Jeremiah

Jeremiah Chapter 25

• Jeremiah 25:1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;
• 2 The which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,
• 3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.
• 4 And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.

How familiar this sounds. They did not hearken. They did not listen. This seems not to have changed over the years. How many today do not listen to God, His prophets, His teachers, His servants or His word. Today the bible is questioned, pulled apart, set aside, ignored, made fun of, taken lightly, and changed from translation to translation. We have no right to change the bible into that which is politically correct. We have no right to make the bible acceptable to the feminist movement. We have no right to change what God inspired people to write into what we want the bible to say. This is unacceptable.

Would we think to change the words of any famous author and change their meaning into something they didn't say? How much more do we dare change the bible. It is okay and commendable to change it into different languages so that all can read the word but it must be done carefully so as not to change its meaning.

Oh how we should love to hear from God. How we should love to learn of His ways. Why would we desire to hear words of man that sound good and deceive ourselves into thinking it is God. Let us not change the word to mean something different that what it says.

Time and time again God sent His prophets to tell Israel and then Judah what was to befall them if they did not repent. They preferred their own ways instead of God's ways. They preferred to listen to those that spoke soft words with no conviction of sin. They desired to hear lies instead of truth.

• Jeremiah 25:5 They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:

All they had to do was turn from evil and repent and they would dwell safely in their land. The power of Babylon could not have uprooted them, if they would have turned to God. Alas, though just as those today, they preferred to ignore God and serve false gods and false prophets. Today we have many false religions but we also have dangerous ones that claim no religion and think they can make it without believing in God at all. 

• Jeremiah 25:6 And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt. 

Yet false religion is dangerous too for it deceives us into thinking we are right with God when we are not. Idolatry was one of the most dangerous religions in the days of Jeremiah because it gave worshippers a religious feeling and made them think they were talking to a god. Some may have thought that the idols represented the real God. Making an image to represent God has always been forbidden because there is no way we can make an image of someone we have not seen.  Even if we had seen God, how could we ever make something good enough to represent Him. He forbids it anyway.

We must come to Him by faith not by what we see with our eyes. That way God is available to all who believe, not just those who walked with His Son when He was here among us. To see Jesus was to see the Father because He truly represented Him as no other has done before or since but we must approach Him by faith not by sight.

Evil spirits lurk around idols or false religious systems in order to give us religious feelings to counterfeit the real God. There is a real Spirit of God. We do feel God's presence many times but to have the real Holy Spirit we must come the right way, the only way and that is through faith in Christ. True faith in Christ brings us to repentance, which is turning away from sin and turning to Christ for salvation. 

Suppose we have an old coat that is torn and worn thin. It no longer keeps us warm. A loving person offers us a new coat if we would take the old one and throw it in the trash. Until we take the old coat off and throw it away, the new one isn't given to us. By faith in their promise we throw the old one away and take the new one that keeps us safe, dry and warm. To receive Christ, we must put off our old man and partake of His holiness. We are covered with His righteousness but first we must forsake and repent of our sins and be willing to take on Christ. 

Our righteousness is filthy and old like the old coat that was thrown away. Its is no good. We must toss it away and be covered with the righteousness of Christ. We become a new creature in Christ. There should be no thought of going back into sin and then claiming the grace of God while still "in sin". Yes, His grace will cover us if we genuinely repent of sin but if our attitude is that we can name the name of Christ and still sin because we are under grace; we are deceiving ourselves. 

They didn't get away with sin in the Old Testament. Why should we be allowed to take lightly the price Jesus paid for our sins and be able to sin and still think heaven is our home? God will give us the strength we need to overcome sin but we must yield and receive this.

Israel had everything but they cast it away for the worldliness and idolatry of Babylon. That is why God allowed the very nation they desired to imitate to become their masters. If we yield to sin, sin becomes our masters. Like an alcoholic becomes a slave to alcohol, a drug addict becomes a slave to drugs, without Christ, we become a slave to sin.  It will steal, kill and destroy our souls.

No power on earth could have hurt Israel if they were under God's protection. It is mankind that rejects God and removes His protecting hand. We can't blame God when wars come upon us and destruction comes from evil nations.

• Jeremiah 25:7 Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.
• 8 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words,
• 9 Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.
• 10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.

The days of mirth, joy, celebrations, parties, marriages, dances were over.

• Jeremiah 25:11 And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
• 12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.

Babylon was allowed power over Israel for a short time of 70 years and then Babylon would be judged and destroyed. Evil nations will pass away and righteous ones will remain. No matter how we see evil nations oppressing and becoming strong, their days are numbered. Sin will not prevail in the long run. Jesus came to rid the world of evil and we may not understand why it takes so long to do this but it will be done. Perhaps the Lord is trying to get everyone He can saved before the end comes. After all if Jesus loved us enough to stay in the cross when He could have called angels to free Him, He must love us enough to give us every chance of repenting before His soon coming return.

• Jeremiah 25:13 And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.
• 14 For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.
• 15 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
• 16 And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.
• 17 Then took I the cup at the LORD'S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:
• 18 To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;

This is why the Jewish people have been hated from generation to generation. It is part of the curse that was brought upon them because of their sin and then rejection of Jesus Christ their very own Messiah. They will one day be restored and all nations, ALL nations that persecuted Israel will be judged by God. This is why we must be careful not to be part of the persecution of Israel. Even though God allows it to bring them back to Him, He will judge nations that persecute them.

• Jeremiah 25:19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;
• 20 And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,
• 21 Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,
• 22 And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea,
• 23 Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners,
• 24 And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert,
• 25 And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes,
• 26 And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
• 27 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.
• 28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.
• 29 For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.
• 30 Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.
• 31 A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.
• 32 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
• 33 And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.
• 34 Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel.
• 35 And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape.
• 36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the LORD hath spoiled their pasture.
• 37 And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
• 38 He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.

This has come to pass partly at the siege of Babylon and the Romans in 70AD. Still more is to happen during the future tribulation and the short kingdom of the antichrist. We don't have to be part of that judgment, we can escape judgment and be part of the kingdom of God.

Whether that time is near like many believe because of Israel becoming a nation again in 1948, or far off, it will surely come to pass just as Jeremiah's prophecy came to pass. It will happen no matter who says that is will not. Now is the acceptable time to get right with God. Do not wait another day. Repent and receive the giver of life into your soul. Receive the one who died in your place for every sin that you have committed. Receive the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved and your household. DC

Jeremiah 26