Ears to Hear and Eyes to See

Religious pride is a fiend not a friend. Pride in beliefs that are contrary to a personal relationship with Christ, is a trap not a freedom.

Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” Some Pharisees asked Jesus, “Are we blind also?” Jesus answered, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.” (John 9:39-41) They were closeminded.

“There is none so blind as he who will not see.” [1]

In Revelation 3:17, Jesus said to the Laodiceans, “You say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.” Jesus urged them to, “Be zealous and repent.”

Dealing with religious pride is difficult, but the Lord says in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

“Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: he who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes over to the Chaldeans shall live; his life shall be as a prize to him, and he shall live. Thus says the Lord: this city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which shall take it.’” Jeremiah 38:1-3

It was almost curtain time for Jerusalem. The Babylonian army was coming back to Jerusalem with a vengeance. In the minds of the Babylonians, Jerusalem belonged to them. They had conquered the city once already. But when the Egyptians came against the Babylonians, the people of Jerusalem cheered for the Egyptians not the Babylonians.

Ship Jerusalem was nose down. The rest of the ship was about to follow. Anyone with eyes could see that doomsday was at hand. She refused to repent. God was ready to save her, but she refused to let go of the things that were sinking her.

What did Jeremiah say as the curtain was closing? The same message as before! “He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes over to the Chaldeans shall live; his life shall be as a prize to him, and he shall live.”

As the proud religious leaders of Jerusalem fought Jeremiah, so they fought Jesus and His apostles. Given the choice between Jesus or a rebel, they chose the rebel. Jesus they crucified. The rebel (Barabbas) they let go. When they caught the apostles teaching people, they arrested them and said to them, in Acts 5:28, “Did not we straitly command you that you should not teach in this Name? And behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this Man’s blood upon us.”

God promised them, “sword, famine and pestilence.” These three words appear together in 26 different Bible verses. They are fruits that wrong beliefs about God yield.

For example, in Matthew 24:7-8, in the context of end times, Jesus spoke of nations at war and experiencing famines and pestilences. In Revelation 6:4-8, Jesus reveals to us four riders on horses who bring war, famine and plagues on the earth before He returns.

Proud princes who overheard Jeremiah prophesying such things were furious at him.

“Therefore the princes said to the king, ‘Please, let this man be put to death, for thus he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man does not seek the welfare of this people, but their harm.’” Jeremiah 38:4

Jeremiah was trying to strengthen them to face reality, and not to continue in denial.

“They [the princes] sought to silence the only true friend the people had by charging him with lack of patriotism dangerous speeches, and treasonable acts, and demand his death. Unbelief ever is fanatical in its intolerance of the truth and resorts to false charges and despicable lies in order to get rid of the prophets of God’s truth.” [2]

Jesus experienced a similar accusation of treason as Jeremiah did. In John 11:48, Jerusalem’s religious leaders said of Jesus, “If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”

In John 19:12, Pilate declared Jesus innocent, but religious leaders shouted at him, “If you let this Man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”

In Acts 24:5, lying leaders said of Paul, “We have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.”

Shephatiah, Gedaliah, and Jucal hated Jeremiah. They expected King Zedekiah to execute him.

“Then Zedekiah the king said, ‘Look, he is in your hand. For the king can do nothing against you.’” Jeremiah 38:5

As Pilate washed his hands of Jesus, Zedekiah metaphorically washed his hands of Jeremiah. He handed Jeremiah over to those who wanted him dead. “Silencing his conscience, Zedekiah betrays Jeremiah in order to keep the good will of these murderers.” [3]

“Nothing lasts long with Zedekiah. The man was a marshmallow. He received impressions from anyone who pushed hard enough. When the pressure was off, he gradually resumed his earlier state ready for the next impression. In contrast to Jeremiah, who was formed within by obedience to God and faith in God (an iron pillar), Zedekiah took on whatever shape the circumstances required.” [4]

“So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the king’s son, which was in the court of the prison, and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire. So, Jeremiah sank in the mire.” Jeremiah 38:6

The dungeon was not a subterranean prison like the last one Jeremiah experienced, but an empty well. This hole in the ground was like the tomb of Jesus. Praise God, neither Jeremiah nor Jesus were conquered by such circumstances! Both are resurrected. Both are alive today.

As frequently happens in hero movies, the villains opted to make our hero suffer a slow death. Thus, they allowed time for God to intervene. Jeremiah’s prison was horrible, but he survived.

“Now Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon. When the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin, Ebedmelech went out of the king’s house and spoke to the king, saying: ‘My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon, and he is likely to die from hunger in the place where he is. For there is no more bread in the city.’” Jeremiah 38:7-9

The last time that Jeremiah was rescued, God used a man named Shaphan to intervene. This time it is an Ethiopian named Ebedmelech. Ebedmelech is Hebrew for “servant of the king.” Ebedmelech told King Zedekiah that HIS princes were evil. He envisioned Jeremiah starving to death because that location’s bread supply was gone.

“Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘Take from here 30 men with you, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he dies.’”

Jeremiah had rebuked Jerusalem’s rich people for re-enslaving their slaves. Now, a captive was setting him free. After the Ethiopian courageously stood up for God’s prophet, King Zedekiah flipped his position. Perhaps, the 30 helpers were guards to protect them from assassins.

Ecclesiastes 11:1 says, “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.” Often after we help others, God pays us back in some form as though we did it for Him.

“So Ebedmelech took the men with him and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there old clothes and old rags, and let them down by ropes into the dungeon to Jeremiah. Then Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, ‘Please put these old clothes and rags under your armpits, under the ropes.’ And Jeremiah did so. So they pulled Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the dungeon. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.” Jeremiah 38:11-13

God transformed old clothes and rags into a rescue rope to save Jeremiah’s life.

Praise God! Jeremiah was saved from a miry pit! Psalm 69:2 also speaks of a man in mire. In Psalm 69:14, he asks for deliverance from the mire. In verse 21 of Psalm 69, the Man is given gall and vinegar to drink. “They also gave Me gall for My food, and for My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink.” This passage is quoted in all four Gospel as being fulfilled in Jesus. In this sense, both the Psalmist and Jeremiah prefigure Jesus Christ in His self-denial for our sakes.

Sometimes Jesus allows circumstances to come about so that His life shines through ours.

Praise God! By God’s grace, Jeremiah was transferred to the courtyard prison. This prison was no five-star hotel but it was better than the previous prison.

“Then Zedekiah the king sent and had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance of the house of the Lord. And the king said to Jeremiah, ‘I will ask you something. Hide nothing from me.’” Jeremiah 38:14

Time was ticking away. Zedekiah’s end was near. The Babylonian army would soon be back. What did King Zedekiah want? He wanted to see Jeremiah. Did Zedekiah suppose that Jeremiah would flip flop his prophetic position now?

“Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, ‘If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.’” Jeremiah 38:15

At this point, there was no good reason for Jeremiah to restrain his tongue from speaking what was in his heart. He knew that Zedekiah had closed his mind to the truth.

“So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, ‘As the Lord lives, who made our very souls, I will not put you to death, nor will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life.’” Jeremiah 38:16

~ Okay, speak ~

“Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: if you surely surrender to the king of Babylon’s princes, then your soul shall live; this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live.’ But if you do not surrender to the king of Babylon’s princes, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans; they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand. And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, ‘I am afraid of the Jews who have defected to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they abuse me.’” Jeremiah 38:17-19

Jeremiah stood strong, but Zedekiah broke. He confessed to Jeremiah that he was afraid of the Jews in Babylon. He assumed that the Jews in Babylon hated him and would torture him.

Someone who stands for God amidst detractors is a rare jewel. Remember Nicodemus? He was a religious leader. He was afraid to come to Jesus openly so he came to Jesus by night. John 12:42 says that “among the chief rulers many believed Jesus; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue.”

How many of us have remained silent amidst “friends” for fear of being ostracized? Does our acceptance by those who disregard Jesus mean more to us than He does?

“Jeremiah said, ‘They shall not deliver you. Please, obey the voice of the Lord which I speak to you. So, it shall be well with you, and your soul shall live.’ But if you refuse to surrender, this is the word that the Lord has shown me: now behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah’s house shall be surrendered to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women shall say: ‘Your close friends have set upon you and prevailed against you; your feet have sunk in the mire, and they have turned away again.’ So, they shall surrender all your wives and children to the Chaldeans. You shall not escape from their hand but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon. And you shall cause this city to be burned with fire.” Jeremiah 38:20-23

The prophet speaks of surrender to the will of God. The only way up is down!

Jeremiah addressed Zedekiah’s anxieties about being tortured by the Jews. It would not happen if he obeyed the Lord. Surrender to the will of the Lord yields wellness and soul-salvation.

If Zedekiah refused to obey God’s voice, his wives and children would be given to Babylonian princes. His wives would remark how his close friends caused him to sink in mire. They would abandon him. He would be imprisoned. He would reap what he did to Jeremiah plus more.

“Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, ‘Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die.’ But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say to you, ‘Declare to us now what you have said to the king, and also what the king said to you; do not hide it from us, and we will not put you to death,’ then you shall say to them, ‘I presented my request before the king, that he would not make me return to Jonathan’s house to die there.’” Jeremiah 38:24-26

Zedekiah did not obey God, but DID keep his promise to save Jeremiah from death.

“Then all the princes came to Jeremiah and asked him. And he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So, they stopped speaking with him, for the conversation had not been heard.” Jeremiah 38:27

Jeremiah obeyed his king. He told the princes what the king told him to say. They left alone. This time, God used King Zedekiah to save Jermiah’s life.

“Now Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken. And he was there when Jerusalem was taken.” Jeremiah 38:28

Dear friends, let us pray for ears to hear and eyes to see.

“Dear Lord Jesus, as You opened the eyes of that man who was born blind, please open our eyes and help us to see what we need to see. Please open our ears as You opened the ears of Jeremiah to hear as he heard from You. This I pray, in Your Name, Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.”


[1] This proverbs first appeared in 1546, John Heywood’s collection of proverbs. It has its roots in Jeremiah 5:21, which says, “Hear this now, O foolish people without understanding, who have eyes and see not, and who have ears and hear not.”

[2] Dr. Theo Laetsch, Bible Commentary Jeremiah, Concordia Paperback Edition, 1965, ©, pages 294-296

[3] Dr. Theo Laetsch, Bible Commentary Jeremiah, Concordia Paperback Edition, 1965, ©, pages 294-296

[4] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 583

Humble Yourself Before the Lord

“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear” is a phrase that Jesus used eight times in the Book of Revelation. He used a similar phrase four times in the Gospels. [1] In each incident, Jesus had just finished speaking words of vital importance to the well-being of His listeners.

Words of dire importance to listeners is what God calls His servants to speak.

Isaiah 57:15 says, “For this is what the high and exalted One says— He who lives forever, whose Name is holy: ‘I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.’”

“Lord, please help me to be contrite and lowly. Please revive my spirit and my heart in You!”

“Now Zedekiah the son of Josiah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had made king in the land of Judah, reigned as king in place of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim. But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land gave heed to the Words of the Lord which He spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.” Jeremiah 37:1-2

Coniah is a slang form of the name Jeconiah. A disrespectful way of saying his name! [2] King Jeconiah reigned three short months in between the reigns of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah. He did not listen to the Lord. His reign was cut short.

“And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now to the Lord our God for us.’” Jeremiah 37:3

This is the second time, King Zedekiah sent Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 21:1-2, he sent Zephaniah to Jeremiah to ask him to enquire of the Lord. He said, “Perhaps the Lord will perform wonders for us.”

The Lord does wonders! He did wonders for Moses, for Joshua, for King David, and for King Hezekiah as they prayed prayers full of faith in His mighty power. Up until now, Zedekiah had showed little regard for God and God’s Word. No where do we read that he repented of his sin, and yet he hoped (in vain) that God would be swayed to help him if Jeremiah prayed for him.

Once, I was in dire need, a fellow missionary said to me, “The only way up is down.” Down on my knees before God in repentance and prayer! I wanted empathy at that moment, not a seeming accusation that I was not humble, but I held my tongue. The Second Chapter of Acts music group had just released a new album. On it, was a song, “Humble Yourself.” The song’s chorus was, “Humble yourself before the Lord, humble yourself.” Thankfully, the Lord helped me to hear what that caring Christian sister had said to me, and to humble myself before the Lord, and the Lord intervened for us.

“Now Jeremiah was coming and going among the people, for they had not yet put him in prison. Then Pharaoh’s army came up from Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they departed from Jerusalem.” Jeremiah 37:4-5

Jeremiah has not yet given his answer to King Zedekiah’s messenger, but it seems that God has intervened. As Egypt’s army advanced towards Jerusalem, Babylon’s army retreated from them.

“Then the Word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, thus you shall say to the king of Judah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: behold, Pharaoh’s army which has come up to help you will return to Egypt, to their own land. And the Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city and take it and burn it with fire. Thus says the Lord: do not deceive yourselves, saying, ‘The Chaldeans will surely depart from us,’ for they will not depart. For though you had defeated the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained only wounded men among them, they would rise up, every man in his tent, and burn the city with fire.” Jeremiah 37:6-10

Egypt lost the battle against Babylon. Egypt only delayed the inevitable defeat of Judea.

2 Kings 24:7 says, “The king of Egypt did not march out from his own country again, because the king of Babylon had taken all his territory, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River.”

Previously, King Josiah had joined with Assyria against Egypt and lost his life. Egypt won that battle. Now, Josiah’s son, King Zedekiah joined sides with Egypt against Babylon and Egypt lost, and by extension, he did too. [3]

Psalm 118:8-9 says, “It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in man. is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in princes.”

The answer that God gave to Jeremiah in respect to King Zedekiah’s request was that Babylon would return to destroy Jerusalem, and there was absolutely no possibility for victory.

This is the curse of the Law at work among the covenant breaking people of Judea. The Lord had told them that if they forsook Him, He would fight against them on the side of their enemies. In Deuteronomy 28:25, the Lord told them, “The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven.” They did not listen with their ears to what the Lord had said to them.

“And it happened, when the army of the Chaldeans left the siege of Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army, that Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to claim his property there among the people. And when he was in the Gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard was there whose name was Irijah the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, ‘You are defecting to the Chaldeans!’ Then Jeremiah said, ‘False! I am not defecting to the Chaldeans.’ But he did not listen to him. So, Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him to the princes.” Jeremiah 37:11-14

Captain Irijah was the grandson of Hananiah. Hananiah was a false prophet. In Jeremiah 28:16, Jeremiah prophesied that Hananiah would die for lying to God’s people. He died within a year.

Captain Irijah accused Jeremiah of being a traitor. He arrested Jeremiah. In truth, Jeremiah left Jerusalem to claim the land that he had recently purchased from his uncle.

I wonder if Jeremiah had prayed about his travels that day. Did he need to claim his property at this time? God had him purchase it more as a sign of things to come than to enjoy at this time.

When you live among a people who are at war with God and by extension at war with those who profess and serve God, it is important to pray before going places. Ask the Lord, “Is now the appropriate time to do this?” “Which route should I take?” “What’s the spiritual climate like right now?” “Is the government cracking down or easing up on those it persecutes?”

Once while doing missionary work in China, my wife and I prayed while on our way to join a Christian gathering. The more we prayed, the more unsettled we felt about going. Finally, sensing no peace at all from the Lord about continuing on, we turned around and went back home. That night, soldiers invaded that gathering and arrested the Christians.

The Spirit of the Lord inspired King David to write quite a few prayers about deliverance from enemies. For example, Psalms 27:12, “Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.” And Psalms 35:11, “False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.”

This being said, if not delivered from persecutors, that does not mean you failed. It means that your persecutors failed. They failed to listen to God. God does, however, use what was meant evil, namely their mistreatment of you, to the good of all involved. Just wait and see!

“Therefore the princes were angry with Jeremiah, and they struck him and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe. For they had made that the prison.” Jeremiah 37:15

In Luke 22:64, Jesus too was struck for the Word of God. “And when they had blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face, and asked Him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote You?”

In Acts 23:2, Paul was struck in the mouth for speaking for Christ. “And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth.”

Jesus told the Christians Revelation 2:10, “Fear none of those things which you shall suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that you may be tried; and you shall have tribulation ten days: be faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life.” Jesus limited the length of their suffering for the Gospel’s sake, and He rewarded them afterwards.

In 2 Corinthians 4:17, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” The Lord’s rewards for those who suffer for His Name’s sake are great.

The Lord speaks very loudly to our people through our sufferings. I remember feeling like such a failure as one thing after another seemed to go wrong for us during our missionary service, but then, one day, a Chinese sister in the Lord said to me, “You know we don’t always understand you, but we see all the suffering that you and your family go through for Jesus and we are deeply touched by it.”

“When Jeremiah entered the dungeon and the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days, then Zedekiah the king sent and took him out. The king asked him secretly in his house, and said, ‘Is there any word from the Lord?’ And Jeremiah said, ‘There is.’ Then he said, ‘You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon!’” Jeremiah 37:16-17

Jeremiah’s prison likely consisted of a pit with vaulted cells round the sides of it. Think of a circular space surrounded by a wall with several doors and behind each door a room! The word for “cells” is from a Hebrew word that means “to bend one’s self.” These small rooms were used to imprison dangerous criminals. Jeremiah was confined there many days. “Unbelief, constantly demanding toleration and charity, is unbelievably intolerant and cruel against opposition.” [4]

Why did Zedekiah meet with Jeremiah secretly? Did he hope that a one on one meeting with Jeremiah would yield a better word for him? Did he fear those who hated Jeremiah?

After being locked up in a prison for many days, King Zedekiah invited Jeremiah into his house. From prison to palace in a day, but with a catch! The king wanted a word from the Lord.

Jeremiah had nothing new to say. He hated being locked up but could not alter God’s Word for the sake of personal gain. Is there a word from God for Zedekiah? “There is. You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon!”

Before the king could say a word about sending him back to prison, Jeremiah asked Zedekiah...

“What offense have I committed against you, against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison?’ Where now are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land?’ Therefore please hear now, O my lord the king. Please, let my petition be accepted before you, and do not make me return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.” Jeremiah 37:18-20

Proverbs 17:13 says, “Whoso rewards evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.”

Zedekiah had rewarded Jeremiah with evil for his good works.

In John 10:32, Jesus asked the religious leaders, “Many good works have I shown you from My Father; for which of those works do you stone Me?”

In Galatians 4:16, Paul asked his listeners, “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?”

Calvin wrote, “The prophet naturally shrank from death, which makes his spiritual firmness the more remarkable; he was ready to die rather than swerve from his duty.”

“Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah to the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread from the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was gone. Thus, Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.” Jeremiah 37:21

God moved Zedekiah to give Jeremiah an upgrade. Thus, Jeremiah was moved to a better prison cell and given daily bread from a bakery. Proverbs 21:1 says, “In the Lord’s hand the king’s heart is a stream of water that He channels toward all who please him.”

The Lord has given us precious promises in His Word. Psalm 37:17 says, “In times of disaster they [the blameless] will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.” Psalms 33:18-19 says, “Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.” The Lord preserved Jeremiah’s life. Jerusalem fell, but he remained.

The sufferings of Jeremiah are a type of the sufferings of Jesus Christ. Like Jesus, Jeremiah was a persecuted for his prophesying. Jeremiah prophesied of the downfall of Jerusalem because God was going to rebuild a better Jerusalem. Jesus prophesied of the destruction of the temple because God was going to rebuild a better temple. In Ephesians 2:20-22, the new temple is us, the body of Christ. Like Jesus, Jeremiah was arrested and mistreated for teaching God’s Word.

Special Counsel to President Nixon, Chuck Colson, testified that the imprisonment he suffered opened up many doors for him to speak with people. He said: “My greatest humiliation—being sent to prison—was the beginning of God’s greatest use of my life.”

After Judea was decimated by Babylon, Jeremiah lived. Jeremiah is alive today. His words continue to be read and heard around the world. Praise the Lord! 

[1] Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22; 13:9; Matthew 11:15, 13:9; Mark 4:9, 23

[2] Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary

[3] 2 Kings 23:29; 2 Chronicles 36:13; Ezekiel 17:15-17

[4] Dr. Theo Laetsch, Bible Commentary Jeremiah, Concordia Paperback Edition, 1965, ©, page 292

Cherishing God’s Word

Let the writing begin!

“Now it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this Word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: ‘Take a scroll of a book and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah even to this day.’” Jeremiah 36:1-2

What is the backdrop of this chapter? It is the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign. Both this chapter and the previous chapter happened before King Zedekiah’s reign. The events of Jehoiakim’s reign are relevant for Zedekiah because what happened to his brother Jehoiakim is about to happen to him. He too would be carried away to Babylon.

2 Kings 24:1 says, “During Jehoiakim’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded the land, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. But then he turned against Nebuchadnezzar and rebelled.” A vassal means he was subordinate to Nebuchadnezzar in exchange for peace. The terms of peace for Israel included sending income tax revenue to Babylon. As a gangster protects a business on his turf does. “You pay the gang your dues and no one gets hurt.”

Daniel 1:1-2 speaks of Jehoiakim being carried off to Babylon. But by the fourth year of his reign, he’s back in Jerusalem as a vassal serving at the pleasure of Nebuchadnezzar.

The Lord told Jeremiah to write all the words which he had given him from the days of King Josiah until now – 22 years of prophecies. I’m glad that Jeremiah did what God asked him to do and that God continues to preserve and make His words understandable.

“It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the adversities which I purpose to bring upon them, that everyone may turn from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.” Jeremiah 36:3

God kept holding out the Word of life to the people of Jerusalem. He has no delight in the death of the wicked. He urged Jeremiah to keep communicating with them. If they would not let him speak in public, then, he was to write for them. He wrote down the words God gave him. He directed Baruch to read the words aloud to the people in the house of the Lord.

The Lord said to Jeremiah “It may be that the house of Judah will hear... and turn from his evil way.” That is “repent!” An effective evangelist for Christ named John Sung used to say, “Without repentance there is no reaping.”

In Matthew 3:2, John preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

In Mark 1:14-15, Jesus preached, “The time has come, the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

In Acts 3:19, Peter preached, “Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.”

In 2 Timothy 2:25, Paul preached, “In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.”

In Revelation 3:19, Jesus said to the church in Laodicea, “So be earnest and repent.”

Repentance opens the door for God to do things in your life that otherwise He will not do.

“Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote on a scroll of a book, at the instruction of Jeremiah, all the words of the Lord which He had spoken to him.” Jeremiah 36:4

Baruch is Jeremiah’s cousin. He was the grandson of Maaseiah the brother of Jeremiah’s father Hilkiah. Maaseiah begat Neriah. Neriah begat Baruch. [1] While in prison, Jeremiah dictated his prophecies to Baruch, and Baruch wrote them down. Praise God for their teamwork!

When the Apostle Paul was imprisoned, he had a scribe named Tertius. Tertius added his name to Paul’s letter to the Romans. In Romans 16:22, he wrote, “I Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord.”

“And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, ‘I am confined, I cannot go into the house of the Lord. You go, therefore, and read from the scroll which you have written at my instruction, the Words of the Lord, in the hearing of the people in the Lord’s house on the day of fasting. And you shall also read them in the hearing of all Judah who come from their cities.’” Jeremiah 36:5-6

During a day of fasting in God’s house, people would come from the city and the countryside to be there. Usually, those who fasted in God’s house took His words very seriously.

“It may be that they will present their supplication before the Lord, and everyone will turn from his evil way. For great is the anger and the fury that the Lord has pronounced against this people.” Jeremiah 36:7

“God wants to do more than convict; He wants to convert.” [2] It is one thing to hear God’s Word. It is another thing to submit all you say and do under its authority.

“And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading from the book the words of the Lord in the Lord’s house. Now it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the Lord to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem. Then Baruch read from the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court at the entry of the New Gate of the Lord’s house, in the hearing of all the people.” Jeremiah 36:8-10

The fifth year of Jehoiakim’s reign means that a year has passed since Jeremiah and Baruch started their prophecy recording project. Perfect timing! Jehoiakim just proclaimed a fast. People from the cities and the countryside of Judah are in the Lord’s house. Baruch reads the words from a location where people can hear him. He reads from Gemariah’s chamber. Gemariah is Jeremiah’s and Baruch’s cousin. He is the grandson of Azaliah. Azaliah is Jeremiah’s father’s brother... his uncle.

“When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the book, he then went down to the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber; and there all the princes were sitting — Elishama the scribe, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.” Jeremiah 36:11-12

Michaiah is the great grandson of Jeremiah’s Uncle Azaliah, another of his cousins. When he heard Baruch reading God’s Word from Jeremiah’s scroll, he informed the princes about it. Prince Elnathan had previously led a posse to Egypt to capture a good prophet named Urijah and bring him back to Jerusalem for execution. Hananiah would have Jeremiah arrested and put in stocks at a future date. [3] Prince Gemariah, on the other hand, was a cousin of Jeremiah and Baruch. He would prove himself helpful to them at a future date.

“Then Michaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the book in the hearing of the people. Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, ‘Take in your hand the scroll from which you have read in the hearing of the people and come.’ So, Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them.” Jeremiah 36:13-14

In Matthew 10:18-20, Jesus said to His disciples, “On My account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

I am so thankful that our Lord Jesus gave us this promise. How many seminaries and churches teach people what to do in the event of being arrested for the Gospel’s sake? I remember when I preached the Gospel in China, I did try to imagine what I would do and say if arrested by the authorities. One time, I met a soldier who confessed to me that he had killed many Christians. I had handed him a Gospel tract. He was not in uniform. Thankfully, the Lord gave me peace to remain calm and to continue to share the Gospel with him. He did not protest and did not arrest me. Praise the Lord! That experience was a real blessing to me, and hopefully to him as well!

