What are we doing with these revelations? Are we living circumspectly of them? Are we preparing people for them as the prophet Jeremiah did in his day?
Jeremiah spoke God’s Word in public gathering places like at the city gate or the courtyard of God’s house. Nowadays, many socialize online. So, this venue has become their public square.
The Lord led Jeremiah to face the political and religious leaders who were against him. He led them to a location where crimes took place. That was bold! Only God could have caused them to follow and listen to him.
“Thus says the Lord: go and get a potter’s earthen flask and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests.” Jeremiah 19:1
God directed Jeremiah to speak to elders and priests. Jesus spoke to elders and priests in the Gospels. The Apostles spoke to elders and priests in Acts.
“Go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the Potsherd Gate; and proclaim there the words that I will tell you.” Jeremiah 19:2
Jeremiah brought them to the Potsherd Gate. This gate was also known as the Dung Gate. As they exited the gate, they saw broken pottery. These leaders had shattered the lives of many people. Now, God was going to shatter them.
“Say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: behold, I will bring such a catastrophe on this place, that whoever hears of it, his ears will tingle.’” Jeremiah 19:3
They needed to listen. Jesus used similar words in Revelation 2:29 because trials were coming. He said, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
“Because they have forsaken Me and made this an alien place, because they have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocents (they have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or speak, nor did it come into My mind).” Jeremiah 19:4-5
The place where Jeremiah and the elders stood was littered with thousands of pots filled with the charred remains of infants mixed with the bones. They had filled the land with the blood of their sons and daughters. This was Satanic. The leaders convinced parents to kill their babies. In the place they promoted death, they shall die.
“Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that this place shall no more be called Tophet or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.” Jeremiah 19:6
Tophet is a reference to the drums that they would play to drown out the cries of the babies as they burned them to death in the fires.
The Valley of Slaughter is where Babylon’s army set up camp before destroying Jerusalem.
“I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands of those who seek their lives. Their corpses I will give as meat for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth.” Jeremiah 19:7
Only God’s strong love for a nation could compel a man to speak such strong words against the sins that were destroying them. His confrontation of the perpetrators of national crimes was a great service to God and his country.
“I will make this city desolate and a hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues.” Jeremiah 19:8
Psalm 106:37-38 says, “They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to false gods. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood.”
“I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and in the desperation with which their enemies and those who seek their lives shall drive them to despair.” Jeremiah 19:9
The holy city would soon be horror city. A hair-raising sight! Enemies would encircle them. A blockade would cut off their food supply! Soon, they would experience the gnawing pains of starvation. They would eat their own children to ease the agony of deprivation.
“Then you shall break the flask in the sight of the men who go with you, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: even so I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, which cannot be made whole again. And they shall bury them in Tophet till there is no place to bury.” Jeremiah 19:10-11
They treated babies as trash to be destroyed. In like manner, they would be destroyed. They broke the hearts of many. In like manner, their hearts would be broken.
“Thus I will do to this place, says the Lord, and to its inhabitants, and make this city like Tophet. And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be defiled like the place of Tophet, because of all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven and poured out drink offerings to other gods.’” Jeremiah 19:12-13
The fiery judgment of these leaders is echoed in the ovens of the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. But before we wave a finger at them, let us consider that another race is being slaughtered today. The preborn race! About 3,700 per day or 1.37 million per year in the USA! About 115,000 per day or 42 million per year globally.
“Then Jeremiah came from Tophet, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy. And he stood in the court of the Lord’s house and said to all the people, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will bring on this city and on all her towns all the doom that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their necks that they might not hear My words.’” Jeremiah 19:14-15
They stiffened their necks means that they outright rejected revelations from God.
We should take God’s warnings seriously.
God spared not angels who sinned.
He sent them to hell.
God spared not the ancient world.
He sent the flood.
God spared not Sodom and Gomorrah.
He sent the fire.
2 Peter 2:4-6
Proverbs 29:8 says, “Scoffers set a city aflame, but wise men turn away wrath.”
2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
Jesus said in Revelation 22:12, “Behold, I come quickly!” – meaning in a moment of time. 1 Corinthians 15:52 says Jesus returns “in the blink of an eye.” Luke 17:24 says, “As the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day.” It will be too late at that time to repent.
A man on trial had managed to evade justice for many years. His victims wanted protection from him. When the judge dropped his gavel and ruled in their favor, they were relieved. Though their abuser did not acknowledge his sin, a court of law did. He would never again hurt them. One day, God will lower the gavel on the earth’s culture of death.
God convicts us of our sin because He loves us. He does not want us to perish in our sins. He convicts us so we will repent and receive His forgiveness and be saved. Romans 2:4 says, “Its God’s kindness that leads us to repentance.” “Please grant this Father all over our world in Jesus’ Name.”
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