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786. Bible Study: Jeremiah 28 (Warning for "Prophets" who are Not!) · Faith by annm2705

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  Chapter 27 from the book of Jeremiah as a reminder, we read
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  scripture because all scripture is God breathed and is useful
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  for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in
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  righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly
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  equipped for every good work. That's according to Second
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  Timothy 3, verses 16 through 17. The other thing about it is, as
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  Romans 10/17 says, consequently faith comes from hearing the
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  message, and the message is heard through the word about
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  Christ. Sometimes we have Christ in our
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  readings and sometimes we don't, and sometimes they're
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  foreshadowings. But many of the readings do
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  point to Christ even in the Old Testament.
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  So it's always interesting. Now we have a new one to read
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  today. And this is about the false
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  prophet Hananiah. I think we could all learn from
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  this because there are many false prophets.
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  There's a lot of people who claim God told me this.
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  And so this might give us some insight to is this from God or
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  is this a false prophet that's saying things?
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  So let's get started. In the 5th month of that same
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  year, the fourth year, early in the reign of Zedekiah, king of
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  Judah, the prophet Hananiah, son of Azure, who was from Gibeon,
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  said to me in the House of the Lord, in the presence of the
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  priest and all the people. So he's really bold.
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  This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says.
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  I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon within two
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  years. I will bring back to this place
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  all the articles of the Lord's house that Nebuchadnezzar king
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  of Babylon, removed from here and took to Babylon.
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  I will also bring back to this place Jehoah Chin, son of Jehoah
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  Kim king of Judah, and all the other exiles from Judah who went
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  to Babylon, declares the declares the Lord.
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  For I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon, completely
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  opposite of what Jeremiah said. Then the prophet Jeremiah
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  replied to the prophet Hananiah before the priests and all the
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  people who were standing in the House of the Lord.
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  He said, Amen. May the Lord do so.
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  May the Lord fulfil the words you have prophesied by bringing
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  the articles of the Lord's house and all exiles back to this
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  place from Babylon. Nevertheless, listen to what I
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  have to say in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people
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  from early times. The prophets who preceded you
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  and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague against many
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  countries and great kingdoms. But the prophet who prophecies
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  peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if
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  his prediction comes true. So I guess we need to listen to
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  what someone who you know hear the words at least to what they
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  say. Not necessarily follow them, but
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  listen to what they have to say and then be prepared for what
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  may come. But we will only know afterwards
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  if it was fulfilled or not. I mean, this is really like,
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  there's no good way to really know.
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  You have to kind of listen. And I guess you could pray about
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  it and ask God about it. But quite honestly, I did see
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  this recently when there was a man who prophesied that Jesus,
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  the rapture would happen on September 23rd and 24th.
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  And, and there were so many people who were posting public
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  videos saying I got confirmation of the Lord of the same thing.
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  I mean, just, there were numerous ones.
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  And there was something in me that just, you know, I, I, I was
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  hesitant in believing it, but I also didn't want to be prideful
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  and think, well, I know. So I was like, OK, we just need
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  to be prepared and then see what comes.
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  And then when it came and went, then it obviously didn't happen.
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  And I believe that I, I don't think someone would go out on
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  the line and say those things because the outcome of what it's
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  what happened would be so harsh. Like who would be bold enough or
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  why would they do that? Or what benefit would they have?
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  Because they were talking about getting prepared.
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  They were talking about things that God said, but they were
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  somehow it was either their own thoughts or it was something
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  else that was influencing them to say that.
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  And they didn't realize that. And hopefully their eyes are
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  open now after it did not happen.
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  And for all the people, unfortunately, there were some
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  people who took these things to heart and they actually did
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  drastic things with their lives. And that's something that we
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  should never do is take drastic measures in preparation for
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  anything. It's a preparation of our hearts
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  and our relationship with God. That's the that's what we need
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  to prepare. There's not like all these other
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  things that are more important than that.
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  The most important thing that we can do to prepare is to have our
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  relationship with God in a good place where we are not in
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  rebellion to Him and we are in communication with Him.
