Discerning which Words are from God - Jeremiah 23

“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture, says the Lord. Therefore, thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: you have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 23:1-2

What? Shepherds scattering, driving away and not attending sheep. How did they retain their positions? Jesus said that a house divided will not stand. Their nation was divided. The northern tribes were captives in Assyria. The southern tribes were about to be captives in Babylon.

In John 17:21, Jesus prayed for oneness amongst believers in His Word, to be one as God is one.

In John 13:34, Jesus commanded us to love one another.

In Ephesians 4:5-6, Paul wrote of “One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”

Jesus Christ is the One who unites His followers in belief and practice. He also fills us with love and grace towards one another. In Him, we remain united and effective.

“But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.” Jeremiah 23:3

After 70 years of exile – the outcome of failed shepherding, God, in His grace, shall bring His sheep back to the Promised Land. Psalm 103:9-10 says of the Lord, “He will not always chide: neither will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.”

“I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 23:4

In John 21:15, Peter told Jesus that he loved Him. Jesus responded, “Feed My lambs.” Sheep feeding is the Lord’s love language.

The Lord fulfilled His promise to provide faithful shepherds for His people in the Book of Acts. He raised up faithful shepherds by His Spirit. In Acts 20:28, Paul told shepherds, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the Church of God, which He obtained with His own blood.”

Ezra, Zechariah and Haggai were faithful shepherds whom God raised up to shepherd the people of Judah when they returned from captivity to Jerusalem.

Nehemiah 8:1-2 says, “Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and... read from it in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate from morning until midday... and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.” He faithfully fed God’s sheep with God’s Word.

Ezra 6:14 says, “So the elders of the Jews built, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the command of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.” Haggai and Zechariah were faithful shepherds to the people.

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness. A King shall reign and prosper and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.” Jeremiah 23:5

Jesus Christ is the Branch through whom God extends His righteousness to us. In John 15:4, Jesus said, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” As we abide in Christ, He brings forth good fruit from us.

“In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely. Now, this is His Name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” Jeremiah 23:6

In the New Testament, Jesus is not merely “righteous” Himself, but He is “righteousness to us.” 1 Corinthians 1:30 says, “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”

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

In Philippians 3:9, Paul wrote of Jesus, saying, “That I may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.”

“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own land.” Jeremiah 23:7-8

So severe shall be the Jews’ bondage in Babylon that their deliverance from it shall feel greater than when He delivered them from Egypt. The land of the north refers to Babylon.

The exile prepared Israel to receive the Holy Spirit. Ezekiel 39:28-29 says, “They shall know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land and have left none of them anymore there. Neither will I hide My face any more from them: for I have poured out My Spirit upon the house of Israel, says the Lord God.”

“My heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of the Lord, and because of His holy Words.” Jeremiah 23:9

Jeremiah experienced horrible side effects from the lies of false prophets. His heart was broken. His bones shook. He lost his equilibrium as though drunk. They were lying and deceiving the people. No one was heeding God’s warnings.

“For the land is full of adulterers; for because of a curse the land mourns. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up. Their course of life is evil, and their might is not right.” Jeremiah 23:10

The curse on the land is spiritual adultery. God is Israel’s true Husband. Their idols were home wreckers sent by Satan to draw them away from God.

Under Shallum, Jehoiakim, Jeconiah and Zedekiah the people could sin without concern of confrontation. But sin yielded for them destructive consequences. They could choose sin but not sin’s consequences. The course they chose was evil. Their might was not used for right.

“For both prophet and priest are profane. Yes, in My house I have found their wickedness, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 23:11

When Jesus found wickedness in God’s house. He drove it out.

The prophets and priests were supposed to guide people to God, but Jeremiah 7:30 says that they set abominations [idols] in His house. Ezekiel 23:39 exposes even worse crimes. He wrote, “For when they had slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered My sanctuary on the same day to profane it; and lo, thus they did within My house.”

The spiritual leaders of Jeremiah’s Jerusalem are well described by Jesus in Matthew 15:14, “They are blind guides of the blind, both shall fall into a pit.”

