the LORD Almighty
says: Mount Zion will be plowed like an open field; Jerusalem
will be reduced to rubble! A great forest will grow on the
hilltop, where the Temple now stands.' 19 But did King Hezekiah
and the people kill him for saying this? No, they turned from
their sins and worshipped the LORD. They begged him to have mercy
on them. Then the LORD held back the terrible disaster he had
pronounced against them. If we kill Jeremiah, who knows what will
happen to us?"
20 (At this time, Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-Jearim was
also prophesying for the LORD. And he predicted the same terrible
disaster against the city and nation as Jeremiah did. 21 When
King Jehoiakim and the army officers and officials heard what he
was saying, the king sent someone to kill him. But Uriah heard
about the plot and escaped to Egypt. 22 Then King Jehoiakim sent
Elnathan son of Acbor to Egypt along with several other men to
capture Uriah. 23 They took him prisoner and brought him back to
King Jehoiakim. The king then killed Uriah with a sword and had
him buried in an unmarked grave.)
24 Ahikam son of Shaphan also stood with Jeremiah and persuaded
the court not to turn him over to the mob to be killed.
Jeremiah Wears an Ox Yoke
CHAPTER 27
1 This message came to Jeremiah from the LORD early in the reign
of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah. 2 The LORD said to me,
"Make a yoke, and fasten it on your neck with leather thongs. 3
Then send messages to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and
Sidon through their ambassadors to King Zedekiah in Jerusalem. 4
Give them this message for their masters: 'This is what the LORD
Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 5 By my great power I have
made the earth and all its people and every animal. I can give
these things of mine to anyone I choose. 6 Now I will give your
countries to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who is my servant. I
have put everything, even the wild animals, under his control. 7
All the nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until
his time is up. But then many nations and great kings will
conquer and rule over Babylon. 8 So you must submit to Babylon's
king and serve him; put your neck under Babylon's yoke! I will
punish any nation that refuses to be his slave, says the LORD. I
will send war, famine, and disease upon that nation until Babylon
has conquered it.'"
9 "Do not listen to your false prophets, fortune-tellers,
interpreters of dreams, mediums, and sorcerers who say, 'The king
of Babylon will not conquer you.' 10 They are all liars, and I
will drive you from your land and send you far away to die. 11
But the people of any nation that submits to the king of Babylon
will be allowed to stay in their own country to farm the land as
usual. I, the LORD, have spoken!"
12 Then I repeated this same message to King Zedekiah of Judah.
"If you want to live, submit to the king of Babylon and his
people," I said. 13 "Why do you insist on dying - you and your
people? Why should you choose war, famine, and disease, which the
LORD will bring against every nation that refuses to submit to
Babylon's king? 14 Do not listen to the false prophets who keep
telling you, 'The king of Babylon will not conquer you.' They are
liars. 15 This is what the LORD says: I have not sent these
prophets! They are telling you lies in my name, so I will drive
you from this land. You will all die - you and all these
prophets, too."
16 Then I spoke to the priests and the people and said, "This is
what the LORD says: 'Do not listen to your prophets who claim
that soon the gold utensils taken from my Temple will be returned
from Babylon. It is all a lie! 17 Do not listen to them.
Surrender to the king of Babylon, and you will live. Why should
this whole city be destroyed? 18 If they really are the LORD's
prophets, let them pray to the LORD Almighty about the gold
utensils that are still left in the LORD'S Temple and in the
king's palace and in the palaces of Jerusalem. Let them pray that
these remaining articles will not be carried away with you to
Babylon!
19 For this is what the LORD Almighty says about the bronze
pillars in front of the Temple, the bronze Sea in the Temple
courtyard, the bronze water carts, and all the other ceremonial
articles. 20 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon left them here when
he exiled Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, to Babylon,
along with all the other important people of Judah and Jerusalem.
21 Yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says
about the precious things kept in the Temple and in the palace of
Judah's king: 22 They will all be carried away to Babylon and
will stay there until I send for them, says the LORD. But someday
I will bring them back to Jerusalem again.
Jeremiah Condemns Hananiah
CHAPTER 28
1 One day in late summer of that same year - the fourth year of
the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah - Hananiah son of Azzur, a
prophet from Gibeon, addressed me publicly in the Temple while
all the priests and people listened. He said, 2 "The LORD
Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will remove the yoke of the
king of Babylon from your necks. 3 Within two years, I will bring
back all the Temple treasures that King Nebuchadnezzar carried
off to Babylon. 4 And I will bring back jehoiachin son of
Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the other captives that were
taken to Babylon. I will surely break the yoke that the king of
Babylon has put on your necks. I, the LORD, have spoken!"
5 Jeremiah responded to Hananiah as they stood in front of all
the priests and people at the Temple. 6 He said, "Amen! May your
prophecies come true! I hope the LORD does everything you say. I
hope he does bring back from Babylon the treasures of this Temple
and all our loved ones. 7 But listen now to the solemn words I
speak to you in the presence of all these people. 8 The ancient
prophets who preceded you and me spoke against many nations,
always warning of war, famine, and disease. 9 So a prophet who
predicts peace must carry the burden of proof. Only when his
predictions come true can it be known that he is really from the
LORD."
So it is today, the burden of proof as to the true prophet
of the Lord is indeed that what he says WILL COME TO PASS!
10 Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke off Jeremiah's neck
and broke it. 11 And Hananiah said again to the crowd that had
gathered, "The LORD has promised that within two years he will
break the yoke of oppression from all the nations now subject to
King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon." At that, Jeremiah left the
Temple area.
12 Soon afterward the LORD gave this message to Jeremiah: 13 "Go
and tell Hananiah, 'This is what the LORD says: You have
broken a wooden yoke, but you have replaced it with a yoke of
iron. 14 The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I have put a
yoke of iron on the necks of all these nations, forcing them into
slavery under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I have put
everything, even the wild animals, under his control.'"
15 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah, "Listen, Hananiah!
The LORD has not sent you, but the people believe your lies. 16
Therefore, the LORD says you must die. Your life will end this
very year because you have rebelled against the LORD."
17 Two months later, Hananiah died.
So it has been with many would be prophets, some said about
1975 would be the end of this age. Many of them came in the 1980s
predicting the end of the age and the return of Christ by 1988
(40 years after the Jews had formed a nation in the Holy Land).
Books were published, I saw and read a lot of them. Some prophets
gave the early or middle 1990s for the start of the Great
Tribulation. Some prophets claimed the year 2,000 would be the
end of the age. I told my readers that ALL these prophets were
WRONG! And they were indeed. They were FALSE prophets. Some
prophets have come in this decade and said the end would be in
2008. But I've told you Jesus will NOT come in this decade. Truly
MANY false prophets have come, many will yet come, just as they
have always come in every century, just as they came in the time
of Jeremiah.
A Letter to the Exiles
CHAPTER 29
1 Jeremiah wrote a letter from Jerusalem to the elders, priests,
prophets, and all the people who had been exiled to Babylon by
King Nebuchadnezzar. 2 This was after King Jehoiachin, the queen
mother, the court officials, the leaders of Judah, and all the
craftsmen had been deported from Jerusalem. 3 He sent the letter
with Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, when they
went to Babylon as King Zedekiah's ambassadors to Nebuchadnezzar.