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  We are hearing from Him, we are talking to Him, and there's
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  communication back and forth like any it's that's just where
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  we need to be. So anything that we hear about,
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  the circumstances of what we hear about are not the important
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  thing. It's about God because God can
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  protect, God can provide, He can do all these things for us.
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  And the only one that we need is God and he will make it known.
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  And we just don't need to act harshly with anything, but just
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  listen because you know, those words are in alignment with the
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  Bible about preparation. It's just that there's some
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  things that conflict and it would be hard.
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  Like think about this back in the time where there were so
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  many real prophets and and to know like, is this a real
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  prophet or a false prophet? Just like Elijah, he was the
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  only true prophet. And it seemed like at the time
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  when Judah and Benjamin, I guess, were together and then
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  the 10 tribes were, the northern ones were called Israel.
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  They didn't have prophets that were speaking from the word of
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  God because they had immersed with the Pagan cultures around
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  them and they had these Ashira poles and all these other things
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  that they were worshipping other gods.
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  They were kind of mixing with it.
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  So they weren't hearing the voice of God.
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  They might have been hearing the voice of something else because
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  we are in a spiritual battle. And that's what's concerning
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  because the enemy of God can be very deceptive and very
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  manipulative and make people think that, you know, Satan
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  comes as the Angel of light. We have to remember that and
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  test everything. And again, just just give it to
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  God because ultimately God fights our battles.
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  It's a spiritual battle. We don't have the strength of
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  that. It's the Holy Spirit, it's God,
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  it's the angels, the the good angels, the ones who are not in
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  rebellion, who are the warriors of God.
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  So that's that's really where we need to be is right with God.
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  Anyway, going back to Scripture verse 10, then the prophet
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  Hananiah took the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and
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  broke it. He said before all the people.
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  This is what the Lord says. In the same way I will break the
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  yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon off off the neck of all
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  the nations within two years. At this the prophet Jeremiah
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  went on his way. After the prophet Prophet
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  Hananiah had broken the yoke off the neck of the prophet
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  Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.
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  Go and tell Hananiah. This is what the Lord says.
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  You have broken a wooden yoke, but in its place you will get a
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  yoke of iron. This is what the Lord Almighty,
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  the God of Israel says. I will put an iron yoke on the
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  necks of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar,
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  king of Babylon, and they will serve him.
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  I will even give him control over the wild animals.
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  Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah.
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  The Prophet, Listen, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you yet.
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  You have persuaded this nation to trust in lies.
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  Therefore this is what the Lord says.
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  I am about to remove you from the face of the earth.
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  This very year you are going to die because you have preached
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  rebellion against the Lord. All I can say to that is, wow,
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  in the 7th month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died.
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  God did not waste any time. So he's lying.
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  And I, I don't know, you know, from this information that we're
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  given, I don't know if Hananiah knew he was given information
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  falsely or if he was deceived, but he was, he had to have been
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  far from God in his relationship with God.
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  There had to be something that was separating him from God.
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  And maybe he didn't know about it, but he had to have known
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  about it because God is just. And so this was a consequence of
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  him lying about hearing from God.
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  And he was in a sense, even though he is preaching safety
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  and good things, he was preaching rebellion against the
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  Lord because Jeremiah was speaking the truth.
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  And so he was convincing these people to do the opposite of
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  what God told Jeremiah to tell the people.
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  So this gets really I, you know, who knows if we were present,
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  who would we believe? Obviously the fruit of the
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  Spirit helps us to discern between people like who should
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  we believe? Who lives life according to
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  God's suggestions, not suggestions, his commands.
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  Who lives according to that? None of us are perfect.
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  So not everyone fits perfectly to that, but you can see there's
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  intentions with people and there's intentions where there's
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  no, you know, concern at all about it.
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  So anyway, I'll read through the questions and answers that are
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  for this chapter 28, and then we'll conclude for today.
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  So what was a why? Why was a yoke a symbol of
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  oppression? Old Testament prophets often use
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  this image to describe political oppression.
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  A yoke was a wooden frame that was laid across the top of the
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  necks of two animals or two persons as prisoners to bind
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  them together. The idea is of one being subject
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  to a greater and stronger power and not having freedom.
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  And it also applies to like equally yoked.