“Therefore, their way shall be to them like slippery ways. In the darkness they shall be driven on and fall in them. For I will bring disaster on them, the year of their punishment, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 23:12

Some say they do not want to learn doctrine. But false doctrine is deadly. A little poison mixed in with a great deal of good food doesn’t lessen the poison’s potency to kill. Jesus put it this way in Matthew 16:6-12, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” The leaven that Jesus referred to was the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Jesus used this analogy to say that a little false doctrine will permeate the whole doctrine.

In Matthew 23:13, Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people. For you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.”

In 1 Timothy 4:13, 16, Paul wrote, “Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.”

“And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria. They prophesied by Baal and caused My people Israel to err.” Jeremiah 23:13

The word “folly” in the above passage has the meaning of unsavoriness or lacking the salt of godliness. Colossians 4:6 says, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.”

“Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: they commit adultery and walk in lies. They also strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them are like Sodom to Me, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah.” Jeremiah 23:14

Samaria was the capital of the northern tribes of Israel. Jerusalem was the capital of the southern tribes. Both were like Sodom and Gomorrah to God. Instead of exposing evil deeds, they indulged in them.

In Matthew 11:24, Jesus told the people in Capernaum where He did mighty works, “I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.”

In 2 Peter 2:17, Peter warned those under his oversight against false prophets and false teachers. He wrote, “These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” They posed as rain clouds but provided no rain.

In Revelation 19:20, Jesus reveals to us the destiny of false prophets. “The beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.”

“Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets: behold, I will feed them with wormwood and make them drink the water of gall. For from the prophets of Jerusalem profaneness has gone out into all the land.” Jeremiah 23:15

The messages of the false prophets were disgusting to God. Their words were as viper venom! Therefore, God was about to give them bitter food to eat and poisonous brew to drink.

God speaks of giving people wormwood and gall during the tribulation era of the last days. Revelation 8:11 says, “The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.”

Wormwood and gall symbolize a brew in God’s cup of wrath. Christ drank this bitter brew for us. In Matthew 26:39-44, Jesus asked the Father three times to take the cup of bitterness from Him. Jesus drank the bitter flavor of sin for us so that we can drink the sweet flavor of God’s righteousness.

In Matthew 26:27-28, Jesus “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.’” The communion cup symbolizes our salvation in Christ.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts: do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless. They speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord.” Jeremiah 23:16

In Matthew 7:15, Jesus said, ““Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

In 1 Kings 13:18-24, a man claiming to be a prophet deceived a younger prophet into believing a lie. Sadly, the younger prophet was attacked and killed by a lion afterwards.

In Galatians 1:8, Paul warned us, “Even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a Gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!”

In 1 John 4:1, John wrote, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

“They continually say to those who despise Me, ‘The Lord has said You shall have peace;’ and to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, ‘No evil shall come upon you.’” Jeremiah 23:17

Comforting the comfortable who despise God is a temptation we must not embrace. It is not kind to tell pagans that all people are children of God, or to say that all roads lead to God. To do so is to be a false prophet.

Romans 8:9 says, “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” In John 3:3, Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The soul must be converted by God’s Spirit.

Head knowledge is insufficient. Romas 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” We must have the Holy Spirit.

“For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord and has perceived and heard His Word? Who has marked His Word and heard it?” Jeremiah 23:18

In Exodus 33:11, “The Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend.” In John 15:15, Jesus told His disciples, “I have called you friends.” Jesus entrusts Himself to friends. Those who love Him! Those who aim to be His witnesses!

“Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury—a violent whirlwind! It will fall violently on the head of the wicked.” Jeremiah 23:19

Proverbs 1:25, 27-28 says, “Because you disdained all My counsel, and would have none of My rebuke, when your terror comes like a storm, and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call on Me, but I will not answer. They will seek Me diligently, but they will not find Me.”

Proverbs 10:25 says, “When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous has an everlasting foundation.”

“The anger of the Lord will not turn back until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly.” Jeremiah 23:20

Years later in exile, Daniel declares in Daniel 9:13, “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand Your truth.”

During tribulations, we should turn to God’s Word for answers. Psalm 119:130 says, “The entrance of Your Words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple.”

“I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.” Jeremiah 23:21

Some stars lead their followers to an eternally painful afterlife.

