GOSPELS STORY CHAPT. 46-- ALL DISCIPLES BELIEVE JESUS IS ALIVE

 

 

Chapter Forty-six:

The Disciples finally Believe Jesus is Immortally Alive!

THOMAS GETS TO SEE JESUS The Gospel of John says it was "eight days later." Now the Bible uses "inclusive" counting and it uses "exclusive" counting. If John was using "inclusive" counting then that first day, when Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene, the other women, to Peter, and then the other nine disciples, was day number one.....eight days later was then a another Sunday. If John was using "exclusive" counting, then day number one was a Monday and day number eight was a Monday. So either a Sunday or Monday, ALL eleven disciples, including Thomas, were together in the same room as before, with the doors (the Jews were still in an angry mood towards them) shut tight. But the doors shut, made no difference for Jesus. He was now glorified, and doors being shut.....well He had no need of doors. He could appear anywhere He desired. Those born of God, made immortal, have the power to be themselves wherever they will, shall we say, molecule their atoms as invisible and put those atoms back together as physical, wherever and whenever they desire. The eleven disciples were together behind closed door, and in the blink of an eye, Jesus stood among them, and said, "Peace be with you." The apostles were STARTLED and even frightened (remember only Peter of the eleven had already seen Jesus, and that was eight days ago), they thought they were seeing a spirit or a ghost. Here we need to understand a few things that the Bible in an overall way teaches. We can see in the Bible that God has the power to make Himself flesh and bone (it was God that came to Abraham and had a meal with him, in Genesis 18), and God can show His glorified form, His back parts (because no man can live if they saw His glorified face and front parts (see Exodus 33: 11-23), to a human, if He so chooses. Angels, the good righteous ones, who obey and serve God, can also appear to humans as flesh and bone. We have many examples of this throughout the Bible. And Paul told us to entertain strangers, for in so doing some have entertained angels and did not know it (Hebrews 13:2). The other two person that came with the Lord to Abraham (Genesis 18) were angels. They went on to Sodom and Gomorrah. They actually took hold of Lot at one point and pulled him back into the house (see Genesis 19: 10). Angels can then transform themselves into flesh and bone if they need to. But the fallen angels, or those known as "demons" in the Bible, are NEVER ever said to be able to do such a transformation, as to become flesh and bone. They can only appear to mankind as a "spirit" or "ghost" type. And they have and still do, appear to people as a "spirit." If you were able, or if they allowed you to walk up to them and reach out to touch them, you would touch nothing, your hand or arm would just pass right through them, come out the other side, and you would feel nothing. God has NOT given the RIGHT or the POWER for fallen angels or demons to appear as flesh and bone, and we can be mighty thankful He had not, for they do enough evil damage on this earth as it is, without having the power to transform themselves into flesh and bone. Just think what a mess, much bigger and faster than we could ever imagine, we would be in, if demon spirits could appear as flesh and bone people. We would never know which human was really a demon spirit. That is a frightening thought just to imagine, but praise the Lord He has never allowed demon spirits to appear as flesh and bone humans, only as "ghost" type phantoms. When Jesus now appeared, HE just stood in the midst of the apostles (in a split second not there, and the next spilt second there among them), they were frightened, thinking they were seeing an evil spirit, looking like a Jewish man, looking in fact a lot like Jesus. Christ said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do you have questions in your heart about what you are seeing? See, look, my hands and my feet, that it is myself; come handle me and see; for a spirit ghost has not flesh and bones as you see that I have." And while they still were in a disbelief for joy and wonderment, He said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave Him a piece of broiled fish, and He took it and ate it before them. A spirit ghost it would seem cannot do such a thing. Another impossibility God has proclaimed on demon spirits. Yes evil spirits can only do certain things, God has not allowed them to do other things that could deceived the human race even more than they are deceived already by their own human nature and Satan's influence. Good righteous spirit angels as we can see from Genesis 18 and other places, can appear as flesh and bone, and eat a meal with humans. They, being righteous and faithful to God, would NEVER with those miraculous attributes use them to harm or deceive the people of this earth. Jesus now looked over at Thomas, and said to him, Put your finger here, and see my hands; put out your hand and place it in my side; do NOT be FAITHLESS, but BELIEVING!" And Thomas answered, "O my LORD, and my GOD!