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  I mean, when two people are working together, I mean, that's
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  what like animals that plowed together, you know, if one
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  wasn't able to keep up with the other, it wouldn't work out
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  well. And so that's another time when
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  yoke is used, it doesn't necessarily relate to this Yoke
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  here is exactly like what the study Bible said.
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  But I just thought that was kind of interesting that it's used in
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  a lot of several different ways. But All in all, think about this
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  though, that the yoke actually represents someone in, you know,
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  someone ultimately in control other than the people that are
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  there. And so whose yoke do we have on
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  our shoulders? Do we have the yoke of the evil
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  one? Are we doing the evil 1's will?
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  Or do we have the yoke of the Father, the Creator?
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  Are we doing his will? Was Jeremiah being sarcastic?
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  Probably. Some think Jeremiah genuinely
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  wanted the temple and the nation restored, but it's more likely
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  that this was a sarcastic edge to his reply when he was saying
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  Amen back to Hananiah because he knew he had heard from God and
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  he knew it was opposite. That was interesting how he
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  replied. So why art?
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  Was war so common that anyone could predict it?
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  Not necessarily. Jeremiah was simply saying that
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  prophets were typically sent to warn people, not comfort them.
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  People could wait and see who was right.
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  Hananiah's assurances of prosperity, while receiving rave
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  reviews, merely restated conventional thinking.
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  Jeremiah's message of doom, by contrast, opposed the tide of
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  popular opinion. That's another thing where they
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  say, you know, prophet is never accepted in his own town.
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  When Jesus said that you know people who knew someone they
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  didn't, they didn't think of them in that as a prophet.
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  Did Jeremiah always wear the yoke?
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  Jeremiah probably worn it since God first instructed him to put
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  it on as an object lesson to people.
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  However, he didn't necessarily have to wear it continually to
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  make his point. Symbolic actions when performed
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  at strategic moments in God's plan often leave an indelible
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  impression on people. The yoke was an effective object
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  lesson. This is interesting too, because
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  we see that God does this with other prophets.
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  I think like Ezekiel also has to do some strange things.
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  And you know, everybody today likes to say, oh, I'm a prophet
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  of the Lord. I heard this.
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  But I wonder how many of those that claim to be the prophets of
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  the Lord would be so humble to actually follow something like
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  this, like put on a yoke and wear it or like the things that
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  God told Ezekiel to do. Like would that prophet do that?
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  Or does that prophet have this pride and this image of him or
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  herself that is above that? Like they wouldn't do that.
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  But here we see like Jeremiah was really humble.
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  He at one point he took that linen belt, he bought it, he
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  went and buried it. And, you know, these were all
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  things that God was doing symbolically and putting the
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  message in his mind where he's not going to forget it.
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  He's going to remember going and buying that linen belt and then
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  burying it and then it being worthless and useless.
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  He'll remember all those things in comparison to the this
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  nation, or I don't know what we call it, the Kingdom of Judah, I
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  guess. How did Nebuchadnezzar tame wild
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  animals? This overstatement was intended
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  to illustrate the absolute dominion dominion Nebuchadnezzar
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  would have over the nations. Why did Jeremiah bother with
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  false prophets? Because they claimed to speak
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  for God. False prophets had enormous
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  potential influence. Jeremiah recognized that if they
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  were left unchecked, they could push the entire nation further
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  away from God. Furthermore, God is jealous
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  about who speaks for Him. To falsely claim to be the
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  Lord's spokesman is a grievous offence.
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  Now, that is something that everyone should keep in mind.
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  What happened to Hananiah, who was saying he was hearing from
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  the Lord, but he really wasn't. God ended his life.
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  He wasn't going to have any more of that.
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  He was finished with that. That's the same thing that
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  happened with the prophets who were against Ezekiel.
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  They were all killed. I'm, I'm sorry, not Ezekiel,
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  Elijah, they all ended up getting killed.
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  They were prophesying by Baal and Elijah was prophesying by
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  God. So God, God wins, He always
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  wins. So it's never worth it for us to
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  be in rebellion to what God's plans are and that we should
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  with everything, submit to God, look for his direction and honor
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  God because it's going to happen.
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  God's will will happen.