Jeremiah 21

Jeremiah 21:1

ANSWER TO ZEDEKIAH REGARDING NEBUCHADNEZZARIt is interesting that when Zedekiah got into real trouble he went to the man he knew was giving the Word of God. He went right past Pashur and his crowdhe didn’t seek help from organized religion. I find that a great many people today belong to a liberal church, but they listen to a Bible broadcast on the radio. For some strange reason they feel they can reconcile those two things. My friend, when you are in trouble nothing is going to satisfy you but the Word of God. Zedekiah comes to Jeremiah but he doesn’t get any comfort from him at all. Jeremiah tells him that Nebuchadnezzar is coming and he will destroy the city unless there is a turning to God. Jeremiah really lays it on the line to him.

Jeremiah 21:8

That is exactly what God says to you today about His salvation provided in the Lord Jesus Christ. God says that He gave His Son to die for you, to pay the penalty of your sin. He arose so that you might have righteousness. If you are to be saved, you must be in Him. You get into Him by the baptism of the Holy Spirit when you put your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior. When you do that, you become a child of God. God says, “This is My way that I offer to you. You can take it or leave it. I set before you life and death.” That is the way God has put it. God also pleads with tears in His eyes. Now the choice before the people of Judah was to stay in the city and die or to surrender to the king of Babylon and live.

Jeremiah 21:9

King Zedekiah didn’t follow through. He was a weakling and the worst of the kings. He does not turn to God at all. He evidently thought something like this: Well, look, God didn’t let Nebuchadnezzar destroy this city when Jehoiachin was on the throne and he was about as bad as I am. Why should it happen now?