Jeremiah 11:1-2: “The Word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ‘Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”
“This Covenant,” meaning the Book of the Law was found in 2 Kings 22:8-23:25 by Hilkiah the high priest, five years after Jeremiah’s call to the prophetic office.
Hilkiah the high priest was Jeremiah’s father. Yet God gave His Word for Judah to Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 11:3-5: “Say to them, thus says the Lord God of Israel: cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God, that I may establish the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.” “And I answered and said, ‘so be it, Lord.’”
Deliverance from Egypt compares with deliverance from sin. Saved from Egypt and from an iron furnace compares with saved by faith in Jesus. Obey My voice – Do all I command you – You shall be My people – I will be your God compares with Holy Spirit led discipleship. Land with milk and honey compares with eternity with God.
God delivered Israel from an iron furnace. It is difficult to break out of an iron container. A furnace is a hot place to be. The fiery furnace of Egypt compares with Revelation’s lake of fire. God promised to bring Israel to a fruitful land which compares with Revelation’s paradise.
Jeremiah refers to Deuteronomy 27:26 which says, “Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out.” The covenant between God and Israel was the Law that He gave to Moses.
What was God’s expectation of Israel? “Obey My voice! DO ALL according to that I commanded you.” God gave humanity another opportunity to obey after Adam and Eve failed to obey Him.
What happened after Adam and Eve sinned? In Genesis 3:16, God said to Eve, “I will greatly multiply your sorrow in childbirth. In pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
In Genesis 3:17-19, God said to Adam, “Cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” Adam’s sin yielded curses.
Judah’s exile from the Promised Land in the days of Jeremiah was a curse yielded from breaking covenant with God. Likewise, the judgments in the Book of Revelation are curses rooted in lawlessness.
God instructed Moses to teach His people that He blesses obedience and curses defiance. In Leviticus 26:3–13 and Deuteronomy 28:1–13, God said to Moses, “If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you…”
The covenant keeper blessings of Leviticus 26:3–13 and Deuteronomy 28:1–13, include: seasonal rains; productive fields; fruitful trees; year-round food supplies; plenty to eat; safety; peace; fearless nights; absence of evil beasts and enemy swords; victory over your enemies; five people chase a hundred and a hundred people chase ten thousand; favor; population growth; replenished supplies; God’s presence; identification with God; freedom from slavery; high above all nations of the earth; blessed in the city; blessed in the field; blessed in body; blessed herds; blessed flocks; blessed with bread; blessed in travels; blessed over enemies fleeing; blessed barns; established as God’s holy people; respected as God’s people; plenteous goods; treasures in heaven; lend not borrow; the head not the tail; and above only, not beneath.
In Leviticus 26:16–39, God describes five rounds of curses with pauses between them to give defiant lawbreakers opportunity to repent before the next round begins. These five rounds of curses compare with the three rounds of curses described in Revelation 6–16.
Leviticus 26:16–17, the first round of covenant curses includes: terror, disease, fever, loss of vision, sadness of heart, futility, loss of crops, war losses, evil oppression, cowardice.
Leviticus 26:19–20, the second round of covenant curses includes: brokenness, sky hard as iron, land hard as brass, no return for effort, fruitless fields, and fruitless trees.
Leviticus 26:22, the third round of covenant curses includes: children consumed by beasts, livestock destroyed by beasts, population diminished, and highways unused.
Leviticus 26:24–26, the fourth round of covenant curses includes: seven setbacks, death by sword, enemy invasions, epidemics, prisoner of war camps, lack of ovens for cooking, and unsatisfied appetites.
Leviticus 26:29–39, the fifth round of covenant curses includes: children cannibalized; idols destroyed; tombs desecrated; God rejects your offerings; cities destroyed; barrenness; loathed by enemies; displaced among nations; death by sword (again); distant from worship; faint of heart due to captors; cowardice (again); stumbling; weak before enemies; die in foreign lands; and demise due to iniquity.
The five rounds of curses in Leviticus 26:16–39 compare with the three rounds of curses described in Revelation 6–16.
Revelation 6:1–8:5, the seven seal judgments include: a conqueror conquering; no peace – bloodshed, inflation; sword, hunger, death, beasts kill a quarter of people; justice for martyrs; earthquakes, sun dark, moon red, stars fall to the earth; thundering, lightning, and quaking.
Revelation 8:7–14:20, the seven trumpet judgments include: hail, fire mingled with blood; a third of trees and grass gone; third of sea bloody, third of sea life dies, third of ships destroyed; third of water bitter, many people die; third of sun, moon, stars dark; third of day and night dark; torment by locusts five months people want to die but cannot; third of people killed by a 200,000,000-soldier army; and beast and false prophet arise.