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seem me? BLESSED are THOSE who have NOT SEEN and yet BELIEVE" (Luke 24: 36-43; John 20: 26-29). Thomas got his chance to see Jesus and believe. We who have come AFTER all this, after Jesus returned to the Father in heaven, have not seen Jesus in this manner, but Jesus said those who have not seen Him but BELIEVE anyway, are truly BLESSED. One day, when Christ returns, we with millions of others, will see Jesus, we will be able to see Him as flesh and bone, and also as spiritually glorified, in His GLORIOUS POWER form, that is portrayed to us in Revelation 1: 11-15. We will be able to see Him from a frontal view, not just the back parts as Moses was only allowed to see, but we shall see His face, and we shall live, because we then shall also be in our glorified spiritual bodies, we also shall be able to appear to humans as flesh and bone, as being a part of the very family of God. Jesus departed from them. A few days went by and they were reminded by the women who had gone to the tomb that very early morning, on the Sunday during the feast of Unleavened Bread, that Jesus had said He would go before them to the Galilee area, and so meaning they, the apostles should go there also. In fact Jesus had unstructed the women to tell the apostles to go to Galilee. So they all set off for the land of Galilee. Some of them at least, maybe all of them, were at or very near the shore of Tiberias. Sometimes the Sea of Galilee is called Sea of Tiberias, after the name of the Roman emperor Tiberias Caesar. There was also a town situated on the south west shore of the Sea, called Tiberias. On one particular day Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee (James and John), and two others of Jesus' disciples were together, seven of them. Simon Peter said to the others, "I am going fishing." The others said to him in reply, "We will also go with you." Perhaps all seven of them were or had been fishermen before they were called by Jesus to be His apostles. They proverbialy hung a sign on the door "gone fishing" and went. But though they toiled through the night, they caught not one fish. Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the beach, maybe because of the morning mist, or the dimmed morning light, or because they were about one hundred yards off shore, they did not know that it was Jesus standing there. He shouted to them, "Fellows, have you any fish?" They shouted back, "No, not a one." Jesus replied with, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." So they did, and within a minute they were not able to haul the net in because of the number of fish in it. Then John said to Peter, "It is the Lord you know!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his top clothes, for he was stripped down to his under garments, for the hard work they had been doing all night long. He jumped into the sea and headed for the shore. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not that far from land, about a hundred yard's away. When they got onto the land, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish lying on it, being cooked, and bread to one side. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have caught." So Simon Peter went aboard the boat and hauled the net of fish ashore, full of large fish, in fact there was exactly a hundred and fifty-three fish, and though so many, the net was not torn. Peter no doubt was either given strength from God to haul this net of fish from off the boat to near where the fire was, or the inspiration of the moment shot his natural adrenaline up sky high. Jesus said to them, "Come, and have some breakfast." None dared ask Him who He was, because they knew it was indeed the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so also with the fish. It is recorded that this was the THIRD time Jesus appeared to the apostles, after He was raised from the dead. The first was to them, when Thomas was absent, then 8 days later, when Thomas was present, as we have seen. The third time then was this time here, at the shore of the Sea of Galilee. WORDS FROM JESUS TO PETER After they finished eating breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you LOVE me more than these others here?" Peter said to Jesus, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you."   "Then feed my little lambs," Jesus answered. A second time He said to Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you LOVE me?" Peter replied, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."  Christ then told him, "Tend to my sheep." Jesus said to Peter the THIRD time, "Simon, son of John, do you LOVE me?" Now Peter was grieved because He said to him the THIRD time, "Do you LOVE me?" And Peter answered saying, "Lord, you KNOW EVERYTHING, you KNOW that I LOVE you."   Jesus said to him, "Then FEED my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young you clothed yourself and walked wherever you wanted to; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you but not with clothes, and carry you where you do not want to go." Jesus said this to show in parable language that Peter would, when older, be taken by the authorities and led to execution. And history tells us that is exactly what happened to Peter. He was finally put to death by crucifixion. Peter is it claimed asked to be crucified up-side-down, saying he was not worthy be to crucified like his Lord was. After Jesus said this to Peter, He ended by saying, "FOLLOW me." Maybe it was deliberate on Jesus' part to ask Peter THREE times if he LOVED Him, for Peter had DENIED Jesus THREE times, you will remember. Peter was to be a LEADING apostle, not head apostle as some claim, but certainly a leading one, and so it was fitting that Jesus told him three times to take good care of the sheep of Jesus' fold, the ones who would come to believe IN and ON Jesus the Christ, as their Master and Savior. Peter turned around and saw following Jesus and himself, John, to whom Jesus had a special kindness towards. John was the one who leaned across Jesus' chest at the Passover supper meal on the evening of the 14th of Nisan, and had asked, "Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?" When Peter saw John, he said to Jesus, "Lord, what about this man, what is going to happen to him when he