Chapter 1 - 4
Introduction
I give you the introduction taken from my old KJV Study
Bible.
"The book of Jeremiah has preserved the message and writings of
the prophet who served as God's messenger throughout the last
four decades of the kingdom of Judah, 627 - 586 B.C. With the
decline of Assyrian power after 650 B.C., Josiah had the
opportunity to assert himself politically and religiously. By 605
B.C., the Babylonians advanced to Palestine and ultimately the
city with its temple was destroyed.
Jeremiah's warning that judgment was coming was favorably
received until 609 B.C., the date when Josiah was killed in
battle at Megiddo. After that many of the civil and religious
leaders openly opposed Jeremiah. As a messenger of God faithfully
warning his people, he was subjected to much suffering and
narrowly escaped death as the pressures mounted. His message was
primarily concerned with the national and international
involvement facing his people at that time. He assures them,
however, that they would be restored after 70 years of Babylonian
captivity. Likewise he predicts the ultimate restoration of
Israel (chap.31).
Since the book is not arranged in chronological order it is
difficult to outline....."
You are going to notice from the CONTEXT that MUCH of this
prophecy in the book of Jeremiah is for the LAST DAYS, THE END
TIMES, AND INTO THE AGE TO COME, WHEN THE MESSIAH SHALL REIGN ON
EARTH AS KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
This will not be a commentary on every single verse, but a
main overview of the prophetic events that concern us for the end
times up to the coming of the Messiah Christ to establish the
Kingdom of God on earth.
CHAPTER 1
Jeremiah is one of the VERY FEW in the entire Bible that was
called and chosen for his prophetic ministry before he was formed
in the womb, and was sanctified, set apart for the work of the
Lord before he came forth from the womb. He was ordained to be a
prophet to the nationS - plural, not just Judah and the Jews
(verse 5).
The House of Israel had already gone into captivity by the
Assyrian power from 745 to 718 B.C. Yet you will find Jeremiah
giving prophetic warnings both bad and good to those people who
had long disappeared from the land of Palestine. Indeed, the
context of much of Jeremiah's prophecy is for the end of this age
and into the coming new age of the Kingdom of God on earth under
Jesus Christ.
Jeremiah was not pleased with God calling him to be a
prophet to the nations. He made the excuse that he was too young -
a child! What age Jeremiah was is not given to us, but he may
well have been a young teenager when he was to warn the nations.
God did not accept the excuse Jeremiah gave and he was told that
the Lord would send him and that he was to speak what the Eternal
commanded him. He was to be NOT afraid of their faces: for God
would be with him and deliver him from death. The Lord then put
forth His hand and touched the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, "I have
put My words in thy mouth" (verses 6-9).
Once more in verse 10 God tells Jeremiah that he is set over
the nationS and over kingdomS, to root out and to pull down, and
to destroy, and to throw down, to BUILD, and to PLANT.
He is told God will hasten His word to perform it (verses
11-12).
Interesting how God looks at time. The book of Revelation
also tells us that Jesus will come quickly. The prophecies are in
the main yet to come to pass, so with the Lord a few thousand
years or more is less than nothing, I guess when you compare it
to eternity it is less than nothing. Also, when the prophecies DO
take place, it will be a relatively very short time to Christ's
return. The book of Revelation gives us 42 months, 1260 days, a
time, times, and half a time - about THREE and a HALF years!
It is from the NORTH that an evil will come upon the land of
Palestine. The families of the North kingdoms will come against
Jerusalem and the cities of Judah for their wickedness and sins
in departing from the true God (verses 15-16).
The original captivity of Judah by the Babylonian power was
not from the north but from the EAST - Babylon is EAST of
Jerusalem, not the north. The context of the first chapters of
Jeremiah is the time of the end, the punishment to come upon
Judah (the Jews) and the house of Israel (a good portion of the
Western world). The armies to come against Jerusalem and the Jews
will come from the northern kingdoms of the Europe Beast power
now rising in the nations of Europe. It is that Empire that will
rise up and eventually sweep down into Palestine, defeating the
"king of the South" (Egypt and her Arab confederacy) as told to
us in Daniel 11:40-45. That Europe Babylon Beast power, led by a
false prophet and his great religious church that is drunk with
the blood of the saints, shall surround Jerusalem, make it
desolate, and cause the Great Tribulation to come upon the
Western world. All this is covered in many in-depth studies on
my Website.
Jeremiah is to be STRONG, and to speak unto the nations and
to Judah. He will be like a iron pillar towards the whole land of
Judah and her people and her leaders (verses 17-18).
Jeremiah will have mighty opposition but God will be with
him.