Revelation 16:2–21, the seven bowl trumpet judgments include: sores form on those with mark of the beast; sea bloody; sea creatures die; rivers and springs of water become bloody; sun scorches like fire; beast worshippers gnaw their tongues in pain; kings gather for battle; thunder, lightning, earthquake; and cities collapse.
These judgments come forth in waves with pauses between them to give people opportunity to repent and change to avoid the next wave. In Revelation 16:9, we read, “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.”
Curses are strong incentives to repent and to turn to God. Tragically, both in Jeremiah and Revelation people refuse to repent and give God glory. 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.”
Joshua 8:34 says that after Israel defeated the city of Ai, “Joshua read all the words of the Law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.” A good leader gives his followers both the Law and the Gospel.
Jeremiah 11:6: “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: hear the words of this covenant and do them.’”
Jeremiah did what the Lord asked him to do. He offered his voice to proclaim God’s Word.
Jeremiah 11:7: “I earnestly EXHORTED your fathers in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, until this day, rising early and exhorting, saying, obey My voice.”
In 1 Corinthians 14:3 it is written, “The one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them and comforts them.” Twice the Lord uses the word “exhort” (עוּד) in Jeremiah 11:7. The 1 Corinthians 14:3 Greek text uses the word paraklesis (παράκλησις) for exhortation which means to come alongside someone to offer them counsel.
Jeremiah 11:8: “Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone followed the dictates of his evil heart. Therefore, I will bring upon them all the Words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but which they have not done.”
In Deuteronomy 28:15, it is written, “…If you do not obey the Lord your God… all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.” According to Judges 21:25: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” They were not keeping God’s Word. They thought they could change the rules so it looked like they were winners when they were losers.
Jeremiah 11:9: “And the Lord said to me, ‘A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the people of Jerusalem.’”
The people of Jeremiah’s day formed a deliberate conspiracy against God and His messengers.
In Acts 23:12, many men formed a “conspiracy and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.”
Jeremiah 11:10: “They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers who refused to hear My Words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.”
God’s hope for love from His people was unmet. They ignored Him when He spoke to them. They preferred handmade gods. All the tribes turned their backs on God.
Jeremiah 11:11: “Thus says the Lord: behold, I will surely bring calamity on them which they will not be able to escape; and though they cry out to Me, I will not listen to them.”
In Proverbs 29:1 it is written, “He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” There is no remedy because the Lord will no longer rescue him.
Jeremiah 11:12: “Then the cities of Judah and the people of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they offer incense, but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble.”
God said to Israel in Judges 10:14, “Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen. Let them deliver you in the time of your distress.”
Jeremiah 11:13: “According to the number of your cities were your gods, oh Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem, you have set up altars to that shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal.”
They didn’t just commit a little spiritual adultery here and there. They honored all sorts of objects and names, but not God’s. They were failures at loving God which is the first and greatest commandment.
Jeremiah 11:14: “So do not pray for this people or lift up a cry or prayer for them. For I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to Me because of their trouble.”
In 1 Samuel 16:1, the Lord asked Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul?” Due to rebellion, Saul lost his throne. Similarly, the Lord had given Israel ample time to repent and to be spared from exile, but that era of grace was over.
In Revelation 2:21-23, Jesus gave a false prophetess “time to repent of her sexual immorality,” but she was unwilling. He cast her and her followers into a bed of suffering. He even threatened to strike her children with death.
Jeremiah 11:15: “What has My beloved to do in My house? Having done lewd deeds with many? The holy flesh has passed from you. When you do evil, then you rejoice.”
In Titus 1:15, it is written, “To the pure, all things are pure to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure both their mind and their conscience are defiled.”
Jeremiah 11:16: “The Lord called your name, Green Olive Tree, lovely and of good fruit. With the noise of a great tumult, He has kindled fire on it, and its branches are broken.”
The fire refers to the coming destruction Babylon brings.
In Psalm 52:8, David referred to himself as a green olive tree in the house of God. God’s fire is kindled against the olive tree in Jeremiah’s day because they produce bad fruit.
In Matthew 3:10: “The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
In John 15:6, Jesus said, “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”
In Psalm 80:8, David wrote, “You removed a vine from Egypt. You drove out the nations and planted it.” Where there any good fruit?
In Jeremiah 11:17, it is written, “For the Lord of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced doom against you for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke Me to anger in offering incense to Baal.”
The Lord anticipated faith and love from Israel and Judah. They gave their faith to false god Baal.
