35-Jeremiah 7 – 31

Jeremiah 7 – 31

Aug. 22, 2009

We will continue our study this week in the Book of Jeremiah in Chapter 7. Last week we looked at the call of Jeremiah and some of his prophesies and words against the people of Judah. We will pick up this week in Chapter 7. In Chapter 7 the Lord told Jeremiah to speak His words in the gate of His temple in Jerusalem. The people of the city believed God would not destroy them or Jerusalem because His house was located there. Through Jeremiah God let the people know that His temple could not save them. Only if they would change their evil ways, and put down their false gods would they escape destruction. Jesus used the words from Chapter 7:11 when He overturned the tables of the moneychangers at the temple recorded in the Gospel of Matthew 21:13. Jeremiah 7:11 reads “Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares the Lord.” Jeremiah was then told by the Lord not to pray for the people of Judah or intercede for them because he would not be heard. The people would have to change their ways on their own. Jeremiah told the people of Judah in Chapter 8 that even the birds of the air possess greater knowledge than God’s people. They would not care for each other and their leaders and priests continually practiced deceit. Jeremiah still asked the Lord to heal the people in the end of the chapter. This is shown in verse 21-22 “For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken; I mourn, dismay has taken hold of me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people been restored?” Jeremiah was willing to travel as far as Gilead to retrieve a cure for the people’s sin. God Himself would go much farther in the future to achieve the same thing. In Chapter 9 Jeremiah laments the condition of Zion’s people. They had slain each other with their tongues. Jeremiah wrote, in verse 8-9 “Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit; with his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor, but inwardly he sets an ambush for him. “Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares the Lord. On a nation such as this shall I not avenge Myself?” In the end of the chapter the Lord said he was going to punish the circumcised along with the uncircumcised in the future. This included the nations that did not believe, along with His people who were circumcised, but uncircumcised in their hearts. The Lord spoke through Jeremiah about idols in Chapter 10. He told the people in verse 8 “But they are altogether stupid and foolish In their discipline of delusion—their idol is wood!” Jeremiah wrote in verse 12 “It is He who made the earth by His power, who established the world by His wisdom; and by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens.” Only the Lord is in control of all things. Idols of gold, silver, and wood are useless. In Chapter 11 the Lord told Jeremiah to remind the people of His covenant. The text in verse 3-5 reads “Cursed is the man who does not heed the words of this covenant which I commanded your forefathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Listen to My voice, and do according to all which I command you; so you shall be My people, and I will be your God,’in order to confirm the oath which I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.”’” Then I said, “Amen, O Lord.” The Lord could see the people had broken the covenant He had made with them long ago and served and worshipped other gods. God pronounced that He would bring disaster on the people for their sin. It was also revealed in the end of the chapter that Jeremiah’s life was threatened by the men of Anathoth. God told Jeremiah that these men, along with their sons and daughters would die from famine and the sword for their threat. Jeremiah prayed to the Lord in Chapter 12 and asked Him how long it would be before the disaster and destruction to come. The Lord answered Jeremiah in the end of the chapter and told him it would be soon. He also revealed that He would restore His people to their inheritance in the future. In Chapter 13 the Lord had Jeremiah do some strange things. We will see this type of visual teaching used by other prophets in the course of their work. God used these unusual acts to get the people’s attention to their sin. God told Jeremiah to buy a waistband and wear it around his waist. He then told him to take the same waistband and bury it under a rock near the Euphrates River for many days. When Jeremiah retrieved the waistband it was ruined and worthless. God had him do this to illustrate that His relationship with His people was like Jeremiah and the waistband. He revealed in verse 11 “For as the waistband clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah cling to Me,’ declares the Lord that they might be for Me a people, for renown, for praise and for glory; but they did not listen.” The Lord then had Jeremiah use the example of a full jug of wine to tell the people He was going to fill the leaders of the people with drunkenness and send them into captivity. The Lord asked in verse 23 “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good who are accustomed to doing evil.” The people’s hope of doing right was just about as possible as it was for a man or animal to change the color of their skin. The Lord sent a drought over the land, in Chapter 14, so the people would experience being as physically dry as they were spiritually dry. Jeremiah was again told by the Lord not to pray for the people. The Lord refused to listen to the prayers because the people had placed their trust in false prophets. The hardships and disease they were experiencing was the punishment told to them from the Book of Leviticus in Chapter 26 where the Lord revealed the penalties for disobeying Him. In Chapter 15 the Lord reveals that the time of judgement must come. Even if the most revered godly men of Israel, Moses and Samuel came before Him to plead their case, their fates were sealed by the sin of Hezekiah’s wicked son, King Manasseh. The disaster that would soon come upon them would make the people wish they had never been born. The text of verse 14 reads “Then I will cause your enemies to bring it into a land you do not know; for a fire has been kindled in My anger, it will burn upon you.” Jeremiah then prays to the Lord for his own safety, and God answers him. The Lord gives Jeremiah a precious promise in verse 20-21 “Then I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; and though they fight against you, they will not prevail over you; for I am with you to save you and deliver you,” declares the Lord.” So I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you from the grasp of the violent.” Jeremiah was told in Chapter 16 that he was not to take a wife or have