Chapters 10 - 15
CHAPTER 10
God now addresses a prophecy to the HOUSE OF ISRAEL. They
had gone into captivity about 80 or so years before Jeremiah was
sent to Judah to warn them of their coming punishment. We need at
this point to stop and explain some phrases. A key to
understanding the prophets is to keep in mind the phrases "house
of Israel" and "house of Judah" or "Israel" "Judah" - they are
NOT meaning the SAME people though all of them are technically
Israelites, coming from Jacob who had his name changed to Israel.
In the time of the prophets Israel and Judah were SEPARATE
KINGDOMS - Israel or the House of Israel was just that Israel or
House of Israel, comprising 10 tribes. Judah or the House of
Judah was indeed Judah or the House of Judah, three tribes. All
scholars recognize the DIVIDING of the 13 tribes of Israel AFTER
the days of Solomon. In type a prophecy concerning the House of
Israel MAY apply also to Judah and a prophecy concerning the House
Judah in type MAY apply to the House of Israel. The lessons for the one
MAY apply also to the other. Sin is sin and often the SAME sins
are practiced and committed by the same brothers or sisters - the
same sins can run in the family, as we say, "Like father like
son" - "Like mother like daughter." The prophets NEVER confused
the TWO kingdoms. Certain prophets were sent to Israel in the
main and certain prophets sent to Judah in the main, with also
prophecies to the other and/or many Gentile nations also.
Whatever may be said about "phrases" BEFORE the dividing up
of the 13 tribes of Israel, the prophets NEVER confused who they
were speaking to - either Israel (the 10 tribes) or Judah (the 3
tribes) or other nations as God gave them utterance. Yet the
lessons for the one could well apply to the other.
Here we come to a somewhat famous section of Scripture - the
first verses of chapter 10. The section on the "Christmas tree"
as some would claim. Then others, probably more correctly, would
argue this section has no specific bearing on our modern
Christmas tree. The section deals with taking a tree and
fashioning it, painting and decorating it and making it into an
idol to bow down and worship gods before it.
That being said, the fact of history is that some "trees"
were worshipped or had special mystical powers to some pagan
nations. Other nations would worship UNDER certain trees because
of some magical power those peoples gave them. The fact is also
that trees were often by some nations cut down and placed here or
there at certain times of the year, again for magical purposes in
mind.
Then we should ask the question: "What has a decorated tree
in a home or church building got to do with the birth of Christ
anyway!?" For that matter what has a jolly fat fellow with a long
white beard and a ho, ho, ho, got to do with Jesus' birth? And
again, what has a bunny and eggs got to do with the death and
resurrection of Christ? What has dressing up in weird costumes of
demons and devils and witches and dead men's bones at Halloween
(many Christians and even "churches" practice this custom) got to
do with Christianity per se. Where did the phrase "trick or
treat" come from?
A little time on the Internet will surely tell you that all
of these "customs" have nothing to do with true Christianity, but
come from pagan nations in various worship rites of their various
false gods. I have given you articles on this Website that cover
the origin of many of these customs.
So it is unimportant arguing over these first verses of
Jeremiah chapter ten, as to whether they are specifically talking
about our modern Christmas tree or the wooden upright idols
nations have had for thousands of years. The truth of the matter
is that either way or BOTH ways, our nations are full of PAGAN
RITES - full of false customs, traditions of devils and demons,
and that MOST of so-called Christian religion has ALSO EMBRACED
these false HEATHEN idols in one form or another.
GOD SAYS THEY ARE VAIN, THEY CANNOT SPEAK, THEY CANNOT WALK,
THEY ARE USELESS. YOU NEED NOT BE AFRAID OF THEM, THEY CANNOT
BRING EVIL OR BRING GOOD; THEY ARE GOOD FOR NOTHING!!!
And the sad truth also is that such customs OFTEN REPLACE
the TRUTHS of God's true religion.
Modern BABYLON THE GREAT (as we see in the book of
Revelation) has DECEIVED AND BLINDED the minds of tens of
millions around the world, nay, now it is well over a BILLION,
with her false customs and doctrines of demons as the apostle
Paul told Timothy would come in the last days.
Not only are over a BILLION people who call themselves by
the name of "Christian" deceived but many of these false customs
branded on the Western world by Babylon the Great, have been accepted
by tens of millions in the EASTERN world have also now adopted them,
even if they do not specifically call themselves "Christian."
BUT it is the LORD GOD, who made the heavens and the earth,
who formed the land and the sea, who made the creatures in the
sea, on the land, and that fly in the air. It was the wisdom and
care and power of God that made all that is made throughout the
universe. It is GOD, the true Holy One, that makes the thunder,
the lightning, the hail, the rain, the snow, the wind, the stars,
and all that there it. The false gods have made none of this.
They are truly useless and can do no good or evil, they are made
only by the hand of man out of the physical material that the
Eternal made and brought into being.
All people who make and worship these idols of their hands
are STUPID and BRUTISH in their knowledge, the formed image is
FALSEHOOD AND THEIR IS NO LIFE IN THEM. THEY ARE VAIN AND THE
WORK OF ERROR. THEY WILL ONE DAY PERISH. BUT HE WHO CALLED JACOB,
ESTABLISHED ISRAEL FOR A GREAT PURPOSE TO THE WORLD, HE IS THE
TRUE GOD, HE IS THE ONE TO BE CALLED THE LORD OF HOSTS!! (verses
1-16).
Now God turns His attention once more to proclaiming that
Judah and Jerusalem will be CAST AWAY - DEPORTED - PUNISHED IN
CAPTIVITY! One of the reasons for this punishment is that the
"pastors" have become BRUTISH; THEY HAVE NOT REALLY SOUGHT THE
LORD. It is as Jesus said it would be, that MANY FALSE PROPHETS
(pastors and prophets [there is a glut of prophetic books on the
market today]) would come in the last days and DECEIVE MANY, not
the few, BUT THE **MANY**!!
Because of the many false pastors and because the people
love to have it so, love to be told what they want to hear, so
they can lead their Christian life according to their own will
and desires, their own customs and traditions (see Mark 7 and
Jesus' words on customs and traditions of men) ... because of
this, God says His people will be CAST OUT - SCATTERED ABROAD!
Again we are told the NOISE OF THE GREAT BRUTE to come and
destroy is from the NORTH. This mighty force will come sweeping
down and make all the cities of Judah DESOLATE (verses 17-22).
Last night (August 28 - 2008) I was watching the reported
concern that Iran is close to having nuclear weapons! How
Iran has already sent a space ship into outer-space. I was
watching the reported concern that the Jews in the Holy Land ARE
HAVING OVER THIS PROSPECT of Iran with the nuclear bomb! I was
watching the technology - space age technology that the people of
the land we call Israel, HAVE! It is MIGHTY indeed. I was
watching how the Jews over there in the Holy Land will need to
make sure they have a defence system that can answer to the war
machine Iran is now close to having.
It is somewhat hard to figure that a defence and counter-
attack system that the Jews have could be OBLITERATED - could be
DESTROYED - could become useless, and that such a nation could be
DESTROYED in any easy manner. Yet the prophecies of your Bible
tell us that when the time is right, when God decides that enough
is enough, that sins and wickedness IN HIS PEOPLE have come to
the full, an ENEMY, OUR LOVERS, IN A EUROPEAN CONFEDERATE EMPIRE,
WILL SWEEP DOWN FROM THE NORTH, NOT ONLY TO DESTROY THE KING OF
THE SOUTH, THE ARAB CONFEDERATE, BUT WILL MARCH INTO PALESTINE
AND THE CITY OF JERUSALEM, TO LAY IT DESOLATE, AND TO EMPTY ALL
THE CITIES OF JUDAH IN THE HOLY LAND.
AND FURTHER MORE, THIS BRUTE POWER FROM THE NORTH WILL THEN
TURN ITS ATTENTION TO ATTACKING AND DESTROYING THE BRITISH
COMMONWEALTH OF NATIONS AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. IT WILL
SUCCEED! THIS BABYLON THE GREAT, THIS LAST RESURRECTION OF THE
HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, WILL THEN RULE THE WESTERN WORLD!
AS IMPOSSIBLE AS ALL THIS MAY SEEM TO US TODAY, WHEN THE
TIME IS RIGHT, WHEN THE LORD ALMIGHTY SAYS IT MUST BE SO, THEN HE
WILL BRING IT TO PASS, JUST AS HE HAS FORETOLD BY HIS PROPHETS!
But back now to the foolishness of man and the idols he
makes for himself. Jeremiah says, "O Lord, I know that the way of
man is not in himself, it is not in man that walketh to DIRECT
his steps" (verse 23).
Man, left to himself, without any guide book, is a LOST
SOUL! The world that has more and more in the last 100 years,
thrown God and the Bible out the window, told God to "get lost" -
"I'll do it my way" - will find that doing it on their own will
only bring death and destruction. In the long run of it all, man
without God is LOST!
Jeremiah says, "O LORD, CORRECT me, but with JUDGMENT, not
in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing" (verse 24).
Do YOU cry out those words? Do you WANT to be CORRECTED? Do
you desire God to GUIDE you, to LEAD you, to WALK with you, and
in LOVE and kindness, to CORRECT you where you are wrong? Do you
hunger and thirst after righteousness? Do you SEARCH the
Scriptures daily to prove what is the right and acceptable way of
the Lord? I hope you do, but I can tell you the VAST MAJORITY,
even those who call themselves by the name "Christian" DO NOT
utter the words of Jeremiah as in verse 24. Their mouth is far
from speaking those words, and their mind-set is even FURTHER way
from the heart of those words.
Jeremiah finishes this section by asking God to avenge Jacob
- Israel, for the destruction the enemy has brought on Judah,
Jerusalem, and as we have seen in other prophecies, indeed ALL
the tribes or nations of Israel (verse 25).
CHAPTER 11
Jeremiah is again to speak unto the people of Judah and
Jerusalem.
Have you noticed? Have you seen throughout the prophets so
far? God does not even mention the "good intentions" of Israel or
Judah's leaders. As I write in 2008 we are into an election for a
new President of the United States. The candidates have, as far
as the ears of the world is concerned, given some pretty up-beat,
and dynamic speeches, they even throw the name of "God" into the
talk at times. Oh, they say they will do this and do that and
promise this and promise that, and how the United States will
move forward into the once again "good times" if they and their
party are elected to sit in the White House. And it is possible
that "some" good times may come again, for the USA and other
Western nations. But the Holy One of Israel does NOT EVEN TAKE
NOTE OR SAY ANYTHING ABOUT those positive promises from the
leaders of Israelite nations. When you stop and think about it
there is a VERY GOOD REASON God takes no note of these "positive
things" and "positive promises" from leaders of our nations. THE
SIN AND CORRUPTION AND WICKEDNESS is FAR HEAVIER in our lands,
than a few dynamic speeches by political leaders.
THE SINS OF OUR LANDS HAVE NOT BEEN TURNED BACK. AS A
PEOPLES WE HAVE TOLD GOD TO GET LOST!!! We really do not, when
it comes down to the nitty-gritty, when the rubber meets the
road, want to LIVE by EVERY WORD OF GOD!
So, as it is for Judah, so it will be for ALL Israel. If we
do not want to live by the COVENANT of God, which is LIVE by the
WORDS of the Eternal, and be His people, and so inherit the land
of milk and honey.
He tells Jeremiah to go and proclaim it in the cities of
Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. And so it is today, the
words of the Lord are going forth via the open Internet and
Websites of the true servants of the Almighty.
God told our fathers to serve and obey Him, but they would
not. They wanted to do their own thing. They wanted to walk and
live according to their own heart and mind, what they thought was
right and good. So it is today, and so the CURSE of the covenant
will come upon us as it was to come upon Judah in Jeremiah's day.
God says BOTH the house of Judah and the house of Israel
have BROKEN the COVENANT (verses 1-10).
EVIL will then come! What a man sows that shall he reap. It
is really just that simple. The people of Judah, the Jews, are
sowing sin and wickedness, and so they will reap evil. It will
make no difference if Judah and the people of Jerusalem seek
after false gods, the gods of war and war machines. The day is
coming when none of those things will save them. The Holy One
says the gods of Judah are as many as their cities. The day so
comes that God says to His servants like Jeremiah, do NOT pray
for this people, for God will not hear such prayers!