Jeremiah 11:18: “Now the Lord gave me knowledge of it, and I know it; for You showed me their doings.”
The Lord revealed to Jeremiah a plot to destroy him and his fruit. He is the tree. His teaching is the fruit. They wrongly assumed that if they slew God’s messenger that they would thwart God’s Word from coming to pass.
God’s Word cannot be silenced. Heaven and earth will pass away, but God’s Word will not pass away. God’s Word accomplishes what He pleases.
Jeremiah 11:19: “But I was like a docile lamb brought to the slaughter. I did not know that they had devised schemes against me, saying, ‘Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more.’”
David caught wind of a plot against him. In 1 Samuel 23:11, he asked the Lord, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down just as Your servant has heard? O Lord God of Israel, I pray, tell Your servant.” The Lord said, “He will come down.”
Sometimes I ask God to sabotage saboteurs, conspire against conspirators, deceive deceivers, and destroy destroyers. They are against God’s effort to save people.
Jeremiah 11:20: “Oh Lord of hosts, You who judge righteously, testing the mind and the heart, let me see Your vengeance on them, for to You I have revealed my cause.”
Eternal souls hung in the balance. Kings, princes, priests and false prophets tried to silence Jeremiah, but people needed to hear the Word of the Lord.
In Revelation 18:20, God gives His saints, apostles and prophets the greenlight to rejoice over the kingdom that once persecuted them. “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her.”
Jeremiah 11:21-23: “Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the men of Anathoth who seek your life, saying, ‘Do not prophesy in the Name of the Lord, lest you die by our hand’ — therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine; and there shall be no remnant of them, for I will bring catastrophe on the men of Anathoth, even the year of their punishment.”
The men of Anathoth were priests. Some of them had doubtlessly served under Jeremiah’s father, Hilkiah the High Priest. But their sins against God and His people were so grave that God promised to punish all of them until not one of them remained. They would die young.
They had persecuted, imprisoned, and threatened to kill Jeremiah, but after Jerusalem fell, Jeremiah stood. They were destroyed and Jeremiah remained alive.
Beloved, some people are very hateful toward God and toward you, God’s messenger, but remember this, “The Lord knows those who are His.” He is able and desirous of preserving you and the message that He has given you. Keep speaking God’s Word. Great will be your reward in heaven, especially when you see some of your listeners there.
“This Covenant,” meaning the Book of the Law was found in 2 Kings 22:8-23:25 by Hilkiah the high priest, five years after Jeremiah’s call to the prophetic office.
Hilkiah the high priest was Jeremiah’s father. Yet God gave His Word for Judah to Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 11:3-5: “Say to them, thus says the Lord God of Israel: cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God, that I may establish the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.” “And I answered and said, ‘so be it, Lord.’”
Deliverance from Egypt compares with deliverance from sin. Saved from Egypt and from an iron furnace compares with saved by faith in Jesus. Obey My voice – Do all I command you – You shall be My people – I will be your God compares with Holy Spirit led discipleship. Land with milk and honey compares with eternity with God.
God delivered Israel from an iron furnace. It is difficult to break out of an iron container. A furnace is a hot place to be. The fiery furnace of Egypt compares with Revelation’s lake of fire. God promised to bring Israel to a fruitful land which compares with Revelation’s paradise.
Jeremiah refers to Deuteronomy 27:26 which says, “Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out.” The covenant between God and Israel was the Law that He gave to Moses.
What was God’s expectation of Israel? “Obey My voice! DO ALL according to that I commanded you.” God gave humanity another opportunity to obey after Adam and Eve failed to obey Him.
What happened after Adam and Eve sinned? In Genesis 3:16, God said to Eve, “I will greatly multiply your sorrow in childbirth. In pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
In Genesis 3:17-19, God said to Adam, “Cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” Adam’s sin yielded curses.
Judah’s exile from the Promised Land in the days of Jeremiah was a curse yielded from breaking covenant with God. Likewise, the judgments in the Book of Revelation are curses rooted in lawlessness.
God instructed Moses to teach His people that He blesses obedience and curses defiance. In Leviticus 26:3–13 and Deuteronomy 28:1–13, God said to Moses, “If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give you…”
The covenant keeper blessings of Leviticus 26:3–13 and Deuteronomy 28:1–13, include: seasonal rains; productive fields; fruitful trees; year-round food supplies; plenty to eat; safety; peace; fearless nights; absence of evil beasts and enemy swords; victory over your enemies; five people chase a hundred and a hundred people chase ten thousand; favor; population growth; replenished supplies; God’s presence; identification with God; freedom from slavery; high above all nations of the earth; blessed in the city; blessed in the field; blessed in body; blessed herds; blessed flocks; blessed with bread; blessed in travels; blessed over enemies fleeing; blessed barns; established as God’s holy people; respected as God’s people; plenteous goods; treasures in heaven; lend not borrow; the head not the tail; and above only, not beneath.