gets older?" Jesus replied, "Look, if it is my will that this man remains until I come again, what is that to you? It is really none of your business. You follow me and do the work I've given YOU to do." After these words from Jesus, the story went around and was pread among the followers of Jesus that John was NOT to DIE! But, Jesus did NOT say to him that he was not to die, but only, "IF it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?" Jesus was just pointing out to Peter that it should be of no concern what other apostles and disciples were doing per se, or how they would end their lives in death, the kind of death they would die. Peter was told what HIS would be like, from Jesus Himself, and that was ALL that he was told. Jesus never told any other of the ten apostles how they would die, and so He never did say that John would remain alive until He would come again to earth from heaven. I guess not, for if that was the case, then John would still be alive today, and be over 2,000 years old (John 21: 1-23). JESUS APPEARS TO THE ELEVEN ON A MOUNTAIN IN THE GALILEE AREA Jesus told the eleven to go to a certain mountain and stay there until He would appear to them. They did, and in due time Jesus did exactly as He said He would. He appeared to them, and when they saw Him they worshipped Him. But it is recorded that some of them doubted. They were still in "shock" mode so to speak, for it had never be known that any human person ever rose from the dead INTO IMMORTAL GLORIFIED LIFE! Jesus came close to them and said, "ALL authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. I want you to go therefore and make disciples from all nations of the earth, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. I want you to TEACH them to OBSERVE ALL that I have COMMANDED YOU; and I will be with you always, even to the END of the age." It is fitting that people be baptized INTO the Father, He is the Supreme one, the one who is the HEAD of all, even of Christ (see 1 Cor. 11: 3). It is fitting that people be baptized INTO the Son, for He is our SAVIOR. It is fitting that people be baptized INTO the Holy Spirit, for it is with the Holy Spirit that God leads, guides, directs, inspires, and gives power and a sound mind to all His children. The Holy Spirit is the very divine nature of God that imparts the germ of ETERNAL LIFE to all who come to the Father through Jesus. We baptize by the name of, by the AUTHORITY of Jesus, but we should baptize people INTO the Father, then Son, and the Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus Christ. We also notice Jesus was here making it very clear that OBEYING the commandments, all that Jesus commanded, which was also the commandments of the Father, for Jesus had said He spoke nothing that was not given to Him from the Father, and Jesus made it clear that man was not to live by physical bread alone, but by EVERY WORD that came from the mouth of God, which is the WHOLE Bible - see again Matthew 4: 4 (Mat.28: 16-20). It was time for the disciples to return to Jerusalem. For Jesus told them He would ascend back to heaven from that area and that they needed to be in Jerusalem to wait for the promise of the Father, for the Holy Spirit to be poured out on them in a mighty and in a great POWERFUL way. John the apostle, says in his Gospel that Jesus throughout His ministry did MANY OTHER signs in the presence of the disciples, which have never been recorded by anyone. So many other thing Jesus did and said that, John says, if they had all been written down he supposes that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written (John 20: 30, 31; 21: 24, 25).   It was a figure of speech to say many many more books could    be written on what Jesus did. Now of course John uses a figure of speech here, and means that the amount of books needed to contain all that Jesus did and said, would be larger than any Library on earth, maybe as large as all the large famous Libraries of the earth put together. But God has given us enough of the life and ministry of Jesus the Christ for our knowledge and for our salvation at this time. Who knows maybe in the age to come the New Testament Gospels may be increased in size and contents to contain much more of what Jesus did and said while on earth as a human being. BACK IN JERUSALEM After the disciples were in Galilee and Jesus appeared twice to them (at least two times that is recorded for us), it was time to return to Jerusalem, for Jesus would say His final goodbye to them, as He went back to heaven to sit at the Father's right hand. He also instructed them for the last time in a personal way. By the time 40 days had passed from Jesus' resurrection to His ascension back to heaven, the disciples were fully and finally convinced that Jesus was indeed raised from the dead to glorious immortality. All of this and Jesus' ascension into the clouds and then back to be with the Father, we shall cover in the next chapter. In the book of Acts. THE APPEARANCES OF JESUS AFTER HIS RESURRECTION THAT ARE RECORDED In or around Jerusalem To Mary Magdalene (Mark 16: 9; John 20: 11-18) To the other women (Mat. 28: 8-10) To Peter (Luke 24: 34) To ten disciples (Luke 24: 36-43; John 20; 19-25) To the eleven including Thomas ((Mark 16: 14; John 26-29) At His ascension (Mark 16: 19, 20; Luke 24: 50-53; Acts 1: 4-12) To the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Mark 16: 12, 13; Luke 24: 13-25) Twice in Galilee (Mat.28: 16-20; John 21: 1-24) To five hundred all at once (1 Cor. 15: 6) To James and the apostles (1 Cor. 15: 7) To Paul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9: 1-6; 18: 9, 10; 22: 1-8; 23: 11; 26: 12-18; 1 Cor. 15: 8) .................................................. Written Feb. 2003