The Lord God HAS PROMISED that evil WILL COME on the house
of Israel and the House of Judah (verses 11-17).
The people of the land would not hear Jeremiah. They even
tried to get rid of him. So today, the Jews will not listen, the
people of Israel will not listen. They have moved so far from the
Lord of hosts and His truth contained in His word, that the true
prophet of God is thought of as a crack-pot, a fanatic, a crazy-
man. If such a man was to speak before the Congress of the United
States and was to SHOW MY PEOPLE THEIR SINS, he would be declared
a false prophet. The false prophets today (as in Jeremiah's day)
would claim to be the true prophets of the Lord and the true
prophets would be declared to be the false prophets. Surely the
people and the leaders of all Israel have it up-side-down and in-
side-out. They call black, white, and white they call black.
For this, God says they shall die by the sword, their sons
and daughters shall die of famine; there is no way out! It is
just a matter of time, the time when God says they have sinned
enough, punishment and destruction must now come (verses 18-23).
CHAPTER 12
Jeremiah pleads to know how long the land will mourn. God
does not here directly answer that question. The Lord just says
He has forsaken it and given His dearly beloved to the enemy. His
beloved is like a speckled bird with all the birds around against
it. It is the fault of the pastors, whom God says have trodden
down His beloved and made it desolate. Yes, the spoilers are come
against it; it is the Lord's doing and no flesh will have peace.
They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns.
Then, the enemies shall not escape, the ones who have caused
Israel and Judah to inherit sorrow. God will cause His people,
even Judah, to come OUT of the hand of the enemy. Then God's
people will come back to the Holy Land, and if the other nations
will diligently learn the ways that His people now live, and to
swear by the holy name of Israel's God, as the enemy taught God's
people to swear by Baal, then they, those nations, will be built
into what is right and good; but if they (those enemy nations)
will NOT obey the Lord then they shall come under destruction
(verses 1-17).
These last few verses are some of the verses in the prophets
that tell you the beginning of the 1,000 year reign of Christ on
earth may not go smooth for some nations who refuse to obey the
commandments of God. We also see this in Zechariah 14 concerning
those nations that will not keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
CHAPTER 13
Jeremiah is told to get a linen girdle, soak it in water and
wear it. Then he is to put it in a hole in the rocks at
Euphrates. After many days he went back and found the girdle
marred and worthless. So we are told, that in like manner God
will mar the pride of Judah and Jerusalem. The Eternal says the
evil people, who walk after their own imagination of heart, will
be as the girdle, good for nothing. As a wet girdle will cleave
to the lions of a man, so God caused the whole house of Israel
and the whole house of Judah to cleave to Him. They were to be a
light for God, praise for God, a glory to God, in the eyes of
other nations (see Deut.4), but they would not hear and obey
(verses 1-11).
We are given the example of the bottles filled with wine.
All the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem will be drunk as with
wine. They will not know right from wrong, and so the Lord will
have to punish them, there will be no pity, no mercy, only
destruction (verses 12-14).
Jeremiah calls out for people to put away PRIDE and SIN!
They are to give God glory otherwise there will be darkness,
death and even gross darkness. If they will not hear then
Jeremiah will weep, because God's flock will be carried away as
captives. He cries out to the king and queen to humble
themselves. If humility does not come then Judah will be carried
away captive. He tells them to lift up their eyes and see what is
happening in the NORTH. If they say, "Why is this going to
happen?" The answer is simple ... for the greatness of thine
iniquity. If the Ethiopian can change the color of his skin, if
the leopard can change its spots then you also can do good that
are accustomed to do evil. It just will not be possible! So, they
will be scattered as stubble blown away by the wind. It is going
to be Judah's pay-day, for they have forgotten the Lord their
God, and trusted in utter falsehoods. So they will be as a shamed
women, skirts upon the face and nakedness appearing.
It is not pleasant the way God puts it to Judah. Listen O
Jews of Jerusalem, your Holy One says, "I have seen thine
adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, and
thine abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O
Jerusalem! Will you be clean? When, after what?" (verses 15-27).
The answer is that Judah and Jerusalem shall be clean, but
it will take the Great Tribulation to come on the earth, to come
on Jacob Israel, and Judah Jerusalem. All that is written in the
prophets will need come to pass before Judah and Jerusalem are
spiritually clean and acceptable in God's sight.
CHAPTER 14
Judah is beyond deliverance
Jeremiah gives us the lament of mourning because of the
punishment of Judah. He calls out that God will rescue them. The
answer given is: "They have loved to wander from Me. I will for
now not accept them. I will visit upon them their iniquities. You
will not pray for this people. When they fast I will not hear
their cry; I will consume them by the sword, by famine, by the
pestilence" (verses 1-12).
Jeremiah tells God that their prophets say to them that evil
will not come, only peace will come. God answers that "Their
prophets prophesy lies in My name. I sent them not! I did not
give them a commandment not did I speak to them. They prophesy a
false vision and the deceit of the human heart. So, to the
prophets that come in My name, when I sent them not, that say
sword and famine will not come; it is by sword and famine that I
will consume them. And the people to whom they prophesy shall be
cast into the streets of Jerusalem, and there will be none to
bury the dead wives, sons, daughters: their wickedness shall come
upon them. You shall cry, tears will run down your face, for in
the field will be they who are slain with the sword and in the
city those who are sick and dead with the famine" (verses 13-18).
Judah is then personified as a person asking God to forgive,
to heal, to do good; as a person confessing their wickedness and
their sins. To remember the covenant made with their forefathers.
As a person acknowledging that it is God only who rules the
elements of nature(verses 19-22).
CHAPTER 15
What a shocking reply God gives. Though Moses and Samuel
stood before Him, His mind cannot be changed. If they should ask
how it will be, the answer is: "Such as are for death, to death;
and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for
the famine, to the famine; and such as are for captivity, to the
captivity. Appointed over them is four things: the sword to slay,
and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts
of the earth, to devour and destroy. and I will cause them to be
removed into the kingdoms of the earth. Jerusalem will indeed
mourn. You have FORSAKEN ME! You have gone BACKWARDS, therefore I
will stretch out My hand and DESTROY you, I am WEARY with your
false repenting. I will fan you with the fan. Swift will come
your punishment ... even the residue of them will I deliver to
the sword before their enemies" (verses 1-9).
Jeremiah will have protection
God promises Jeremiah that the enemy will entreat him well
in the time of evil to come. He is to pass into a land that he
knows not. Jeremiah tells God he did His will, he spoke His
words, the Lord's word was a rejoicing to him. He tells God he
did not stand in the assembly of the mockers, he was willing to
stand alone and be counted as faithful to the crying out of God's
indignation. But now Jeremiah is doubtful if the Lord will help
and heal the pain he feels (verses 15-18).
God answers: "And I will make thee unto the people a fenced
brazen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall
not prevail against thee: for I an with thee to save and to
deliver thee. And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the
wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible"
(verses 20-21).
What a section of Scripture! Jeremiah is to lay it all out,
tell it as it is! Judah will feel God's indignation, so will
Jeremiah be there when it all begins to happen, for the
destruction of Judah was like that of Israel, it took place over
a number of years. For Judah it would take from 604 B.C. to 586
B.C. when the city of Jerusalem finally fell in death and
destruction. But Jeremiah was promised to have protection through
it all, and he was given assurance that God was with him as he
continued to preach the truth and warning from the Most Holy One.
The truth of what is yet to come at the end of this age upon
Judah and Israel is being proclaimed near and far. The warning is
going out. The SINS of Israel and Judah are being made clear. The
chances of them as nations REPENTING is just about zero. So
the anger of the Lord and the punishment He has promised to visit
them WILL COME TO PASS! In the last 42 months of this age, there
will be TWO WITNESSES in Jerusalem (Revelation 11) - they will
have protection from God, none will be able to hurt them until
the appointed time. They will BOLDLY PROCLAIM the truths of the
Eternal One. Many will hear and many will REPENT! Their work will
not be in vain.
That is for then, NOW is for the present. YOU can at this
time choose to REPENT OF SIN, humble yourself, confess your sins,
accept Jesus as your PERSONAL Savior, and be a part of God's work
and a child in His family now, today! Then in the age to come you
can have a part in bringing the entire earth and the nations upon
it under the rulership of the Kingdom of God.
.....................
To be continued
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