Jeremiah 26
McGeeCHAPTERS 2628THEME: Message in temple court during reign of Jehoiakim and parable of yokesYou may recall that in chapter 7 Jeremiah was told to stand at the gate of the Lord’s house and speak to the people. Here he is told to stand in the court.
Jeremiah 26:2
This is a message that he had already given in the time of Jehoiakim. Now it is repeated at the time of Zedekiah. Chapters 26-30 record the message which delivered the final words of God to these people before the captivity. I am of the opinion that the people were still coming to the temple as usual. There was this outward show of worship, and there was prosperity in the land at that time; nobody seemed to be complaining. It looked as if God were being petulant to make such prophecies, but in actuality the people were far from God, and there was awful sin in the land. Jeremiah was to continue to cry out against this.
Jeremiah 26:3
“That I may repent me of the evil.” When God repents, it does not mean that He has changed His mind. He means that the people have changed. If the people will change, God will not judge; He will bless. It looks as if God had changed His mind, but the fact is that God will always punish sin and will always pardon the sinner who will come to Him. That never changes. When a sinner, who has been under the judgment of God, turns to God and is blessed and saved, it looks as if God has changed His mind. However, in fact, it is the sinner who has changed his mind. God tells them that if they will change, then He will not destroy them; He will not judge them.
Jeremiah 26:4
“Then will I make this house like Shiloh"meaning that it would be destroyed. “And will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth"Jerusalem has been a burden to this world, and it is at the present moment. At the time I am writing this commentary, Jerusalem does not even belong to the nation Israel; it is like a pawn on the chessboard of the earth controlled by Russia and America. God said that He would make it a burden to all nations, and He certainly has done that.
Jeremiah 26:8
JEREMIAH THREATENED WITH DEATHThings are getting bad. They have resisted the message of God through Jeremiah, and now they want to kill Jeremiah. Now this gets rather complicated because there are three groups in this section: the princes, the priests and the prophets, and the people.
Jeremiah 26:11
The priests and the prophets were of one mind; they had determined his death. They never changed their minds about that at all. However, the princes decided they had better hear Jeremiah, and the people who had been of the same mind as the priests and prophets came over on the side of the princes.
Jeremiah 26:12
He makes it clear why God is threatening to judge them. Let’s keep in mind that it was considered blasphemy when Jeremiah prophesied that the city and the temple would be destroyed. This branded him as a heretic. The false prophets were saying that God would never let the temple fall. It was His temple, and Jerusalem was His city. God would not let that happen. Jeremiah said, “You are entirely wrong. You are disassociating religion from morality.” This is a problem with a number of people who are very fundamental in their belief. They make the Word of God almost a fetish. I don’t believe there is anyone more fundamental in his doctrine than I am. People say that I lean backwards, I am so fundamental. But I do want to say that it is entirely wrong to divorce morality from your faith, be it ever so fundamental. One can make religion and the Word of God a sort of good-luck charm. It reminds me of the story of a soldier who carried a New Testament in his pocket. The bullet hit the book in his shirt pocket, and that saved his life. Well, the book didn’t stop the bullet because it was a New Testamentit could have been any kind of a book. How foolish to make the Word of God a sort of fetish. Oh, my friend, we can’t divorce our manner of life from the teachings of the Word of God and still expect His blessing. This is what the false prophets were doing. And in our day many folk are saying, “Because I am fundamental in my doctrine, no harm can come to me.” Well, it can come to you. When you and I get away from God, He will judge us. I point out again how interesting it is that the priests and the false prophets did not change their minds about putting Jeremiah to death. The princes did, and that is the thing that saved the life of Jeremiah. The princes were willing to hear him. It has been my experience that when a spiritual authority becomes corrupt and debased it is far more evil than when the politicians become corrupt and debased. When the civil authority is corrupt, that is bad; but when the religious authority becomes corrupt, that is a lot worse. Let me remind you that it was the priests who put the Lord Jesus to death on the Cross. It was the religious rulers who insisted that He must die; they were the ones who persuaded the people to shout, “Crucify Him!” And the religious leaders in Jeremiah’s time were determined to kill him. This reveals another fallacy: We hear the expression, Vox populi, vox Dei, that is, “the voice of the people is the voice of God.” There are a lot of people in America who believe that. They consider public opinion as the authority. However, the mass of people is a fickle crowd that will follow one TV personality after another. It will elect a man to office if he has charisma even though he may be the biggest fool in the world and utterly corrupt in his life. The voice of the people is the very worst basis for authority. I thank God that He is not going to let the world vote the Lord Jesus into office! If God were to put it up to a public vote, Jesus Christ would never enter into His Kingdom. I rejoice that God will send the Lord Jesus to this earth to put down rebellion. During those last troubled days of the kingdom of Judah, God is saying that the people are wrong, the princes are wrong, the priests are wrong, and the prophets are wrong. Jeremiah isn’t even sure of himself; he is only sure that he is giving out the Word of God. The Word of God is the only and final authority. People today are turning to the signs of the zodiac and the horoscopewe have mentioned the utter foolishness of that. But we find some Christians, often ministers and leaders, who feel that they are a final authority. I appreciate this Book of Jeremiah. It helps me, because I confess that the more I study the Word of God the more aware I am of my own ignorance of it. It disturbs me that so many men think they know it all and are the final authority. It is said that Socrates made the statement that he was the wisest man in Athens. When asked on what grounds he made such a claim he replied that he was the wisest man because he realized that his wisdom was worthless! The only claim I can make today is that I know I am ignorant of the Word of God. A Persian proverb puts it this way: He who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a fool. Shun him. He who knows not and knows that he knows not is a child. Teach him. He who knows and knows not that he knows is asleep. Wake him. He who knows and knows that he knows is wise. Follow him. Author unknown I will accept the first three statements, but not the last one, because I don’t think we do know. This is also Jeremiah’s positionall he knows is the Word of God. Although the false prophets insist that nothing is going to happen, Jeremiah believes God, and he knows something is going to happen. In chapter 27 the message is to go out again to all the nations that they are to yield to the king of Babylon. This time his message is illustrated