JEREMIAH FOR TOMORROW CHAPT. 30 - 33

 

Jeremiah For Tomorrow!

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 TOMORROW CHAPT.M 24 - 29

 

Jeremiah For Tomorrow!

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

GOSPELS STORY CHAPT. 45--MORE DISCIPLES SEE JESUS

 

  

Chapter Forty-five:

More Disciples See Jesus

THE LADIES TELL THE ELEVEN THAT JESUS APPEARED TO THEM The group of ladies that had come out that early Sunday morning were close to being back in Jerusalem. In the meantime, the soldiers that had been struck unconscious by the angel who came to roll back the great stone over the entrance to the tomb that Jesus had been put in, were now awake. A few other soldiers had arrived to take their shift of guarding the tomb. They were all looking into the empty tomb, and realizing Jesus was gone. They of course had no idea what had taken place. They hurried off and made it back into Jerusalem before the ladies did. Straight to the chief priest they went, telling them the tomb that Jesus was in, was empty, and the stone had been rolled away from covering the entrance. The chief priests were in shock, the worse possible thing as far as they were concerned had actually come to pass. They immediately called for the members of the great Jewish Sanhedrin to assemble. After some debate on what now to do in this situation, they decided to give money to the soldiers and have them say, "Go, tell people, 'His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were sleeping.' And if all what has taken place comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him with some story that will keep you out of trouble." And so the soldiers took the money and did as they were directed. The Gospel writer Matthew says that, that story has been spread among the Jews to this very day (Mat.28: 11-15). The ladies finally arrived back in the city of Jerusalem. Straight-a-way they found where the eleven apostles were staying. "We have seen Jesus," they excitedly and loudly proclaimed. "He is alive! He has been resurrected to glorious immortality," they continued. The apostles looked at each other, then back at the ladies, saying nothing. The women could sense they did not believe them. "Jesus appeared to us out of the blue, and we worshipped before His feet, actually holding and touching His feet," the women shouted back at the apostles. "It is true, He is ALIVE, He is ALIVE," some of the women proclaimed. Some of the eleven men finally said, "No, it cannot be, you have imagined it all. You have been so emotional since Jesus was crucified, that you just think you have seem Jesus. If He has been resurrected, why would He appear to you first, and not to us, His chosen eleven apostles? You are all just dreaming!" (Luke 24: 9-11). Mary Magdalene looked over at Peter and John, and said, "I was there standing and weeping as I looked into the tomb, and it was empty, then two angels were there and they told me Jesus had risen from the dead. Then I saw, who at first I thought was the gardener, and I ask him that if he had taken Jesus, to tell me where he was. He then spoke, and I knew it was Jesus. And it was! I'm telling you Jesus has been resurrected, and is ALIVE. Go and see, the tomb is EMPTY!" Peter looked at John and said, "Alright John, tell's go to the tomb and see if what happened to the women and Mary Magdalene happens to us." Both men were pretty good runners, but John was the better. He out ran Peter to the tomb. Looking in he saw the linen cloths lying there but no body of Jesus. John did not go into the tomb. Simon Peter arrived, and he did go inside the tomb. He saw also the linen cloths lying there. The cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus' head was there but neatly rolled up and lying in another place in the tomb. Jesus' body certainly was NOT there. John, finally decided he needed to go inside the tomb also, and he did. For John it was all proved as the women said. He knew within himself, that Jesus indeed had been resurrected to life. None of the apostles yet understood the Scriptures that Jesus would rise from the dead. But John knew in his heart that Jesus was indeed alive. Peter on the other hand, though having to admit Jesus was not in the tomb, still could not believe Jesus had been resurrected to immortal life. They both returned to the other nine apostles. John kept his inner belief to himself. Peter was not convinced that Jesus was alive and had appeared to the women. The other nine could not be convinced either no matter how the women insisted it was true. The apostles went to their homes or places they were staying in Jerusalem (John 20: 3-10). And Simon Peter was alone for a while, to think upon all he had seen and heard from the women who had been to the tomb earlier that morning. JESUS APPEARS ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS Later in that day two disciples were going to the village named Emmaus, about seven miles west of Jerusalem. They were talking to each other about all the things that had happened, from Jesus' betrayal in the garden of Gethsemane, during the night of the 14th of Nisan, to the crucifixion on the afternoon of the 14th, to the guard watch being set in front of the tomb in the early hours of the 15th of Nisan. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus drew near to them and started to walk along the road with them. But their eyes, we are told, were kept from recognizing Him. Jesus said to them, "What is this conversation about, that you are having with each other." One of them, by the name of Cleopas, answered, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem this Passover feast time, who does not know the things that have happened in the last number of days?" And Jesus said, "What things?" And answering him they replied, "Why, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deeds and words before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one, the Messiah, the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since all this happened, since he was crucified, placed in a tomb, and a watch of soldiers, set guard over it, to keep people from taking Jesus' body. Moreover, some women of our company, have amazed us today. They were at the tomb early this morning and did not find his body in the tomb; and they said they had seen angels that told them that Jesus was alive again. Some of those with us in Jerusalem went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said, empty, but Jesus did not appear to them. So we doubt their story is true that the women told us in saying he had appeared them." Jesus now looked at them with pity and amazement at the same time, and said, "O foolish men and so slow of heart to believe ALL that the prophets have spoken! Was it not written, and was it not God's plan, that the Christ should SUFFER these things and then enter into GLORY?" Then Jesus, beginning with the books of Moses (first five books of the Bible), and all the prophets, interpreted to them ALL the Scriptures concerning Himself. It was a lesson in Bible study like they had never heard before, their hearts beating faster and faster with every explanation of all that was written about the Messiah Christ that was to come. They walked on and got closer to the village of Emmaus. Jesus made out that He was going to walk further, but they constrained Him, saying, "Please stay with us, for it is towards evening and the day is far spent." So He went in to stay with them. The two men prepared a meal. When Jesus sat down to eat with them, He took the large loaf of bread and blessed it and broke it in pieces, and gave some to each man (remember in those days they did not have "sliced" bread, so people at meal times literally had to break the bread into pieces). Immediately their eyes were opened and they KNEW it was JESUS! Then He just VANISHED out of their sight! Oh they were ecstatic with joy and praise. They said to each other, "Did not our hearts BURN within us when he talked to us and opened to us the Scriptures? Yes indeed! Praise be to God, we have SEEN Jesus. He is ALIVE!" Those two men forgot about eating, they were not hungry any more, eating a meal was now the furthest thing from their minds. They put their sandals back on and headed as fast as they could go back to Jerusalem. They knew they had to tell the eleven apostles that Jesus had appeared to them. When they got back to Jerusalem they found the ten of them in one place again. Much had happened they were not aware of. The soldiers had been telling people that some of Jesus' disciples had stolen away His body to make it look like He had been resurrected. Of course what the women that morning had witnessed had not just kept with themselves or the eleven, it was now pretty common knowledge as to what they said they had seen and heard, so to the people hearing the soldier's story, they thought that Jesus' disciples were indeed up to trickery. Many Jews were very angry and ready to do harm to the eleven apostles. They thought it would be safer for them to all be together in one room, with the doors and windows barred shut. Then, what the two men coming back to Jerusalem did not know was that before they arrived and before the apostles were together as one group again, Jesus had appeared to Simon Peter. We are NOT told anywhere in the New Testament exactly when and how and what was said between Jesus and Peter. We are only told that Peter had seen Jesus. Peter was still in doubt about everything, though he saw for himself that the tomb was empty, he still was not convinced by the women that Jesus had been resurrected to eternal immortal life. Sometime before the two men arrived back in Jerusalem from Emmaus, it would seem Jesus appeared to Peter, and so ended Peter's doubts about all the events that had taken place that Sunday during the feast of Unleavened Bread. The two men from Emmaus came running into where the apostles were gathered, and before they could get a word out about Jesus appearing and talking with them, the aposles, with loud excited voices said, "The Lord HAS RISEN indeed, and has appeared to Simon (Peter)!" Then the two men told the ten apostles (Thomas was not with them for some reason) the fascinating episode that they had been part of, and how their eyes had been opened to recognize Jesus when He had blessed and broke the bread. There was by now, little doubt in the minds of all those disciples in that room in Jerusalem, that Jesus was alive once more, and was alive in a glorified immortal