This is what Jeremiah's letter said:
4 The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, sends this message to all
the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem: 5 "Build
homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food you
produce. 6 Marry, and have children. Then find spouses for them,
and have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! 7 And
work for the peace and prosperity of Babylon. Pray to the LORD
for that city where you are held captive, for if Babylon has
peace, so will you."
8 The LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says, "Do not let the
prophets and mediums who are there in Babylon trick you. Do not
listen to their dreams 9 because they prophesy lies in my name. I
have not sent them," says the LORD. 10 "The truth is that you
will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do
for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you
home again. 11 For I know the plans I have for you," says the
LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you
a future and a hope. 12 In those days when you pray, I will
listen. 13 If you look for me in earnest, you will find me when
you seek me. 14 I will be found by you," says the LORD. "I will
end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you
out of the nations where I sent you and bring you home again to
your own land."
15 You may claim that the LORD has raised up prophets for you in
Babylon. 16 But this is what the LORD says about the king who
sits on David's throne and all those still living here in
Jerusalem - your relatives who were not exiled to Babylon. 17
This is what the LORD Almighty says: "I will send war, famine,
and disease upon them and make them like rotting figs - too bad
to eat. 18 Yes, I will pursue them with war, famine, and disease,
and I will scatter them around the world. In every nation where I
send them, I will make them an object of damnation, horror,
contempt, and mockery 19 For they refuse to listen to me, though
I have spoken to them repeatedly through my prophets. And you who
are in exile have not listened either," says the LORD.
20 Therefore, listen to this message from the LORD, all you
captives there in Babylon. 21 This is what the LORD Almighty, the
God of Israel, says about your prophets - Ahab son of Kolaiah
and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah - who are telling you lies in my
name: "I will turn them over to Nebuchadnezzar for a public
execution. 22 Their terrible fate will become proverbial, so that
whenever the Judean exiles want to curse someone they will say,
'May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of
Babylon burned alive!' 23 For these men have done terrible things
among my people. They have committed adultery with their
neighbors' wives and have lied in my name. I am a witness to
this," says the LORD.
A Message for Shemaiah
24 The LORD sent this message to Shemaiah the Nehelamite in
Babylon: 25 "This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel,
says: You wrote a letter on your own authority to Zephaniah son
of Maaseiah, the priest, and you sent copies to the other priests
and people in Jerusalem. You said to Zephaniah, 26 'The LORD has
appointed you to replace Jehoiada as the priest in charge of the
house of the LORD. You are responsible to put anyone who claims
to be a prophet in the stocks and neck irons. 27 So why have you
done nothing to stop Jeremiah from Anathoth, who pretends to be a
prophet among you? 28 Jeremiah sent a letter here to Babylon,
predicting that our captivity will be a long one. He said we
should build homes and plan to stay for many years. He said we
should plant fruit trees, because we will be here to eat the
fruit for many years to come.'"
29 But when Zephaniah the priest received Shemaiah's letter, he
took it to Jeremiah and read it to him. 30 Then the LORD gave
this message to Jeremiah: 31 "Send an open letter to all the
exiles in Babylon. Tell them, 'This is what the LORD says
concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Since he has prophesied to
you when I did not send him and has tricked you into believing
his lies, 32 I will punish him and his family. None of his
descendants will see the good things I will do for my people, for
he has taught you to rebel against me. I the LORD, have spoken!'"
And so it was as the Lord had spoken through the mouth of
Jeremiah His true prophet.
Promises of Deliverance: A prophecy for the end time and the age
to come:
CHAPTER 30
30 The LORD gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 2 "This is
what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Write down for the record
everything I have said to you, Jeremiah. 3 For the time is coming
when I will restore the fortunes of my people of Israel and
Judah. I will bring them home to this land that I gave to their
ancestors, and they will possess it and live here again. I, the
LORD, have spoken!"
4 This is the message the LORD gave concerning Israel and Judah:
5 "This is what the LORD says: I have heard the people crying;
there is only fear and trembling. 6 Now let me ask you a
question: Do men give birth to babies? Then why do they stand
there, ashen-faced, hands pressed against their sides like women
about to give birth? 7 ***In all history there has never been
such a time of terror.*** It will be a time of trouble for my
people Israel. Yet in the end, they will be saved!
Ah, it is the prophetic time of trouble that HAS NEVER BEEN
THE LIKE IN ALL HISTORY OF MANKIND.
....................
To be continued
Jeremiah For Today
Chapters 30 to 33
CHAPTER 30
In the middle of a number of chapters on the deportation of
Judah to Babylon and their eventual return to Jerusalem, God
gives us the prophecy of the deportation of Israel and Judah to
the lands of their enemies at the end of this age, and the
eventual delivery back to the Holy Land, at the coming of the
Messiah in glory and power and the new age to come.
These chapters are BREATHTAKING in scope and there can be no
misunderstanding as to WHEN they are to be fulfilled.
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. He was to WRITE DOWN
ALL THE WORDS THAT GOD HAD SPOKEN! This is one of the two main
purposes for the books of the prophets to be WRITTEN DOWN (the
other is for our admonition and examples, for lessons we can
learn from, to help guide our way in the correct light - see 1
Corinthians 10:1-12). Notice what God says, "For, lo, the days
COME, says the Lord, that I will BRING AGAIN the captivity of my
people ISRAEL and JUDAH, and I will cause them to RETURN to the
land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall posses it. And
these are the words that the Lord spoke concerning ISRAEL and
JUDAH (verses 1-4).
You will notice Israel and Judah as still SEPARATE! All
prophecy shows clearly that Israel (the ten tribes) and Judah
(the three tribes) are NOT UNITED TOGETHER UNTIL the coming of
the Messiah is power and glory. That is a fundamental truth to
understand Bible prophecy. Without knowing (shall I say admitting
this truth, which many false prophets will not admit) this clear
fact you cannot understand Bible prophecy.
There is to come a VOICE OF TREMBLING, of FEAR, and not of
peace! It is as mighty a fear as the strange happening of a man
giving child-bear. All faces are turned to paleness! Alas! For
that day is GREAT! SO THAT NONE IS LIKE IT! It is the same time
Jesus spoke about in Matthew 24:21 and the same time Daniel tells
us about in Daniel 12:1-3. Jeremiah says it is JACOB'S TROUBLE -
it is ISRAEL'S TROUBLE (Jacob had his name changed to Israel you
mighty remember) - it is the time of the GREAT TRIBULATION for
the whole 13 tribes of Israel. But they will be saved, some of
them, out of it (verses 5-7).
It is the time when Jesus will come and break the yoke of
captivity from off the neck of Israel and Judah. The time when
Gentile strangers will no more serve themselves with Israelite
slaves in the lands of their captivity. But they will serve the
Lord their God, and David their king, whom God will RAISE UP for
them! (verses 8-9).
This is not talking about Christ as being David. It means
what it says, it is David in the RESURRECTION at the coming of
Christ. It is the time of the resurrection of the saints of God
from all ages, to be gathered together by the angels and taken
through the air to meet Christ in the clouds (see Matthew 24:15-
31; 1 Thes.4:13-18; Zechariah 14).
THE CONTEXT OF THIS PROPHECY IS THE SECOND COMING OF
CHRIST!!!