CHAPTER 2
The word came to Jeremiah, God said go and tell Jerusalem:
He remembered them in the wilderness, Israel was holiness to the
Lord, and protected her (verse 19). They are the firstfruits of
His increase and those opposed to them would offend God (verses 1-3).
Now ALL the families or tribes of Israel are to HEAR! God
asks them what iniquity have they found in Him to make them
depart far from Him. He tells our nations of the Western world
that they have become vain and walk after vanity, things that
will have no lasting character of righteousness in them. They do
not ask where is the God that brought them up out of Egypt and
worked miracles for them. God brought them into a land of milk
and honey, to eat the bounty of it, but Israel, all 12 tribes,
defiled themselves and made the heritage of God an abomination
(verses 4-7).
So it has been in modern times. The peoples of Israel have
spread abroad, were given lands of milk and honey in the new
world of North America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and
part of North-west Europe. But in time we forgot our God and have
gone a whoring after that which is evil and sin. We have departed
greatly from the days of the founding fathers who established the
new world on the Word of God. We have thrown God and the Bible
out of the window of just about every institution we have. We
have become more and more secular, more pleasure seeking, more
entertainment seeking, more sports crazy, more of all that can
keep the mind off our God and His Word.
Then there is the religious leaders of our day. They have
not really sought where the Lord is. Those that should be
handling the law of God, have not known the true Lord God; the
pastors have transgressed against Him, the prophets serve Baal
and do not speak the true prophetic words of the Eternal, they
speak what the people want to hear, they work in religion for to
make money and a profit (verse 8).
That is the true state friends of our Western world
religion, it is a false Christianity. Jesus said that the days
would come when MANY false prophets would arise and DECEIVE ...
not the few, but the MANY! THOSE DAYS ARE HERE NOW!
God will plead with Israel, but in no uncertain way. Do
pagan nations change their gods to other gods that are not gods,
the Almighty asks. No, is the answer, BUT the people of Israel
HAVE CHANGED their glory in the true God for that which is
useless and will profit nothing. Israel has committed TWO EVILS:
1. They have FORSAKEN the true fountain of LIVING WATER, and then
2. gone and hewed out water containers that have cracks and holes in
them, that cannot hold pure true water, that comes only from the
pure true God (verses 11-13).
Why has Israel become a spoil asks God. Why is it that
Israel must become a spoil for others to capture and destroy? Why
is it that they must go again into Egypt and Assyria as captives.
They were there once before but now they must go again. It is
because of their WICKEDNESS and their BACKSLIDING - that way of
life shall indeed REPROVE them. It is finally an evil result they
will face because they have forsaken God, and no fear of the Holy
One is in them (verses 14-19).
From the old time God delivered Israel and they said they
would serve Him, but then went a whoring after other gods and
ways of sin. God planted our people as holy ones, with good and
right laws, but then our people have turned to be a degenerate
plant of a strange vine (verse 20-21).
Our iniquity is so deep that even strong soap will not wash
it away. God is amazed that we can still say to ourselves, "I am
not polluted, I have not gone after Baal" (verses 22-23).
We are deluded into thinking we are Christian nations, that
our religion is good and right and pleases God. We have gotten into
the mind-set that "let's do our own thing." But even though all
from priest to prince are following the easy natural way and even
evolution as truth, though they have turned their back towards
God, yet in their time of trouble, that will surely come on them,
they will then say, "Arise, and save us." God will for a while
answer, "But where are thy gods that you hast made yourself, let
them arise, and let's see if they can save you in your time of
trouble. Judah, you have as many gods as there are cities in your
land" (verses 225-28).
Indeed, most people do not seem to realize that in the land
of Judah, the Holy Land, the people, from prince to average Joe,
as SECULAR! They do not as a nation have STRONG DEPTH of RELIGION
per se, let alone the true religion of God.
The time has come says God that it is useless to plead with
Him. He has allowed your children to see and face evil, to be
CORRECTED IN VARIOUS WAYS, BUT THEY WILL NOT BE CORRECTED. Your
own ways have brought the sword on you, and your ways have
devoured the true prophets. Some people like the maid does not
forget her ornaments, or a bride her fancy attire, but MY PEOPLE
says the Lord, "HAVE FORGOTTEN ME DAYS WITHOUT NUMBER!"
(verses 29-32).
We have as a people of the Western world, taught others that
are wicked our wicked ways. It is out in the open for all to see,
not in some secret dark corner. We of the Western world deport to
Eastern nations many of our evil and wicked ways of life. Yet in
it all, we say we are innocent, and surely God's anger will not
come upon us. But God will plead with us in no uncertain way,
because we say we have not sinned. We shall be ashamed when in
Egypt again, just as when the Assyrian power took Israel as slaves,
and they then became ashamed of their sins.
