Latest / truthunedited / The Book of Jeremiah Like You_ve Never Seen Before
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: There is a book in the Bible that reveals God's
- 0:03Speaker 1: heart like no other. Jeremiah isn't just history, its living
- 0:07Speaker 1: prophecy that continues to unfold before our eyes. This man
- 0:12Speaker 1: walked between two worlds. He witnessed the end of an
- 0:15Speaker 1: era and the birth of an eternal hope. For forty years,
- 0:19Speaker 1: his words cut like a sword, unveiling truths that reshaped
- 0:23Speaker 1: the course of humanity. Jeremiah prophesied the new covenant that
- 0:27Speaker 1: Jesus would seal with his blood, foretold by divine precision.
- 0:32Speaker 1: The seventy years of captivity, and his visions still echo
- 0:36Speaker 1: in every moment of global crisis. His tears became prophecies,
- 0:40Speaker 1: his suffering turned into redemption. This book stands as a
- 0:44Speaker 1: bridge between the Old and New Testaments, between judgment and grace,
- 0:48Speaker 1: between destruction and restoration. Yet ready to discover how the
- 0:53Speaker 1: words of a weeping prophet forever changed our understanding of
- 0:57Speaker 1: God's eternal plan. In the third teenth year of King
- 1:01Speaker 1: Josiah's reign, something extraordinary happened in a small town called Anathoth.
- 1:06Speaker 1: God spoke to a young man who would change the
- 1:09Speaker 1: course of history. This wasn't just any young man. This
- 1:13Speaker 1: was someone God had been watching since before he was
- 1:16Speaker 1: even born. The Lord's words in chapter one, verse five
- 1:19Speaker 1: were clear and powerful. Before I formed you in the womb,
- 1:23Speaker 1: I knew you before you were born. I set you apart.
- 1:27Speaker 1: I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. Think
- 1:30Speaker 1: about that for a moment. While Jeremiah's parents were probably
- 1:34Speaker 1: just hoping for a healthy baby, God already had plans
- 1:37Speaker 1: for this child that would affect entire nations. Jeremiah was
- 1:41Speaker 1: not chosen by chance or because he was particularly talented.
- 1:46Speaker 1: God had planned his life before he even took his
- 1:49Speaker 1: first breath. This is how God works. He sees the
- 1:53Speaker 1: end from the beginning. But when God actually called Jeremiah
- 1:56Speaker 1: to be his prophet, the young man felt completely overwhelmed.
- 2:01Speaker 1: He was probably in his early twenties, maybe even younger.
- 2:04Speaker 1: When God called him. He responded in verse six alas,
- 2:08Speaker 1: Sovereign Lord, I do not know how to speak. I
- 2:10Speaker 1: am too young. Have you ever felt too young or
- 2:13Speaker 1: too unprepared for something big? Jeremiah felt exactly the same way,
- 2:18Speaker 1: except his job was to speak for God to entire nations.
- 2:22Speaker 1: But God had an answer ready. In verse seven, the
- 2:25Speaker 1: Lord said, do not say I am too young. You
- 2:29Speaker 1: must go to everyone I send you to and say
- 2:32Speaker 1: whatever I command you. God wasn't asking Jeremiah to come
- 2:36Speaker 1: up with his own wise words. He just needed to
- 2:38Speaker 1: be willing to deliver God's messages. Then God did something amazing.
- 2:45Speaker 1: In verse nine, we read then the Lord reached out
- 2:48Speaker 1: his hand and touched my mouth and said to me,
- 2:52Speaker 1: I have put my words in your mouth. God literally
- 2:56Speaker 1: touched Jeremiah's mouth to show him that the words would
- 2:59Speaker 1: come from God God, not from his own mind. Then
- 3:02Speaker 1: God showed Jeremiah two visions that would guide his entire ministry. First,
- 3:09Speaker 1: he saw a branch from an almond tree. In verse twelve,
- 3:13Speaker 1: God explained, you have seen correctly, for I am watching
- 3:17Speaker 1: to see that my word is fulfilled. The Hebrew word
- 3:21Speaker 1: for armand sounds very similar to the word for watching.
- 3:24Speaker 1: God was telling Jeremiah that he would carefully watch over
- 3:28Speaker 1: every single word he spoke through him. The second vision
- 3:32Speaker 1: was more troubling. Jeremiah saw a boiling pot that was
- 3:36Speaker 1: tilted away from the north. In verse thirteen. God explained
- 3:40Speaker 1: what it meant in verses fourteen to fifteen. From the north,
- 3:43Speaker 1: disaster will be poured out on all who live in
- 3:46Speaker 1: the land. I am about to summon all the peoples
- 3:49Speaker 1: of the northern kingdoms, declares the Lord. This vision showed
- 3:53Speaker 1: that enemies would come from the north to attack Jerusalem
- 3:57Speaker 1: and all of Judah. But God didn't leave j Wheremiah afraid.
- 4:01Speaker 1: He made him a promise that would carry him through
- 4:03Speaker 1: forty years of difficult ministry. In verses seventeen to nineteen,
- 4:08Speaker 1: the Lord declared, get yourself ready, stand up and say
- 4:12Speaker 1: to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified
- 4:15Speaker 1: by them, or I will terrify you before them. To day.
- 4:20Speaker 1: I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar,
- 4:23Speaker 1: and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land.
- 4:27Speaker 1: They will fight against you, but will not overcome you,
- 4:30Speaker 1: for I am with you and will rescue you, declares
- 4:34Speaker 1: the Lord. After calling Jeremiah to be his prophet, God
- 4:38Speaker 1: immediately began giving him messages for the people of Judah.
- 4:42Speaker 1: These weren't easy messages to deliver. They were like a
- 4:46Speaker 1: doctor telling a patient they had a serious illness that
- 4:49Speaker 1: needed immediate treatment. The messages were hard to hear, but
- 4:53Speaker 1: they came from a heart full of love and concern.
- 4:56Speaker 1: In Chapter two, Verse two, God told Jeremiah to go
- 4:59Speaker 1: to Jerusalem and speak these words. This is what the
- 5:03Speaker 1: Lord says. I remember the devotion of your youth, how
- 5:07Speaker 1: as a bride you loved me and followed me through
- 5:10Speaker 1: the wilderness. God was remembering the early days of his
- 5:14Speaker 1: relationship with Israel. It was like looking at old wedding
- 5:17Speaker 1: photos and remembering how beautiful and pure the love used
- 5:21Speaker 1: to be. But something terrible had happened to that beautiful relationship.
- 5:25Speaker 1: In verse eleven, God asked a heartbreaking question. Has a
- 5:29Speaker 1: nation ever changed its gods? But my people have exchanged
- 5:33Speaker 1: their glorious God for worthless idols. Even pagan nations stayed
- 5:38Speaker 1: loyal to their fake gods. But Israel had abandoned the
- 5:42Speaker 1: one true God who had saved them from slavery in Egypt. Then,
- 5:46Speaker 1: in verse thirteen, God revealed the heart of the problem.
- 5:50Speaker 1: My people have committed two sins. They have forsaken me
- 5:55Speaker 1: the spring of living water and have dug their own cisterns,
- 5:58Speaker 1: broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Imagine being incredibly thirsty
- 6:04Speaker 1: in the desert and finding a beautiful fresh spring of
- 6:07Speaker 1: clean water, but instead of drinking from it, you walk
- 6:11Speaker 1: away and try to dig your own well. That immediately
- 6:14Speaker 1: leaks out all the water. That's exactly what Israel had done. Spiritually,
- 6:19Speaker 1: the comparison got even more personal. God compared Israel to
- 6:23Speaker 1: an unfaithful wife in chapter three, verse twenty But like
- 6:27Speaker 1: a woman unfaithful to her husband, So you, Israel, have
- 6:32Speaker 1: been unfaithful to me, declares the Lord. This wasn't just
- 6:37Speaker 1: about breaking religious rules. This was about a broken relationship.
- 6:41Speaker 1: God felt betrayed and hurt, like a husband whose wife
- 6:45Speaker 1: had left him for other lovers. The people had started
- 6:49Speaker 1: worshiping other gods, and it had gotten completely out of control.
- 6:54Speaker 1: In chapter two, verse twenty eight, God asked a painful question,
- 6:58Speaker 1: where then are the god gods you made for yourselves.
- 7:01Speaker 1: Let them come if they can save you when you
- 7:03Speaker 1: are in trouble. For you, Judah, have as many gods
- 7:07Speaker 1: as you have towns. They had created so many idols
- 7:12Speaker 1: that every single town had its own false God. But
- 7:15Speaker 1: even in his hurt and anger, God was still calling
- 7:18Speaker 1: for them to return. In chapter three, verse twelve, he
- 7:22Speaker 1: pleaded return. Faithless Israel, declares the Lord. I will frown
- 7:27Speaker 1: on you no longer, for I am faithful, declares the Lord.
- 7:31Speaker 1: I will not be angry forever. Even though they had
- 7:35Speaker 1: betrayed him, God was still willing to forgive. It's like
- 7:39Speaker 1: a parent whose child has run away from home, but
- 7:42Speaker 1: who leaves the porch light on every night, hoping they'll
- 7:45Speaker 1: come back. However, God also made it clear that returning
- 7:50Speaker 1: meant real change, not just empty words. In Chapter four,
- 7:55Speaker 1: verse four, he warned, circumcise yourselves to the Lord. Circumcise
- 7:59Speaker 1: your hearts, you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
- 8:04Speaker 1: or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire
- 8:07Speaker 1: because of the evil you have done. God was talking
- 8:11Speaker 1: about cutting away the hard, stubborn parts of their hearts
- 8:14Speaker 1: that refuse to obey him. The consequences of their choices
- 8:19Speaker 1: were already in motion. In Chapter six, verses twenty two
- 8:23Speaker 1: to twenty three, God gave details about the coming army.
- 8:27Speaker 1: This is what the Lord says. Look, an army is
- 8:31Speaker 1: coming from the land of the north. A great nation
- 8:33Speaker 1: is being stirred up from the ends of the earth.
- 8:36Speaker 1: They are armed with bow and spear. They are cruel
- 8:39Speaker 1: and show no mercy. This wasn't going to be a
- 8:43Speaker 1: small raid. This was going to be a massive invasion
- 8:47Speaker 1: by a ruthless enemy. One day God told Jeremiah to
- 8:51Speaker 1: go stand at the gate of the temple and deliver
- 8:54Speaker 1: a message that would shock everyone who heard it. This
- 8:57Speaker 1: wasn't just any place, this was the holiest spot in
- 9:01Speaker 1: all of Israel. People came to the temple believing they
- 9:04Speaker 1: were automatically safe just because God's house was there, But
- 9:08Speaker 1: God had a very different message for them. In Chapter seven,
- 9:12Speaker 1: verses three to four, Jeremiah proclaimed, this is what the
- 9:16Speaker 1: Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says. Reform your ways
- 9:21Speaker 1: and your actions, and I will let you live in
- 9:24Speaker 1: this place. Do not trust in deceptive words and say
- 9:28Speaker 1: this is the temple of the Lord, the Temple of
- 9:31Speaker 1: the Lord, the Temple of the Lord. The people kept
- 9:35Speaker 1: repeating these words over and over like a magic spell,
- 9:39Speaker 1: thinking that just saying them would protect them, but God
- 9:42Speaker 1: explained what he really wanted from them in verses five
- 9:46Speaker 1: to seven. He said, if you really change your ways
- 9:49Speaker 1: and your actions and deal with each other justly, if
- 9:53Speaker 1: you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow,
- 9:56Speaker 1: and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and
- 10:00Speaker 1: if you do not follow other gods to your own harm,
- 10:03Speaker 1: then I will let you live in this place. God
- 10:07Speaker 1: wasn't impressed by their religious ceremonies. He wanted to see
- 10:10Speaker 1: how they treated people, especially those who couldn't defend themselves.
- 10:15Speaker 1: The problem was that the temple had become like a
- 10:18Speaker 1: hideout for criminals. In verse eleven, God asked, has this
- 10:22Speaker 1: house which bears my name become a den of robbers
- 10:26Speaker 1: to you? But I have been watching, declares the Lord.
- 10:30Speaker 1: They thought they could do whatever they wanted during the
- 10:33Speaker 1: week and then come to the temple on the Sabbath
- 10:35Speaker 1: to make everything right with God. But God saw through
- 10:39Speaker 1: their act to help them understand how serious he was.
- 10:43Speaker 1: God reminded them of a place called Shiloh. Long ago,
- 10:47Speaker 1: God's tabernacle had been set up there, and people thought
- 10:50Speaker 1: it would always be safe because God was there. But
- 10:54Speaker 1: Shiloh had been destroyed and abandoned when the people became wicked.
- 10:59Speaker 1: In verses twelve to fourteen, God warned them that Jerusalem's
- 11:03Speaker 1: temple could be destroyed just like Shiloh had been. But
- 11:07Speaker 1: the worst part was what they were doing to their
- 11:09Speaker 1: own children. In chapter seven, verse thirty one, God revealed
- 11:14Speaker 1: something that horrified him. They have built the high places
- 11:18Speaker 1: of Tophith in the valley of Ben Hinnam to burn
- 11:21Speaker 1: their sons and daughters in the fire, something I did
- 11:24Speaker 1: not command, nor did it enter my mind. The people
- 11:28Speaker 1: were actually sacrificing their own children to false gods, something
- 11:32Speaker 1: so evil that God said it never even entered his
- 11:36Speaker 1: mind to command such a thing. God's heart was broken
- 11:42Speaker 1: by what he saw. In Chapter eight, verses four or five,
- 11:46Speaker 1: he expressed his confusion about his people's stubbornness. When people
- 11:50Speaker 1: fall down, do they not get up? When someone turns away,
- 11:54Speaker 1: do they not return? Why then, have these people turned away?
- 11:58Speaker 1: Why does Jerusalem always turn away? It was like watching
- 12:02Speaker 1: someone who kept falling down in the same hole over
- 12:06Speaker 1: and over again, but refused help to get back up.
- 12:10Speaker 1: As Jeremiah continued his ministry, God revealed to him that
- 12:14Speaker 1: the people had done something terrible. They had broken there covenant,
- 12:18Speaker 1: their special agreement with him. This wasn't like breaking a
- 12:22Speaker 1: business contract. This was like a marriage vow that had
- 12:26Speaker 1: been completely shattered. In Chapter eleven, verse ten, God explained,
- 12:30Speaker 1: both Israel and Judah have broken the covenant I made
- 12:34Speaker 1: with their ancestors. This covenant was the foundation of their
- 12:38Speaker 1: entire relationship with God. But then something shocking happened. The
- 12:43Speaker 1: people in Jeremiah's own hometown, Anathoth, turned against him. These
- 12:48Speaker 1: were people who had known him since he was a child.
- 12:50Speaker 1: In chapter eleven, verses twenty one twenty three, God revealed
- 12:55Speaker 1: their plot. Therefore, this is what the Lord says about
- 12:58Speaker 1: the people of Anathoth, who are threatening to kill you
- 13:01Speaker 1: and saying, do not prophesy in the name of the Lord,
- 13:06Speaker 1: or you will die by our hands. Therefore, this is
- 13:09Speaker 1: what the Lord Almighty says, I will punish them. The
- 13:13Speaker 1: very people who should have supported Jeremiah wanted to kill
- 13:16Speaker 1: him just for speaking God's truth. This betrayal hurt Jeremiah deeply.
- 13:23Speaker 1: In chapter twelve, verse one, he poured out his heart
- 13:26Speaker 1: to God. You are always righteous, Lord, when I bring
- 13:29Speaker 1: a case before you, yet I would speak with you
- 13:33Speaker 1: about your justice. Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
- 13:37Speaker 1: Why do all the faithless live at ease? Jeremiah was
- 13:40Speaker 1: asking the same question that people ask to day. Why
- 13:44Speaker 1: do bad people seem to have good lives while good
- 13:47Speaker 1: people suffer. God's answer wasn't what Jeremiah expected. In verse five,
- 13:53Speaker 1: God replied, if you have raced with men on foot
- 13:57Speaker 1: and they have worn you out, how can you compete
- 14:00Speaker 1: with horses. If you stumble in safe country, how will
- 14:04Speaker 1: you manage in the thickets by the Jordan. God was
- 14:07Speaker 1: telling Jeremiah that things were going to get much harder,
- 14:10Speaker 1: not easier. To show that his judgment was really coming,
- 14:14Speaker 1: God sent a drought upon the land. In chapter fourteen,
- 14:18Speaker 1: verse one, we read this is the word of the
- 14:21Speaker 1: Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought. The land
- 14:25Speaker 1: became dry and empty, just like the people's hearts had
- 14:29Speaker 1: become toward God. Jeremiah tried to pray for the people,
- 14:34Speaker 1: but in chapter fourteen, verse eleven, God told him something
- 14:38Speaker 1: that shocked him. Do not pray for the well being
- 14:41Speaker 1: of this people. This was heartbreaking for Jeremiah. He was
- 14:45Speaker 1: a prophet who loved his people deeply, but God was
- 14:49Speaker 1: telling him that the time for intercession had passed. In
- 14:53Speaker 1: chapter fifteen, verse one, God made his final decision clear.
- 14:58Speaker 1: Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me,
- 15:02Speaker 1: my heart would not go out to this people. Send
- 15:05Speaker 1: them away from my presence, let them go. Moses and
- 15:08Speaker 1: Samuel were two of the greatest prayer warriors in Israel's history,
- 15:12Speaker 1: but God was saying that even they couldn't change his mind. Now,
- 15:17Speaker 1: God began using Jeremiah's life itself as a living message
- 15:21Speaker 1: to the people. Everything about how Jeremiah lived would become
- 15:26Speaker 1: a sign of what was coming. First, God gave Jeremiah
- 15:32Speaker 1: a command that must have been very difficult. In Chapter sixteen,
- 15:36Speaker 1: verse two, God said, you must not marry and have
- 15:40Speaker 1: sons or daughters in this place. This wasn't because marriage
- 15:45Speaker 1: was wrong, but because the coming judgment would be so
- 15:49Speaker 1: terrible that it was better not to bring children into it.
- 15:53Speaker 1: God explained his reasoning in verse four. They will die
- 15:57Speaker 1: of deadly diseases. They will not be or buried, but
- 16:01Speaker 1: will be like dung lying on the ground. The future
- 16:05Speaker 1: was going to be so horrible that having a family
- 16:08Speaker 1: would only mean watching more people you love suffer terribly.
- 16:13Speaker 1: Jeremiah also couldn't participate in normal social activities. In verses
- 16:18Speaker 1: five and eight, God told him not to go to
- 16:21Speaker 1: funerals or celebrations. Jeremiah's strange behavior was meant to make
- 16:26Speaker 1: people ask questions about why he was acting so differently.
- 16:30Speaker 1: Then God took Jeremiah to watch a potter working with
- 16:33Speaker 1: clay in chapter eighteen, verse four. Jeremiah observed, but the
- 16:38Speaker 1: pot he was shaping from. The clay was marred in
- 16:40Speaker 1: his hands, so the potter formed it into another pot,
- 16:44Speaker 1: shaping it as seemed best to him. The clay had
- 16:48Speaker 1: developed a flow, but instead of throwing hit away, the
- 16:52Speaker 1: potter started over with the same clay. God explained the
- 16:56Speaker 1: lesson in verses six to eight. Can I not do
- 16:59Speaker 1: with you, Israel as this potter does, declares the Lord.
- 17:04Speaker 1: Like clay in the hand of the potter, So are
- 17:06Speaker 1: you in my hand, Israel. If at any time I
- 17:08Speaker 1: announced that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted,
- 17:11Speaker 1: torn down, and destroyed, and if that nation I warned
- 17:15Speaker 1: repents of its evil, then I will relent. God was
- 17:19Speaker 1: showing that he could reshape his people if they would
- 17:22Speaker 1: let him, but the people rejected this hopeful message. So
- 17:26Speaker 1: God told Jeremiah to do something shocking. In chapter nineteen,
- 17:31Speaker 1: verse one, God said, go and buy a clay jar
- 17:34Speaker 1: from a potter. Then in verse ten, God commanded break
- 17:38Speaker 1: the jar. While those who go with you are watching
- 17:41Speaker 1: as the jar shattered into pieces that couldn't be put
- 17:44Speaker 1: back together. God declared in verse eleven, I will smash
- 17:48Speaker 1: this nation and this city, just as this potter's jar
- 17:52Speaker 1: is smashed and cannot be repaired. This message made the
- 17:55Speaker 1: priest Pasha so angry that he had Jeremiah beaten and
- 18:00Speaker 1: in stocks. But the next day, when Pasha released him,
- 18:04Speaker 1: Jeremiah had another message. In chapter twenty, verse three, he
- 18:08Speaker 1: told Pasha, the Lord's name for you is not Pasha,
- 18:12Speaker 1: but terror on every side. Jeremiah predicted that Pasha would
- 18:17Speaker 1: see his friends die and would himself be taken to
- 18:20Speaker 1: Babylon as a prisoner. When King Zedekiah found himself surrounded
- 18:26Speaker 1: by the Babylonian army, he sent messengers to ask Jeremiah
- 18:30Speaker 1: if God would perform a miracle to save them. But
- 18:34Speaker 1: in chapter twenty one, verse five, God's answer through Jeremiah
- 18:38Speaker 1: was terrifying. I myself will fight against you with an
- 18:43Speaker 1: outstretched hand and a mighty arm, in furious anger and
- 18:48Speaker 1: in great wrath. God wasn't going to fight for them.
- 18:51Speaker 1: He was going to fight against them. God gave the
- 18:54Speaker 1: people a choice in verse eight. See I am setting
- 18:58Speaker 1: before you the way of life life and the way
- 19:01Speaker 1: of death. Those who surrendered to the Babylonians would live,
- 19:05Speaker 1: but those who stayed in the city would die by sword, famine,
- 19:10Speaker 1: or disease. God had specific messages for each of Judah's
- 19:14Speaker 1: recent kings. About Shalam, who was also called Jehoahaz and
- 19:19Speaker 1: ruled for only three months before being taken to Egypt,
- 19:22Speaker 1: God said in Chapter twenty two, verses eleven to twelve,
- 19:26Speaker 1: he will never return. He will die in the place
- 19:29Speaker 1: where they have led him captive. He will not see
- 19:32Speaker 1: this land again. For King Jehoiakim, God's message was harsh.
- 19:37Speaker 1: This king had used forced labor to build himself a
- 19:40Speaker 1: magnificent palace while his people suffered. In verses eighteen nineteen,
- 19:45Speaker 1: God declared, they will not mourn for him. He will
- 19:48Speaker 1: have the burial of a donkey dragged away and thrown
- 19:52Speaker 1: outside the gates of Jerusalem. Instead of a royal funeral,
- 19:56Speaker 1: Jehoiakim would be treated like a dead animal. About Yohoyakin,
- 20:01Speaker 1: who was also called Conya and ruled for only three
- 20:04Speaker 1: months before being taken to Babylon, God said in verse
- 20:07Speaker 1: thirty record this man as if childless, a man who
- 20:12Speaker 1: will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his
- 20:15Speaker 1: offspring will prosper. None will sit on the throne of
- 20:19Speaker 1: David or rule any more in Judah. But God also
- 20:22Speaker 1: gave hope about a future king. In Chapter twenty three,
- 20:26Speaker 1: verses five to six, he promised, the days are coming
- 20:29Speaker 1: when I will raise up for David a righteous branch,
- 20:33Speaker 1: a king who will reign wisely and do what is
- 20:36Speaker 1: just and right in the land. In his days, Judah
- 20:39Speaker 1: will be saved, and Israel will live in safety. This
- 20:42Speaker 1: is the name by which he will be called, the Lord,
- 20:45Speaker 1: our righteous Savior. This was a promise about a future
- 20:49Speaker 1: king who would be everything the current kings were not.
- 20:52Speaker 1: After King Jehoiakin and many skilled people were taken to Babylon,
- 20:57Speaker 1: The people left behind probably felt good about themselves. They
- 21:01Speaker 1: might have thought they were the faithful ones still in
- 21:04Speaker 1: God's city. But God was about to turn their thinking
- 21:08Speaker 1: upside down. God showed Jeremiah a vision in chapter twenty four,
- 21:12Speaker 1: verse one, two baskets of figs placed in front of
- 21:16Speaker 1: the temple of the Lord. One basket had very good figs,
- 21:20Speaker 1: fresh and perfect for eating. The other basket had figs
- 21:23Speaker 1: so bad they couldn't be eaten. God explained that the
- 21:27Speaker 1: good figs represented the people who had been taken to Babylon.
- 21:31Speaker 1: In verses five to six, God said, like these good
- 21:35Speaker 1: viigs I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom
- 21:39Speaker 1: I sent away from this place to the land of
- 21:41Speaker 1: the Babylonians. My eyes will watch over them for their good,
- 21:45Speaker 1: and I will bring them back to this land. The
- 21:48Speaker 1: people who seemed to be suffering the most were actually
- 21:51Speaker 1: the ones God considered good, but the bad figs represented
- 21:56Speaker 1: something different. In verse eight, God explained, but like the
- 22:01Speaker 1: poor figs, which are so bad they cannot be eaten,
- 22:05Speaker 1: So will I deal with Zedekiah, King of Judah, his officials,
- 22:08Speaker 1: and the survivors from Jerusalem, whether they remain in this
- 22:12Speaker 1: land or live in Egypt. The people who stayed behind,
- 22:16Speaker 1: thinking they were better off, were actually in worse spiritual condition.
- 22:21Speaker 1: God promised to bless the exiles in verse seven, I
- 22:25Speaker 1: will give them a heart to know me that I
- 22:27Speaker 1: am the Lord. They will be my people, and I
- 22:31Speaker 1: will be their God, for they will return to me
- 22:34Speaker 1: with all their heart. Sometimes what looks like punishment is
- 22:38Speaker 1: actually God's way of bringing his people back to him.
- 22:41Speaker 1: In the fourth year of King Jehoiakim's reign, God gave
- 22:45Speaker 1: Jeremiah a message that would affect all nations. For twenty
- 22:49Speaker 1: three years, Jeremiah had been faithfully delivering God's words. But
- 22:54Speaker 1: in chapter twenty five, verse three, he sadly reported, from
- 22:59Speaker 1: the thirteenth year of Josiah until this very day, that
- 23:02Speaker 1: is twenty three years, the word of the Lord has
- 23:05Speaker 1: come to me, and I have spoken to you again
- 23:08Speaker 1: and again, but you have not listened. God had sent
- 23:12Speaker 1: prophet after prophet, But verse four tells us, and though
- 23:16Speaker 1: the Lord has sent all his servants the prophets to
- 23:19Speaker 1: you again and again, you have not listened or paid
- 23:24Speaker 1: any attention. It was like talking to someone who had
- 23:27Speaker 1: put their fingers in their ears and was humming loudly
- 23:31Speaker 1: to avoid hearing you because they wouldn't listen. God announced
- 23:35Speaker 1: his judgment in verse nine. I will summon all the
- 23:39Speaker 1: peoples of the North and my servant, nebucad Nezar, king
- 23:43Speaker 1: of Babylon, and I will bring them against this land
- 23:46Speaker 1: and its inhabitants, and against all the surrounding nations. God
- 23:50Speaker 1: called the pagan king nebucud Nezza my servant because he
- 23:54Speaker 1: would use him to carry out his judgment. But God
- 23:57Speaker 1: also gave a specific time line. In verse eleven, he declared,
- 24:02Speaker 1: this whole country will become a desolate waste land, and
- 24:06Speaker 1: these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
- 24:10Speaker 1: This wasn't going to last forever. God set a limit
- 24:14Speaker 1: of exactly seventy years. Then God showed Jeremiah a vision
- 24:18Speaker 1: of a cup filled with wine. In verse fifteen, God said,
- 24:23Speaker 1: take from my hand this cup filled with the wine
- 24:27Speaker 1: of my wrath, and make all the nations to whom
- 24:30Speaker 1: I send you drink it. This cup represented God's anger
- 24:33Speaker 1: and judgment that would come upon all nations, not just Judah.
- 24:38Speaker 1: Jeremiah had to offer this cup to nation after nation.
- 24:42Speaker 1: Verse seventeen says, so I took the cup from the
- 24:45Speaker 1: Lord's hand and made all the nations to whom he
- 24:49Speaker 1: sent me drink it. The list included Jerusalem and Judah first,
- 24:53Speaker 1: then Egypt, the Philistines, Edom, Moab, Ammon, and many others.
- 24:58Speaker 1: Even Babylon itself would eventually drink from this cup. The
- 25:03Speaker 1: chapter ends with a picture of God as a roaring lion.
- 25:06Speaker 1: In verse thirty, the Lord will roar from on high.
- 25:10Speaker 1: He will thunder from his holy dwelling and roar mightily
- 25:13Speaker 1: against his land. When God's judgment comes, it will be
- 25:16Speaker 1: powerful and unstoppable, like the roar of a lion that
- 25:20Speaker 1: makes every creature in the forest tremble. Early in King
- 25:25Speaker 1: Jehoiakim's reign, Jeremiah stood in the temple courtyard and delivered
- 25:29Speaker 1: his most dangerous message yet in chapter twenty six, verse two.
- 25:34Speaker 1: God commanded stand in the courtyard of the Lord's house
- 25:38Speaker 1: and speak to all the people of the towns of
- 25:41Speaker 1: Judah who come to worship in the house of the Lord.
- 25:44Speaker 1: Tell them everything I command. You, do not omit a word.
- 25:48Speaker 1: Jeremiah's message was shocking. In verse four, he declared, this
- 25:53Speaker 1: is what the Lord says. If you do not listen
- 25:56Speaker 1: to me and follow my law which I have set
- 25:58Speaker 1: before you, and if you do not listen to the
- 26:01Speaker 1: words of my servants, the prophets, whom I have sent
- 26:04Speaker 1: to you again and again, then I will make this
- 26:06Speaker 1: house like Shiloh, and this city a curse among all
- 26:10Speaker 1: the nations of the earth. He was saying their precious
- 26:14Speaker 1: temple could be destroyed, just like Shiloh had been. The
- 26:17Speaker 1: reaction was immediate and violent. The priests, prophets and people
- 26:22Speaker 1: grabbed Jeremiah and shouted, in verse eight, you must die.
- 26:26Speaker 1: Why do you prophesy in the lords name that this
- 26:29Speaker 1: house will be like Shiloh and this city will be
- 26:32Speaker 1: desolate and deserted. They couldn't believe anyone would dare say
- 26:36Speaker 1: such things about God's holy temple. The officials of Judah
- 26:40Speaker 1: came from the royal palace to investigate. They set up
- 26:44Speaker 1: a court at the entrance of the new gate. The
- 26:47Speaker 1: priests and prophets made their accusation in verse eleven, this
- 26:51Speaker 1: man should be sentenced to death because he has prophesied
- 26:54Speaker 1: against this city. But Jeremiah defended himself boldly. In verses
- 26:59Speaker 1: twelve to thirteen, he said, the Lord sent me to
- 27:02Speaker 1: prophesy against this house and this city. All the things
- 27:07Speaker 1: you have heard. Now, reform your ways and your actions,
- 27:10Speaker 1: and obey the Lord, your God. Then the Lord will
- 27:14Speaker 1: relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you. Fortunately,
- 27:19Speaker 1: some officials remembered history. They recalled that a prophet named
- 27:23Speaker 1: Micah had said similar things during King Hezekiah's time. In
- 27:27Speaker 1: verse eighteen, they quoted, Micah, Zion will be plowed like
- 27:31Speaker 1: a field. Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the
- 27:34Speaker 1: temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets. King Hezekiah didn't
- 27:39Speaker 1: kill Micah, but repented, and God spared the city This
- 27:44Speaker 1: precedent saved Jeremiah's life. After surviving his trial, Jeremiah received
- 27:49Speaker 1: another message about a wooden yoke. In chapter twenty seven,
- 27:53Speaker 1: verse two, God told him make a yoke out of
- 27:56Speaker 1: straps and cross bars and put it on your neck.
- 27:59Speaker 1: God told you, Jeremiah, to wear this yoke and send
- 28:02Speaker 1: messages to nearby kings. In verse six, God declared, now,
- 28:07Speaker 1: I will give all your countries into the hands of
- 28:10Speaker 1: my servant Nebecud Nezar, king of Babylon. The message was clear,
- 28:16Speaker 1: submit to Babylon or be destroyed. After Jeremiah started wearing
- 28:22Speaker 1: his wooden yoke, another prophet appeared with a completely different message.
- 28:27Speaker 1: His name was Hannaniah and he came from Gibeon. Unlike
- 28:31Speaker 1: Jeremiah's gloomy predictions, Hannaniah had good news everyone wanted to hear.
- 28:37Speaker 1: In chapter twenty eight, verse two, Hannaniah announced at the temple,
- 28:42Speaker 1: this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says,
- 28:46Speaker 1: I will break the yoke of the King of Babylon.
- 28:49Speaker 1: The crowd must have cheered. In verse three, he continued,
- 28:53Speaker 1: within two years, I will bring back to this place
- 28:57Speaker 1: all the articles of the Lord's house that nebuld Nezzar,
- 29:00Speaker 1: king of Babylon, removed from here and took to Babylon.
- 29:04Speaker 1: In verse four, Hannanaiah added, I will also bring back
- 29:08Speaker 1: to this place Jehoiakin, son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah,
- 29:13Speaker 1: and all the other exiles from Judah, who went to Babylon,
- 29:16Speaker 1: declares the Lord, for I will break the yoke of
- 29:19Speaker 1: the king of Babylon. He was promising that within two
- 29:23Speaker 1: years everything would be back to normal. Jeremiah found himself
- 29:27Speaker 1: in an awkward position. In verse six, he responded, amen,
- 29:31Speaker 1: may the Lord do so. But then he continued with
- 29:35Speaker 1: a warning in verses eight to nine. From early times,
- 29:39Speaker 1: the prophets who preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster,
- 29:44Speaker 1: and plague against many countries and great kingdoms. But the
- 29:48Speaker 1: prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly
- 29:53Speaker 1: sent by the Lord only if his prediction comes true.
- 29:56Speaker 1: Then Hannaniah did something shocking in verse ten. Then he
- 30:00Speaker 1: took the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah
- 30:03Speaker 1: and broke it in front of everyone watching. Hannahiah grabbed
- 30:07Speaker 1: Jeremiah's wooden yoke and smashed it to pieces. As he
- 30:11Speaker 1: broke it, he repeated in verse eleven, this is what
- 30:15Speaker 1: the Lord says, in the same way, I will break
- 30:18Speaker 1: the yoke of nebukud Nezza, king of Babylon, off the
- 30:21Speaker 1: neck of all the nations within two years. But Jeremiah
- 30:25Speaker 1: didn't fight back. Verse eleven simply says at this the
- 30:29Speaker 1: prophet Jeremiah went on his way. God's response came later
- 30:33Speaker 1: that day. In verse thirteen, the Lord told Jeremiah, go
- 30:39Speaker 1: and tell Hannaniah, this is what the Lord says. You
- 30:43Speaker 1: have broken a wooden yoke, but in its place you
- 30:46Speaker 1: will get a yoke of iron. God gave Jeremiah a
- 30:50Speaker 1: devastating message for Hannaiah in verse sixteen. This is what
- 30:55Speaker 1: the Lord says, I am about to remove you from
- 30:57Speaker 1: the face of the earth this very year. You are
- 31:00Speaker 1: going to die because you have preached rebellion against the Lord.
- 31:04Speaker 1: Verse seventeen records in the seventh month of that same year, Hannanaiah,
- 31:10Speaker 1: the prophet died. The prophet who had promised peace was
- 31:14Speaker 1: dead within months, proving his message had not come from God.
- 31:18Speaker 1: While Jeremiah dealt with false prophets in Jerusalem, there were
- 31:21Speaker 1: also problems among the Jewish people already taken to Babylon.
- 31:26Speaker 1: So Jeremiah wrote a letter that would completely change how
- 31:31Speaker 1: the exiles thought about their situation. In Chapter twenty nine,
- 31:37Speaker 1: verse one, Jeremiah addressed it to the surviving elders among
- 31:41Speaker 1: the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all
- 31:45Speaker 1: the other people nebukud Nezza had carried into exile from
- 31:49Speaker 1: Jerusalem to Babylon. These were people taken in the first
- 31:53Speaker 1: deportation with King Jehoiakin. Jeremiah's letter had surprising instructions. In
- 31:59Speaker 1: verse five to six, he wrote, build houses and settle down,
- 32:03Speaker 1: Plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have
- 32:07Speaker 1: sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons, and give
- 32:11Speaker 1: your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have
- 32:14Speaker 1: sons and daughters. Increase in number there, do not decrease.
- 32:19Speaker 1: He was telling them to build houses, not tens. This
- 32:23Speaker 1: wasn't the language of a short visit. This was a
- 32:26Speaker 1: new life in a new place. Even more surprising was
- 32:30Speaker 1: verse seven. Also seek the peace and prosperity of the
- 32:34Speaker 1: city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray
- 32:37Speaker 1: to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you
- 32:40Speaker 1: too will prosper. Instead of hating their captors, God wanted
- 32:44Speaker 1: them to pray for babylon success. The reason came in
- 32:48Speaker 1: verse ten. This is what the Lord says. When seventy
- 32:53Speaker 1: years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you
- 32:57Speaker 1: and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to
- 32:59Speaker 1: this place. The exile would last seventy years, not two
- 33:04Speaker 1: years like Hannanaiah had predicted. However, God's plans were full
- 33:10Speaker 1: of hope. In verses eleven twelve, he promised, for I
- 33:13Speaker 1: know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord,
- 33:16Speaker 1: plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans
- 33:19Speaker 1: to give you hope and a future. Then you will
- 33:22Speaker 1: call on me and come and pray to me, and
- 33:24Speaker 1: I will listen to you. In verse thirteen, he said,
- 33:27Speaker 1: you will seek me and find me when you seek
- 33:30Speaker 1: me with all your heart. But there were false prophets
- 33:33Speaker 1: in Babylon too. God's judgment on one name, Shemaiah, was severe.
- 33:38Speaker 1: In verse thirty two, he declared, I will surely punish
- 33:42Speaker 1: Shamiah the Nehlamite and his descendants. He will have no
- 33:45Speaker 1: one left among this people, nor will he see the
- 33:49Speaker 1: good things I will do for my people, declares the Lord.
- 33:53Speaker 1: Because he has preached rebellion against the Lord. After years
- 33:57Speaker 1: of delivering messages of judgment, God be giving Jeremiah promises
- 34:01Speaker 1: of hope and restoration. In chapter thirty, verse two, God commanded,
- 34:07Speaker 1: this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says,
- 34:10Speaker 1: write in a book all the words I have spoken
- 34:12Speaker 1: to you. God wanted these promises preserved for future generations.
- 34:18Speaker 1: God started with an amazing announcement in verse three. The
- 34:22Speaker 1: days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will bring
- 34:25Speaker 1: my people Israel and Judah back from captivity and restore
- 34:29Speaker 1: them to the land I gave their ancestors to possess.
- 34:32Speaker 1: After all the talk about seventy years of exile, God
- 34:35Speaker 1: was promising it wouldn't last forever. In verse seven, he
- 34:39Speaker 1: called it a unique time. How awful that day will be.
- 34:44Speaker 1: No other will be like it. It will be a
- 34:47Speaker 1: time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved
- 34:51Speaker 1: out of it. In verse eight, God promised in that day,
- 34:54Speaker 1: declares the Lord Almighty. I will break the yoke off
- 34:57Speaker 1: their necks and will tear off their bond. No longer
- 35:01Speaker 1: will foreigners enslave them. God spoke tender words of comfort.
- 35:04Speaker 1: In verse ten, So do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant,
- 35:08Speaker 1: do not be dismayed Israel, declares the Lord. I will
- 35:11Speaker 1: surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants
- 35:15Speaker 1: from the land of their captivity. Jacob will again have
- 35:18Speaker 1: peace and security, and no one will make him afraid.
- 35:22Speaker 1: Chapter thirty one contain some of the most beloved verses
- 35:25Speaker 1: in the Bible. In verse three, God declared, the Lord
- 35:30Speaker 1: appeared to us in the past, saying, I have loved
- 35:33Speaker 1: you with an everlasting love. I have drawn you with
- 35:36Speaker 1: unfailing kindness. God's love wasn't dependent on their behavior. It
- 35:42Speaker 1: was eternal and unchanging. In verse four, he promised, I
- 35:46Speaker 1: will build you up again, and you, virgin Israel, will
- 35:49Speaker 1: be rebuilt again. You will take up your timbrels and
- 35:53Speaker 1: go out to dance with the joyful. Instead of mourning,
- 35:57Speaker 1: there would be music and dancing again. The most amazing
- 36:01Speaker 1: promise came in verses thirty one thirty three. The days
- 36:05Speaker 1: are coming, declares the Lord. When I will make a
- 36:08Speaker 1: new covenant with the people of Israel and with the
- 36:11Speaker 1: people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant
- 36:14Speaker 1: I made with their ancestors when I took them by
- 36:17Speaker 1: the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they
- 36:21Speaker 1: broke that covenant. This is the covenant I will make
- 36:24Speaker 1: with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord.
- 36:28Speaker 1: I will put my law in their minds and write
- 36:30Speaker 1: it on their hearts. I will be their God, and
- 36:34Speaker 1: they will be my people. In the most hopeless situation imaginable,
- 36:39Speaker 1: God asked Jeremiah to do something that seemed crazy. Jerusalem
- 36:43Speaker 1: was under siege by the Babylonian army, and God told
- 36:47Speaker 1: Jeremiah to buy real estate. Chapter thirty two, Verse two
- 36:52Speaker 1: describes the scene. The army of the King of Babylon
- 36:56Speaker 1: was then besieging Jerusalem and Jeremiah the prophet was confined
- 37:00Speaker 1: in the courtyard of the God in the royal Palace
- 37:03Speaker 1: of Judah. Jeremiah was under house arrest because King Zedekiah
- 37:08Speaker 1: didn't like his prophecies. Then Jeremiah's cousin, Hannamel, came with
- 37:12Speaker 1: a business proposal. In verse seven, God had already told Jeremiah, Hannamel,
- 37:19Speaker 1: son of Shalem, your uncle is going to come to
- 37:22Speaker 1: you and say, buy my field at Anathoth, because as
- 37:26Speaker 1: nearest relative it is your right and duty to buy it.
- 37:30Speaker 1: Sure enough, Hanamel showed up just as God predicted. Jeremiah
- 37:35Speaker 1: was buying a field in enemy territory. The Babylonians had
- 37:39Speaker 1: already overrun that area. It was like buying stock in
- 37:43Speaker 1: a company every one knew was going bankrupt. But Jeremiah
- 37:47Speaker 1: knew this was from God. In verse nine, he recorded,
- 37:51Speaker 1: so I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hannamel,
- 37:55Speaker 1: and weighed out for him seventeen shekels of silver. In
- 37:59Speaker 1: verse fourteen, Jeremiah told Baruch, this is what the Lord Almighty,
- 38:03Speaker 1: the God of Israel, says. Take these documents, both the
- 38:07Speaker 1: sealed and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and
- 38:11Speaker 1: put them in a clay jar so they will last
- 38:13Speaker 1: a long time. He wanted these documents preserved because they
- 38:18Speaker 1: represented hope for the future. God explained the meaning in
- 38:22Speaker 1: verse fifteen, For this is what the Lord Almighty, the
- 38:26Speaker 1: God of Israel, says, Houses, fields and vine yards will
- 38:31Speaker 1: again be bought in this land. Even though the land
- 38:34Speaker 1: was about to be conquered, God was promising that normal
- 38:37Speaker 1: life would return some day. In verse thirty seven, God
- 38:43Speaker 1: revealed his long term plan. I will surely gather them
- 38:47Speaker 1: from all the lands where I banish them in my
- 38:50Speaker 1: furious anger and great wrath. I will bring them back
- 38:54Speaker 1: to this place and let them live in safety. The
- 38:58Speaker 1: exile was real, necessary, but temporary. God would bring his
- 39:03Speaker 1: people home. While Jeremiah was still confined. God continued giving
- 39:09Speaker 1: him messages of hope. In chapter thirty three, verse three,
- 39:13Speaker 1: he said, call to me, and I will answer you
- 39:16Speaker 1: and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.
- 39:21Speaker 1: God was inviting Jeremiah to ask questions and promising to
- 39:25Speaker 1: reveal amazing truths. After describing coming destruction, God suddenly shifted
- 39:31Speaker 1: to promises of healing. In verse six, he declared, nevertheless,
- 39:35Speaker 1: I will bring health and healing to it. I will
- 39:38Speaker 1: heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace
- 39:41Speaker 1: and security. In verses ten to eleven, God painted a
- 39:45Speaker 1: picture of joyful life, returning this is what the Lord says,
- 39:50Speaker 1: you say about this place. It is a desolate waste
- 39:53Speaker 1: without people or animals. Yet in the towns of Judah
- 39:57Speaker 1: and the streets of Jerusalem that are deserted, there will
- 40:00Speaker 1: be heard once more the sounds of joy and gladness.
- 40:05Speaker 1: The voices of bride and bridegroom, and the voices of
- 40:09Speaker 1: those who bring thank offerings to the house of the
- 40:12Speaker 1: e Lord Whutduzu. God promised to restore the royal line
- 40:16Speaker 1: of David. In verse fifteen, he declared, in those days
- 40:21Speaker 1: and at that time, I will make a righteous branch
- 40:23Speaker 1: sprout from David's line. He will do what is just
- 40:27Speaker 1: and right in the land. This wasn't just about bringing
- 40:31Speaker 1: back any king. This was about the right kind of king.
- 40:35Speaker 1: To emphasize how certain these promises were. God used stable examples.
- 40:40Speaker 1: In verse twenty, he said, this is what the Lord says.
- 40:44Speaker 1: If you can break my covenant with the day and
- 40:46Speaker 1: my covenant with the night, so that day and night
- 40:49Speaker 1: no longer come at their appointed time, then my covenant
- 40:53Speaker 1: with David, my servant can be broken as long as
- 40:56Speaker 1: the sun rises and sets. God's promises would remain in effect.
- 41:01Speaker 1: As the Babylonian army tightened its grip around Jerusalem, King
- 41:05Speaker 1: Zedekiah was getting desperate. Chapter thirty four, verse one sets
- 41:09Speaker 1: the scene while nebucud Nezar, King of Babylon, and all
- 41:13Speaker 1: his army and all the kingdoms and peoples in the Empire.
- 41:16Speaker 1: He ruled were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding towns.
- 41:20Speaker 1: This word came to Jeremiah from the Lord. Jeremiah's message
- 41:24Speaker 1: to Zedekiah was direct. In verse three, God declared, you
- 41:28Speaker 1: will not escape from his grasp, but will surely be
- 41:31Speaker 1: captured and given into his hands. You will see the
- 41:35Speaker 1: king of Babylon with your own eyes, and he will
- 41:37Speaker 1: speak with you face to face, and you will go
- 41:40Speaker 1: to Babylon. But God also gave comfort about his death
- 41:44Speaker 1: in verses four to five. You will not die by
- 41:48Speaker 1: the sword. You will die peacefully. During the siege, Zedekiah
- 41:53Speaker 1: made a covenant with the people to free their Hebrew slaves.
- 41:57Speaker 1: At first, everyone followed through Verse ten record lords. So
- 42:01Speaker 1: all the officials and people who entered into this covenant
- 42:04Speaker 1: agreed that they would free their male and female slaves
- 42:08Speaker 1: and no longer hold them in bondage. But when the
- 42:11Speaker 1: Babylonian army temporarily withdrew, the people thought the danger was over.
- 42:17Speaker 1: Verse eleven describes what they did, But afterward they changed
- 42:22Speaker 1: their minds and took back the slaves they had freed
- 42:25Speaker 1: and enslaved them again. This made God furious. In verse seventeen,
- 42:32Speaker 1: he declared, Therefore, this is what the Lord says. You
- 42:35Speaker 1: have not obeyed me. You have not proclaimed freedom for
- 42:38Speaker 1: your own people. So I now proclaim freedom for you,
- 42:42Speaker 1: declares the Lord. Freedom to fall by the sword, plague
- 42:47Speaker 1: and famine. They had refused to give freedom to their slaves,
- 42:51Speaker 1: so God would give them freedom to be destroyed by
- 42:55Speaker 1: their enemies. In contrast to the faithless covenant breakers of Jerusalem,
- 43:00Speaker 1: God showed Jeremiah an example of people who knew how
- 43:03Speaker 1: to keep their promises. The Recabites were descendants of Jonadab,
- 43:08Speaker 1: son of Rekab, who had given his family specific instructions
- 43:12Speaker 1: about how to live. They had kept them faithfully for
- 43:16Speaker 1: hundreds of years. Chapter thirty five, verse eleven explains why
- 43:21Speaker 1: the Recabites were in Jerusalem. But when Nebuchadnezar, king of Babylon,
- 43:26Speaker 1: invaded this land, we said, come, we must go to
- 43:29Speaker 1: Jerusalem to escape the Babylonian and Aramian armies. So we
- 43:34Speaker 1: have remained in Jerusalem. They were refugees. God told Jeremiah
- 43:42Speaker 1: to invite the Recabites to the temple and offer them wine.
- 43:45Speaker 1: In verse two, God instructed go to the Rehebite family
- 43:50Speaker 1: and invite them to come to one of the side
- 43:52Speaker 1: rooms of the House of the Lord, and give them
- 43:55Speaker 1: wine to drink. In verse five, Jeremiah recorded, then I
- 44:01Speaker 1: set bowls full of wine and some cups before the Retabites,
- 44:05Speaker 1: and said to them, drink some wine. The Retabites politely
- 44:09Speaker 1: but firmly refused. In verse six, they explained, we do
- 44:13Speaker 1: not drink wine because our forefather, Jonadab, son of Racub,
- 44:18Speaker 1: gave us this command. Neither you nor your descendants must
- 44:21Speaker 1: ever drink wine. They continued, listing instructions in verses seven eight. Also,
- 44:28Speaker 1: you must never build houses, sow seed, or plant vineyards.
- 44:32Speaker 1: You must never have any of these things, but must
- 44:35Speaker 1: always live in tents. For generations, these people had lived
- 44:39Speaker 1: as nomads, never building permanent homes, never planting crops, never
- 44:45Speaker 1: drinking wine, all because their ancestor had told them to
- 44:50Speaker 1: live this way. God used their faithfulness as a sharp
- 44:53Speaker 1: contrast to Judah's unfaithfulness. In verses fourteen fifteen, God pointed
- 44:58Speaker 1: out Jonadab's son of Cub, ordered his descendants not to
- 45:02Speaker 1: drink wine, and this command has been kept to this day.
- 45:07Speaker 1: They do not drink wine because they obey their forefather's command.
- 45:12Speaker 1: But I have spoken to you again and again, yet
- 45:15Speaker 1: you have not obeyed me. Because of this contrast, God
- 45:19Speaker 1: announced different fates. In verse seventeen, he declared judgment on Judah,
- 45:24Speaker 1: but for the faithful Reshabites. In verses eighteen to nineteen,
- 45:28Speaker 1: he promised, Therefore, this is what the Lord Almighty, the
- 45:31Speaker 1: God of Israel, says, Jonadab, son of Rekab, will never
- 45:35Speaker 1: fail to have a descendant to serve me. While the
- 45:39Speaker 1: royal family of Judah was about to be destroyed, God
- 45:42Speaker 1: promised that the Reshebite family would continue forever. In the
- 45:47Speaker 1: fourth year of King Jehoiakim's reign, God gave Jeremiah a
- 45:51Speaker 1: command that would change everything. In chapter thirty six, verse two,
- 45:55Speaker 1: God told Jeremiah, take a scroll and write on it
- 45:59Speaker 1: all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel,
- 46:02Speaker 1: Judah and all the other nations from the time I
- 46:05Speaker 1: began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now.
- 46:11Speaker 1: This wasn't just another prophecy. This was God asking Jeremiah
- 46:16Speaker 1: to collect all his messages from over twenty years of
- 46:19Speaker 1: ministry and put them in one place. But there was
- 46:23Speaker 1: a specific reason for this command. In verse three, God
- 46:27Speaker 1: explained his hope perhaps when the people of Judah hear
- 46:30Speaker 1: about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they
- 46:33Speaker 1: will each turn from their wicked ways. Then I will
- 46:37Speaker 1: forgive their wickedness and their sin. Even after all these
- 46:41Speaker 1: years of rebellion, God was still giving his people one
- 46:45Speaker 1: more chance to repent. There was just one problem. Jeremiah
- 46:49Speaker 1: couldn't go to the temple himself. In verse five, he
- 46:53Speaker 1: told his secretary Baruch, I am restricted. I cannot go
- 46:57Speaker 1: to the Lord's house. So Jaimaiah had to find another
- 47:01Speaker 1: way to get God's word to the people. Jeremiah called
- 47:05Speaker 1: his faithful secretary Baruk and dictated all of God's messages
- 47:09Speaker 1: to him. Then, in verse six, he gave Baruk an
- 47:12Speaker 1: important mission. So you go to the house of the
- 47:15Speaker 1: Lord on a day of fasting and read to the
- 47:18Speaker 1: people from the scroll the words of the Lord that
- 47:21Speaker 1: you wrote. As I dictated. Baruk did exactly what Jeremiah asked.
- 47:26Speaker 1: In verse ten, we read Baruk read to all the
- 47:30Speaker 1: people at the Lord's house the words of Jeremiah from
- 47:33Speaker 1: the scroll. People were shocked to hear all these warnings
- 47:36Speaker 1: collected together in one place. The news quickly reached the
- 47:40Speaker 1: government officials. The officials sent for Baruk immediately. In verse fifteen,
- 47:47Speaker 1: they said to Baruk, sit down, please and read it
- 47:50Speaker 1: to us. So Baruk read the entire scroll again. Their
- 47:54Speaker 1: reaction was one of fear. Verse sixteen tells us when
- 47:58Speaker 1: they heard all these words, they looked at each other
- 48:01Speaker 1: in fear and said to Baruk, we must report all
- 48:04Speaker 1: these words to the king. The officials could see this
- 48:08Speaker 1: was dangerous for both Jeremiah and Baruk. In verse nineteen,
- 48:12Speaker 1: they gave them urgent advice, You and Jeremiah go and hide.
- 48:17Speaker 1: Don't let anyone know where you are. The officials took
- 48:20Speaker 1: the scroll to King Jehoiakim, who was sitting in his
- 48:23Speaker 1: winter apartment with a fire burning in front of him.
- 48:27Speaker 1: What happened next was shocking. In verse twenty three, we
- 48:32Speaker 1: read whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of
- 48:36Speaker 1: the scroll, the king cut them off with the scribes
- 48:39Speaker 1: knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire
- 48:43Speaker 1: scroll was burned in the fire. The king systematically destroyed
- 48:47Speaker 1: God's word peace by peace. The king's reaction was the
- 48:51Speaker 1: opposite of what should have happened. Verse twenty four tells
- 48:54Speaker 1: us the king and all his attendants who heard all
- 48:57Speaker 1: these words, showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes.
- 49:02Speaker 1: Some officials tried to stop him, but the king ignored
- 49:06Speaker 1: their advice completely. After burning the scroll, King Jehoiakim tried
- 49:11Speaker 1: to arrest Jeremiah and Baruk. In verse twenty six. The
- 49:15Speaker 1: king commanded his men to arrest them, but the Lord
- 49:18Speaker 1: had hidden them. God protected his prophet and secretary from
- 49:22Speaker 1: the king's anger. But God wasn't finished. After the king
- 49:26Speaker 1: burned the scroll. God told Jeremiah to do something that
- 49:30Speaker 1: must have seemed impossible. In verse twenty eight, God said,
- 49:34Speaker 1: take another scroll and write on it all the words
- 49:37Speaker 1: that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim, king of Judah,
- 49:41Speaker 1: burned up. So Jeremiah took another scroll and dictated all
- 49:46Speaker 1: the same words to Baruk again, but this time there
- 49:49Speaker 1: was more. In verse thirty two, we read and many
- 49:53Speaker 1: similar words were added to them. The king had tried
- 49:56Speaker 1: to destroy God's word, but he had only succeeded in
- 50:00Speaker 1: making it longer and more complete. During King Zedekiah's reign,
- 50:05Speaker 1: Jerusalem's final crisis began. In chapter thirty seven, verse two
- 50:11Speaker 1: we read the sad truth. Neither he nor his attendants
- 50:16Speaker 1: nor the people of the land paid any attention to
- 50:19Speaker 1: the words the Lord had spoken through Jeremiah the Prophet.
- 50:23Speaker 1: When the Babylonian army surrounded Jerusalem, King Zedekiah became desperate.
- 50:28Speaker 1: He sent messengers to ask Jeremiah to pray for them.
- 50:33Speaker 1: In verse three, the king sent this message, please pray
- 50:36Speaker 1: to the Lord, our God for us. It's interesting that
- 50:40Speaker 1: the king, who had ignored Jeremiah's warnings, was now asking
- 50:44Speaker 1: for his prayers. At this time, something happened that gave
- 50:48Speaker 1: false hope. The Egyptian army was coming to help fight babylon.
- 50:52Speaker 1: When the Babylonians heard about this, they temporarily lifted their seger.
- 50:58Speaker 1: In verse five, we read Pharaoh's army had marched out
- 51:01Speaker 1: of Egypt, and when the Babylonians, who were besieging Jerusalem
- 51:05Speaker 1: heard the report about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem. But
- 51:09Speaker 1: God had a different message. In verse eight, He said,
- 51:14Speaker 1: then the Babylonians will return and attack this city. They
- 51:19Speaker 1: will capture it and burn it down. The temporary relief
- 51:22Speaker 1: was just that temporary. During this break in the siege,
- 51:27Speaker 1: Jeremiah tried to leave Jerusalem to go to his home town,
- 51:31Speaker 1: but when he reached the Benjamin Gate, something terrible happened.
- 51:35Speaker 1: In verse thirteen. The captain of the God, whose name
- 51:39Speaker 1: was Eiga, arrested him and said, you are deserting to
- 51:43Speaker 1: the Babylonians. Jeremiah protested his innocence. In verse fourteen, he said,
- 51:50Speaker 1: that's not true. I am not deserting to the Babylonians.
- 51:54Speaker 1: But Eriga wouldn't listen. The officials were furious with Jeremiah.
- 52:00Speaker 1: In verse fifteen, they were angry with Jeremiah and had
- 52:04Speaker 1: him beaten and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the Secretary.
- 52:08Speaker 1: The conditions were terrible. Verse sixteen tells us Jeremiah was
- 52:13Speaker 1: put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon, where he
- 52:16Speaker 1: remained a long time. After some time, King Zedekiah secretly
- 52:22Speaker 1: sent for Jeremiah. In verse seventeen, the king asked him privately,
- 52:27Speaker 1: is there any word from the Lord. Jeremiah's answer was
- 52:31Speaker 1: direct and unchanged. Yes, you will be delivered into the
- 52:35Speaker 1: hands of the King of Babylon. Then Jeremiah pleaded about
- 52:39Speaker 1: his prison conditions. In verse twenty, he said, do not
- 52:43Speaker 1: send me back to the house of Jonathan the Secretary,
- 52:46Speaker 1: or I will die there. King Zedekiah showed some mercy
- 52:50Speaker 1: in verse twenty one. He ordered Jeremiah to be placed
- 52:53Speaker 1: in the courtyard of the guard and given daily bread.
- 52:57Speaker 1: But Jeremiah's troubles weren't over. Some officials heard him continuing
- 53:01Speaker 1: to prophesy from prison. In chapter thirty eight, verse two.
- 53:06Speaker 1: He was saying, this is what the Lord says. Whoever
- 53:09Speaker 1: stays in this city will die by the sword, famine,
- 53:13Speaker 1: or plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonians will live.
- 53:18Speaker 1: The officials thought this message was hurting the war effort.
- 53:21Speaker 1: In verse four, they said, this man should be put
- 53:23Speaker 1: to death. He is discouraging the soldiers. King Zedekiah was weak.
- 53:28Speaker 1: In verse five, he told them he is in your hands.
- 53:31Speaker 1: The king can do nothing to oppose you. What they
- 53:35Speaker 1: did was cruel in verse six, so they took Jeremiah
- 53:40Speaker 1: and put him into the cistern of Malkesia, which was
- 53:43Speaker 1: in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by
- 53:46Speaker 1: ropes into the cistern. It had no water in it,
- 53:49Speaker 1: only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud. But
- 53:53Speaker 1: God had a helper ready. In verse seven Ibid. Melik,
- 53:58Speaker 1: a kushite An official in the ro Royal pallace heard
- 54:01Speaker 1: that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. Iberd Melik
- 54:05Speaker 1: was from Ethiopia, a foreigner working in the king's palace.
- 54:09Speaker 1: When he heard what happened, he was upset. Ibed Melick
- 54:12Speaker 1: went directly to the king. In verses eight to nine,
- 54:16Speaker 1: he said, my Lord the King, these men have acted
- 54:19Speaker 1: wickedly in all they have done to Jeremiah the Prophet.
- 54:23Speaker 1: They have thrown him into a cistern where he will
- 54:26Speaker 1: starve to death. The king immediately gave permission to rescue Jeremiah.
- 54:31Speaker 1: In verse ten, he commanded, take thirty men from here
- 54:34Speaker 1: with you and lift Jeremiah the Prophet out of the
- 54:36Speaker 1: cistern before he dies. Ibid Melick was very careful about
- 54:41Speaker 1: the rescue. In verses eleven to twelve, he took old
- 54:44Speaker 1: rags and worn out clothes and said to Jeremiah, put
- 54:48Speaker 1: these old rags and worn out clothes under your arms
- 54:50Speaker 1: to pad the ropes. In verse thirteen, they pulled Jeremiah
- 54:54Speaker 1: up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern.
- 54:57Speaker 1: Thanks to Ibed Melik's courage, j Amayah was saved after
- 55:01Speaker 1: a siege that lasted almost two years. The moment Jeremiah
- 55:05Speaker 1: had prophesied about for decades finally arrived. In chapter thirty nine,
- 55:11Speaker 1: verse one, we read in the ninth year of Zedekiah,
- 55:14Speaker 1: king of Judah, in the tenth month Nebukanza, king of Babylon,
- 55:18Speaker 1: marched against Jerusalem with his whole army and laid siege
- 55:22Speaker 1: to it. The siege was long and terrible. Finally, in
- 55:26Speaker 1: verse two, and on the ninth day of the fourth
- 55:29Speaker 1: month of Zedekiah's eleventh year, the city wall was broken through.
- 55:35Speaker 1: After almost two years, the Babylonians had finally broken through
- 55:39Speaker 1: Jerusalem's defenses. When the war was breached, the Babylonian officials
- 55:45Speaker 1: immediately took control. Verse three tells us. Then all the
- 55:49Speaker 1: officials of the King of Babylon came and took seats
- 55:52Speaker 1: in the middle gate. They set up their command post
- 55:55Speaker 1: in the heart of the city. When King Zedekiah and
- 55:59Speaker 1: his soldiers saw that the city had fallen, they tried
- 56:02Speaker 1: to escape. In verse four, they fled. They left the
- 56:06Speaker 1: city at night by way of the King's garden, through
- 56:09Speaker 1: the gate between the two walls, and headed toward the Araba.
- 56:13Speaker 1: But their escape was unsuccessful. In verse five, the Babylonian
- 56:18Speaker 1: army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho.
- 56:23Speaker 1: They captured him and took him to nebukud Nezar, king
- 56:26Speaker 1: of Babylon, at Ribla. What happened to Zedekiah was exactly
- 56:32Speaker 1: what Jeremiah had prophesied, but it was terrible to witness.
- 56:36Speaker 1: In verse six, There at Ribla, the King of Babylon
- 56:40Speaker 1: killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and also
- 56:44Speaker 1: killed all the nobles of Judah. Then nebucad Neza did
- 56:48Speaker 1: something that fulfilled Jeremiah's prophecy in a horrible way. In
- 56:53Speaker 1: verse seven. Then he put out Zedekiah's eyes and bound
- 56:57Speaker 1: him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon. Zedekiah
- 57:01Speaker 1: was blinded and taken away in chains. Meanwhile, back in Jerusalem,
- 57:06Speaker 1: the Babylonians were systematically destroying the city. In verse eight,
- 57:11Speaker 1: the Babylonians set fire to the royal palace and the
- 57:15Speaker 1: houses of the people, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.
- 57:20Speaker 1: Everything that had made Jerusalem great was being destroyed. Most
- 57:24Speaker 1: of the people were taken away as prisoners. Verse and
- 57:28Speaker 1: nine tells us Nebuzaradan, commander of the Imperial Guard, carried
- 57:33Speaker 1: into exile to Babylon the people who remained in the city. However,
- 57:38Speaker 1: some of the poorest people were allowed to stay. In
- 57:42Speaker 1: the midst of all this destruction, something remarkable happened to Jeremiah.
- 57:47Speaker 1: King Nebucadnezza had given specific orders about the prophet. In
- 57:51Speaker 1: verse twelve, Nebucudneza commanded, take him and look after him.
- 57:55Speaker 1: Don't harm him, but do for him whatever he asks.
- 58:00Speaker 1: In verse fourteen, they sent and took Jeremiah out of
- 58:03Speaker 1: the courtyard of the God and turned him over to Gedaliah,
- 58:08Speaker 1: son of Ahikam, to take him back to his home.
- 58:11Speaker 1: So he remained among his own people. Jeremiah was free
- 58:15Speaker 1: to stay in his homeland. God also had a special
- 58:18Speaker 1: message for Iberd Melik, who had saved Jeremiah. In verses
- 58:22Speaker 1: seventeen to eighteen, God promised, but I will rescue you
- 58:26Speaker 1: on that day, declares the Lord. You will not be
- 58:29Speaker 1: given into the hands of those you fear. I will
- 58:32Speaker 1: save you. You will not fall by the sword, but
- 58:35Speaker 1: will escape with your life because you trust in me.
- 58:40Speaker 1: Because Abd Melik had risked his life to save Jeremiah,
- 58:43Speaker 1: God would save his life when the city fell. After
- 58:47Speaker 1: Jerusalem fell, the land of Judah was left in ruins.
- 58:51Speaker 1: The Babylonians appointed a man named Gedalia as governor. In
- 58:57Speaker 1: Chapter forty, verse five, Jeremiah went to Gadalia, son of Aahikam,
- 59:01Speaker 1: at Mispah and stayed with him among the people who
- 59:04Speaker 1: were left behind in the land. Gadalia was from a
- 59:08Speaker 1: family that had been friendly to Jeremiah. When the Babylonians
- 59:12Speaker 1: made him governor, he set up headquarters in Mispah. Words
- 59:15Speaker 1: spread that there was still a functioning government in Judah.
- 59:19Speaker 1: In verse seven, various army officers and their men came
- 59:22Speaker 1: to Gadalia at Mispah. Gadallia gave them wise advice. In
- 59:27Speaker 1: verse nine, he told them, do not be afraid to
- 59:30Speaker 1: serve the Babylonians. Settle down in the land and serve
- 59:34Speaker 1: the King of Babylon, and it will go well with you.
- 59:37Speaker 1: He painted a picture of what life could be like.
- 59:41Speaker 1: In verse ten, he said, I myself will stay at
- 59:45Speaker 1: Mispah to represent you before the Babylonians, but you are
- 59:49Speaker 1: to harvest the wine, summer fruit, and olive oil. This
- 59:53Speaker 1: message spread beyond just the military leaders. In verse eleven,
- 59:57Speaker 1: Jews in neighboring countries heard the king of Babylon had
- 1:00:01Speaker 1: left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gadalia as governor.
- 1:00:05Speaker 1: They all came back to the land of Judah. People
- 1:00:09Speaker 1: began returning. Verse twelve tells us they harvested an abundance
- 1:00:14Speaker 1: of wine and summer fruit, but not everyone was happy
- 1:00:18Speaker 1: with this arrangement. In verse thirteen, Johannan's son of Karea,
- 1:00:22Speaker 1: and all the army officers came to Gadalia. Johannan brought
- 1:00:26Speaker 1: disturbing news. In verse fourteen, he said, don't you know
- 1:00:31Speaker 1: that Balis, king of the Ammonites, has sent Ishmael's son
- 1:00:34Speaker 1: of Nethaniah to take your life. Johannan even offered to
- 1:00:38Speaker 1: solve the problem quietly, but Gadalia was too trusting. In
- 1:00:42Speaker 1: verse sixteen, Gadalia said to Johannan, don't do such a thing.
- 1:00:47Speaker 1: What you are saying about Ishmael is not true. Gadalia's
- 1:00:51Speaker 1: trust proved to be misplaced. In chapter forty one, verse one,
- 1:00:57Speaker 1: Ishmael's son of Nethaniah, came with ten men to Gadalia
- 1:01:00Speaker 1: at Mispah. While they were eating together. There, Ishmael and
- 1:01:04Speaker 1: the ten men who were with him got up and
- 1:01:07Speaker 1: struck down Gadalia with the sword, killing the one whom
- 1:01:10Speaker 1: the King of Babylon had appointed as governor. The assassination
- 1:01:14Speaker 1: was brutal and complete. Verse two continues. Ishmael also killed
- 1:01:19Speaker 1: all the men of Judah who were with Gedeliah at Mizpah,
- 1:01:23Speaker 1: as well as the Babylonian soldiers who were there. The
- 1:01:27Speaker 1: next day, more tragedy occurred. In verse four, eighty men
- 1:01:33Speaker 1: who had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes, and
- 1:01:36Speaker 1: cut themselves came from Shechem, bringing grain, offerings and incense
- 1:01:40Speaker 1: to the house of the Lord. These men were coming
- 1:01:43Speaker 1: to worship, not knowing their governor had been murdered. Ishmael
- 1:01:47Speaker 1: met these worshippers and pretended everything was normal. When they
- 1:01:52Speaker 1: reached Mispah, Ishmael and his men killed most of them.
- 1:01:56Speaker 1: Verse seven tells us Ishmael slaughtered them and threw them
- 1:02:01Speaker 1: into a cistern. But Ishmael wasn't finished. In verse ten,
- 1:02:05Speaker 1: Ishmael made captives of all the rest of the people
- 1:02:08Speaker 1: who were in Mizpah, the king's daughters, along with all
- 1:02:11Speaker 1: the others who were left there. Ishmael took them captive
- 1:02:14Speaker 1: and set out to cross over to the Ammonites. When
- 1:02:17Speaker 1: Johannan and the other officers heard what happened, they immediately
- 1:02:22Speaker 1: took action. In Verse eleven, they took all their men
- 1:02:25Speaker 1: and went to fight Ishmael. They caught up with him
- 1:02:28Speaker 1: near the Great Pool in Gibeon. The kidnapped people were
- 1:02:31Speaker 1: relieved to see their rescuers. In verse fourteen, all the
- 1:02:35Speaker 1: people Ishmael had taken captive at Mispah turned and went
- 1:02:39Speaker 1: over to Johannan, but Ishmael himself got away. Johannan had
- 1:02:43Speaker 1: successfully rescued the people, but the damage was done. The
- 1:02:48Speaker 1: Babylonians would probably blame all the remaining Jews for Gadalia's assassination.
- 1:02:54Speaker 1: In Verse seventeen, they went on, stopping at Garuth Kimham
- 1:02:59Speaker 1: near Bethlehem on their way to Egypt to flee from
- 1:03:03Speaker 1: the Babylonians. They were afraid of them because Ishmael had
- 1:03:07Speaker 1: killed Gadalia, whom the King of Babylon had appointed as governor.
- 1:03:11Speaker 1: With Gadalia dead and their future uncertain, the people faced
- 1:03:15Speaker 1: a difficult decision. Should they stay and risk Babylonian revenge?
- 1:03:21Speaker 1: Or flee to Egypt for safety. They decided to ask
- 1:03:24Speaker 1: God for guidance through Jeremiah. In chapter forty two, verse one,
- 1:03:30Speaker 1: all the army officers, including Johannan Son of Korea, and
- 1:03:35Speaker 1: all the people from the least to the greatest approached
- 1:03:38Speaker 1: Jeremiah the prophet. This wasn't just the leaders. Everyone was
- 1:03:43Speaker 1: involved in seeking God's will. They made what sounded like
- 1:03:46Speaker 1: a sincere request. In verse two, they said, please hear
- 1:03:51Speaker 1: our petition and pray to the Lord your God for
- 1:03:54Speaker 1: this entire remnant. For as you now see, though we
- 1:03:58Speaker 1: were once many, now only a few are left. In
- 1:04:02Speaker 1: verse three, they continued, pray that the Lord your God
- 1:04:05Speaker 1: will tell us where we should go and what we
- 1:04:07Speaker 1: should do. Jeremiah agreed to pray for them. In verse four,
- 1:04:12Speaker 1: he responded, I have heard you. I will certainly pray
- 1:04:16Speaker 1: to the Lord your God as you have requested. I
- 1:04:20Speaker 1: will tell you everything the Lord says, and will keep
- 1:04:23Speaker 1: nothing back from you. The people made what sounded like
- 1:04:26Speaker 1: a strong commitment. In verse five. They said, may the
- 1:04:29Speaker 1: Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if
- 1:04:33Speaker 1: we do not act in accordance with everything the Lord
- 1:04:36Speaker 1: your God sends you. To tell us. In verse six,
- 1:04:39Speaker 1: they declared, whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will
- 1:04:43Speaker 1: obey the Lord, our God. Jeremiah waited for God's answer.
- 1:04:48Speaker 1: Verse seven tells us ten days later the word of
- 1:04:51Speaker 1: the Lord came to Jeremiah. When God finally gave his answer,
- 1:04:55Speaker 1: it was clear. In verse ten, God said, if you
- 1:04:59Speaker 1: stay in the this land, I will build you up
- 1:05:01Speaker 1: and not tear you down. I will plant you and
- 1:05:04Speaker 1: not uproot you, for I have relented concerning the disaster
- 1:05:07Speaker 1: I have brought on you. God told them not to
- 1:05:10Speaker 1: be afraid of the Babylonians. In verse eleven, he said,
- 1:05:14Speaker 1: do not be afraid of the King of Babylon, whom
- 1:05:17Speaker 1: you now fear. Do not be afraid of him, declares
- 1:05:21Speaker 1: the Lord, for I am with you and will save
- 1:05:23Speaker 1: you and deliver you from his hands. But God also
- 1:05:27Speaker 1: gave them a stern warning in verses fifteen sixteen. He said,
- 1:05:32Speaker 1: if you say we will not stay in this land
- 1:05:36Speaker 1: and so disobey the Lord your God, and if you
- 1:05:39Speaker 1: go to Egypt, then this is what will happen. You
- 1:05:42Speaker 1: will die by the sword, famine and plague in the
- 1:05:45Speaker 1: place where you want to go to live. In verse eighteen.
- 1:05:49Speaker 1: God explained, as my anger and wrath have been poured
- 1:05:53Speaker 1: out on those who lived in Jerusalem, so will my
- 1:05:56Speaker 1: wrath be poured out on you when you go to Egypt.
- 1:05:59Speaker 1: Go going to Egypt would put them under the same
- 1:06:02Speaker 1: judgment that had fallen on Jerusalem. God knew what was
- 1:06:06Speaker 1: really in their hearts. In verse twenty, he said, you
- 1:06:09Speaker 1: made a fatal mistake when you sent me to the
- 1:06:12Speaker 1: Lord your God and said, pray to the Lord our
- 1:06:16Speaker 1: God for us. Tell us everything he says, and we
- 1:06:19Speaker 1: will do it. They had asked for God's guidance, but
- 1:06:23Speaker 1: they only wanted him to agree with what they had
- 1:06:26Speaker 1: already decided to do. As soon as Jeremiah finished delivering
- 1:06:30Speaker 1: God's message, the people's true attitude became clear. In chapter
- 1:06:35Speaker 1: forty three, verse two, Azariah, son of Hoshiah, and Johannan
- 1:06:40Speaker 1: son of Korea, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah,
- 1:06:44Speaker 1: you are lying. The Lord our God has not sent
- 1:06:47Speaker 1: you to say you must not go to Egypt to
- 1:06:50Speaker 1: settle there. They even accused Jeremiah's secretary. In verse three,
- 1:06:55Speaker 1: they said, but Baruk son of Nariah, is inciting you
- 1:06:59Speaker 1: against us to hand us over to the Babylonians so
- 1:07:02Speaker 1: they may kill us or carry us into exile to Babylon.
- 1:07:07Speaker 1: They used these false accusations as an excuse to ignore
- 1:07:11Speaker 1: God's clear command. Verse four tells us, so Johannan son
- 1:07:16Speaker 1: of Korea, and all the army officers and all the
- 1:07:18Speaker 1: people disobeyed the Lord's command to stay in the land
- 1:07:22Speaker 1: of Judah. They had promised to obey God, whether his
- 1:07:25Speaker 1: answer was favorable or unfavorable, but when it wasn't what
- 1:07:30Speaker 1: they wanted to hear, they rejected it completely. Not only
- 1:07:34Speaker 1: did they disobey God themselves, but they forced others to
- 1:07:38Speaker 1: disobey as well. In verse five, they led away all
- 1:07:41Speaker 1: the remnant of Judah who had come back to live
- 1:07:44Speaker 1: in the Land of Judah from all the nations where
- 1:07:47Speaker 1: they had been scattered. The group that was forced to
- 1:07:50Speaker 1: go included many different types of people. Verse six tells
- 1:07:54Speaker 1: us they also led away all those whom Nebuzaradan, commander
- 1:07:58Speaker 1: of the Imperial Guard, had left with Gadalia, the men,
- 1:08:02Speaker 1: women and children, and the king's daughters. And they took
- 1:08:06Speaker 1: Jeremiah the Prophet, and Baruch, son of Nariah along with them.
- 1:08:10Speaker 1: Most significantly, they forced Jeremiah himself to go with them.
- 1:08:15Speaker 1: This was ironic since they had just accused him of
- 1:08:18Speaker 1: lying about God's message in verse seven. So they entered
- 1:08:23Speaker 1: Egypt in disobedience to the Lord and went as far
- 1:08:26Speaker 1: as Tapanhes. But even though they had rejected his message
- 1:08:30Speaker 1: and forced his prophet to come with them, God still
- 1:08:33Speaker 1: had words for them in Egypt. In verse eight. In Tapanhes,
- 1:08:38Speaker 1: the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. God told
- 1:08:42Speaker 1: Jeremiah to perform a symbolic action. In verse nine, God said,
- 1:08:48Speaker 1: while the Jews are watching, take some large stones with
- 1:08:51Speaker 1: you and bury them in clay in the brick pavement
- 1:08:53Speaker 1: at the entrance to Pharaoh's palace in Tapani's. Then God
- 1:08:57Speaker 1: explained what the stones represented. In verse ten, he declared,
- 1:09:02Speaker 1: I will send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
- 1:09:06Speaker 1: and I will set his throne over these stones I
- 1:09:08Speaker 1: have buried. He will spread his royal canopy above them.
- 1:09:13Speaker 1: The stones marked where the Babylonian king would set up
- 1:09:16Speaker 1: his throne when he conquered Egypt. In verse eleven, God
- 1:09:20Speaker 1: said he will come and attack Egypt, bringing death to
- 1:09:24Speaker 1: those destined for death. Captivity to those destined for captivity,
- 1:09:29Speaker 1: and the sword to those destined for the sword. There
- 1:09:32Speaker 1: would be no escape from God's judgment even in Egypt.
- 1:09:36Speaker 1: Some time after the Jewish refugees had settled in Egypt,
- 1:09:39Speaker 1: God gave Jeremiah his final recorded message in chapter forty four,
- 1:09:44Speaker 1: verse one. This word came concerning all the Jews living
- 1:09:48Speaker 1: in Lower Egypt, in Migdol, tap and Hes and Memphis,
- 1:09:52Speaker 1: and in Upper Egypt. God's message began by reminding them
- 1:09:56Speaker 1: of what had happened to Jerusalem. In verse two, God said, said,
- 1:10:00Speaker 1: you saw the great disaster I brought on Jerusalem and
- 1:10:03Speaker 1: on all the towns of Judah. To day they lie
- 1:10:06Speaker 1: deserted and in ruins. God explained why in verse three,
- 1:10:11Speaker 1: because of the evil they have done. They aroused my
- 1:10:14Speaker 1: anger by burning incense to and worshiping other gods. God
- 1:10:19Speaker 1: reminded them that he had repeatedly tried to warn them.
- 1:10:23Speaker 1: In verse four, he declared, again and again I sent
- 1:10:26Speaker 1: my servants, the prophets, who said, do not do this
- 1:10:29Speaker 1: detestable thing that I hate. The result was the destruction
- 1:10:33Speaker 1: they had all witnessed. Now God asked them about their
- 1:10:37Speaker 1: current behavior in verse seven He said, why bring such
- 1:10:42Speaker 1: great disaster on yourselves by cutting off from Judah the
- 1:10:45Speaker 1: men and women, the children and infants, and so leave
- 1:10:49Speaker 1: yourselves without a remnant. In Verse eight, he continued, why
- 1:10:54Speaker 1: arouse my anger with what your hands have made burning
- 1:10:57Speaker 1: incense to other gods in Egypt. Despite everything that had happened,
- 1:11:02Speaker 1: the people had not truly repented. In verse ten, God said,
- 1:11:07Speaker 1: to this day, they have not humbled themselves or shown reverence,
- 1:11:11Speaker 1: nor have they followed my law and the decrees I
- 1:11:14Speaker 1: set before you and your ancestors. Because they continued in
- 1:11:18Speaker 1: their rebellion, God announced that judgment would follow them to Egypt.
- 1:11:23Speaker 1: In verse twelve, he said, I will take away the
- 1:11:26Speaker 1: remnant of Judah who were determined to go to Egypt
- 1:11:29Speaker 1: to settle there. They will all perish in Egypt. They
- 1:11:33Speaker 1: will fall by the sword or die from famine. But
- 1:11:37Speaker 1: instead of being humbled by this message, the people responded
- 1:11:41Speaker 1: with open defiance. In verse sixteen, they said, we will
- 1:11:45Speaker 1: not listen to the message you have spoken to us
- 1:11:47Speaker 1: in the name of the Lord. They were openly rejecting
- 1:11:51Speaker 1: God's word. Not only did they refuse to stop their idolatry,
- 1:11:55Speaker 1: but they actually defended it. In verse seventeen, they declared,
- 1:12:01Speaker 1: we will certainly do everything we said we would. We
- 1:12:04Speaker 1: will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will
- 1:12:07Speaker 1: pour out drink offerings to her, just as we and
- 1:12:09Speaker 1: our ancestors did. Incredibly, they blamed their troubles on stopping
- 1:12:14Speaker 1: their idle worship rather than on practicing it. In verse eighteen,
- 1:12:18Speaker 1: they said, but ever since we stopped burning incense to
- 1:12:21Speaker 1: the Queen of Heaven, we have had nothing and have
- 1:12:24Speaker 1: been perishing by sword and famine. Jeremiah responded to this
- 1:12:29Speaker 1: display of rebellion with a final message from God. In
- 1:12:33Speaker 1: verses twenty one to twenty two, he said, did not
- 1:12:36Speaker 1: the Lord remember and call to mind the incense burned
- 1:12:39Speaker 1: in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem.
- 1:12:42Speaker 1: When the Lord could no longer endure your wicked actions,
- 1:12:46Speaker 1: your land became a curse and a desolate waste without inhabitants,
- 1:12:51Speaker 1: as it is to day. God's final word was a
- 1:12:54Speaker 1: promise of complete judgment. In verse twenty seven, God declared,
- 1:12:59Speaker 1: I am watching over them for harm, not for good.
- 1:13:03Speaker 1: The Jews in Egypt will perish by sword and famine
- 1:13:06Speaker 1: until they are all destroyed. Since they had chosen to
- 1:13:09Speaker 1: continue in their rebellion. God would watch over them to
- 1:13:13Speaker 1: make sure his judgment was carried out completely. In the
- 1:13:17Speaker 1: midst of all the prophecies about nations and kingdoms, God
- 1:13:20Speaker 1: had a personal word for one individual who had been
- 1:13:24Speaker 1: faithful through all the difficult years. This message came back
- 1:13:28Speaker 1: in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim, when Baruk had
- 1:13:31Speaker 1: first written down Jeremiah's prophecies. Chapter forty five. Verse one
- 1:13:36Speaker 1: tells us when Barak's son of Nariah wrote on a
- 1:13:39Speaker 1: scroll the words Jeremiah the Prophet dictated in the fourth
- 1:13:43Speaker 1: year of Jehoiakim. Jeremiah said this to him. This was
- 1:13:47Speaker 1: right after Barak had finished writing down twenty years worth
- 1:13:51Speaker 1: of prophecies. Baruk was feeling overwhelmed and discouraged. In verse three,
- 1:13:56Speaker 1: God quoted what Baruk had been saying. You said, woe
- 1:14:00Speaker 1: to me. The Lord has added sorrow to my pain.
- 1:14:03Speaker 1: I am worn out with groaning and find no rest.
- 1:14:07Speaker 1: Being Jeremiah's ah secretary was not an easy job. He
- 1:14:11Speaker 1: had to write down terrible prophecies, face danger, and deal
- 1:14:15Speaker 1: with constant opposition. Baruch was probably feeling sorry for himself
- 1:14:19Speaker 1: and wondering if his life was ever going to get better.
- 1:14:23Speaker 1: He may have been hoping for some kind of reward
- 1:14:25Speaker 1: or recognition for all his faithful service, but God's message
- 1:14:30Speaker 1: put his personal struggles in perspective. In verse four, God said,
- 1:14:34Speaker 1: tell him, this is what the Lord says. I will
- 1:14:37Speaker 1: overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have
- 1:14:40Speaker 1: planted throughout the whole land. God was reminding Baruk that
- 1:14:45Speaker 1: if he was willing to destroy his own nation and temple,
- 1:14:48Speaker 1: then individual personal concerns had to be seen in that
- 1:14:52Speaker 1: larger context. God asked Baruk a direct question about his expectations.
- 1:14:58Speaker 1: In verse five, He said, should you then seek great
- 1:15:02Speaker 1: things for yourself? Do not seek them. God was telling
- 1:15:06Speaker 1: Baruk that this was not the time to be thinking
- 1:15:09Speaker 1: about personal advancement or success. But God also gave Baruk
- 1:15:14Speaker 1: a precious promise. In the same verse. He continued, for
- 1:15:20Speaker 1: I will bring disaster on all people, declares the Lord.
- 1:15:24Speaker 1: But wherever you go, I will let you escape with
- 1:15:27Speaker 1: your life. While God was going to bring terrible judgment
- 1:15:30Speaker 1: on the nations, he would personally protect Baruk. This promise
- 1:15:35Speaker 1: was both smaller and greater than what Barouk might have
- 1:15:39Speaker 1: been hoping for. It was smaller because God wasn't promising
- 1:15:43Speaker 1: him wealth, success or recognition, but it was greater because
- 1:15:49Speaker 1: God was promising him something much more valuable. His life
- 1:15:53Speaker 1: would be preserved through all the disasters that were coming.
- 1:15:57Speaker 1: This message shows us something important about how God cares
- 1:16:01Speaker 1: for individuals even when he is dealing with big historical events.
- 1:16:05Speaker 1: God was managing the rise and fall of empires, but
- 1:16:09Speaker 1: in the middle of all that, he took time to
- 1:16:11Speaker 1: give a personal word of comfort to one faithful man
- 1:16:15Speaker 1: who was feeling discouraged. The word of the Lord that
- 1:16:19Speaker 1: came to Jeremiah was not limited to Israel and Judah.
- 1:16:24Speaker 1: God had messages for all the nations around them, starting
- 1:16:27Speaker 1: with the great power of Egypt. In Chapter forty six,
- 1:16:31Speaker 1: verse two, God began with a specific prophecy concerning Egypt.
- 1:16:37Speaker 1: This is the message against the army of Pharaoh Necho,
- 1:16:40Speaker 1: king of Egypt, which was defeated at Carkamish on the
- 1:16:44Speaker 1: Euphrates River by Nebukud Nezar, king of Babylon, in the
- 1:16:48Speaker 1: fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, King of Judah.
- 1:16:54Speaker 1: The battle at Carkamish was one of the most important
- 1:16:57Speaker 1: battles in ancient history. It happened in six O five
- 1:17:01Speaker 1: b C when the Egyptian army marched north to help
- 1:17:04Speaker 1: the dying Assyrian Empire fight against the rising power of Babylon.
- 1:17:09Speaker 1: But instead of victory, Egypt suffered a crushing defeat that
- 1:17:13Speaker 1: changed the balance of power in the entire region. God
- 1:17:17Speaker 1: described the Egyptian army's preparation for battle in verses three
- 1:17:21Speaker 1: to four. He said, prepare your shields, both large and small,
- 1:17:26Speaker 1: and march out for battle. Harness the horses, mount the steeds,
- 1:17:30Speaker 1: take your positions with helmets on. Polish your spears, put
- 1:17:34Speaker 1: on your armour. The Egyptians had prepared for war with
- 1:17:37Speaker 1: all their might, confident in their military power, but God
- 1:17:41Speaker 1: revealed that all their preparation would be useless. In verse five,
- 1:17:46Speaker 1: he asked, what do I see? They are terrified. They
- 1:17:50Speaker 1: are retreating. Their warriors are defeated. They flee in haste,
- 1:17:55Speaker 1: without looking back, and there is terror on every side,
- 1:17:58Speaker 1: declares the Lord. Despite all their weapons and training, the
- 1:18:02Speaker 1: Egyptian soldiers would run away in panic. God made it
- 1:18:06Speaker 1: clear that no one would escape this defeat. In verse six,
- 1:18:11Speaker 1: he declared, the swift cannot flee, nor the strong escape.
- 1:18:16Speaker 1: In the north by the river Euphrates, they stumble and fall.
- 1:18:21Speaker 1: Even the fastest runners and strongest fighters would not be
- 1:18:24Speaker 1: able to get away. When God's judgment fell on Egypt,
- 1:18:28Speaker 1: the imagery becomes dramatic as God compared the Egyptian army
- 1:18:32Speaker 1: to the flooding of the Nile River. In verses seven eight,
- 1:18:36Speaker 1: he said, who is this that rises like the Nile
- 1:18:38Speaker 1: like rivers of surging waters. Egypt rises like the Nile,
- 1:18:42Speaker 1: like rivers of surging waters. She says, I will rise
- 1:18:46Speaker 1: and cover the earth. I will destroy cities and their people.
- 1:18:51Speaker 1: Egypt thought it could sweep over the world like the
- 1:18:53Speaker 1: annual flood of the Nile. The reason for Egypt's defeat
- 1:18:57Speaker 1: was that this was God's day of judgment. In verse ten,
- 1:19:01Speaker 1: God explained, but that day belongs to the Lord, the
- 1:19:04Speaker 1: Lord Almighty, a day of vengeance for vengeance on his foes.
- 1:19:08Speaker 1: The sword will devour till it is satisfied, till it
- 1:19:11Speaker 1: has quenched its thirst with blood. The battle was not
- 1:19:15Speaker 1: just a military conflict. It was God's sacrifice of Egypt's army.
- 1:19:20Speaker 1: But God's judgment on Egypt was not finished with just
- 1:19:24Speaker 1: one battle. He had plans for a future invasion. In
- 1:19:27Speaker 1: verse thirteen, God announced, this is the message the Lord
- 1:19:31Speaker 1: spoke to Jeremiah the Prophet about the coming of nebucad Nezar,
- 1:19:35Speaker 1: king of Babylon, to attack Egypt. God told the cities
- 1:19:39Speaker 1: of Egypt to prepare for war because invasion was coming.
- 1:19:42Speaker 1: In verse fourteen, he commanded, announce this in Egypt and
- 1:19:47Speaker 1: proclaim it in Migdol. Proclaim it also in Memphis and Tapanese.
- 1:19:52Speaker 1: Take your positions and get ready for the sword devours
- 1:19:55Speaker 1: those around you. God explained why Egypt's gods would not
- 1:19:59Speaker 1: be able to protect them. In verse fifteen, he asked,
- 1:20:03Speaker 1: why will your warriors be laid low? They cannot stand,
- 1:20:07Speaker 1: for the Lord will push them down. The Egyptian soldiers
- 1:20:10Speaker 1: trusted in their gods, but those gods were powerless against
- 1:20:14Speaker 1: the Lord. God swore by his own name that nebucud
- 1:20:18Speaker 1: Neza would conquer Egypt. In verse eighteen, he said, as
- 1:20:22Speaker 1: surely as I live, declares the king, whose name is
- 1:20:25Speaker 1: the Lord Almighty one will come, who is like Tabor
- 1:20:29Speaker 1: among the mountains, like Carmel by the sea. Just as
- 1:20:33Speaker 1: Mount Tabor stands out among other mountains, nebucud Nezar would
- 1:20:36Speaker 1: tower over other kings. But even in judgment, God had
- 1:20:40Speaker 1: hope for his own people. In verses twenty seven to
- 1:20:43Speaker 1: twenty eight, he said, do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant,
- 1:20:47Speaker 1: Do not be dismayed. Israel I will surely save you
- 1:20:51Speaker 1: out of a distant place, your descendants from the land
- 1:20:54Speaker 1: of their captivity. Jacob will again have peace and security,
- 1:20:58Speaker 1: and no one will make him afraid. After Egypt, God's
- 1:21:02Speaker 1: attention turned to another ancient enemy of Israel, the Philistines.
- 1:21:07Speaker 1: These were the people who had fought against Israel for centuries,
- 1:21:11Speaker 1: the people of Goliath and the five great cities along
- 1:21:15Speaker 1: the Mediterranean coast. In chapter forty seven, verse one, we read,
- 1:21:20Speaker 1: this is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah,
- 1:21:23Speaker 1: the prophet, concerning the Philistines. Before Pharaoh attacked Gaza. God
- 1:21:28Speaker 1: announced that a great flood of enemy soldiers would sweep
- 1:21:32Speaker 1: down from the north and overwhelm their land. In verse two,
- 1:21:36Speaker 1: he declared, this is what the Lord says. See how
- 1:21:40Speaker 1: the waters are rising in the north. They will become
- 1:21:43Speaker 1: an overflowing torrent. They will overflow the land and everything
- 1:21:47Speaker 1: in it, the towns and those who live in them.
- 1:21:50Speaker 1: The people will cry out, all who dwell in the
- 1:21:53Speaker 1: land will wail. The imagery of rising waters was particularly
- 1:21:58Speaker 1: meaningful because the Philistines lived along the coast, where they
- 1:22:02Speaker 1: were familiar with floods and storms from the sea, but
- 1:22:05Speaker 1: this flood would come from the land from the north.
- 1:22:09Speaker 1: As the Babylonian army swept down through their territory like
- 1:22:13Speaker 1: a devastating tsunami. God described the sound of the approaching
- 1:22:18Speaker 1: army with vivid details. In verse three, he said, at
- 1:22:23Speaker 1: the sound of the hoofs of galloping steeds, at the
- 1:22:27Speaker 1: noise of enemy chariots and the rumble of their wheels,
- 1:22:30Speaker 1: parents will not turn to help their children. Their hands
- 1:22:33Speaker 1: will hang limp. The thundering of horses and rumbling of
- 1:22:37Speaker 1: war chariots would be so overwhelming that even parents would
- 1:22:42Speaker 1: be too paralyzed with fear to help their own children.
- 1:22:46Speaker 1: The reason for this destruction was that God had decided
- 1:22:50Speaker 1: to destroy not just the Philistines, but also their allies.
- 1:22:55Speaker 1: In verse four, he explained, for the day has come
- 1:22:58Speaker 1: to destroy all the Phillisestines, and to remove all survivors
- 1:23:03Speaker 1: who could help tire and sidon. The Lord is about
- 1:23:06Speaker 1: to destroy the Philistines. The remnant from the coasts of Kaftur, Tire,
- 1:23:11Speaker 1: and Sidon were wealthy trading cities to the north that
- 1:23:15Speaker 1: had been allied with the Philistines. The great Philistine cities
- 1:23:19Speaker 1: would show their grief in traditional ways. In verse five,
- 1:23:24Speaker 1: God said, Gaza will shave her head in mourning. Ashkalan
- 1:23:29Speaker 1: will be silenced. You remnant on the plain? How long
- 1:23:33Speaker 1: will you cut yourselves? Shaving the head and cutting oneself
- 1:23:37Speaker 1: were ancient signs of mourning and despair. In a poetic passage,
- 1:23:42Speaker 1: God spoke as if someone was pleading with the Sword
- 1:23:44Speaker 1: of Judgment to stop its work. In verses six tat
- 1:23:48Speaker 1: of seven, we read alas sword of the Lord, how
- 1:23:52Speaker 1: long till you rest? Return to your sheath, cease and
- 1:23:56Speaker 1: be still. But how can it rest when the Lord
- 1:23:59Speaker 1: has commanded it, When he has ordered it to attack
- 1:24:02Speaker 1: Ashkalon and the coast. The destruction could not stop because
- 1:24:06Speaker 1: God himself had ordered it. Of all the prophecies against
- 1:24:10Speaker 1: foreign nations in Jeremiah, none is longer than the oracle
- 1:24:14Speaker 1: against Moab. This nation descended from Lot's Sun, had a
- 1:24:19Speaker 1: complex relationship with Israel that mixed both kinship and hostility.
- 1:24:25Speaker 1: Chapter forty eight contains forty seven of verses about Moab's
- 1:24:30Speaker 1: coming destruction. The chapter begins with an announcement of complete destruction.
- 1:24:36Speaker 1: In verse one, God declared, concerning Moab, this is what
- 1:24:41Speaker 1: the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says. Woe to Nebo,
- 1:24:45Speaker 1: for it will be ruined. Kuriataim will be disgraced and captured.
- 1:24:51Speaker 1: The stronghold will be disgraced and shattered. Nebo and Kiryataim
- 1:24:56Speaker 1: were important Moabite cities that were considered secure, but God
- 1:25:00Speaker 1: announced they would be completely destroyed. Moab's reputation for strength
- 1:25:06Speaker 1: and security would be destroyed. In verse two, God continued,
- 1:25:11Speaker 1: Moab will be praised no more in Heshbun. People will
- 1:25:15Speaker 1: plot her downfall. Come let us put an end to
- 1:25:19Speaker 1: that nation. You, the people of Madmen will also be silenced.
- 1:25:24Speaker 1: The sword will pursue you. The sound of crying and
- 1:25:28Speaker 1: distress would fill the land. In verse three, God said,
- 1:25:31Speaker 1: cries of anguish arise from Horonaim, cries of great havoc
- 1:25:36Speaker 1: and destruction. Even the children would not be spared. In
- 1:25:40Speaker 1: verse four, God declared, Moab will be broken. Her little
- 1:25:44Speaker 1: ones will cry out. God commanded the people to run
- 1:25:47Speaker 1: for their lives. In verse six, he said, flee, run
- 1:25:51Speaker 1: for your lives. Become like a bush in the desert.
- 1:25:55Speaker 1: The image suggests hiding in the wilderness, abandoning civilization, and
- 1:26:00Speaker 1: living like a wild plant that struggles to survive. The
- 1:26:04Speaker 1: root cause of Moab's destruction was their pride and self reliance.
- 1:26:09Speaker 1: In verse seven, God explained, since you trust in your
- 1:26:14Speaker 1: deeds and riches, you too will be taken captive, and
- 1:26:18Speaker 1: Kimosh will go into exile with his priests and officials.
- 1:26:22Speaker 1: Kimosh was the national god of Moab, but this false
- 1:26:25Speaker 1: god would be powerless to save them. The destruction would
- 1:26:29Speaker 1: be so complete that no city would escape. In verse eight,
- 1:26:33Speaker 1: God declared, the destroyer will come against every town, and
- 1:26:37Speaker 1: not a town will escape. The valley will be ruined
- 1:26:41Speaker 1: and the plateau destroyed because the Lord has spoken. The
- 1:26:45Speaker 1: reason Moab was so proud was that they had lived
- 1:26:49Speaker 1: in comfort and security for too long. In verse eleven,
- 1:26:53Speaker 1: God explained, Moab has been at rest from youth, like
- 1:26:57Speaker 1: wine left on its dregs, not poor from one jar
- 1:27:01Speaker 1: to another. She has not gone into exile, so she
- 1:27:04Speaker 1: tastes as she did, and her aroma is unchanged, like
- 1:27:09Speaker 1: wine that hasn't been properly processed. Moab had become stagnant.
- 1:27:13Speaker 1: But now the time of comfortable security was ending. In
- 1:27:17Speaker 1: verse twelve, God announced, But days are coming, declares the Lord,
- 1:27:22Speaker 1: when I will send men who pour from pictures, and
- 1:27:24Speaker 1: they will pour her out. They will empty her pitches
- 1:27:27Speaker 1: and smash her jars. Moabs boasting about their military power
- 1:27:32Speaker 1: would be proven false. In verse fourteen, God asked, how
- 1:27:36Speaker 1: can you say we are warriors men valiant in battle?
- 1:27:41Speaker 1: Their reputation as fierce fighters would count for nothing when
- 1:27:45Speaker 1: God's judgment came. But even in judgment, God showed compassion.
- 1:27:50Speaker 1: In verse thirty one, he said, therefore I wail over
- 1:27:54Speaker 1: Moab for all Moab, I cry out. I mourn for
- 1:27:58Speaker 1: the people of kir Harristh. Even though God was bringing judgment,
- 1:28:03Speaker 1: he still felt compassion for the people who would suffer.
- 1:28:07Speaker 1: The chapter ends with a promise of restoration. In verse
- 1:28:11Speaker 1: forty seven, God declared, Yet I will restore the fortunes
- 1:28:15Speaker 1: of Moab in days to come, declares the Lord. Even
- 1:28:20Speaker 1: after terrible destruction, God promised that some day Moab would
- 1:28:23Speaker 1: be restored. After the extensive prophecy against Moab, God turned
- 1:28:28Speaker 1: to other nations around Israel. The Ammonites were first another
- 1:28:32Speaker 1: people descended from Lot, who had been neighbors and enemies
- 1:28:36Speaker 1: of Israel for centuries. In chapter forty nine, verse one,
- 1:28:41Speaker 1: God began concerning the Ammonites. This is what the Lord says,
- 1:28:48Speaker 1: has Israel no sons, has Israel no ere? Why then,
- 1:28:53Speaker 1: has Molek taken possession of God? Why do his people
- 1:28:56Speaker 1: live in its towns? Imolek was the false god of
- 1:28:59Speaker 1: the Ammonites, and God was angry that they had taken
- 1:29:03Speaker 1: over territory that belonged to the Israelite tribe of God.
- 1:29:07Speaker 1: But God had a different plan. In verse two, he declared,
- 1:29:12Speaker 1: But the days are coming, declares the Lord. When I
- 1:29:15Speaker 1: will sound the battle cry against Rabba of the Ammonites,
- 1:29:19Speaker 1: it will become a mound of ruins, and its surrounding
- 1:29:22Speaker 1: villages will be set on fire. Then Israel will drive
- 1:29:26Speaker 1: out those who drove her out, says the Lord. The
- 1:29:29Speaker 1: Ammonites were told to prepare for mourning. In verse three,
- 1:29:33Speaker 1: God said, wail Heshbon, for I is destroyed. Cry out
- 1:29:38Speaker 1: you inhabitants of Rabbah. Put on sackcloth and morn. Rush
- 1:29:41Speaker 1: here and there inside the walls for Molek will go
- 1:29:44Speaker 1: into exile together with his priests and officials. Like Moab,
- 1:29:49Speaker 1: the Ammonites were proud of their strength. In verse four,
- 1:29:53Speaker 1: God addressed this pride, Why do you boast of your valleys?
- 1:29:57Speaker 1: Boast of your valley so fruitful, unf faithful daughter Ammon?
- 1:30:01Speaker 1: You trust in your riches and say, who will attack me?
- 1:30:05Speaker 1: But God promised to bring terror upon them. In verse
- 1:30:09Speaker 1: five He declared, I will bring terror on you from
- 1:30:12Speaker 1: all those around you, declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
- 1:30:17Speaker 1: Every one of you will be driven away, and no
- 1:30:19Speaker 1: one will gather the fugitives. However, like Moab, even Ammon
- 1:30:24Speaker 1: would eventually be restored. In verse six, God promised, Yet afterward,
- 1:30:30Speaker 1: I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, declares the Lord. Next,
- 1:30:34Speaker 1: God turned to Edom, the descendants of Esau. In verse seven,
- 1:30:38Speaker 1: he began concerning Edom, this is what the Lord Almighty says.
- 1:30:43Speaker 1: Is there no longer wisdom in Taman? Has counsel perished
- 1:30:47Speaker 1: from the prudent? Has their wisdom decayed? Timan was a
- 1:30:52Speaker 1: city in Edom famous for its wise men. But God
- 1:30:55Speaker 1: was saying that all their wisdom would fail them. God
- 1:30:58Speaker 1: would expose all Edom's hiding places. In verse ten, he declared,
- 1:31:03Speaker 1: but I will strip esau Baar. I will uncover his
- 1:31:07Speaker 1: hiding places so that he cannot conceal himself. His armed
- 1:31:10Speaker 1: men are destroyed, also his allies and neighbors, so he
- 1:31:15Speaker 1: is no more. In a touching verse that shows God's compassion,
- 1:31:20Speaker 1: he promised to care for those left behind. In verse eleven,
- 1:31:23Speaker 1: God said, leave your fatherless children. I will keep them alive.
- 1:31:28Speaker 1: Your widows too, can depend on me. Edom's pride would
- 1:31:32Speaker 1: be their downfall. In verse sixteen, God said, the terror
- 1:31:36Speaker 1: you inspire and the pride of your heart have deceived you,
- 1:31:39Speaker 1: You who live in the clefts of the rocks, who
- 1:31:42Speaker 1: occupy the heights of the hill. Though you build your
- 1:31:45Speaker 1: nest as high as the eagles, from there, I will
- 1:31:49Speaker 1: bring you down, declares the Lord. Finally, God turned to Damascus,
- 1:31:54Speaker 1: the ancient capital of Syria. In verse twenty three, he announced,
- 1:31:59Speaker 1: concerning Deamascus, Hammeth and Arpad are dismayed, for they have
- 1:32:04Speaker 1: heard bad news. They are disheartened, troubled like the restless sea.
- 1:32:09Speaker 1: Damascus itself would be paralyzed with fear. In verse twenty four,
- 1:32:13Speaker 1: God said, Damascus has become feeble. She has turned to flee,
- 1:32:19Speaker 1: and panic has gripped her. Anguish and pain have seized her,
- 1:32:23Speaker 1: pain like that of a woman in labor. After pronouncing
- 1:32:26Speaker 1: judgment on the settled nations around Israel, God turned his
- 1:32:30Speaker 1: attention to nomadic peoples and distant kingdoms. In verse twenty eight,
- 1:32:35Speaker 1: God announced concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebicaneza,
- 1:32:40Speaker 1: king of Babylon, attacked. This is what the Lord says,
- 1:32:44Speaker 1: Arise and attack Kdar and destroy the people of the east.
- 1:32:50Speaker 1: These desert peoples thought there mobility would protect them, but
- 1:32:55Speaker 1: in verse twenty nine God described how thorough the destruction
- 1:32:59Speaker 1: would be. Their tents and their flocks will be taken,
- 1:33:03Speaker 1: Their shelters will be carried off with all their goods
- 1:33:06Speaker 1: and camels. People will shout to them terror on every side.
- 1:33:11Speaker 1: God commanded these peoples to flee. In verse thirty he said,
- 1:33:15Speaker 1: flee quickly away. Stay in deep caves. You who live
- 1:33:19Speaker 1: in Hazor, declares the Lord Nebucadnezar, king of Babylon, has
- 1:33:24Speaker 1: plotted against you. He has devised a plan against you.
- 1:33:28Speaker 1: The result would be complete scattering. In verse thirty two,
- 1:33:32Speaker 1: God declared their camels will become plunder and their large
- 1:33:37Speaker 1: herds will be spoils of war. I will scatter to
- 1:33:40Speaker 1: the winds those who are in distant places, and will
- 1:33:44Speaker 1: bring disaster on them from every side, declares the Lord.
- 1:33:48Speaker 1: The final oracle concerned Elam, a nation located in what
- 1:33:53Speaker 1: is now western Iran. In verse thirty four, we read,
- 1:33:57Speaker 1: this is the word of the Lord that came to
- 1:33:59Speaker 1: Jeremi via the prophet concerning Elam. Early in the reign
- 1:34:03Speaker 1: of Zedekiah, king of Judah, God announced that he would
- 1:34:07Speaker 1: destroy Elam's military power. In verse thirty five, he declared, see,
- 1:34:13Speaker 1: I will break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of
- 1:34:17Speaker 1: their might. Elam was famous for its skilled archers, but
- 1:34:20Speaker 1: God would destroy their ability to make war. The destruction
- 1:34:25Speaker 1: would come from multiple directions. In verse thirty six, God said,
- 1:34:29Speaker 1: I will bring against Islam the four winds from the
- 1:34:33Speaker 1: four quarters of Heaven. I will scatter them to the
- 1:34:36Speaker 1: four winds, and there will not be a nation where
- 1:34:38Speaker 1: Elam's exiles do not go. But like other nations, Elam
- 1:34:44Speaker 1: would eventually be restored. In verse thirty nine, God promised, yet,
- 1:34:49Speaker 1: I will restore the fortunes of Elam in days to come,
- 1:34:54Speaker 1: declares the Lord of all the oracles against foreign nations.
- 1:34:58Speaker 1: None is more significant than the prophecy against Babylon. This
- 1:35:03Speaker 1: great empire that God had used to judge Israel and
- 1:35:06Speaker 1: other nations, would itself face divine judgment. In verse one,
- 1:35:11Speaker 1: God began, this is the word the Lord spoke through Jeremiah,
- 1:35:15Speaker 1: the prophet, concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians.
- 1:35:19Speaker 1: God called for the news of Babylon's fall to be
- 1:35:23Speaker 1: announced to all nations. In verse two, he said, announce
- 1:35:28Speaker 1: and proclaim among the nations. Lift up a banner and
- 1:35:31Speaker 1: proclaim it. Keep nothing back, but say Babylon will be captured.
- 1:35:36Speaker 1: Bel will be put to shame, Marduk filled with terror.
- 1:35:39Speaker 1: The destruction would come from the north. In verse three,
- 1:35:42Speaker 1: God announced, a nation from the north will attack her
- 1:35:46Speaker 1: and lay waste her land. No one will live in it.
- 1:35:48Speaker 1: Both people and animals will flee away. When Babylon fell,
- 1:35:52Speaker 1: it would be a signal for Israel and Judah to
- 1:35:55Speaker 1: return to their God. In verses forty or five, God
- 1:35:59Speaker 1: promised in those days. At that time, declares the Lord,
- 1:36:04Speaker 1: the people of Israel and the people of Judah together
- 1:36:08Speaker 1: will go in tears to seek the Lord their god.
- 1:36:11Speaker 1: They will ask the way to Zion and turn their
- 1:36:14Speaker 1: faces toward it. God was preparing a coalition of nations
- 1:36:18Speaker 1: to destroy Babylon. In verse nine, he announced, for I
- 1:36:23Speaker 1: will stir up and bring against Babylon an alliance of
- 1:36:27Speaker 1: great nations. From the land of the north. They will
- 1:36:30Speaker 1: take up their positions against her, and from the north
- 1:36:34Speaker 1: she will be captured. The destruction would be complete. In
- 1:36:38Speaker 1: verse thirteen, God declared, because of the Lord's anger, she
- 1:36:41Speaker 1: will not be inhabited, but will be completely desolate. All
- 1:36:45Speaker 1: who pass Babylon will be appalled. They will scoff because
- 1:36:48Speaker 1: of all her wounds. When Babylon was destroyed, God would
- 1:36:52Speaker 1: bring his people home. In verse nineteen, he promised, but
- 1:36:56Speaker 1: I will bring Israel back to their own pasture, and
- 1:36:59Speaker 1: they will graze on Carmel and Bashan. Their appetite will
- 1:37:02Speaker 1: be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead. Babylon
- 1:37:07Speaker 1: had been like a hammer that broke other nations, but
- 1:37:10Speaker 1: would itself be broken. In verse twenty three, God declared,
- 1:37:14Speaker 1: how broken and shattered is the hammer of the whole earth.
- 1:37:18Speaker 1: How desolate is Babylon Among the Nations. Chapter fifty one
- 1:37:23Speaker 1: continues the oracle against Babylon with even more vivid descriptions.
- 1:37:28Speaker 1: In verse one, God declared, see, I will stir up
- 1:37:31Speaker 1: the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon and the people
- 1:37:35Speaker 1: of Lebkamai. This destroying wind would be like winnowers who
- 1:37:40Speaker 1: separate grain from chaff. Despite all that had happened, God
- 1:37:45Speaker 1: had not abandoned Israel and Judah. In verse five, he said,
- 1:37:50Speaker 1: for Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God,
- 1:37:54Speaker 1: the Lord Almighty, though their land is full of guilt
- 1:37:57Speaker 1: before the Holy One of Israel. God called his people
- 1:38:01Speaker 1: to flee from Babylon before its destruction. In verse six,
- 1:38:05Speaker 1: he commanded, flee from Babylon. Run for your lives. Do
- 1:38:09Speaker 1: not be destroyed because of her sins. It is time
- 1:38:12Speaker 1: for the Lord's vengeance. He will repay her what she deserves.
- 1:38:17Speaker 1: Babylon had been like a golden cup in God's hand,
- 1:38:20Speaker 1: used to make other nations drunk with judgment. In verse seven,
- 1:38:24Speaker 1: God explained, Babylon was a gold cup in the Lord's hand.
- 1:38:28Speaker 1: She made the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine.
- 1:38:32Speaker 1: Therefore they have now gone mad. The fall would be
- 1:38:35Speaker 1: sudden and complete. In verse eight, God announced, Babylon will
- 1:38:40Speaker 1: suddenly fall and be broken. Wail over her. Get balm
- 1:38:43Speaker 1: for her pain. Perhaps she can be healed, but healing
- 1:38:47Speaker 1: was impossible. God was preparing the armies that would destroy Babylon.
- 1:38:52Speaker 1: In verse eleven, he said, sharpen the arrows, take up
- 1:38:56Speaker 1: the shields. The Lord has stirred up the kings of
- 1:38:58Speaker 1: the Meads, because because his purpose is to destroy Babylon,
- 1:39:02Speaker 1: the Lord will take vengeance, vengeance for his temple. God
- 1:39:08Speaker 1: had used Babylon as his war club to destroy other nations,
- 1:39:12Speaker 1: but now that club would itself be destroyed. In verses
- 1:39:17Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, God addressed Babylon. You are my war club,
- 1:39:22Speaker 1: my weapon for battle. With you, I shatter nations with you.
- 1:39:26Speaker 1: I destroy kingdoms with you. I shatter horse and rider
- 1:39:30Speaker 1: with you, I shatter chariot and driver. But now God
- 1:39:34Speaker 1: would repay Babylon for all the evil they had done.
- 1:39:37Speaker 1: In verse twenty four, he declared, before your eyes, I
- 1:39:41Speaker 1: will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia for
- 1:39:46Speaker 1: all the wrong they have done. In Zion, declares the Lord.
- 1:39:50Speaker 1: The Book of Jeremiah concludes with a historical appendix that
- 1:39:54Speaker 1: provides detailed account of Jerusalem's fall. This chapter serves as
- 1:39:59Speaker 1: valid of Jeremiah's prophecies, showing that everything he had predicted
- 1:40:05Speaker 1: came true, exactly as God had said. In the verse
- 1:40:10Speaker 1: one we read Zedekiah was twenty one years old when
- 1:40:14Speaker 1: he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years.
- 1:40:17Speaker 1: The reason for Jerusalem's destruction is stated clearly in verse two.
- 1:40:23Speaker 1: He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just
- 1:40:26Speaker 1: as Jehoiakim had done. The siege lasted almost two years
- 1:40:31Speaker 1: in verse four. So in the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign,
- 1:40:36Speaker 1: on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar, king
- 1:40:39Speaker 1: of Babylon, marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. Finally,
- 1:40:45Speaker 1: the city's defenses were breached in verse seven. Then the
- 1:40:49Speaker 1: city wall was broken through and the whole army fled,
- 1:40:53Speaker 1: but their escape failed in verse eight, but the Babylonian
- 1:40:57Speaker 1: army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains
- 1:41:00Speaker 1: of Jericho. The judgment on Zedekiah was exactly what Jeremiah
- 1:41:06Speaker 1: had prophesied in verse ten. There at Ribla, the king
- 1:41:11Speaker 1: of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes.
- 1:41:15Speaker 1: Then in verse eleven, then he put out Zedekiah's eyes,
- 1:41:19Speaker 1: bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon,
- 1:41:23Speaker 1: where he remained in prison till the day of his death.
- 1:41:26Speaker 1: The destruction was systematic and complete. In verse thirteen, he
- 1:41:30Speaker 1: set fire to the Temple of the Lord, the Royal Palace,
- 1:41:34Speaker 1: and all the houses of Jerusalem. The walls were torn down.
- 1:41:38Speaker 1: In verse fourteen, the whole Babylonian army broke down all
- 1:41:42Speaker 1: the walls around Jerusalem. But the chapter ends on a
- 1:41:46Speaker 1: note of hope. In verses thirty one to thirty two.
- 1:41:50Speaker 1: In the thirty seventh year of the exile of Jehoiacin
- 1:41:53Speaker 1: King of Judah, aw Almada, king of Babylon, released Jehoiacin
- 1:41:57Speaker 1: King of Judah, and freed him from PRIs. He spoke
- 1:42:01Speaker 1: kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor
- 1:42:03Speaker 1: higher than those of the other kings who were with
- 1:42:07Speaker 1: him in Babylon. This final note shows that even in exile,
- 1:42:11Speaker 1: God had not completely abandoned the royal line of David.
- 1:42:15Speaker 1: The kindness shown to Jehoiakin was a small sign that
- 1:42:19Speaker 1: God's promises about future restoration would some day be fulfilled.
- 1:42:23Speaker 1: If this study impacted you, please subscribe and hit the
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- 1:42:32Speaker 1: Share this video with someone who needs to hear about
- 1:42:35Speaker 1: God's faithfulness through trials. Comment below which part of Jeremiah's
- 1:42:41Speaker 1: story spoke to you most. Remember. God's love never fails,
- 1:42:45Speaker 1: His mercies are new every morning, and his plans for
- 1:42:48Speaker 1: you are always for good. Thanks for studying with us.
- 1:42:52Speaker 1: We'll see you in the next video.