God says fear not Jacob/Israel: for God will come and save
them from the lands of their captivity; and Jacob shall return
and be at REST! There is no way this prophecy can apply but to
the days and time of the Messiah's coming in glory to establish
the Kingdom of God on earth. If, as the false idea is, that we
are here talking about the Jews only, then it is still a prophecy
for the future. The Jews have never been at REST, where none
shall make them afraid (verse 10).
Many of the nations who will carry away Israel into
captivity shall be destroyed in no uncertain way, but Israel will
not be. They will be corrected but not fully destroyed. Other
prophecies show it is about ONE in TEN that will remain alive to
the coming of Christ.
The friends and lovers of Israel and Judah will not come to
the rescue and save them. The punishment is from God because of
the multitude of their sins (verses 12-15).
The adversaries of Israel and Judah will go into captivity,
they that spoil them shall be soiled, all that prey on them will
be given to the prey. God will RESTORE HEALTH to Jacob, He will
heal the wound, and they shall no longer be a laughing stock to
their enemies (verses 16-17).
It is the time when Jacob Israel shall be built up again, a
time when they will sing and praise and give thanksgiving to
their God. They shall be multiplied and not a few. It is the time
that God will punish all that oppress them. That is not happening
today, the enemies of Israel and Judah are NOT being punished
today, in fact many of them prosper and are winning the battles
(verses 18-20).
It is the time when Jacob Israel will be able to approach
God and they will be His people and the Lord will be their God
(verses 21-22).
God will go forth with ANGER and FURY and perform that which
He has said will come on the earth. IT IS IN THE LATTER DAYS -
THE TIME OF THE END - THAT WE SHALL CONSIDER IT!! (verses 23-24).
YES, THE WHOLE CONTEXT OF THIS CHAPTER IS FRO THE END TIME,
THE LAST 42 MONTHS OF THIS AGE, AS BROUGHT OUT IN THE BOOK OF
REVELATION.
CHAPTER 31
It is at the SAME TIME (verse 1) that the Lord will be the
God of all the families of Israel.
Some of Israel will find grace even in the wilderness. God
will still love them. They will come and be built, they shall
once more sing and dance, they will plant vines on the mountains
of Samaria. Those watchmen on mount Ephraim shall cry, "arise
you, and let us go to Zion unto the Lord our God" (verses 2-6).
Jacob Israel shall be brought from the NORTH, and from the
coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the
woman with child, a GREAT COMPANY shall return. They will come
with WEEPING AND WITH SUPPLICATION GOD WILL LEAD THEM. He that
SCATTERED Jacob will GATHER them, as a shepherd does his flock.
The Lord has redeemed Jacob, and delivered them from the hand of
the enemy. There will be singing and prosperity as a watered
garden; there will be no more SORROW AT ALL, ANY MORE! (verses 7-
14).
This prophecy has NEVER be fulfilled! There is no way anyone
can say Jacob Israel has "not sorrow any more at all" (verse 12).
God will hear the cries of the people of Ephraim (the
British Commonwealth) in their captivity. Those people will
REPENT, they will be INSTRUCTED, they will be ASHAMED. God loves
the people of Ephraim. The Lord will be troubled for their
captivity and He will once more show MERCY upon them. The Eternal
will cry out for them to SEE and to RETURN to Him. It is the time
when there will be more women than men, when a woman will court a
suitor (verses 15-22).
It is the time when Judah will be inhabiting the land and
the cities once more, when there will be shepherds with their
flocks, and all sorrowful souls will be replenished. Jeremiah
woke from his sleep and it was sweet unto him (verses 23-26).
It is the time when God will sow the House of Israel and the
House of Judah with the seed of men and beast. All will be ONE
and all will be well, peace will come on the earth, for all
peoples and even the nature of animals will be changed as we saw
in the wonderful prophecy of Isaiah 11.
As God had thrown down and plucked up and destroyed Jacob
Israel, so He will watch over, to build, to plant, and restore
them. It will be the days of all dying for their own sins, the
ones who eat sour grapes, their teeth will pucker. It is the days
of true and equal justice for all people (27-30). Those days have
never yet come on this earth. This is a prophecy for the new age
to come.
"Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will make a NEW
covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah:
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in
the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the
land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was an
husband unto them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I
will make with the House of Israel; After those days, says the
Lord, I WILL PUT MY LAWS IN THEIR INWARD PARTS, AND WRITE IT IN
THEIR HEARTS; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY
PEOPLE. AND THEY SHALL TEACH NO MORE EVERY MAN HIS NEIGHBOR, AND
EVERY MAN HIS BROTHER, SAYING, 'KNOW THE LORD' FOR THEY SHALL ALL
KNOW ME, FROM THE LEAST OF THEM TO THE GREATEST OF THEM, SAYS THE
LORD, FOR I WILL FORGIVE THEIR INIQUITIES, AND I WILL REMEMBER
THEIR SINS NO MORE" (verses 31-34).
Read those words again friends. There is no way this
prophecy has ever been fulfilled, to any people, whoever you
think Jacob Israel is today. It will only come to pass when Jesus
the Christ, the Messiah, comes back to earth to re-establish the
people of Israel and Judah in the Holy Land, when He will pour
out the Holy Spirit upon them and forgive their sins. When they
will all have a personal relationship with their God. You will
notice that this personal relationship (no more having some
having to tell others about Christ and God) means THE LAWS OF GOD
ARE WRITTEN IN THE HEART! There is no "doing away with" the laws
of God (as many false teachers tell you today), BUT IT IS HAVING
GOD'S LAW IN THE INWARD PARTS. Jesus came to AMPLIFY the law not
"abolish" it, as can be seen from the famous "sermon on the
mount" in Matthew 5,6,7.
God as creator of the heavenly bodies and all physical
things on earth, says that if those ordinances depart from Him
then, and only then, shall Israel cease from being a nation
before Him forever. If you can measure the universe, or find the
foundations of the earth, then He will cast off the seed of
Israel (verses 35-37).
The time will come, after the GREAT TRIBULATION, the DAY OF
THE LORD, as we have seen in many other prophecies, that
Jerusalem will again be re-built (verses 38-40).
WHAT A WONDERFUL TWO CHAPTERS WE HAVE JUST STUDIED, BUT THAT
IS NOT ALL, THERE ARE TWO MORE TO BACK UP THE FIRST TWO.
CHAPTER 32
Jeremiah is shut up in the court of the prison, in the king
of Judah's house, as the Babylon army besieges Jerusalem. The
king Zedekiah had shut him up because of the things he was
preaching against him and Judah and Jerusalem. Often people just
do not want to hear the truth of God. They want to continue in
their own ways, they want to be sweetly relaxed to sleep, just do
not desire to be corrected and shown their sins and errors.
The next verses go into detail about Jeremiah buying a
field, for it was in the plan of God that "houses and fields and
vineyards, shall be possessed again in this land" (verses 7-15).
Jeremiah prays to the Lord in verses 16 to 25. God gives His
answer in verses 26 to 44.
