Category Archives: Jeremiah

26 This message came to Jeremiah from the Lord early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah. ² “This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard in front of the Temple of the Lord, and make an announcement to the people who have come there to worship from all over Judah. Give them my entire message; include every word. ³ Perhaps they will listen and turn from their evil ways. Then I will change my mind about the disaster I am ready to pour out on them because of their sins.

⁴ “Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: If you will not listen to me and obey my word I have given you, ⁵ and if you will not listen to my servants, the prophets—for I sent them again and again to warn you, but you would not listen to them— ⁶ then I will destroy this Temple as I destroyed Shiloh, the place where the Tabernacle was located. And I will make Jerusalem an object of cursing in every nation on earth.’”

⁷ The priests, the prophets, and all the people listened to Jeremiah as he spoke in front of the Lord’s Temple. ⁸ But when Jeremiah had finished his message, saying everything the Lord had told him to say, the priests and prophets and all the people at the Temple mobbed him. “Kill him!” they shouted. ⁹ “What right do you have to prophesy in the Lord’s name that this Temple will be destroyed like Shiloh? What do you mean, saying that Jerusalem will be destroyed and left with no inhabitants?” And all the people threatened him as he stood in front of the Temple.

¹⁰ When the officials of Judah heard what was happening, they rushed over from the palace and sat down at the New Gate of the Temple to hold court. ¹¹ The priests and prophets presented their accusations to the officials and the people. “This man should die!” they said. “You have heard with your own ears what a traitor he is, for he has prophesied against this city.”

¹² Then Jeremiah spoke to the officials and the people in his own defense. “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this Temple and this city,” he said. “The Lord gave me every word that I have spoken. ¹³ But if you stop your sinning and begin to obey the Lord your God, he will change his mind about this disaster that he has announced against you. ¹⁴ As for me, I am in your hands—do with me as you think best. ¹⁵ But if you kill me, rest assured that you will be killing an innocent man! The responsibility for such a deed will lie on you, on this city, and on every person living in it. For it is absolutely true that the Lord sent me to speak every word you have heard.”

¹⁶ Then the officials and the people said to the priests and prophets, “This man does not deserve the death sentence, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.”

¹⁷ Then some of the wise old men stood and spoke to all the people assembled there. ¹⁸ They said, “Remember when Micah of Moresheth prophesied during the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah. He told the people of Judah,

‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:
Mount Zion will be plowed like an open field;
    Jerusalem will be reduced to ruins!
A thicket will grow on the heights
    where the Temple now stands.’

¹⁹ But did King Hezekiah and the people kill him for saying this? No, they turned from their sins and worshiped the Lord. They begged him for mercy. Then the Lord changed his mind about the terrible disaster he had pronounced against them. So we are about to do ourselves great harm.”

²⁰ At this time Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim was also prophesying for the Lord. And he predicted the same terrible disaster against the city and nation as Jeremiah did. ²¹ When King Jehoiakim and the army officers and officials heard what he was saying, the king sent someone to kill him. But Uriah heard about the plan and escaped in fear to Egypt. ²² Then King Jehoiakim sent Elnathan son of Acbor to Egypt along with several other men to capture Uriah. ²³ They took him prisoner and brought him back to King Jehoiakim. The king then killed Uriah with a sword and had him buried in an unmarked grave.

²⁴ Nevertheless, Ahikam son of Shaphan stood up for Jeremiah and persuaded the court not to turn him over to the mob to be killed.

Jeremiah 26

Dear God, this is a fascinating part of the story. I am pretty sure that, on the timeline, it happens after Jonah’s preaching to the Ninevites/Assyrians. Yeah, that’s what I thought. I just looked it up. On a timeline of Old Testament prophets, Jeremiah is one of the last ones. It looks like Jonah was even before Micah, who the elders mention in verse 18. But I can’t help but notice that it was easier for the Ninevites, and even their king, to repent than it was for these prideful people in Jeremiah’s time.

I suppose the first stage of grief is denial. And when we here something that makes us sad and we want to initially deny it, then the next thing we need to do is get rid of the messenger. He’s a “liar” after all, and he should be put to death for speaking false prophecy in your name. Ah, but was Jeremiah a false prophet? Was he a liar? We know now that he wasn’t, but they didn’t know what to make of him then. They just knew they were hearing news they didn’t want to hear. they were comfortable with their habits. They didn’t want to repent.