sons or daughters to only die in the land like the people. He was also told not to participate in the community and be separate from them as an example. In the end of the chapter the Lord again spoke of restoration, and Jeremiah rejoiced over the fact that one day even the Gentile idolaters would recognize the one true God. In Chapter 17 Jeremiah echoes the Psalmist’s words from Psalm 1 in verse 7 and the beginning of verse 8 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord. “For he will be like a tree planted by the water” Then right after in verse 9-10 he reveals the truth about the heart of man. “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.” Man cannot change his own heart, only the Lord is able to cause it to change. Jeremiah also declares in verse 14 “Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for You are my praise.” When something is done by the Lord you can be sure it is completely done! Jeremiah is told to go to the potter’s house in Chapter 18. There God used the potter at work on his wheel to illustrate a truth for Jeremiah. Jeremiah saw the potter working with the clay at his wheel. The piece he had formed was not to his liking so he pressed the clay together and began to work the same clay into a different piece. God told Jeremiah that He was the Potter and Israel was the clay. If they were not formed to His liking He would crush them and start over just like the potter did on his wheel. The people turned and made plans to get rid of Jeremiah and refused to listen to his words. In Chapter 19 the Lord told Jeremiah to go again to the potter’s house and buy from him a finished clay jar. He was told to gather the senior priests and the leaders of Jerusalem at the potsherd gate near the Ben-hinnom valley and explain to them the coming judgement on the people from the Lord. He was then told to smash the jar in front of the men and say that God would break them just like he had broken the jar. After this, in Chapter 20, Pashhur the chief priest had Jeremiah beaten and placed in stocks for the night as punishment for his prophesying against the people. When Jeremiah was released the next day he told Pashhur that the Lord had given him a new name. This name was Magor-missabib which was translated “Terror on every side” Pashhur would be removed in exile by the king of Babylon and would die there with his fellow conspirators. Jeremiah complained to the Lord that he had been deceived. He said he could not endure the work God asked him to do. Like Job before him, he cursed the day he was born. Jeremiah was told to bring a message to King Zedekiah in Chapter 21. The priests asked him to go to the Lord on their behalf for help in their war with Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. The Lord’s response to Zedekiah was to remove from Judah the weapons of war and allow them to be defeated by the Babylonians for their sin. The people were warned in Chapter 22 of the imminent fall of Jerusalem. Then, in Chapter 23, God promises to send them a Messiah in the future. He reveals in verse 5-6 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. “In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The Lord our righteousness.” The Lord denounces the false prophets through the end of the chapter. In Chapter 24 the Lord had Jeremiah use two baskets of figs to illustrate another truth about His people. One basket is of ripe good figs, and the other is full of old rotten ones. God said His captive people in Babylon are represented by the basket of good figs and will be restored. The bad rotten inedible figs represent the priests and corrupt leaders that will be left in Jerusalem to die. Chapter 25 goes back to an earlier time during the career of Jeremiah when he prophesied on the coming captivity of Judah. It was here that God revealed that He would use Nebuchadnezzar to punish His disobedient people. In verse 11 Jeremiah reveals that the people will be in exile in Babylon for seventy years. After the seventy years have been completed the Lord would judge Babylon for their mistreatment of His people during their exile, and would remove them from power into the hands of the Medes and Persians. Jeremiah warned the cities of Judah, in Chapter 26 of the coming judgement, but the priests and leaders plotted to have him seized and executed for his words. Jeremiah stood up and told them in verse 12-15 “Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and to all the people, saying, “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. “Now therefore amend your ways and your deeds and obey the voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will change His mind about the misfortune which He has pronounced against you. “But as for me, behold, I am in your hands; do with me as is good and right in your sight. “Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, and on this city and on its inhabitants; for truly the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.” Jeremiah’s words changed the mind of his captors and he was set free. They realized men had come before him with the same sort of prophesy and were not killed. This, however, did not change their ways. In Chapter 27 the Lord gave His people into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. He told the people to serve their new king in Babylon and they would be restored. In Chapter 28 Hananiah falsely prophesied to Jeremiah and the priests that within two years the Lord would break the yoke of Babylon from around their necks and restore the people to Jerusalem. Hananiah then ceremonially broke a wooden yoke from around Jeremiah’s neck. The Lord then came to Jeremiah and told him that Hananiah only broke a yoke of wood and that He would place a yoke of iron around their necks to serve Babylon. Hananiah was also revealed as a false prophet and was dead soon after for his actions. Jeremiah wrote a letter to the exiled people, in Chapter 29, to encourage them to become good citizens for the king. They were to become productive members of Babylonian society. The Lord had promised to restore them to Jerusalem after the seventy years of exile was complete. He told His people in verse 11 “For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” He also spoke against false prophets in the letter. The people were promised deliverance from their captivity, in Chapter 30. Then in Chapter 31 Jeremiah said that all of Israel’s suffering will be turned to joy. They will be restored, the Lord heard their weeping. At the end of the chapter God said He would write a new covenant with His people on their hearts when Jesus comes again to be their King during His thousand year reign on the Earth. This ends our study for this week. Next week we will finish up the Book of Jeremiah.