The children of Israel and Judah have done evil, as is their
long term nature. All, their kings, their princes, their priests,
their prophets, the men of Judah and Jerusalem. Yes, it is all in
Israel and Judah that have sinned. Our leaders have sinned, our
religious leaders have sinned, our prophetic teachers have sinned
(and we sure have a glut of prophetic books on the book-shelves
today) - all have sinned. There is no true righteous people but a
very few in our lands today. We have turned our back to God,
though the Lord has His true servants teaching the truth of His
word. But we have set even the abominations of evil in the very
house of God, the temple of God, the Christian church. We have
sacrificed our children to false ideas and the way of life that
is towards false gods. Yes, even the Jews in Judah, are sinners
and follow false abominations. So our nations will be driven out
and our peoples scattered in captivity one day by the end time
Babylon spoken about in the book of Revelation.
This is the message for us in verses 30-36.
Then comes the GOOD NEWS!
"Behold I will gather them out of all countries, where I have
driven them in my anger, and in my fury, and in my great wrath;
and I will bring them again to this place, and I will cause them
to dwell safely: And they shall be my people, and I will be their
God. And I will give them a new heart, and ONE WAY, that they
shall fear me for ever, for their good, and for their children
after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them,
that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will
put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.
Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant
them in this land as surely with my whole heart and with my whole
soul. For thus says the Lord; Like as I have brought all this
great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the
good that I have promised them. And fields shall be bought in
this land, whereby you say, It is desolate without man or beast;
it is given into the hands of the Babylonians. Men shall buy
fields for money, and subscribe evidence, and seal them, and take
witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about
Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the
mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of
the south; for I will cause their captivity to return, says the
Lord" (verses 37-44).
As you read those previous verses slowly you will see that
NO SUCH IN-DEPTH happening has EVER come on Israel and/or Judah.
They have never had ONE HEART, ONE WAY, to FEAR the Lord forever.
There has never been a time when it could be said of any of the
tribes of Israel that they had the fear of the Lord in their
hearts "that they shall not depart from me."
ALL THIS PROPHECY IN ITS FULL FORM IS YET TO TAKE PLACE. IT
IS FOR THE TIME OF THE END WHEN GOD IN THE PERSON OF THE MESSIAH
CHRIST, WILL COME TO REGATHER ISRAEL AND JUDAH, AND POUR OUT HIS
SPIRIT ON THEM AND GIVE THEM THE HEART THAT WILL NEVER GO ASTRAY
FROM THEIR GOD AGAIN - EVER!!
CHAPTER 33
Jeremiah is given again the word of the Lord, the promise of
the Lord.
"And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of
Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first" (verses
1-7).
Note it is BOTH Israel and Judah, they both at the end time,
go into captivity together, at the same time, and so they will
both be delivered from their captivity at the same time.
God will cleanse them from their iniquity. They shall be a
joy to Him. They shall be an HONOR before all nations of the
earth (verses 8-9).
It can never be said that any tribe/s of Israel have EVER
been HONORED before all the nations of the earth. Many nations of
the earth have ALWAYS hated or had hostility towards some of the
peoples of Israel and Judah. When this prophecy is fulfilled in
its fullest form, at the coming of the Messiah and the new age,
then indeed ALL nations will HONOR the peoples of Israel and
Judah.
After the captivity at the end of this age, once more joy
and praise will fill the land of Judah (verses 10-13).
God has promised GOOD to come to Israel and Judah. It will
be: "In those days, and at that time, will I cause the BRANCH OF
RIGHTEOUSNESS to grow up unto David; and HE shall execute
judgment and righteousness in the land" (verse 15).
All students of the Bible know that this is talking about
the Messiah, who is to come and rule the world in judgment and
righteousness.
"In THOSE DAYS shall Judah BE SAVED, and Jerusalem shall DWELL
SAFELY: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, 'The
Lord our Righteousness'" (verse 16).
Judah, the Jews are NOT SAVED today! They are not saved
spiritually, nor even in any physical way. Many people still hate
them and fight against them. Jerusalem is still not a safe city.
The city and the Jews are NOT today called "The Lord Our
Righteousness."
This prophecy is yet to come to pass. It is for a future
time, when the Messiah shall come and reign in glory from the
city of Jerusalem, for a THOUSAND YEARS!
It is the time when Jesus will sit on the throne of David,
which is now within the peoples of the House of Israel. Now
occupied by the British kings and queens, but will at the end
time, go to the King of kings and Lord of lords. It is the time
when the Ezekiel Temple is built, when the Levite priesthood will
be re-established, when sacrifices will again be instituted in
that Temple at Jerusalem. All of this is fully expounded upon in
various studies on this Website (verses 17-18).
It will be an unbroken time when for 1,000 years this will
remain the state of Judah and Jerusalem (verses 19-22).
The prophecy ends with the fact that during the days of
Jeremiah people were saying that God could not be faithful to his
promises because BOTH Israel and Judah were now CAST OFF. And no
doubt it will be said again at the end time when Israel and Judah
will go into captivity and be to the world, "cast off."
God answers by saying that if the covenant with night and
day can be cast off, if the ordinances of the heaven and earth
can be cast off, then God will cast away the seed of Jacob, and
David His servant, so that He will not take someone of David's
seed to rule over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
God says He will cause the captivity of Israel and Judah to
return, they will be delivered from their enemies; God will have
MERCY on them! (verses 23-26).
The whole three chapters we have just studied from Jeremiah
is a great and wonderful prophecy to yet come to pass in its full
detail. It is written because as God told Jeremiah, there is to
be an END TIME captivity of Israel and Judah and a restoration of
all things, to take place when the Messiah Christ comes to
deliver the people of Jacob from their captivity, to restore them
to the Holy Land, and when the Messiah will sit upon the throne
of David, ruling all nations from Jerusalem for 1,000 years.
...................
To be continued
Jeremiah For Today
Chapters 34 to 45
These chapters have no relation to the modern world and what
is yet to take place in Bible prophecy. They are chapters and
history of Jeremiah, relative to his time and dealings with the
king/s of Judah.
You may like to read them in a modern translation. Certainly
lessons can be taken from these chapters.
CHAPTER 34
Jeremiah warns Zedekiah (verses 1-7)
Proclamation of Liberty Broken (verses 8-22)
CHAPTER 35
The Faithful Rechabites (verses 1-11)
Unfaithful Judah (verses 12-19)
CHAPTER 36
Baruch Transcribes Jeremiah's Prophecy (verses 1-8)
Baruch Reads the Roll (verses 9-19)
The King Burns the Roll (verses 20-31)
CHAPTER 37
Retreat of the Chaldeans (verses 1-10)
Jeremiah Imprisoned (verses 11-21)
CHAPTER 38
Jeremiah Rescued from Starvation (verses 1-13)
The King's Audience with Jeremiah (verses 14-28)
CHAPTER 39
Jerusalem's Fall and Zedekiah's Fate (verses 1-10)
Nebuchadrezzar's Treatment of Jeremiah (verses 11-18)
CHAPTER 40
Jeremiah Stays in Judah (verses 1-6)
Gedaliah Made Governor (verses 7-12)
Plot against Gedaliah's Life (verses 13-16)
CHAPTER 41
Gedaliah is Killed (verses 1-3)
Johanan Rescues the People of Mizpah (verses 4-18)
CHAPTER 42
Jeremiah Counsels against Flight (verses 1-22)
CHAPTER 43
The Remnant Flees to Egypt (verses 1-13)
CHAPTER 44
The Remnant Rebuked by Jeremiah (verses 1-14)
Defiance of the People (verses 15-19)
Jeremiah Prophesies Punishment (verses 20-30)
CHAPTER 45
Consolation for Baruch (verses 1-5)
We note in these chapters that the king of Babylon slew the
sons of Zedekiah. The king had left only DAUGHTERS. Jeremiah,
Baruch, and the king's daughters came into the land of Egypt
(chapter 39:6 and 43:6,7).