How would I handle a prophetic word of rebuke? Would my first inclination be to lable the person as a fake who didn’t know me or what she or he was talking about? Would I turn my back to them and not hear them? Or would I take a moment to consider what they are saying to me? Would I entertain it long enough to discern the truth of it through prayer and possibly repentance? Am I humble enough to hear your rebuke and accept it at any given time?

Father, I think the modern day message of this story is to accept your judgment and welcome it as for my good. The better I can be here, the more useful my small little life will be for you. I guess my ultimate goal is to simply try to love you and love others and then let your use of my life fall however you want it to fall. I heard something yesterday where this podcast was discussing this book called Girls: Generation Z and the Commodification of Everything. Apparently the thesis of the book is that young people, especially young women, are being taught that their only worth is in building their brand and then selling themselves to the world–whether as an influencer or whatever. Somehow, we are all learning that we have to have this life that is “important.” Well, like I’ve said many times, the widow who put her two coins in the offering that Jesus saw never knew her life would be talked about for thousands of years. She just knew she woke up poor that morning, she worshipped you through her officer, and then she went to bed that night as poor as she was when she woke up. And she probably died that poor too. So help me to live the life of that simple woman and be content in the fact that maybe all I have is the love of my God and the fact that he’s been doubly good to me by bringing me an amazing woman for my wife.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

32 The following message came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah. This was also the eighteenth year of the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar. ² Jerusalem was then under siege from the Babylonian army, and Jeremiah was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace. ³ King Zedekiah had put him there, asking why he kept giving this prophecy: “This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will take it. ⁴ King Zedekiah will be captured by the Babylonians and taken to meet the king of Babylon face to face. ⁵ He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and I will deal with him there,’ says the Lord. ‘If you fight against the Babylonians, you will never succeed.’”

⁶ At that time the Lord sent me a message. He said, ⁷ “Your cousin Hanamel son of Shallum will come and say to you, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth. By law you have the right to buy it before it is offered to anyone else.’”

⁸ Then, just as the Lord had said he would, my cousin Hanamel came and visited me in the prison. He said, “Please buy my field at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. By law you have the right to buy it before it is offered to anyone else, so buy it for yourself.” Then I knew that the message I had heard was from the Lord.

⁹ So I bought the field at Anathoth, paying Hanamel seventeen pieces of silver for it. ¹⁰ I signed and sealed the deed of purchase before witnesses, weighed out the silver, and paid him. ¹¹ Then I took the sealed deed and an unsealed copy of the deed, which contained the terms and conditions of the purchase, ¹² and I handed them to Baruch son of Neriah and grandson of Mahseiah. I did all this in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, the witnesses who had signed the deed, and all the men of Judah who were there in the courtyard of the guardhouse.

¹³ Then I said to Baruch as they all listened, ¹⁴ “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Take both this sealed deed and the unsealed copy, and put them into a pottery jar to preserve them for a long time.’ ¹⁵ For this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Someday people will again own property here in this land and will buy and sell houses and vineyards and fields.’”

¹⁶ Then after I had given the papers to Baruch, I prayed to the Lord:

¹⁷ “O Sovereign Lord! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you! ¹⁸ You show unfailing love to thousands, but you also bring the consequences of one generation’s sin upon the next. You are the great and powerful God, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. ¹⁹ You have all wisdom and do great and mighty miracles. You see the conduct of all people, and you give them what they deserve. ²⁰ You performed miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt—things still remembered to this day! And you have continued to do great miracles in Israel and all around the world. You have made your name famous to this day.

²¹ “You brought Israel out of Egypt with mighty signs and wonders, with a strong hand and powerful arm, and with overwhelming terror. ²² You gave the people of Israel this land that you had promised their ancestors long before—a land flowing with milk and honey. ²³ Our ancestors came and conquered it and lived in it, but they refused to obey you or follow your word. They have not done anything you commanded. That is why you have sent this terrible disaster upon them.