In Matthew 10:28, Jesus told His disciples, “Do not fear them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

The trials of this world are momentary. May the Lord help you to keep your eye on the prize, namely, to be with Him forevermore!

“And they said to him, ‘Sit down now, and read it in our hearing.’ So, Baruch read it in their hearing. Now it happened, when they had heard all the words, that they looked in fear from one to another, and said to Baruch, ‘We will surely tell the king of all these words.’ And they asked Baruch, saying, ‘Tell us now, how did you write all these words—at his instruction?’ So Baruch answered them, ‘He proclaimed with his mouth all these words to me, and I wrote them with ink in the book.’ Then the princes said to Baruch, ‘Go and hide, you and Jeremiah; and let no one know where you are.’” Jeremiah 36:16-19

Obviously, some of the princes favored Baruch and Jeremiah. They urged them to hide. They knew Jehoiakim was a prophet killer because he had previously executed Urijah the prophet.

Jeremiah's story reminds me of life in China. I shared the Word of God with hungry souls at unpublicized locations. We depended on the Lord to hide us from those who would arrest us.

Leaders who persecute people for speaking God’s Word are not good leaders.

“And they went to the king, into the court; but they stored the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe and told all the words in the hearing of the king.” Jeremiah 36:20

After hearing their report, the king wanted to see Jeremiah’s book.

“So the king sent Jehudi to bring the scroll, and he took it from Elishama the scribe’s chamber. And Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king and in the hearing of all the princes who stood beside the king.” Jeremiah 36:21

This was King Jehoiakim’s big opportunity to hear the Word of the Lord and to turn to back to God. His father, King Josiah, acted on God’s Word. Would Jehoiakim turn back to God now?

“Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning on the hearth before him.” Jeremiah 36:22

“In the East neither chimneys nor ovens are used, but, in cold weather, a brazen vessel containing burning charcoal. When the wood has burned to embers, a cover is placed over the pot to make it retain the heat.” [4]

“And it happened, when Jehudi had read three or four columns, that the king cut it with the scribe’s knife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.” Jeremiah 36:23

King Jehoiakim’s forefather, King Josiah, humbled himself, tore his robes and immediately acted on God’s Word the moment that he heard it. King David, Jehoiakim’s forefather, described the behavior of a wicked man in Psalm 36:1-3, he wrote, “I have a message from God in my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: there is no fear of God before their eyes. In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin. The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful; they fail to act wisely or do good.” King Solomon, another of Jehoiakim’s forefathers, wrote in Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

Jehoiakim was evil. Rather than love God’s Word, he hated it.

“Yet they were not afraid, nor did they tear their garments, the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words. Nevertheless Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah implored the king not to burn the scroll; but he would not listen to them.” Jeremiah 36:24-25

Babylon’s army had already attacked captured Jehoiakim once. How could he be so foolish? Well, I have seen this kind of lifestyle among other captives of sins. Though sin is costing them dearly, they keep pressing on forward in it.

At least some of the king’s princes wanted to preserve the scroll.

If only there had been even a doctor of the Law among them like Gamaliel in the Book of Acts, perhaps Jehoiakim would not have burned God’s Word in fire. In Acts 5:38-39, Gamaliel advised those who wanted to put Peter and John to death, saying, “For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

“The king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them.” Jeremiah 36:26

Thankfully, the Lord hides His servants from His enemies. The Lord hid David’s life numerous times from a king who wanted to destroy him. In Psalm 32:7, David wrote, “You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.”

“Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words which Baruch had written at the instruction of Jeremiah, the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: ‘Take yet another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned.’” Jeremiah 36:27-28

It is a futile effort for authorities to try to keep God’s Word from people. For example, Mao Zedong wanted to cut out the tongue of God. He wanted everyone to be able to read his little red book so people were taught how to read. He wanted people to hear his voice so radios were installed in public places all over China. Now, Mao Zedong is dead. Christians in many regions of China outnumber communist party members. Radio wave transmitters beam Bible programs to radios into China daily. Jesus said in Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.”

“And you shall say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘Thus says the Lord: You have burned this scroll, saying, why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and cause man and beast to cease from here?’ Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: he shall have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. I will punish him, his family, and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring on them, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah all the doom that I have pronounced against them; but they did not heed.” Jeremiah 36:29-31

“One day the king who burned the Bible because he was so anxious to keep warm would be exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night.” [5]

In Jeremiah 22:19, Jeremiah prophesied of King Jehoiakim, saying, “He will have the burial of a donkey—dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.” This word came to pass when Jehoiakim died enroute to Babylon. The Babylonians did not bury his corpse but it left as meat for the birds of the air to feast on. He dishonored God. God dishonored him.

Dwight L. Moody described the difference between men like Josiah and men like Jehoiakim this way: “Either the Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.”

“Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the instruction of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And besides, there were added to them many similar words.” Jeremiah 36:32

Evil King Jehoiakim sought to silence God by burning His Word, but rather than lessening God’s words, his crime led to God increasing His words on earth. The more Jeremiah’s government tried to stifle God’s Word, the more it grew and spread. King Jehoiakim should have let the Bible burn in his heart not in his fireplace.


[1] 2 Chronicles 34:8, Jeremiah 35:6; Jeremiah 32:12; 36:4-26; 43:3; 45:1

[2] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 548-552

[3] Jeremiah 26:22-23; 28:10-17

[4] Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary

[5] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 552-555

Covenant Keepers

In Job 1:8, “The Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?’” Here in Jeremiah 35, the Lord asks Jeremiah to go to the house of the Rechabites and invite them into the house of the Lord. These men are covenant keepers.

In the previous chapter, King Zedekiah and the slave owners of Jerusalem made a solemn covenant in the house of the Lord to emancipate their slaves. They passed through the parts of an animal cut in two, implying that they wished to be cut asunder if they broke the covenant that they made in God’s house. Even so, soon after releasing their slaves, they broke that covenant by enslaving them once again. [1]

The amazing thing is that the Recabites had kept a covenant for more than 200 years! Jonadab son of Recab was one of the 7,000 in Israel who did not bow the knee to Baal during the days of Elijah. Jonadab was with Jehu in 842 BC when he slew evil king Ahab and his entire family. [2]

“The Word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, ‘Go to the house of the Rechabites, speak to them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.’” Jeremiah 35:1-2

Jeremiah finally got a break from speaking to non-compliant people, or so it seemed. The Lord sent him to the Rechabite clan. His mission was to invite them to God’s house for some wine. He gave them cups of wine, and then said, “Drink.” Guess what? They refused to comply.

Jeremiah wanted his fellow priests to see this...

“Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, his brothers and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites, and I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door.” Jeremiah 35:3-4

Jeremiah led a priestly group of brothers, their sons and the Rechabites into a room inside the Lord’s house. Perhaps, a large group of men!

“Then I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine, and cups; and I said to them, ‘Drink wine.’ But they said, ‘We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, you shall drink no wine, you nor your sons, forever.’” Jeremiah 35:5-6

Wow, ample wine! Cups and bowls full! A nice gesture from the host! A crowd of witnesses watching! How did the Rechabites respond? They said, “We will drink no wine.” Why? They wanted to be faithful to a covenant that their forefathers kept for over 200 years.

Their father also commanded them...

“You shall not build a house, sow seed, plant a vineyard, nor have any of these; but all your days you shall dwell in tents, that you may live many days in the land where you are sojourners.” Jeremiah 35:7

The Rechabites worshipped God in the nomadic fashion of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

I would like to think that they saw themselves as people in Hebrews 11 did. Hebrews 11:13-16 says, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”

In Luke 9:57-58, a man said to Jesus, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” Philippians 2:6-8 says of Jesus, “Being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross.”

Jim Elliott wanted a small but fierce tribe of Waorani Indians in Ecuador to hear the Gospel. This tribe had a reputation of killing outsiders. Jim Elliot was killed by them. Prior to his death, Jim said, “He is no fool who gives away what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.” After his death, many Waorani Indians believed in Jesus through the witness of Jim’s wife, his children and other missionaries who did not give up on them.

“Thus we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, nor to build ourselves houses to dwell in; nor do we have vineyard, field, or seed. But we have dwelt in tents and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. But it came to pass, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, ‘Come, let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and for fear of the army of the Syrians.’ So, we dwell at Jerusalem.’” Jeremiah 35:8-11

The Rechabites temporarily settled in the city to protect their families from the Babylonian army, but they could in a moment’s notice leave since they lived in mobile homes... tents.

After Jeremiah listened to the testimony of the Recabites, God told him to ask the people of Jerusalem why they would not listen to God. For over 200 years, Jonadab’s sons had obeyed their forefather’s command, but the Jerusalemites refused to obey God.

“Then came the Word of the Lord to Jeremiah, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, will you not receive instruction to obey My words? says the Lord. The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; for to this day, they drink none and obey their father’s commandment. But although I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, you did not obey Me. I have also sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, ‘Turn now everyone from his evil way, amend your doings, and do not go after other gods to serve them; then you will dwell in the land which I have given you and your fathers.’ But you have not inclined your ear, nor obeyed Me.” Jeremiah 35:12-15

In Luke 13:34-35, Jesus spoke a similar lament over Jerusalem, saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which kills the prophets, and stones them that are sent to you; how often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is left to you desolate: and verily I say to you, you shall not see Me, until the time come when you shall say, blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord.”

“Surely the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them, but this people has not obeyed Me.” Jeremiah 36:16

The sons of Jonadab were in some ways better representatives of God than the priests. They did not just talk about obedience, they demonstrated it. In Isaiah 1:3, the Lord said, “The ox knows his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel does not know, My people does not consider.” Did oxen and asses deserve higher academic awards than Jerusalem’s priests?

“Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: behold, I will bring on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the doom that I have pronounced against them; because I have spoken to them, but they have not heard, and I have called to them but they have not answered.” Jeremiah 35:17

God told them NOT to serve other gods. They served them. He expected them to keep their covenants, they broke them. Like dysfunctional clay, they would not be shaped by His hands.

The Recabites preferred obedience to opulence. God’s Spirit to alcoholic spirits! Tents of God to mansions of men! They preferred fields for God to fields for themselves!

As God walked amidst Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land, He walked with them. As Jesus walked with His disciples, His Spirit was with them. The Heavenly Father met their needs as sure as He provides for the needs of birds and flowers. They were God’s witnesses.

“And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father and kept all his precepts and done according to all that he commanded you, therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to stand before Me forever.’” Jeremiah 35:18-19

The Lord held up the sons of Jonadab as an example to the people of Jerusalem. He told them that because the Recabites obeyed the commandments of Jonadab their father, they would never lack a man to stand before Him.

“God kept His promise. When the Israelites went back home after the exile, they started to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. The engineer in charge of the building project, Nehemiah, carefully recorded the names of his best workers. One of them was a Rechabite: ‘The Dung Gate was repaired by Malkijah son of Recab, a ruler of the district of Beth Haccerem.’” [3]

God’s promise to Jonadab never to a lack a man to stand before Him brings to my mind His promise to another man named Phinehas.

In the days of Moses, some Israelite men began to have immoral relationships with Moabite women and to sacrifice to their gods. This wickedness aroused God’s anger. A plague broke out. Amidst the mayhem, Zimri and Cozbi openly defied God. Zimri was a leader’s son from the tribe of Simeon. Cozbi was the daughter of leader from Midian – a Moabitess. They went into a tent together in full view of everyone. When Phinehas saw it, he took a javelin, entered the tent and thrust it through both their bodies. The plague stopped, but not before 24,000 people died. The Lord’s word for Phinehas via Moses was, “Phinehas... has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in My zeal.” “Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace; and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.” (Numbers 25:1-15)

In Luther’s Small Catechism, each time he explained a commandment of the Lord, he began with the phrase, “You should fear, love, and trust in God.” For example, for the first commandment, he wrote, “You shall have no other gods. What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” For the fourth commandment, he wrote, “Honor your father and your mother. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not despise or anger our parents and other authorities, but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them.”

The first commandment is still relevant and binding today. In Matthew 22:37-39, when Jesus was asked which commandment is the greatest commandment, He answered and said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” As to the fourth commandment, Ephesians 6:1-3 says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. That it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth.”

As to the consumption of alcohol. I like that the Recabites enjoyed freedom FROM liquor.

In his book, “In Darkest England and the Way Out” General William Booth wrote, “9/10th’s of our poverty, squalor, vice, and crime spring from this poisonous tap-root [alcohol]. Many of our social evils, which overshadow the land… would dwindle away and die if they were not constantly watered with strong drink. There is universal agreement on that point.”

General Booth described darkest England as consisting of three circles combined together. “The outer and widest circle was inhabited by the starving and the homeless, but honest, poor. The second circle was inhabited by those who lived by vice. The third and innermost region at the center was peopled by those who existed by crime. The whole of the three circles was sodden with drink.” [4]

Proverbs 23:29-33 compares alcohol to a viper that bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper. “Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will utter perverse things.” Although the Bible does not altogether forbid drinking, it expressly forbids drunkenness.

One way to avoid alcohol addiction is abstinence. Some denominations require their members to sign a covenant in which they promise to abstain from harmful substances in preference for serving the Lord. Kind of like the Rechabite movement of Jeremiah’s day.

What does the New Testament have to say about wine? In John 2:1-11, the first miracle of Jesus was to turn water into wine at a wedding banquet. Ephesians 5:18 says, “Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.” The idea here is that a soul filled with God, does not need alcohol to be happy or social. 1 Timothy 3:1-2 says that a bishop should not be given to wine so those who believe in the priesthood of all believers abstain from it. 1 Timothy 3:8 says that a deacon should not be given to much wine. 1 Timothy 5:23 says, “No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities.” God’s Word to Timothy (a spiritual overseer) was to use it for medicinal purposes.

In Jeremiah 35, the Lord is addressing the covenant breaking leaders of Jerusalem. His main point to them is not about abstinence from wine but about being covenant keepers.

When Jesus walked among us, He made a new covenant with His disciples and by extension with us who believe in Him. In Matthew 26:26-28, He said, “Take, eat; this [bread] is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”

Praise God that this new covenant focuses on what Jesus did for us. Praise God that this new covenant emphasizes faith in His shed blood for the forgiveness of our sins. Glory to God that this new covenant is about partaking of God and having Him live within us.

In Romans 8:31-34, Paul wrote, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”

Job 19:25 says, “I know that My Redemer lives.” Our confidence amidst every trial and accusation is that God is a covenant keeping God. Many promises made by people are broken, but with God, “Promises made, promises kept” is 100% guaranteed.


[1] Jamieson-Fausset Brown Commentary (The passing between the parts of an animal to cut a covenant was practiced by Abraham in Genesis 15:10, 17)

[2] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 536-537 (See also 1 King 19:18; 2 Kings 10:15-17)

[3] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 541 (See also Nehemiah 3:14)

[4] General William Booth, “In Darkest England and the Way Out” 1890 1st edition published by The Salvation Army, pp. 37-38

An Empire Ends A New One Begins

Battles were raging. Town after town had fallen to Nebuchadnezzar’s forces. The fortified cities of Lachish, Azekah and Jerusalem were Judea’s last hold outs. Imagine the bloodshed! Lifeless bodies littering the landscape! Some killed by swords; others pierced with arrows! Buildings on fire! Ragged refugees running for their lives! Such great tribulation!

“The Word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem and all its cities, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, thus says the Lord: behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. And you shall not escape from his hand but shall surely be taken and delivered into his hand; your eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, he shall speak with you face to face, and you shall go to Babylon.’” Jeremiah 34:1-3

Have you ever been the bearer of bad news to a person who is in-charge of an already failing operation? Jeremiah gave King Zedekiah the bad news first. The city will be conquered. It will be burned down. You will have a face to face eye to eye with him who hates you.

A greater tribulation than Zedekiah’s is yet to come. In Matthew 24:21-22, when speaking of the end of the age, Jesus said, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.” People will need more than head knowledge about Jesus in that day to survive. They will need a relationship like Jeremiah’s with the Lord. Close, personal and constantly abiding in Him!

Then, there’s a worse tribulation than the previous two... In Revelation 20:11-12, 15, John saw a great white throne and Him that sat on it. Earth and the heaven fled from His face. He saw the dead stand before God. Their works were recorded in books. Those books were opened. They were judged according to those works. “Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Thus, it is for every person who believed not in the blood of Christ shed for his or her forgiveness. Such a person is judged not by Christ’s merits but by his or her own. This is why the apostles boldly and continuously proclaimed, “To Him [Jesus Christ] all the prophets witness that, through His Name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.” (Acts 10:43) Forgiveness of sin via faith in Jesus is the Gospel.

2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 says that when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, He will take vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the His Gospel. “These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.”

Zedekiah’s doubt, did not stop God’s Word from coming to pass.

Amidst tribulation, the Lord did provide some good news for Zedekiah...

“Yet hear the Word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus says the Lord concerning you: you shall not die by the sword. You shall die in peace; as in the ceremonies of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they shall burn incense for you and lament for you, saying, ‘Alas, Lord! For I have pronounced the Word, says the Lord.’” Jeremiah 34:4-5

What amazing grace! Zedekiah failed God, his nation, his family and himself, but God promised him something that must have been on his mind... a peaceful death and a royal funeral service.

“Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, when the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and Azekah; for only these fortified cities remained of the cities of Judah. This is the Word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem to proclaim liberty to them: that every man should set free his male and female slave—a Hebrew man or woman—that no one should keep a Jewish brother in bondage.” Jeremiah 34:6-9

“By the law a Hebrew, after having been a bond-servant for six years, on the seventh year was to be let go free.” [1] That was God’s law. The people of Jerusalem had not honored God or their slaves in this matter. They enslaved them long past the six-year limit.

“Now when all the princes and all the people, who had entered into the covenant, heard that everyone should set free his male and female slaves, that no one should keep them in bondage anymore, they obeyed and let them go.” Jeremiah 34:10

As tribulations intensified, they obeyed the Lord in this matter. Wow, a miracle! The Lord honored their obedience. He caused the mighty Babylonian army to withdraw.

I wish that was the end of this chapter. It would have been a happy ending. I can hardly believe what Zedekiah and his people did after the Babylonians departed...

“But afterward they changed their minds and made the male and female slaves return, whom they had set free, and brought them into subjection as male and female slaves.” Jeremiah 34:11

Can you imagine the disbelief and despair on the faces of their slaves? They were set free. They celebrated with great joy. Now, they were back to being slaves again.

“This is how many ungodly people are in life-or-death situations. In desperation they cry out to God to save them. They pledge to give Him their undying devotion if He will only deliver them this once. But when God answers their prayers, they go right back into their former way of life.” [2]

In Matthew 18:23-35. Jesus told a parable in which a king forgave a servant’s great debt because he humbled himself and pleaded for mercy. But afterwards, that same servant refused to forgive his fellow servant a small debt. So, the king had the unforgiving servant arrested and handed over to tormentors. “So,” said Jesus, “My heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

The king and his cohorts failed to forgive the debt of their servants. How did God’s respond to their misdeeds? He made a new promise to them...

“Therefore the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying, at the end of seven years let every man set free his Hebrew brother, who has been sold to him; and when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you. But your fathers did not obey Me nor incline their ear. Then you recently turned and did what was right in My sight—every man proclaiming liberty to his neighbor; and you made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My Name. Then you turned around and profaned My Name, and every one of you brought back his male and female slaves, whom you had set at liberty, at their pleasure, and brought them back into subjection, to be your male and female slaves. Therefore, thus says the Lord: you have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty, everyone to his brother and every one to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim liberty to you, says the Lord—to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine! And I will deliver you to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth.” Jeremiah 34:12-17

The re-enslavement of slaves set free was the last straw. God promised them tribulations. He called Babylon to return and finish the job they had left undone.

The last year of Zedekiah’s reign was a sabbatical year. A year to set slaves free! How just God’s retribution! He sent the royals into bondage and He had their slaves set free!

In Luke 4:18, at the beginning of His preaching ministry, Jesus announced, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.”

In Philemon 1:10-19, Paul wrote a letter to a slave master named Philemon. Paul appealed to Philemon to set his slave Onesimus free. Paul asked Philemon to see Onesimus as a brother. Onesimus had believed in Jesus. Paul also wanted to Onesimus to remain with him and help him. He offered to pay any debt that Onesimus owed to Philemon.

“And I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it—the princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf—I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. Their dead bodies shall be for meat for the birds of the heaven and the beasts of the earth.” Jeremiah 34:18-20

In their covenant made before God in His house to emancipate their slaves, they passed through the parts of an animal cut in two, implying that they wished to be cut asunder if they broke the covenant that they made in God’s house. [3]

Talking about being cut asunder... in Matthew 24:48-51, Jesus spoke of an evil servant who beat his fellow servants. He ate and drank with drunkards. Suddenly, his master showed up and had cut him asunder. Jesus told this parable in the context of being faithful to Him until He returns.

“And I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army which has gone back from you.” Jeremiah 34:21

J. Gresham Machen wrote, “Emancipation from the blessed will of God always involves bondage to some worse taskmaster.”

Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken wrote, “The emancipation revocation was not the first time Zedekiah had acted in bad faith.” “Perjury and slavery are contrary to the character of God. God always keeps His Word. How can God’s people be covenant-breakers when their God is a covenant-keeper.” “In fact, the reason Nebuchadnezzar was paying such an unfriendly visit to Jerusalem was because Zedekiah had broken his promise. Zedekiah’s example teaches what a wicked thing it is to go back on one’s word.” [4]

In Ezekiel 17:12-15, 17, the prophet Ezekial tells us the back story of the current situation in Jerusalem. King Nebuchadnezzar had brought Jerusalem’s King Jehoiachin to Babylon. After that, he placed Zedekiah on Jerusalem’s throne. Zedekiah was to collect taxes from the people for Nebuchadnezzar. What did Zedekiah do? He asked Egypt to help him dispel the Babylonians. Ezekiel 17:17 says, “Pharaoh with his mighty army and great horde will be of no help to him [Zedekiah] in war, when ramps are built and siege works erected to destroy many lives.”

“Behold, I will command, says the Lord, and cause them [the Babylonians] to return to this city. They will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.” Jeremiah 34:22

The New Testament speaks of a crueler enemy than Nebuchadnezzar. His name is Satan. Satan means adversary or accuser. In John 10:10, he is a thief. In Revelation 12:10, he is the accuser of the brothers. In Matthew 4:3, he is the tempter. In Isaiah 14:13-14 and Luke 10:18, he is a fallen angel. In Ephesians 6:11, Paul advises you to “put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

Satan wants people to sin so he can gain control over them. In Matthew 5:25, Jesus said, “Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.” In other words, if you sin, confess it to God, ask God to forgive you, and to cleanse it from you through your faith in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. When sin remains, the devil wins.

It is better to say with Augustus Toplady, “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling. Naked, come to you for dress; helpless, look to you for grace. Foul, I to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die.” Or to pray as the repentant tax collector prayed in Luke 18:13, “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” In Luke 18:14, the man who turned to God went away justified.

We need Jesus to overcome the works of the devil. In 1 John 3:8, John wrote, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil.” In Matthew 4:10, when tempted by the devil, Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan!” In Romans 16:20, Paul proclaimed, “The God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.”

“The freedom Jesus offers is the best of all freedoms – freedom from sin. There has never been any worse slavery than slavery to sin. If slavery to sin is the worst of all slaveries, then freedom from sin is the best of all freedoms.” “If you have been set free from sin, then why would you ever want to go back into bondage? That would be as wicked as what Zedekiah did when he took free men and put them back into slavery.” [5]

Zedekiah and the wealthy people of Jerusalem should not have made free people captives once again. Theirs was an anti-example of Christ. The Lord had to uproot them from Jerusalem. He called Israel to be His witness. The Lord had to do as He said would in Jeremiah 1:10, “Root out, pull down, destroy and throw down” before He could rebuild and replant Jerusalem to be a city on a hill, a lamp on lampstand and salt of the earth.

After the Babylonian captivity ended, the Lord rebuilt Jerusalem with godly men like Nehemiah, Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah, Zerubbabel and Joshua the High Priest. They honored and served God.

I want to live in a city built and ruled by God, don't you?

After the end times tribulation, New Jerusalem will come down from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Out of the chaos will come order. The city’s Builder and Maker is God (Hebrews 11:10). There will be a “new heaven and a new earth.” (Revelation 21:1)

The Lord gives “beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” to those who trust in Him. (Isaiah 61:3)

Now may “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.” (2 Corinthians 13:14)



[1] Jamieson-Fausset Brown Commentary (See also Exodus 21:22; Deuteronomy 15:12)

[2] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 529-530

[3] Jamieson-Fausset Brown Commentary (The passing between the parts of an animal to cut a covenant was practiced by Abraham in Genesis 15:10, 17)

[4] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 529-530

[5] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 533

The Day of New Beginnings

I am amazed that Jeremiah had money to buy a field from his uncle. I am amazed that he survived a plot by priests and officials to kill him. He survived imprisonment in a cistern, in a dungeon and in the court of a prison. Later, he will survive Babylon’s seizure of his city. God preserved his ministry. He wrote in Lamentations 3:36, “To subvert a man in his cause — the Lord does not approve.”

From prison Jeremiah wrote of a day of new beginnings!

Would we have offered hope to our persecutors as Jeremiah did? I hope so.

“Moreover the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the prison, saying, thus says the Lord who made it, the Lord who formed it to establish it (the Lord is His Name): call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:1-2

Though bound, Jeremiah continued to speak of God who made and formed it [all things]. He urged his listeners to call on the Name of the Lord. The Lord reveals to us what we do not know.

Jeremiah did not withhold God’s Word from those who imprisoned him. His example prefigures the example of Paul who preached the Word of God to the Philippian jailer. Paul mentioned being in prison or “in bonds” when he wrote Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon.

One difference between a self-made man and a God-made man is prayer. God revealed to Jeremiah great and mighty things that he previously did not know. He did not need a library full of books while in prison. The Lord revealed to him ample words to write books as he prayed.

The Lord revealed to Jeremiah things that would shortly come to pass.

“For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah, which have been pulled down to fortify against the siege mounds and the sword: they come to fight with the Chaldeans, but only to fill their places with the dead bodies of men whom I will slay in My anger and My fury, all for whose wickedness I have hidden My face from this city.” Jeremiah 33:4-5

In Jeremiah 1:10, God spoke of tearing down and building. The people of Jerusalem were literally tearing down their houses and using the materials to fortify (build up) the city’s walls. God told Jeremiah that the Chaldeans would repurpose the city’s houses as places for the dead.

But when it was all said and done, the Lord would forgives their sins and heal their land.

“Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. And I will cause the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel to return and will rebuild those places as at the first. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me.” Jeremiah 33:6-8

From his prison Jeremiah prophesied of God providing health, healing, peace, and truth. He would set the captives free from Babylon. They would repent! God would forgive and heal!

Have you heard of urban renewal? Jerusalem was on fire. The dead were everywhere! Yet God was going to make this city live again. Their outward slavery to foreign powers would end. Their inward brokenness would be healed.

“Then it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise, and an honor before all nations of the earth, who shall hear all the good that I do to them; they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I provide for it.” Jeremiah 33:9

Joy, praise, and honor before all nations! Praise the Lord! The joy of the Lord will be their strength. Praise and prosperity from the Lord will make His glory to shine to all nations. The nations will be deeply impacted when they see the goodness of the Lord upon them.

These precious promises apply to the people of Israel, but they also apply on a much wider scale to all who believe in Jesus Christ. Revelation 21:2 speaks of the Lord creating a new and eternal Jerusalem, “I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Revelation 21:24, 26-27: “The kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Praise the Lord!

“Thus says the Lord: again there shall be heard in this place—of which you say, ‘It is desolate, without man and without beast’—in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast, the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say: ‘Praise the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for His mercy endures forever’—and of those who will bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause the captives of the land to return as at the first, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 33:10-11

The Lord promised a revival of marriage ceremonies. It seems that people were no longer getting married before their nation fell. Can you imagine a city without weddings? No wedding gowns for brides! No tuxedos for grooms! No flowers! No pastor to bless! No congregation to pray! No fellowship meal afterwards! No music! No dancing!

The prophesy of marriage restored alludes to the marriage of the Lamb (Jesus) and His bride (the Church) when this age ends. Revelation 19:7-8 says, “Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.”

“Thus says the Lord of hosts: in this place, which is desolate, without man and without beast, and in all its cities, there shall again be a dwelling place of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the South, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks shall again pass under the hands of him who counts them, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 33:12-13

Shepherds and sheep were as critical to Israel’s existence as ranchers, cattle, hogs and chickens are critical to western nations! In John 10:11, Jesus called Himself the Good Shepherd. In Psalm 100:3, He refers to His people as the sheep of His pasture. Jeremiah’s prophecy of shepherd and sheep prefigures Messiah’s promise in Revelation 7:16-17, “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah: in those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David a Branch of righteousness; He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the Name by which she will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Jeremiah 33:14-16

The above prophecy parallels what Isaiah wrote about Messiah...

Isaiah 11:1-5 says, “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from His roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—and He will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what He sees with His eyes or decide by what He hears with His ears; but with righteousness He will judge the needy, with justice He will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth; with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be His belt and faithfulness the sash around His waist.”

Jeremiah’s prophecy parallels what Matthew wrote about Messiah...

“He [Jesus] went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.” In Matthew 2:23, the word Nazarene sounds like Hebrew words for “My Branch.” “Branch” is a term for the Messiah.

Jeremiah’s prophecy parallels what Paul wrote about Messiah...

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake He [God] made Him [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him [Christ] we might become the righteousness of God.”

Jesus Christ is the righteous King. He is the Lord our Righteousness. God imputes righteousness to us when we believe in His Son Jesus Christ. God imparts righteousness to us via His indwelling Holy Spirit. The Book of Acts testifies of the Word of the Lord flowing from Jerusalem to the ends of the world.

“For thus says the Lord: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; nor shall the priests, the Levites, lack a man to offer burnt offerings before Me, to kindle grain offerings, and to sacrifice continually.” Jeremiah 33:17-18

Our Messiah’s eternal kingship is matched by His permanent priesthood. “The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D. and has not been rebuilt. No priests offer burnt offerings for Jews. No Levites stand before God to make atonement for them. Unless Jesus is the Messiah, therefore, the promise of a permanent priesthood has failed.” [1]

“It is striking that both of Jeremiah’s promises were to be fulfilled in a man. In both promises, the eternal King, the permanent Priest, is called a ‘man.’ Incidentally, contrary to what some have said, the fact that Jesus is a priest in the order of Melchizedek rather than Levi is not a problem for Jeremiah’s prophecy. Jeremiah did not promise a priest from the Levites but a priest for the Levites.” [2]

“And the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: if you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season. Then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, My ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.” Jeremiah 33:19-22

God’s covenant with day and night speaks of His faithfulness. Israel could break covenants with God but they could not break God’s covenant to preserve day and night.

This passage also speaks of the Church. The Church consists of the priesthood of all believers in Christ. 1 Peter 2:5 says, “You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy PRIESTHHOOD, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” Revelation 5:10 says, “You have made them to be a KINGDOM and PRIESTS to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

“Moreover the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ‘Have you not considered what these people have spoken, saying, the two families which the Lord has chosen, He has also cast them off? Thus, they have despised My people, as if they should no more be a nation before them.” Jeremiah 33:23-24

At this point in time, only a few cities were still standing against the Babylonians – Jerusalem, Lachish, and Azekah.” Israel needed to be reassured that they would survive this holocaust.

“Thus says the Lord: if My covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captives to return and will have mercy on them.” Jeremiah 33:25-26

The meaning here is that God will not forsake the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They are in a covenant relationship forever. God’s covenant with day and night speaks of His great faithfulness.

God promised to break their chains. God is able to break your chains too. Jesus came to set captives free. Just hold out your cuffs to Jesus. He will remove them. He will give you a new beginning.

The full restoration of Israel will come when they embrace Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah. Zechariah 12:10 says, “I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.” Jesus quotes this passage in Revelation 1:7. While Revelation 7:9 speaks of a great multitude which no one could number from all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, the whole book focuses on God making Jerusalem a joy and a crown for His glory. Romans 11:26 says that all Israel will be saved meaning that there will be a nationwide embrace of Christ. Romans 11:30-32 speaks of both the Gentiles and the Jews being disobedient to God, but God having mercy on them all.

God’s mercy is the key that unlocks the moment of new beginning. In Luke 18:13-14, a tax collector humbled himself before the Lord and cried out, “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” Jesus said that humble man went down to his house justified. Jesus said, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Entrance into eternal heaven is just that easy! It’s that easy because Jesus paid the price for it with His own blood.



[1] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 519

[2] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 519

Tribulation Ends Celebration Begins

“The Word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. For then the king of Babylon’s army besieged Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah’s house.” Jeremiah 32:1-2

Like John, Jeremiah is suffering for testifying for God. In Revelation 1:9 John wrote, “I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

As for Jeremiah, the Babylonian army is surrounding the city. Recently, Jeremiah sent letters from the Lord to God’s people in Babylon to assure them that after the land of Israel enjoyed 70 years of rest, God would bring them back. King Zedekiah would like Jeremiah to speak a similar good word from God about those with them in Jerusalem.

“Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him [Jeremiah] up, saying, ‘Why do you prophesy and say, thus says the Lord: behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it; and Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face, and see him eye to eye; then he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall be until I visit him, says the Lord; though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed?’” Jeremiah 32:3-5

Wasn’t a preacher supposed to inspire hope and courage in the hearts of his listeners? The Lord had directed Jeremiah to write a letter of hope and beautiful promises to the exiles in Babylon, but he had no such word for king Zedekiah. To do so, would be wrong. He promised Zedekiah a face to face, eye to eye talk with the King of Babylon. His efforts to win the war would fail.

“And Jeremiah said, ‘The Word of the Lord came to me, saying, behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you, saying, ‘Buy my field which is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is yours to buy it.’” Jeremiah 32:6-7

Numbers 35:4-5 describes Anathoth as land set aside for the Levites. Each Levitical city was to have 1,500 feet of pastureland extending from the city walls for their cattle and animals. They were not to sell these lands to another tribe. When the owner died, the next of kin had the right to redeem it before anyone else did (Leviticus 25:25; Ruth 4:3-6).

“Then Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the Word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, and the redemption yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the Word of the Lord.” Jeremiah 32:8

God confirmed His Word to Jeremiah by having his cousin show up and ask him to buy the land.

“So I bought the field from Hanamel, the son of my uncle who was in Anathoth, and weighed out to him the money—17 shekels of silver. And I signed the deed and sealed it, took witnesses, and weighed the money on the scales.” Jeremiah 32:9-10

A shekel back then was worth about 50₵ in today’s US Dollars. So, he paid about $8.50 for the field. A small sum due to the Babylonian siege around the city. Some people might have thought Jeremiah crazy to buy land at a time like this, but he did it as an expression of his faith in God’s Word. God had said that though the city would die, it would also resurrect.

In the Book of Revelation, Jesus reveals that this current earth shall be in the throes of death. It shall be plagued with wars, diseases, pestilences and catastrophic disasters. An antichrist shall attempt to control all humanity’s beliefs and a spirit harlotry shall attempt to seduce humanity from reflecting the image of God. God’s prophets and saints will be persecuted and some will die for speaking the truth, but then, the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ, shall appear and bring with Him a new heaven, a new earth and a new Jerusalem. All things shall be resurrected into a new paradise state of being. Glory to God!

“So I took the purchase deed, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open; and I gave the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle’s son, and in the presence of the witnesses who signed the purchase deed, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison.” Jeremiah 32:11-12

Two deeds were drawn up in a contract of sale; the original copy, witnessed and sealed with the public seal; the other just a backup copy. The sealed original, when opened after seventy years’ captivity, would confirm Jeremiah as the owner. The “law and custom” refer to the conditions and details of this redemptive action. Upon the nation’s restoration, the original deed would prove that Jeremiah bought the field. “Even though Jeremiah would not live to see that day, he made sure the documents would be around to prove that God was faithful to His promise.” [1]

“Then I charged Baruch before them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: take these deeds, both this purchase deed, which is sealed and this deed, which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last many days. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.” Jeremiah 32:13-15

The deed was placed in an earthen vessel for preservation until the appropriate time for it to be revealed as a testimony to the faithfulness of God. This deed prefigures the scroll that was handed to Christ at the beginning of the tribulation in Revelation 5. The scroll in the hand of Jesus has seven seals on it. As each seal is opened, wars, plagues, and pestilences are released on the earth. These are pangs preceding the rebirth of heaven and earth. As Jeremiah’s land deed prophesied of earthly Jerusalem’s rebirth, so the deed in Christ’s hand prophesies of the rebirth of heaven and earth. Paradise reborn!

“Now when I had delivered the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: ‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You. You show lovingkindness to thousands and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them—the great, the mighty God, whose Name is the Lord of hosts. You are great in counsel and mighty in work, for Your eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.’” Jeremiah 32:15-19

Jeremiah’s prayer is full of faith that with God nothing is impossible. He begins his prayer with an, “Ah!” “Ah” is an expression of awesome wonder. Jeremiah acknowledges that God created all things. He worships God for His love for thousands, and His severity towards iniquity. He worships God for keeping His eyes on people and for giving to each one appropriate responses.

In the last chapter of the Bible, in Revelation 22:12, Jesus Himself says, “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.”

Jeremiah praises the Lord for the signs and wonders that He did in Egypt, and for bringing His people out of Egyptian captivity with a strong hand. For bringing them into a land that flows with milk and honey!

“You have set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, to this day, and in Israel and among other men; and You have made Yourself a Name, as it is this day. You have brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror; You have given them this land, of which You swore to their fathers to give them—‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’ And they came in and took possession of it, but they have not obeyed Your voice or walked in Your Law. They have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do; therefore, You have caused all this calamity to come upon them.” Jeremiah 32:20-23

The Lord was gracious to them. What did they do to Him? They allowed other loves to exceed their love for Him. They did not serve Him. They served other gods which were not gods.

“Look, the siege mounds! They have come to the city to take it; and the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, famine, and pestilence. What You have spoken has happened; there You see it!” Jeremiah 32:24

Babylonian sieges began with encirclement to cut off all supply lines and communication. The 587 BC siege of Jerusalem lasted 18 months. The enemy used siege towers on wheels with battering rams to go over and through the walls.

“And You have said to me, O Lord God, ‘Buy the field for money, and take witnesses!’ Yet the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.” Jeremiah 32:25

Jeremiah obeyed the Lord. He purchased the field from his uncle, but afterwards, it seems he had buyer’s regret. He envisioned the Babylonian siege mounds and the Babylonian soldiers coming over Jerusalem’s walls with swords swinging. He envisions the impacts of famine. Bodies growing gaunt! He imagines the odor from diseased corpses. Why did God ask him to buy a field at a time like this?

“Then the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ‘Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?’” Jeremiah 32:26-27

The Lord repeated back to Jeremiah what he had just prayed... “There is nothing too hard for You.” When Jeremiah focused on God he had faith, but when he focused on humanity, doubts about what he had done for God began to enter his mind.

In Acts 17:26, the Apostle Paul told the idol worshipers of Athens that “God made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth.” God started the entire human race with the blood of one man. In the beginning, the entire human race was in Adam. Then, God took a rib from Adam to create a woman. The human race came forth from these two. God created a race of out of two people. God is surely able to resurrect a nation that ceased to exist.

In Matthew 19:26, Jesus said, “With God all things are possible.”

“Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it. And the Chaldeans who fight against this city shall come and set fire to this city and burn it, with the houses on whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke Me to anger because the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only evil before Me from their youth. For the children of Israel have provoked Me only to anger with the work of their hands, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 32:28-30

They sowed fire to Baal on their houses so their houses reaped fire. The god of fire was the object of their worship so God gave them an abundance of fire.

“For this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and My fury from the day that they built it, even to this day; so I will remove it from before My face because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me to anger—they, their kings, their princes, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” Jeremiah 32:31-32

Is God’s anger at sin limited to the Old Testament times only? No, in Revelation 2:18, Jesus speaks to a congregation in Thyatira as “the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass. In Revelation 2:19-23, Jesus says to them, “I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works.”

The strongest rebukes of Jesus in the Gospels were for hypocrites. Thyatira’s Jezebel called herself a prophetess but she seduced the Lord’s servants to be immoral and idolatrous. Jesus promised her sickness. He promised her lovers great tribulations. He promised to kill her children with death unless they repented.

“And they have turned to Me the back, and not the face; though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction. But they set their abominations in the house, which is called by My Name, to defile it. And they built the high places of Baal which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.” Jeremiah 32:33-35

God rose up early and attempted to teach them either by His Spirit or by His servants the prophets. But they would not listen. They desecrated God’s holy house. In an attempt to appease Baal, they offered to Baal human sacrifices. They had become like monsters.

There’s a similar scenario described in Revelation 16:9: “Men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the Name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.” If only they had listened to God and humbled themselves before Him. They made such a costly mistake and such an avoidable mistake!

“Now therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, it shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely.” Jeremiah 32:36-37

Their guilt deserved God’s everlasting vengeance, but He promised to restore them. The “all” countries implies a future restoration of Israel more universal than that from Babylon.

“They shall be My people, and I will be their God; then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them.” Jeremiah 32:38-39

God will not be ashamed to called their God. Having one heart contrasts with being scattered.

Before Jesus was arrested and crucified, He prayed in John 17:20-23, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”

Jesus has always wanted us to be one with Him and God. In John 15:4-7, speaks of abiding in Him. Israel’s problem in Jeremiah’s day, and the problem with so many believers today stems from not remaining in Christ. What led to Israel’s downfall? They did not remain in God.

“And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me.” Jeremiah 32:40

The covenant established by Jesus’ sacrifice is everlasting because it is based on God’s grace and forgiveness, rather than human merit. Conversion and perseverance are God’s works in us.

Deuteronomy 30:1-6 says, “When you call these things to mind in the nations where the Lord drives you, and you and your children return to Him with all your heart and soul, the Lord will bring you back from captivity and have compassion on you. The Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and your soul that you may live.”

“Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul. For thus says the Lord: just as I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them.” Jeremiah 32:41-42

Israel’s return to the Promised Land after the exile was a foretaste of the grace to be revealed when Christ shall come with shouts of acclamation.

“And fields will be bought in this land of which you say, ‘It is desolate, without man or beast; it has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ Men will buy fields for money, sign deeds and seal them, and take witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South; for I will cause their captives to return, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 32:43-44

After God’s righteous anger abated, He revealed His redeeming love for them by bringing them back to Jerusalem. When that day arrived, many in Israel signed new property deeds.

In John 14:1-3, Jesus says to us His followers in these last days, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

Believe in God! Believe in Jesus! He will come for you and bring you into His Father’s house.

[1] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 479-482