It will all come back on us. Our days of captivity once more
to our lover enemies, will show us our evil and sins and
wickedness. We shall hang our heads in shame as we enter
captivity and disgrace (33-37).
CHAPTER 3
It was a law in ancient Israel that a wife being put away
and becoming another man's wife, the original husband could not
marry her again if she became available to marry once more (see
Deut.24:4). Yet God says we have played the harlot with many
lovers, and He will take us back if we turn again to serve Him.
He wants us to look and see clearly the ways we have whored
ourselves and our wickedness. Note verse 3. "Therefore the
showers have been withholden, and there has been no rain, and you
have a whore's forehead, you refused to be ashamed."
I can not tell you that this or that "natural disaster"
has come directly from God, certainly the Lord has ALLOWED it to
come, yet this verse would seem to indicate SOME natural
disasters were given or allowed to come upon us to CORRECT us, to
turn us back to REPENTANCE and to serve God in spirit and in
truth. But it has all had little deep effect on us in any
spiritual way.
The Lord asks Jeremiah if he remembered the backsliding of
Israel, going after other gods, leaving the truth of the Lord. If
he remembered how God asked Israel to "Turn unto me. But she
returned not." God put away the spiritual adulterous Israel and
gave a bill of divorcement (captivity by the Assyrian power) from
745 to 718 B.C. Yet with all this her SISTER JUDAH FEARED NOT!
But also went and played the harlot. She also defiled the land
with spiritual whoredoms and spiritual adultery with false gods.
So Judah has also not turned to the true God with her whole
heart. Israel could be looked upon as being justified more than
her sister - treacherous Judah (verses 6-11).
Israel did get a new heart for a while in our modern times
over the last 3 and 4 hundred years. Many of our nations were
founded upon the Word of God, we proclaimed to be "Christian."
Judah was brought forth, allowed to return to the Holy Land,
allowed to form a nation in 1948. But did she seek to find the
true God and His true holy word as contained in the whole Bible
from Genesis to Revelation. NO! Judah, the Jews of the land we
call Israel today is MAINLY SECULAR! It's leaders do not search
for the truth of God. It's religious population (of Jews) in the
main will NOT accept Jesus as the Messiah and Savior, and the New
Testament as the word of God. In the modern world of today,
looking at it from a certain point of view, it can be said that
Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
Now the prophecy moves to the time when Israel shall in the
future be in captivity once more to our lover enemies, when we
shall be scattered as slaves in the land of the NORTH above
Jerusalem, in many of the lands of Europe, under the heel of the
Beast of Europe, during the last three and one half years of this
age. God will call, He proclaims, "Return, you backsliding
Israel, I will cause my anger to stop and be merciful, I will not
keep my anger going forever. Just acknowledge your iniquity, that
you have transgressed against the Lord your God, and that you
have not obeyed my voice. Turn, O backsliding children, for I am
married to you; I will take you one of a city, two of a family,
and I will bring you to Zion. I will give you PASTORS according
to my heart, and which shall feed you with knowledge and
understanding" (verses 12-15).
WHEN WILL THIS BE? WHEN IS THIS PROPHECY FOR? The next
verses make it plain, the context clearly tells us. It was not
for the days of Jeremiah. It is for a punishment captivity in the
LAST DAYS of this age! God will send Israel into captivity and
bring them out of it once more, right at the very end time of
this age. They will once more be RESTORED and be INCREASED. They
shall no more be seeking any "ark of the covenant" - it will not
even come to mind. AT THAT TIME THEY SHALL CALL JERUSALEM THE
THRONE OF THE LORD; and all nations shall be gathered unto it, to
the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem: neither shall they go any
more after the imagination of their evil heart. In those days the
HOUSE OF JUDAH SHALL WALK WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, and they
shall come TOGETHER out of the land of the NORTH to the land that
I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers. But I said,
How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant
land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? And I said, You
shall call me, MY FATHER; and shall NOT TURN AWAY from Me. Surely
as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you
dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, says the Lord
(verses 16-20).
Read those verses again. Get the CONTEXT! It is clear, this
prophecy is for the very END TIME, when Jerusalem shall be the
throne and capital city of the earth. When Israel and Judah shall
be ONE again in the land of promise. It is a prophecy for the yet
FUTURE, JUST AS GIVEN IN EZEKIEL 37, where the two sticks become
ONE.
The prophecy moves back in verse 21 to 25 to Israel's
lament. To her shame and wickedness and sins. To God calling her
to TURN, to REPENT, to CONFESS her sins. TO REALIZE SHE HAS
SINNED AGAINST GOD EVEN FROM HER YOUTH.
It is our nature to FORGET our God when we are in a
time of plenty. It is our nature to then saturate ourselves with
pleasure and physical goods, and party with wine, women, and
song. Yet in times like that, the Eternal God still has those who serve
Him, and call out the truth of the Lord and shout out that we need
to TURN BACK and love and serve our God.
CHAPTER 4
If Israel (the Western world) will RETURN unto God, IF they
will put away their abominations out of His sight, then you will
not have to go into captivity and destruction. Then God speaks to
Jerusalem and Judah ... circumcise the foreskins of your heart;
lest the FURY of your God comes as like a fire, and burn that
none can put out, to dissolve your evil ways. God's warning is to
go to Jerusalem and Judah. It is to go to Zion, that an evil from
the NORTH, and a GREAT DESTRUCTION is to come! The lion is come
out from the trees, the great destroyer of the Gentiles is on his
way; he is coming to make the land DESOLATE, to lay waste the
cities, even without an inhabitant. The hearts of all people will
faint in that day, from the prince to the priest to the prophet
(verses 1-9).
Jeremiah sees how God has allowed mighty deception to come
upon Jerusalem, as they think "peace" will be a reality, but the
truth is only a SWORD is to come - like the wind it will come to
fan the people. The enemy from the NORTH shall be as the chariots
of a whirlwind: his war machines swifter than the eagles. A great
WOE is to come, a mighty SPOILING!
A cry is going forth to Jerusalem to wash her heart from
WICKEDNESS, that she may be saved from this time. From afar the
watching voices of God's true servants cry out against the cities
of Judah, because of her rebelliousness against the Lord. It is
because of your wickedness that this destruction is to come on
you.
The servant of the Lord is pained in heart, he cannot hold
his peace, he must shout out, for the sound of the war trumpet
comes, the alarm of war is sounded. Destruction upon destruction
is upon the whole land. Oh how long must this be the servant of
the Lord cries out, the sound of the war trumpet. It is because
the people are foolish, not knowing the true God; they are
children of no understanding: they are wise to do EVIL, and to do
GOOD they know not how (verses 10-17).
The destruction to come is mighty, upon the land and heaven,
no light will shine, and the mountains will tremble, and the
hills be moved. Men will hardly be there, the birds of heaven
will flee. The fruitful place will be as a wilderness, the cities
broken down at the PRESENCE OF THE LORD, and by HIS FIERCE ANGER!
(verses 23-26). The time setting is thus clear, it is the time of
the end, when God shall shake the earth.
The land will be indeed DESOLATE, yet not a full end of all
people (verse 27).
The purpose of God is to be fulfilled, the heavens will be
black, the Lord will not change His mind (verse 28).
The whole city of Jerusalem shall flee for the noise of the
army, they shall flee to the hills and woods as Jesus said they
needed to do, when they saw in the last days, the city of
Jerusalem surrounded by armies and the desolation was close at
hand (see Mat.24; Mark 13; Luke 21). The cities of Judah will be
forsaken. It will be no good to deck yourselves out in your fine
clothes and jewels. It will be in vain to try and win the peace
of your lover enemies, they will only despise you, and they will
indeed seek your life.
It will be a time of anguish and travail as a woman who
brings forth her child, the voice of the daughters of Zion will
cry out; they will spread their hands saying, "Woe is me now! For
my soul is wearied because of murderers" (verses 28-31).
All this prophecy is in context, a prophecy of the very end
time, the last three and one half years, or 42 months, or 1260
days of this present age. Judah (the Jews) of the Holy Land,
Israel (the peoples of North-Western Europe, the British
Commonwealth and the United States of America) will be under the
heel of the German-led Beast power of Europe, the Babylon Woman
of the book of Revelation. The Beast-man and the False-prophet of
Revelation shall lead and direct a mighty 7th resurrection of the
Holy Roman Empire in Europe. It will come against an Arab king of
the south in the last days. It will defeat the king of the South
and then march into the holy land. It will surround Jerusalem
with its armies and bring destruction on that city and all the
cities of Judah. It will then turn its might against the British
Commonwealth of nations and the United States of America. It will
crush the Western world. It will rule the Western world with its
false Christian religion. It will impose the "mark of the Beast"
on all its citizens. It will persecute and kill many true saints
of God. It will reign until the day of the Lord comes. It will
turn to conquer the Eastern world, the East will counter-attack.
The war that comes would obliterate every human life from off the
planet if not stopped by the coming of Christ.
Jesus will come, to fight against those who will be
destroying the earth. He will destroy the armies of the West and
the East in the battle of Armageddon, at Megiddo. Israel and Judah
will be restored, they will come with weeping and a repentant
heart from the lands of their enemies, to be united as ONE people
back in the land of promise.
So will begin the 1,000 years of the Kingdom of God on
earth, under the leadership of the Messiah, Jesus the Christ.
......................
To be continued
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