In Leviticus 26:16–39, God describes five rounds of curses with pauses between them to give defiant lawbreakers opportunity to repent before the next round begins. These five rounds of curses compare with the three rounds of curses described in Revelation 6–16.
Leviticus 26:16–17, the first round of covenant curses includes: terror, disease, fever, loss of vision, sadness of heart, futility, loss of crops, war losses, evil oppression, cowardice.
Leviticus 26:19–20, the second round of covenant curses includes: brokenness, sky hard as iron, land hard as brass, no return for effort, fruitless fields, and fruitless trees.
Leviticus 26:22, the third round of covenant curses includes: children consumed by beasts, livestock destroyed by beasts, population diminished, and highways unused.
Leviticus 26:24–26, the fourth round of covenant curses includes: seven setbacks, death by sword, enemy invasions, epidemics, prisoner of war camps, lack of ovens for cooking, and unsatisfied appetites.
Leviticus 26:29–39, the fifth round of covenant curses includes: children cannibalized; idols destroyed; tombs desecrated; God rejects your offerings; cities destroyed; barrenness; loathed by enemies; displaced among nations; death by sword (again); distant from worship; faint of heart due to captors; cowardice (again); stumbling; weak before enemies; die in foreign lands; and demise due to iniquity.
The five rounds of curses in Leviticus 26:16–39 compare with the three rounds of curses described in Revelation 6–16.
Revelation 6:1–8:5, the seven seal judgments include: a conqueror conquering; no peace – bloodshed, inflation; sword, hunger, death, beasts kill a quarter of people; justice for martyrs; earthquakes, sun dark, moon red, stars fall to the earth; thundering, lightning, and quaking.
Revelation 8:7–14:20, the seven trumpet judgments include: hail, fire mingled with blood; a third of trees and grass gone; third of sea bloody, third of sea life dies, third of ships destroyed; third of water bitter, many people die; third of sun, moon, stars dark; third of day and night dark; torment by locusts five months people want to die but cannot; third of people killed by a 200,000,000-soldier army; and beast and false prophet arise.
Revelation 16:2–21, the seven bowl trumpet judgments include: sores form on those with mark of the beast; sea bloody; sea creatures die; rivers and springs of water become bloody; sun scorches like fire; beast worshippers gnaw their tongues in pain; kings gather for battle; thunder, lightning, earthquake; and cities collapse.
These judgments come forth in waves with pauses between them to give people opportunity to repent and change to avoid the next wave. In Revelation 16:9, we read, “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.”
Curses are strong incentives to repent and to turn to God. Tragically, both in Jeremiah and Revelation people refuse to repent and give God glory. 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.”
Joshua 8:34 says that after Israel defeated the city of Ai, “Joshua read all the words of the Law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law.” A good leader gives his followers both the Law and the Gospel.
Jeremiah 11:6: “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: hear the words of this covenant and do them.’”
Jeremiah did what the Lord asked him to do. He offered his voice to proclaim God’s Word.
Jeremiah 11:7: “I earnestly EXHORTED your fathers in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, until this day, rising early and exhorting, saying, obey My voice.”
In 1 Corinthians 14:3 it is written, “The one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them and comforts them.” Twice the Lord uses the word “exhort” (עוּד) in Jeremiah 11:7. The 1 Corinthians 14:3 Greek text uses the word paraklesis (παράκλησις) for exhortation which means to come alongside someone to offer them counsel.
Jeremiah 11:8: “Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone followed the dictates of his evil heart. Therefore, I will bring upon them all the Words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but which they have not done.”
In Deuteronomy 28:15, it is written, “…If you do not obey the Lord your God… all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.” According to Judges 21:25: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” They were not keeping God’s Word. They thought they could change the rules so it looked like they were winners when they were losers.
Jeremiah 11:9: “And the Lord said to me, ‘A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the people of Jerusalem.’”
The people of Jeremiah’s day formed a deliberate conspiracy against God and His messengers.
In Acts 23:12, many men formed a “conspiracy and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.”
Jeremiah 11:10: “They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers who refused to hear My Words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.”
God’s hope for love from His people was unmet. They ignored Him when He spoke to them. They preferred handmade gods. All the tribes turned their backs on God.
Jeremiah 11:11: “Thus says the Lord: behold, I will surely bring calamity on them which they will not be able to escape; and though they cry out to Me, I will not listen to them.”