We see that the words of God as He spoke against, note ...
Israel and Judah (two separate kingdoms) are to be written in a
roll of a book (chapter 36:2); perhaps the two kingdoms will hear
and REPENT!
We can see here the lesson of REJECTION OF THE PROPHETIC
WORD of the Lord as given by one of His servants. So today,
although the prophetic word is SHOUTED OUT to Israel and Judah,
by the servants of the Most High, the LEADERS of Israel and Judah
will REJECT IT. History does and WILL REPEAT itself! (chapter
36).
....................
To be continued
|
Jeremiah For TodayChapters 34 to 45
These chapters have no relation to the modern world and what
is yet to take place in Bible prophecy. They are chapters and
history of Jeremiah, relative to his time and dealings with the
king/s of Judah.
You may like to read them in a modern translation. Certainly
lessons can be taken from these chapters.
CHAPTER 34
Jeremiah warns Zedekiah (verses 1-7)
Proclamation of Liberty Broken (verses 8-22)
CHAPTER 35
The Faithful Rechabites (verses 1-11)
Unfaithful Judah (verses 12-19)
CHAPTER 36
Baruch Transcribes Jeremiah's Prophecy (verses 1-8)
Baruch Reads the Roll (verses 9-19)
The King Burns the Roll (verses 20-31)
CHAPTER 37
Retreat of the Chaldeans (verses 1-10)
Jeremiah Imprisoned (verses 11-21)
CHAPTER 38
Jeremiah Rescued from Starvation (verses 1-13)
The King's Audience with Jeremiah (verses 14-28)
CHAPTER 39
Jerusalem's Fall and Zedekiah's Fate (verses 1-10)
Nebuchadrezzar's Treatment of Jeremiah (verses 11-18)
CHAPTER 40
Jeremiah Stays in Judah (verses 1-6)
Gedaliah Made Governor (verses 7-12)
Plot against Gedaliah's Life (verses 13-16)
CHAPTER 41
Gedaliah is Killed (verses 1-3)
Johanan Rescues the People of Mizpah (verses 4-18)
CHAPTER 42
Jeremiah Counsels against Flight (verses 1-22)
CHAPTER 43
The Remnant Flees to Egypt (verses 1-13)
CHAPTER 44
The Remnant Rebuked by Jeremiah (verses 1-14)
Defiance of the People (verses 15-19)
Jeremiah Prophesies Punishment (verses 20-30)
CHAPTER 45
Consolation for Baruch (verses 1-5)
We note in these chapters that the king of Babylon slew the
sons of Zedekiah. The king had left only DAUGHTERS. Jeremiah,
Baruch, and the king's daughters came into the land of Egypt
(chapter 39:6 and 43:6,7).
We see that the words of God as He spoke against, note ...
Israel and Judah (two separate kingdoms) are to be written in a
roll of a book (chapter 36:2); perhaps the two kingdoms will hear
and REPENT!
We can see here the lesson of REJECTION OF THE PROPHETIC
WORD of the Lord as given by one of His servants. So today,
although the prophetic word is SHOUTED OUT to Israel and Judah,
by the servants of the Most High, the LEADERS of Israel and Judah
will REJECT IT. History does and WILL REPEAT itself! (chapter
36).
....................
To be continued
Jeremiah For Today
Chapters 46 to 49
CHAPTER 46
Prophecy concerning Egypt
Now we come to a series of prophecies against Gentile
nations. The battle horses, buckler, and shield, with spears. The
Ethiopians are with them. She is the "daughter" of Egypt (verses
1-11).
It is the king of Babylon who is to come against Egypt
(verse 13). The descendant daughter of Egypt is to prepare
herself to go into captivity. Destruction comes out of the NORTH.
The daughter of Egypt is to be confounded, delivered into the
hands of the people from the North. She is to be punished by the
Babylon of the North (verses 14-26).
Isaiah, and Ezekiel, had prophecies against the empire of
Egypt. Daniel chapter 11:40-45 speaks of the king of the North
coming against Egypt/Ethiopia the king of the south, in the last
days, just before the Great Tribulation comes on the earth, a
time of trouble like no other in recorded history of mankind (see
Daniel 12).
There is yet to form a "king of the south" - it will be
spear-headed by Egypt. Yes, Egypt is yet to rise up on the world
scene and head a united Arab confederation of nations. Egypt was
on the main stage of the world scene back in the late 1960s and
1970s. For a while it did look like this king of the south was
being formed in those decades, but it was not to be. For 20 or
more years now, Egypt has not played a major role on the world
scene. God is able, at His will, to SLOW DOWN the prophecies. It
seems right now, that it is His will. Europe has made headway in
UNITING, but it is going relatively SLOW! Only in the last year
(2007/2008) has all pass-ports been done away with for people in
the Europe Common Market nations to travel freely. The king of
the North is still some years away from forming into the
political, economical, and military MIGHT that she is prophesied
to become at the time of the end. Then that should not be a
surprise as such, for she is said to RISE QUICKLY and fall just
as quickly. She is only to REIGN over the Western world, in full
control of the West, for a few years.
Egypt is yet to come on the scene once more as a leading
nation of the Middle-East. She is to lead an Arab unity of
nations. She and her allies will form the"king of the South" of
the last verses of Daniel 11. We are not told why or how she will
"push at" the "king of the North" - but she will. The king of the
North will come against her and win the battle over her. The king
of the North then proceeds to enter the Holy Land and to set her
armies around the city of Jerusalem. The city will fall, the Jews
will be defeated in whatever battle they can muster up against
the might of the Europe Beast/Babylon. And so the arm of this
Beast Europe will flex against the rest of the Western world. The
Israel nations of the West (most importantly the British
Commonwealth nations and the United States of America) will be
defeated, and so Israel and Judah will go into captivity to our
enemy "lovers" (as the book of Ezekiel calls them). The Great
Tribulation will then be on the earth, and we shall be into the
last 42 months of this age, before Jesus RETURNS to destroy those
who are destroying the earth, and to set up the Kingdom of God
over all nations for His reign of ONE THOUSAND YEARS!
As we look at the MIGHTY POWER of arms that the Jews have
today in the Holy Land, as we look at the MIGHTY POWER of arms
the British and Americans have today, we wonder how on earth they
could be conquered and taken into captivity to the lands of their
lover enemies. It would seem an impossibility for such a thing to
happen. Well the Almighty God can certainly bring down a nation
or nations if that is His will. He has no doubt MANY WAYS to do
it, with the force of nature as just one of them. The
Beast/Babylon power of Europe is to have a MIRACLE working FALSE
prophet as one of the TWO men who will lead this end time Empire,
according to the book of Revelation. Will this miracle working
prophet use various MIRACLES of destruction on the peoples of
Judah/Jerusalem and Israel? It is certainly quite possible that
he will.
However it will play out, the fact is God has prophesied it
WILL HAPPEN as His word states it will. There is NOTHING
IMPOSSIBLE for God to accomplish!
Within the end time frame, God calls out to Jacob Israel:
"But fear not, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel:
for, behold, I will SAVE YOU from afar off, and your seed from
the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall RETURN, and be in
rest and ease, and none shall make him afraid" (verse 27). Has it
ever been said that Jacob Israel has been in rest and ease, where
none has made him afraid? If you think Jacob Israel are only the
Jews, you have even less of an argument that they have ever been
in rest and ease and where none has made them afraid.
This is a prophecy for the very end time, when the Messiah
shall come and rescue Israel Jacob and truly give them rest and
ease and indeed none shall ever make them afraid again.
"Fear you not, O Jacob my servant, says the Lord: for I am with
you; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have
driven you: but I will not make a full end of you, but correct
you in measure; yet will I not leave you wholly unpunished"
(verse 28).
Obviously from all that is written in the prophets, the full
end of other nations is in contrast to not making a full of
Israel Jacob. We know from another prophecy that only about ONE
IN TEN will be left alive in Israel and Judah at the end time,
hence a full end of other nations will be that they will have
EVEN LESS than one in ten left alive by the end of this age.
CHAPTER 47
Prophecy concerning Philistia
This is a prophecy concerning the peoples of the
Palestinians, the ancient Philistines that fought Israel and
Judah so much in their history, and which still fight Judah to
this very day.
It is from the NORTH that waters of armies will fill up and
overflow as a flood. It is the time of the noise of war horses
and chariots of armies, coming, coming, where people will flee in
such a manner that the fathers will not look back to see if their
children are following, there will be feebleness of hands. The
time of the Lord to spoil the Philistines has come. Jeremiah
calls out as to how long the sword will be out of its scabbard to
kill and plunder, how long before it is put to rest and will be
still. The Lord answers, "How can it be quiet, seeing the Lord
has given it a charge against Ashkelton, and against the sea
shore (the West bank). There has He appointed it" (verses 1-7).
When the king of the North comes into the Holy Land, not
only will the people of Judah be punished and driven out but many
of the people of the sea shore, the west bank, the people of
Palestinia, also will come under the sword of war.
CHAPTER 48
Prophecy concerning Moab
The people of Moab today are the people of Jordan, the
Jordanians. This prophecy is also found in Ezekiel 25.
Moab is destroyed, her little ones have caused a cry to be
heard. They are to FLEE, save their lives. Because of trusting in
their own works, their own power and strength, they are to be
taken and go forth into captivity. The destroyer is come. Moab is
to be given wings, or they are to act as if they have wings, to
get out, flee! For the cities will be desolate. Because they have
been at ease, not seen captivity, settled on their lees, so God
will send those that will make them wander and flee (verses 1-
12).
They may say they are mighty and strong men of war, but her
youth shall be dashed and go to the slaughter. The Jordanians
will find calamity and affliction. The spoiler will come upon
her. They magnified themselves AGAINST the Lord in their way of
life, and so they shall wallow in their vomit, and be a derision
to others. For Israel was held in derision by her, and they
skipped for joy over her troubles and destruction (verses 13-27).
Those that dwell in Jordan are told to leave the cities and
dwell in the rocks, and be like the dove that makes its home in
the hole here and there. Jordan is full of PRIDE, LOFTINESS,
ARROGANCE, AND HAUGHTINESS OF HEART (verses 28-29).
The Lord says He has determined to take gladness from
Moab/Jordan. There will be lamentation on the housetops of Moab,
and in the streets, for the Lord has BROKEN Jordan like a vessel
wherein is no pleasure. The mighty men's hearts in Jordan at that
day shall be as the heart of a woman in her birth pangs. And
Jordan shall be destroyed from being a people, because in her
ways she magnified herself against the Lord. Fear, and the pit,
and the snare, shall be upon the Jordanians. He that flees from
the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that gets up out of the
pit shall be taken in the snare. It will be the time to punish
the peoples of Moab Jordan.
Her sons and daughters are to be taken captive. Yet the Lord
will bring them out of their captivity in the LATTER DAYS!!
(verses 30-47).
Yes, this is a prophecy for THE LATTER DAYS!! The END TIME
of this age!!
Who is to punish the peoples of the Jordan area of the Holy
Land? The answer is found in Ezekiel 25. IT IS THE MEN OF THE
EAST who are to possess the Jordan area in the last days (the
peoples of Moab and Ammon). The Europe Babylon will not have all
of the Middle East under her control in the last days. The powers
of the EAST - Russia, China, India etc. shall have a vital role
to play in the Middle East. The power of the East shall be
present in the Holy Land also in those last 42 months of the end
of this age. The focal point of prophecy is centered around
Jerusalem. The men of the East will not be left out of the events
of the last years of this age.
CHAPTER 49
Prophecy concerning Ammon
This is also the area of Jordan. This prophecy is also found
in Ezekiel 25. Ammon came from a son of Lot by his daughter
(Gen.19:38). The same for Moab, a son of Lot by his eldest
daughter (Gen.19:30-38). Most Bible encyclopedia works give this
as the area of the Trans-Jordanian state with its inhabitants,
lying E of the Dead Sea.
God will give the whole Jordan area to the men of the East.
They shall wander, they will be driven out. But afterwards, when
their punishment is complete, they shall be BROUGHT BACK from
captivity (verses 1-6), and come under the rule of the Messiah
and the Kingdom of God on earth.
Prophecy concerning Edom
Edom today is Turkey. We find this prophecy also in Ezekiel
25 and 35.
Turkey is to be made bare. His seed will be spoiled. The
land of Turkey is to be a desolation, an astonishment, people
will hiss for all her plagues. It will become like that of Sodom
and Gomorah, no man shall abide there. The earth is moved at her
fall, even the noise is heard in the Red sea.
The prophet OBADIAH has the most details on the fall of Edom
or Turkey. Because they took vengeance on the Jews as they fled
north at the coming of the Europe Beast power into the Holy Land,
so God will avenge His people by making Turkey a desolation, and
it is the people of Israel who, coming back from the captivity in
the lands of Europe, will, as they come across Turkey back to the
Holy Land, as the Messiah delivers them on His coming to earth,
shall lay their hand on the people of Turkey (Edom) and carry out
the punishment God has decreed (see also Isaiah 11:1-16).
We shall cover in detail the prophecy against Edom Turkey
when I expound the book of Obadiah.
Prophecy concerning Damascus
Damascus is the area she has always been. The well known
city NE of Mt.Hermon. It is the capital of Syria today. (we see a
prophecy against Syria in Isaiah 17:3 and in Ezekiel 27:16 where
she is one of the many trading powers of the end-time Europe
Tyrus; also the prophecy of Amos 1:3-5 where Syria Damascus is to
go into captivity).
The Middle East will be the center of end time prophecy and
many areas will be destroyed and taken captive by the might of
the Europe Beast power and the might of the power of the East, to
the men of east and north of the Euphrates river (see Revelation
16:12). The East power shall have a presence in the Holy Land
which will be given even more strength as they come across the
Euphrates to take part in the battle of Armageddon against
Christ's armies, upon His coming again to rule the world
(Revelation 16).
Prophecies concerning Kedar and Hazor
Kedar (a son of Ishmael: Gen.25:13) and Hazor (an area
somewhere in the Arabian desert east of Palestine). They are part
of the Arab world today.
If this prophecy applies today, it will be a part of the
king of the South that is conquered by the king of the North, as
in Daniel 11:40-45. Or to become a part of the power of the East,
taken by the East power before Christ comes again.
Prophecy concerning Elam
Elam was a son of Shem, and the progenitor of the Elamites
(Gen.10:22; 1 Chron. 1:17). Elam is the Biblical designation of a
people and country in the southern area of the Iranian plateau in
the Zagros mountains E and NE of the valley of the present
Iranian province of Khuzistan).
The bow of Elam (the strength of arms) is to be broken. God
will bring the four winds from the four quarters of the heaven,
and will scatter them towards the winds; and there shall be no
nation wither the outcasts of Elam shall not come. Elam will be
dismayed before their enemies, evil will come on them, even the
fierce anger of the Lord; a sword shall go after them till they
are destroyed. Elam will come under the throne of the Lord, and
in the LATTER DAYS, they shall be delivered from their captivity
(verses 43-39).
Is this a prophecy about Iran in the last days? Yes, it
could well be. It may be that the king of the North in coming
against the king of the South and winning the battle will be
defeating also the Iran power, as they may well be part of the
king of the South of Daniel 11:40-45.
Then on the other hand, it may well be the power to the
EAST, the North and East of the Euphrates river, the Russia and
China and India and Japan etc. world power, in the last days that
will punish and desolate the Iran Elam power. Either way, Elam is
to be punished and destroyed, then those scattered and remaining
to the coming of the Messiah shall be re-gathered and restored
and brought under the rulership of the Kingdom of God.
We see in these prophecies of Jeremiah and as contained in
Ezekiel, and somewhat in Isaiah, the dividing up of the EAST FROM
THE WEST in the LATTER DAYS, the end of this age. We see THREE
MIGHTY POWERS on earth - the Europe Babylon Beast power, the king
of the North; the Arab confederation, the king of the South; the
Eastern block of power, the kings East of Euphrates. The West
power of Britain and the USA will be there but at that time they
will not be as predominant as the other THREE great powers.
Something will transpire between the king of the South and the
king of the North; the king of the North will come against the
king of the South and win the battle. The king of the North will
march into Jerusalem and the Holy Land. The East power will also
march into the Holy Land. Both powers will claim certain land
areas, conquering certain nations to do so. The Europe Beast
Babylon power will destroy Judah and Jerusalem and also the rest
of Jacob Israel; the Great Tribulation on Jacob (British
Commonwealth, USA, nations of North-West Europe, Judah in the
Holy Land) shall come to be - a tribulation the like of which the
world has never seen before nor will ever see again. The Beast of
Europe with the woman Babylon church will reign supreme over the
Western world. The mark of the Beast will be imposed. The
political "beast man" and the false prophet will set their
headquarters in Jerusalem. There will now be only TWO WORLD
POWERS - The Babylon Beast and the kings of the East. They will
face each other. The Beast power will try to conquer the East;
the East power will counter-attack (Revelation 9) and a war will
come that IF NOT STOPPED, would indeed OBLITERATE EVERY HUMAN
LIFE from off this planet earth.
Jesus will COME, with the armies of angels from heaven. The
RESURRECTION of the SAINTS will take place. The angels will go
forth and gather the saints from all corners of the earth; they
will come together with Christ in the air, in the CLOUDS of this
earth; they will receive their rewards on the sea of glass; they
will proceed with Jesus to the Mount of Olives at Jerusalem. The
Europe Beast power with the armies from the East of Euphrates
will gather at Armageddon to FIGHT against the Christ and His
armies, whom the false prophet will have the world believing is
the anti-christ or/and an invasion from outer-space as the power
of the Devil. Christ and His armies will defeat the armies of the
world and will establish the Kingdom of God on earth.
All this I have given to you in much detail in many other
studies on this Website.
THERE IS MUCH TO YET BE SHAPED AND COME TO PASS ON THE WORLD
SCENE TO PREPARE FOR THESE PROPHECIES TO BE FULFILLED. IT MAY
WELL BE ANOTHER DECADE OR MORE FOR THE FULL RISE OF THE EUROPE
BEAST POWER AND THE COMING EGYPT LED ARAB KING OF THE SOUTH, TO
FORM AND SHAPE THE DESTINY OF THE LAST DAYS. THE POWER OF THE
KINGS OF THE EAST IS CLOSE TO HAPPENING, AS CAN BE SEEN FROM THE
RISE OF CHINA IN THE LAST FEW DECADES. RUSSIA HAS BEEN A POWER
FOR SOME TIME; PAKISTAN AND INDIA HAVE THE ATOMIC BOMB. THE EAST
IS ALREADY A MIGHTY POWER IN ITS OWN RIGHT. THE ARABS NEED TO
FORMULATE AND GLUE TOGETHER AS A MIGHTY POWER. EUROPE MARCHES ON
TO ECONOMIC MIGHT AND RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE, THEN TO FINAL
MILITARY POWER EQUAL TO ANY OTHER EMPIRE ON THE EARTH.
GOD IS THE ONE IN CHARGE. HE SETS THE TIME FRAME. REMEMBER
THAT TO HIM 40, OR 50 YEARS, IS AS NOTHING, COUNTED AS A GRAIN OF
SAND ON THE VASTNESS OF THE SEA SHORE. BUT WHAT IS WRITTEN IS
SURE. WHAT IS WRITTEN WILL ONE DAY COME TO PASS!!
....................
To be continued
Jeremiah For Today
Chapters 50 to 52
CHAPTER 50
Prophecy concerning Babylon
Here and in Isaiah we have, outside the book of Revelation,
the longest denouncing and fall of Babylon.
The destruction she faces will come from the NORTH! North of
the modern Europe Babylon is RUSSIA! Truly the Russian empire
with China, will be an important factor in end time events. It is
Russia that will come against the last days resurrected Holy
Roman Empire of Babylon the Whore, as mentioned in the book of
Revelation (verses 1-3).
THE TIME FRAME is clearly given in verses 4-5. It is the
time when the children of Israel will COME, together with the
children of Judah; going and weeping, and seeking the Lord. They
shall ask the way to Zion, saying "Come, and let us join
ourselves to the Lord, in a PERPETUAL COVENANT that shall NOT BE
FORGOTTEN!
Never in history, since the days of the DIVIDING of the 13
tribes of Israel into the House of Israel and the House of Judah,
have they COME TOGETHER, seeking Zion, and making a PERPETUAL
COVENANT that has never been forgotten. There is no way this
prophecy has EVER BEEN FULFILLED!
IT IS A PROPHECY FOR THE LAST DAYS - THE END TIME - THE
COMING OF THE MESSIAH IN GLORY TO RULE ALL ISRAEL AND ALL THE
WORLD!
It is the time when Israel and Judah have lost their way,
have been scattered into the lands of their enemies, when they
have been devoured by their adversaries; when their enemies think
they have not sinned by destroying them, for they have destroyed
a people that no longer served their God.