sense (Luke 24: 13-35). JESUS APPEARS TO THEM IN THEIR CLOSED UPER ROOM John records that it was the same first day of the week, and at evening, of that same first day. Now, you are thinking how can this be possible, when God starts a day at evening (Genesis 1)? Should John not have written it was the SECOND day of the week and at evening? There are two reasons why John wrote it the way he did. First, it could well have been that John was using ROMAN time (12 midnight to 12 midnight for a day, as most of us in our countries that we live in, do). Then that evening of the first day, would indeed in Roman time language still be the first day of the week. On the other hand if John was using Jewish or God's counting time for a day, there are times when the Almighty Himself counts the EVENING as PART OF the PRECEDING day. We find an example of this in Exodus 12: 18, 19. God is talking about the feast of Unleavened Bread (verse 17), and as this and many other Scriptures prove and teach, the Israelites were to eat no leaven, but only unleavened bread for 7 days, from the start of the 15th (at evening time) to the end of the 21st (at evening time) of the first month of Nisan or Abib. But in this verse in Exodus 12, God puts it this way to them, "In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at EVEN, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month, at even. Seven days shall no leaven be found in your houses....in all your habitations shall you eat unleavened bread" (Ex.12: 18, 19). We know from verses like Leviticus 23: 6, that the feast of Unleavened Bread was for 7 days, from the 15th to the 21st inclusive. During those days they were to eat unleavened bread only, seven days of no leaven bread but only unleavened bread. Yes, in this instant, the evening was PART OF the previous day. God can do things like this you know, if He wishes. He can throw a curve ball now and again among all the straight fast balls, the basic true balls. Genesis 1 is the basic true ball of how God counts days 99% OF THE TIME, but now and then He pulls a curve ball, just to keep you on your toes. It was the evening time of the first day of the week, and the eleven, well actually only ten (because Thomas we are told was not there with them, for whatever reason, which we are not told) plus the two from Emmaus were all together in a room that had the doors shut, bolted tight. They were there for fear of the Jews. There they were talking over the great and wonderful events that had taken place in the last 12 plus hours. Then....just there.....no doors opened, Jesus STOOD IN THE MIDST of them! He said, "Peace be with you." Immediately He showed them His hands with the nail hole scars and the gash in His side where the soldier's spear had been thrust. They knew it was Jesus and not some demon playing tricks. They were delighted to see the Lord. Jesus again said to them, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I said you." And after saying this He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." Maybe this sounds a little strange to you. Jesus breathed on them as typifying that the Holy Spirit had been with them in many ways in the past, for that set them apart from those Jews who could not understand because it was not given to them to understand. Then the breathing on them for the Holy Spirit signified the Holy Spirit would be continually with them, and even as a direct begettal IN their mind on the coming day of Pentecost. And all of that we shall soon find out about as we proceed through this Bible Story in the book of Acts. What about Jesus saying that what sins they retain shall be retained and what they forgive shall be forgiven? When is it that ministers or disciples of Jesus have the power to retain or forgive sins. Probably in the main when they are leading someone to baptism, or having to determine the attitude of someone when they request to be baptized, for baptism is the forgiveness of sins through the blood of Christ. People who are going to baptize in the name of Jesus, must, with the help of the Holy Spirit, determine the person or persons have truly come to understand what being a disciple of Christ means, and that they understand sin, and what they are requesting to be forgiven from. Sometimes people are ready for baptism and sometimes they are not. If they are, then sins will be forgiven. If they are not ready, then sins will be retained, until they are ready for baptism. Jesus was telling those disciples that the Holy Spirit would be guiding them as they worked with, served, helped, and led others towards baptism and salvation. Thomas, called the Twin, was not with them that evening when Jesus came, so they had to tell him later that they had seen the Lord. But Thomas said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the print marks of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe!" (John 20: 19-25). Would Thomas get his chance to do what he said was the only way that he would believe that Jesus was alive from the dead? We shall see in the next chapter. ........................................................ Written February 2003

JEREMIAH FOR TOMORROW CHAPT. 16 - 23

 

Jeremiah For Tomorrow!

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