Jeremiah 42

Jeremiah 42:1

JEREMIAH CONSULTEDIn chapter 42 we see that before leaving for Egypt Johanan and all the captains come to Jeremiah. It is interesting that the people turned to Jeremiah under these strange circumstances. They needed to know what to do. Should they stay in the land or leave the land? Where should they go? This sounds very nice, doesn’t it? You would think that these people would actually walk with God now. They promised to obey the voice of the Lord.

Jeremiah 42:4

They came to Jeremiah, and they knew that they could depend upon Jeremiah to speak the truth. Any person who is attempting to speak for God, no matter whether his medium be the pulpit, radio, or even a soapbox, should lay aside all attempts at being clever and subtle. He should give forth the Word of God with no attempt at being sophisticated and saying smooth words to please the people. When the pulpit majors in positive thinking and ignores the negatives, it becomes weak and is only a sounding board just to say back to the people what they want to hear. Paul wrote to Timothy, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2Ti_4:3-4). Unfortunately, I think that is much of what the modern pulpit is today. That is the reason it has become extremely weak and has no message for this hour in which we live. When the pulpit can give out God’s Word as Jeremiah did, with nothing being held back, letting it say what God means for it to say, then the Word of God will become effective again in our day. Now Jeremiah is going to tell the remnant exactly what God says they are to do

Jeremiah 42:9

God assures them that He will not continue to judge them if they will obey Him. After all, God wants to bless; judgment is His strange work.

Jeremiah 42:11

the Word as the Lord gave it to him. It was a good word, an encouraging word. You would think by now they would know that Jeremiah spoke God’s Word, because it had been proven true. You would think they would believe God, but God knows they won’t. He adds this warning

Jeremiah 42:18

Experience has taught them nothing. They still will not obey God. They will not hear the message from Jeremiah. God has told them not to go down into Egypt. So where will they go? They go to Egypt.