In Proverbs 29:1 it is written, “He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” There is no remedy because the Lord will no longer rescue him.
Jeremiah 11:12: “Then the cities of Judah and the people of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they offer incense, but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble.”
God said to Israel in Judges 10:14, “Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen. Let them deliver you in the time of your distress.”
Jeremiah 11:13: “According to the number of your cities were your gods, oh Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem, you have set up altars to that shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal.”
They didn’t just commit a little spiritual adultery here and there. They honored all sorts of objects and names, but not God’s. They were failures at loving God which is the first and greatest commandment.
Jeremiah 11:14: “So do not pray for this people or lift up a cry or prayer for them. For I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to Me because of their trouble.”
In 1 Samuel 16:1, the Lord asked Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul?” Due to rebellion, Saul lost his throne. Similarly, the Lord had given Israel ample time to repent and to be spared from exile, but that era of grace was over.
In Revelation 2:21-23, Jesus gave a false prophetess “time to repent of her sexual immorality,” but she was unwilling. He cast her and her followers into a bed of suffering. He even threatened to strike her children with death.
Jeremiah 11:15: “What has My beloved to do in My house? Having done lewd deeds with many? The holy flesh has passed from you. When you do evil, then you rejoice.”
In Titus 1:15, it is written, “To the pure, all things are pure to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure both their mind and their conscience are defiled.”
Jeremiah 11:16: “The Lord called your name, Green Olive Tree, lovely and of good fruit. With the noise of a great tumult, He has kindled fire on it, and its branches are broken.”
The fire refers to the coming destruction Babylon brings.
In Psalm 52:8, David referred to himself as a green olive tree in the house of God. God’s fire is kindled against the olive tree in Jeremiah’s day because they produce bad fruit.
In Matthew 3:10: “The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
In John 15:6, Jesus said, “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”
In Psalm 80:8, David wrote, “You removed a vine from Egypt. You drove out the nations and planted it.” Where there any good fruit?
In Jeremiah 11:17, it is written, “For the Lord of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced doom against you for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke Me to anger in offering incense to Baal.”
The Lord anticipated faith and love from Israel and Judah. They gave their faith to false god Baal.
Jeremiah 11:18: “Now the Lord gave me knowledge of it, and I know it; for You showed me their doings.”
The Lord revealed to Jeremiah a plot to destroy him and his fruit. He is the tree. His teaching is the fruit. They wrongly assumed that if they slew God’s messenger that they would thwart God’s Word from coming to pass.
God’s Word cannot be silenced. Heaven and earth will pass away, but God’s Word will not pass away. God’s Word accomplishes what He pleases.
Jeremiah 11:19: “But I was like a docile lamb brought to the slaughter. I did not know that they had devised schemes against me, saying, ‘Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more.’”
David caught wind of a plot against him. In 1 Samuel 23:11, he asked the Lord, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down just as Your servant has heard? O Lord God of Israel, I pray, tell Your servant.” The Lord said, “He will come down.”
Sometimes I ask God to sabotage saboteurs, conspire against conspirators, deceive deceivers, and destroy destroyers. They are against God’s effort to save people.
Jeremiah 11:20: “Oh Lord of hosts, You who judge righteously, testing the mind and the heart, let me see Your vengeance on them, for to You I have revealed my cause.”
Eternal souls hung in the balance. Kings, princes, priests and false prophets tried to silence Jeremiah, but people needed to hear the Word of the Lord.
In Revelation 18:20, God gives His saints, apostles and prophets the greenlight to rejoice over the kingdom that once persecuted them. “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her.”
Jeremiah 11:21-23: “Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the men of Anathoth who seek your life, saying, ‘Do not prophesy in the Name of the Lord, lest you die by our hand’ — therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine; and there shall be no remnant of them, for I will bring catastrophe on the men of Anathoth, even the year of their punishment.”
The men of Anathoth were priests. Some of them had doubtlessly served under Jeremiah’s father, Hilkiah the High Priest. But their sins against God and His people were so grave that God promised to punish all of them until not one of them remained. They would die young.
They had persecuted, imprisoned, and threatened to kill Jeremiah, but after Jerusalem fell, Jeremiah stood. They were destroyed and Jeremiah remained alive.
Beloved, some people are very hateful toward God and toward you, God’s messenger, but remember this, “The Lord knows those who are His.” He is able and desirous of preserving you and the message that He has given you. Keep speaking God’s Word. Great will be your reward in heaven, especially when you see some of your listeners there.
Attached is a link to a power point version of this article
which I have recorded on my YouTube channel:
No comments:
Post a Comment