Israel and Judah are told to move out of Babylon (Revelation
18:4) for God will bring a GREAT NATION from the NORTH, and they
shall set themselves in array against her; her warfare is
conducted with a mighty expertise - Babylon shall be spoiled.
Because Babylon was glad in destroying God's heritage people, and
because they had grown fat as a heifer at grass, their
destruction is near. All who see it will hiss and be astonished
at all her plagues, for her destruction will come quickly and
indeed many will shake their head in wonderment that so mighty an
Empire could fall so suddenly (verses 9-16; see Revelation 18:7-
19).
Assyria and Babylon, the TWO mighty enemies of all the 13
tribes of Israel, the two enemies that have come together in the
last days, to destroy both Israel and Judah, it is the last days
indeed. For it is the time when the INIQUITY of Israel shall be
sort for but there shall be NONE! And the sins of Judah shall not
be FOUND! It is the time when Israel and Judah are FORGIVEN their
sins and iniquities (verses 17-20).
THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A TIME WHEN BOTH HOUSES OF ISRAEL HAVE
BOTH BEEN FORGIVEN AT THE SAME TIME AND RESTORED TO ZION WITH AN
EVERLASTING COVENANT THAT SHALL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN!
The Coming Slaughter of Babylon
Babylon will receive her judgement as she has striven
against the Lord. It is God's time to pay her for her sins. Those
who manage to flee Babylon and go to Zion shall say it is the
time of God's vengeance. She shall be recompensed according to
her works. She has drunk the blood of the saints and so blood she
will have. Her young men shall fall in the streets, and her men
of war cut off. Her proud shall stumble and fall, there shall be
fire in her cities.
Read Revelation 18 and see that there is an end time Babylon
that is spoken about not only in Isaiah and Jeremiah, but also in
the end time book of the New Testament.
Israel's and Judah's Redeemer is Strong
It is the time when Israel and Judah are oppressed TOGETHER!
When they who took them captive refused to let them go. But the
Lord God of Israel is stronger than all, and it is now Babylon
that shall be punished (verses 33-34).
War and Desolation to come on Babylon
A sword is coming upon Babylon. Her mighty men shall be
dismayed. The sword is upon her MINGLED people - Babylon - Europe
- is today a mixture of many different races of people. A drought
is upon her waters: for she is a people of graven images, her
religion is full of images of this supposed saint and that saint.
The very city - the capital city of this empire - Babylon Rome -
will be laid bare and no man nor beast will inhabit it (verses
35-39).
When you think of the evil that has come from Rome
throughout the centuries, what she as a city and religion have
perpetrated on this earth, it is no wonder God will make an
example of this city for generations into the millennium age
(verses 39-40).
A people from the NORTH, with many kings from the coasts of
the earth - China - India - Japan - a CRUEL people who will show
no mercy. They will come in battle against the DAUGHTER
(descendant of) Babylon (verses 41-42).
At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is MOVED,
and a cry is heard among the nations (verse 46). Truly this will
be an event that will shake the earth and effect all nations. It
is the time of the TWO WOES of Revelation 9, the 5th and 6th
TRUMPETS!
CHAPTER 51
Judgment of Guilty Babylon
The sword is ready to come. The shout goes out to FLEE from
Babylon, as the Lord's vengeance is about to come on her
(Revelation 18:4). Babylon has been a golden cup in the Lord's
hand (all things are allowed of God); she has made the earth
DRUNKEN; the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the
nations are MAD! (see Revelation 17:4).
Babylon is SUDDENLY fallen and destroyed: howl for her (see
Revelation 14:8; 18:2,9,11,19).
Babylon is not healed. Go out of her. Her judgment reaches
to heaven, and is lifted up to the skies (see Revelation 18:5).
The Medes to Execute Judgment
It is the time of the Lord's vengeance and He will use the
Medes - the men of the East - the men of the North - the army of
the Medes - the Russia/China Empire. As it has been in the recent
past, Europe thinking it can destroy the Eastern Empire and so
rule the entire world, so it will once more do the same, come
against the East, the 5th Trumpet of the book of Revelation. But
the men of the East will counter-attack and will destroy the
cities of Babylon Europe - that will be the 6th Trumpet of the
book of Revelation.
She will be destroyed in God's time. Yet she will for a
while dwell among many waters (nations - see Revelation 17:15)
and her abundant treasures. Before that event of her destruction
it is true that God will use this Babylon of Europe as His battle
axe, to break in pieces many nations - many people - old and
young, the war rider, the men and women, the young man and the
maiden, the spiritual shepherd and the flock, the working farmer,
the captains and the rulers. She will be rendered the evil that
she has done on Zion. Though she has been a destroying kingdom
(mountain) in the hands of the Lord, she will have the Lord's
hand stretched out on her, and she will become a burning fire of
a kingdom - desolate forever in many ways (verses 20-26).
BLOW THE TRUMPET! Call for the nations of the Medes, the
Lord will make the land of Babylon a desolation, without an
inhabitant. One messenger will meet another messenger as they run
to tell the king of Babylon the doom cast over her. As Europe is
destroyed by the powers of the East, messengers will carry the
news to the beast man and the false prophet dwelling in Jerusalem
and the Holy Land. It will be that the DAUGHTER of Babylon is to
be THRESHED and the time of the harvest come (verses 27-33).
This all fits in with the many prophecies in the book of
Revelation. The fall of the end time Babylon; the threshing of
the harvest of the world.
The modern Babylon of Rome will be destroyed and will be
desolate with no inhabitants; it will be an astonishment; it will
be a hissing. This last daughter Empire of Babylon will be as
lambs to the slaughter. It will be a surprise and an ASTONISHMENT
AMONG THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH! It is as if the sea had come up
and covered her Empire. Her cities are desolated. The wall of her
might shall fall!
Once more God cries out to His people to GET OUT of her,
certainly in the spiritual side of her, that a man may save his
soul from the anger of the Lord (verses 34-45).
The day is coming when God will render judgment on Babylon
and her false images of physical hope and spiritual vanity. It
will be the time when the heaven and the earth will figuratively
SING FOR JOY when the spoiler from the North is sent to destroy
her.
As Babylon caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon
shall fall the slain of all the earth. Though this modern
daughter of Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she can
fortify her height of strength, from the Lord will come the ones
who shall spoil her and cause her destruction (verses 46-53).
The Noise of Her Destruction
It is the Lord's will that Babylon is to be destroyed, that
as they made the world drunk on her spiritual fornications
(Revelation 17:1-6), so her mighty men shall be drunk with blood
and destruction. Her beauty, her high walls, her seeming splendor
of the physical and the spiritual shall come crashing down in the
fires of destruction (verses 54-58).
So ends the prophecies of Jeremiah as that which pertains to
today and beyond, as we proceed to the end of this age.
The last verses of chapter 51 are verses that tell us the
SURE WORD of this prophecy that Babylon the Great, the mother of
Harlots and Abominations of the earth, the daughter Babylon of
the end time book of Revelation, will be DESTROYED, and will rise
no more.
CHAPTER 52
Historical events
The Capture of Jerusalem (verses 1-11)
Jerusalem Destroyed (verses 12-30)
Pardon of Jehoiachin (verses 31-34)
SO IT IS WRITTEN AND SO IT WILL COME TO PASS, if the nations of
the earth will not REPENT!
.....................
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