²⁴ “See how the siege ramps have been built against the city walls! Through war, famine, and disease, the city will be handed over to the Babylonians, who will conquer it. Everything has happened just as you said. ²⁵ And yet, O Sovereign Lord, you have told me to buy the field—paying good money for it before these witnesses—even though the city will soon be handed over to the Babylonians.”

²⁶ Then this message came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²⁷ “I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me? ²⁸ Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I will hand this city over to the Babylonians and to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he will capture it. ²⁹ The Babylonians outside the walls will come in and set fire to the city. They will burn down all these houses where the people provoked my anger by burning incense to Baal on the rooftops and by pouring out liquid offerings to other gods. ³⁰ Israel and Judah have done nothing but wrong since their earliest days. They have infuriated me with all their evil deeds,” says the Lord. ³¹ “From the time this city was built until now, it has done nothing but anger me, so I am determined to get rid of it.

³² “The sins of Israel and Judah—the sins of the people of Jerusalem, the kings, the officials, the priests, and the prophets—have stirred up my anger. ³³ My people have turned their backs on me and have refused to return. Even though I diligently taught them, they would not receive instruction or obey. ³⁴ They have set up their abominable idols right in my own Temple, defiling it. ³⁵ They have built pagan shrines to Baal in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and there they sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech. I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing. What an incredible evil, causing Judah to sin so greatly!

³⁶ “Now I want to say something more about this city. You have been saying, ‘It will fall to the king of Babylon through war, famine, and disease.’ But this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ³⁷ I will certainly bring my people back again from all the countries where I will scatter them in my fury. I will bring them back to this very city and let them live in peace and safety. ³⁸ They will be my people, and I will be their God. ³⁹ And I will give them one heart and one purpose: to worship me forever, for their own good and for the good of all their descendants. ⁴⁰ And I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good for them. I will put a desire in their hearts to worship me, and they will never leave me. ⁴¹ I will find joy doing good for them and will faithfully and wholeheartedly replant them in this land.

⁴² “This is what the Lord says: Just as I have brought all these calamities on them, so I will do all the good I have promised them. ⁴³ Fields will again be bought and sold in this land about which you now say, ‘It has been ravaged by the Babylonians, a desolate land where people and animals have all disappeared.’ ⁴⁴ Yes, fields will once again be bought and sold—deeds signed and sealed and witnessed—in the land of Benjamin and here in Jerusalem, in the towns of Judah and in the hill country, in the foothills of Judah and in the Negev, too. For someday I will restore prosperity to them. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Jeremiah 32

Dear God, I don’t think I want to know when calamity is coming my way. I want you to chasten me. I want you to convict me and correct me. I want to repent. But I don’t want to know the future. It’s too much for me. But I don’t have to worry about that because you haven’t given me the gift of prophecy.

My wife and I were talking about end-time prophecies today and how people seem to want to know the future so badly. I don’t understand why. There are some who believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. There are some who believe in no rapture at all as part of your plan. I have my own thoughts on it after hearing teachings from different people and making my own assessments, but at the end of the day, my assessments are worthless (and probably wrong!). The truth is, no matter what my assessment is, it shouldn’t change how I live today. I don’t have to be smarter than the next person. I don’t have to have a deeper revelation from you that someone else. That’s not what you called me to do at all. You called me to love you and worship you. You called me to love others. You called me to keep myself pure in my pursuit of worshipping you and loving others. You taught me through Jesus that it’s okay if I mourn or even if I’m pour in spirit. You taught me it’s good to be a peacemaker. You taught me it’s good to love my enemies and embrace persecution for your name’s sake and not avoid it. You taught me that hating is as bad as murder and lusting is as bad as adultery. You taught me to not judge and be merciful. You taught me to pray. You taught me to forgive as I have been forgiven. You taught me to not worry, but put my “certainty” only in the fact that I am loved by you. You taught me to build on you and not shifting sand. You taught me that the gate is narrow, the narrow path is hard, and that few will find it. I think I’ve found it. I’m grateful to have found it.

Father, help me today to help others find the narrow path. Help me to introduce them to you, show them how to worship you, show them how to love others. And, in time, teach them everything Jesus taught us. I think about Jeremiah and how he was shouting into the wind with no one wanting to listen because they didn’t want to hear what he had to say. Well, give me ears to hear right now, Father. Holy Spirit, teach me what I need to learn today.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen