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The Book of Jeremiah Like You_ve Never Seen Before · truthunedited

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