“But if they had stood in My counsel, and had caused My people to hear My words, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.” Jeremiah 23:22

When the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit, what did they preach? In Acts 2:38-39, Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

In Acts 26:18, Paul testified that Jesus called him to open the eyes of unbelievers so that they would turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they would receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Christ.

“Am I a God near at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off?” Jeremiah 23:23

Proverbs 15:3 says, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, watching the evil and the good.” Hebrews 4:13 says that all things are open and laid bare God’s eyes.

“Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him? Says the Lord! Do I not fill heaven and earth? Says the Lord!” Jeremiah 23:24

In Psalm 10:3, 11, “The wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord. He says in his heart, ‘God has forgotten, He has hidden His face, He will never see it.’”

“I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My Name, saying, ‘I have dreamed. I have dreamed.’ How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, who try to make My people forget My Name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My Name for Baal.” Jeremiah 23:25-27

The martyrs in Revelation 6:10, cry out to saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Likewise, Jeremiah, cried out, “How long... will these false prophets tell lies and try to make people forget God’s Name.” He laments to gain God’s intervention.

In 2 Timothy 2:15, 17-19, Paul urged his disciple Timothy to rightly understand the word of truth. He wrote of Hymenaeus and Philetus who strayed concerning the truth. Paul said their words spread like cancer. Paul testified, “The Lord knows those who are His.”

Every Christian should aim to rightly understand and rightly teach the Word of truth.

“The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has My Word, let him speak My Word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? says the Lord.” Jeremiah 23:28

What is chaff to wheat? It is something to be removed. We need to consume truth and cast out lies. Someone once said, “Eat the chicken and spit out the bones.” Be like the Berean Christians! Acts 17:11 says that the Bereans “were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.”

“Is not My Word like a fire? says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” Jeremiah 23:29

Fire consumes chaff. Hammers break rocks. God’s Spirit and Word convert souls.

In Luke 24:32, the apostles said of Jesus, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?”

In Acts 2:3, “There appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.” In Acts 2:37, when Peter preached with the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit, people “were pierced to the heart” and said, “Brethren, what shall we do?”

“The Word of the false prophets may be known by its promising men peace in sin. God’s Word, on the contrary, breaks the hard-hearted.” [JFBC]

2 Corinthians 10:4 says, “The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.”

“Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who steal My words everyone from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who use their tongues and say, ‘He says.’” Jeremiah 23:30-31

The false prophets were guilty of twofold plagiarism; one steals from the other, and all steal words from the Lord’s true prophets, but they misapply them. [JFBC]

In John 12:49, Jesus said, “I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent Me has Himself given Me a commandment—what to say and what to speak.”

“Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams, says the Lord, and tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them. Therefore, they shall not profit this people at all, says the Lord. So, when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, ‘What is the burden of the Lord?’ you shall then say to them, ‘What burden?’ I will even forsake you, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 23:32-33

Jeremiah repeats the question back to the false prophets and priests, “What burden?” Then, he answers their question saying that God will forsake them. Since they despise God, He will withhold understanding of His Word from them, and that will be a far worse burden for them. [JFBC]

“And as for the prophet, the priest, and the people who say, ‘The burden of the Lord!’ I will even punish that man and his house.” Jeremiah 23:34

The Word of the Lord is a blessing not a burden. “Whoever shall in mockery call the Lord’s word ‘a burden,’ shall be visited in wrath.” [JFBC]

“Thus, every one of you shall say to his neighbor, and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ and ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ And the burden of the Lord you shall mention no more. For every man’s word will be his burden, for you have perverted the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God.” Jeremiah 23:35-36

In Matthew 12:36, Jesus said, “I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.” We must teach what God says accurately.

“Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ and ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ But since you say, ‘The burden of the Lord!’ therefore, thus says the Lord: ‘Because you say this word, the burden of the Lord, and I have sent to you, saying, do not say the burden of the Lord! Therefore behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you and forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and will cast you out of My presence. And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.” Jeremiah 23:37-40

Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinks, so is he,” Words influence thoughts. Thoughts influence actions. Actions influence lifestyles. The Lord is saying to us through Jeremiah to lean on God’s Word (the Bible) and His Holy Spirit to discern which words are from God, and then, hold to them.


[JFBC] = Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary