#674 15-Apr-12 1:20 p.m.
Jeremiah 15:
Reading #674The cup of tribulation
The time had come for deep heart searching. While good king Josiah had been their ruler, the people had had some ground for hope. But no longer could he intercede in their behalf as their national “father”, for he had fallen in battle. The sins of the nation were such that the time for intercession had all but passed by, but still the LORD lingered, for He is not wiling that any should perish.
A refusal to heed the invitation of mercy that God was now offering would bring upon the impenitent nation the judgments that had befallen the northern kingdom of Israel over a century before. The message to them now was: “If you will not hearken to Me, to walk in My law, which I have set before you, to hearken to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I sent to you, both rising up early, and sending them, but you have not hearkened; then will I make this house like[the destroyed city of] Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth”. Jeremiah 26:4-6.
***************(Begin Quote)
Jeremiah 15:
1 Then said the LORD to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, yet My mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth”.
***************(End Quote)
The time had come (the close of their probation) when even had there been some very righteous people like Moses and Daniel, there could be no reprieve, because every one is saved or lost on their own. (Ezekiel 14:14.) All another can do is encourage or discourage. But Jeremiah and his companions had not fully realised thisyet, and still needed time to appreciate what the LORD was doing, and why. That’s why there is often a gap between the statement and the fact – between the close of probation and the death of the sinner.
***************(Begin Quote)
Jeremiah 15:
2 “And it shall come to pass, if they say toyou, ‘Where shall we go forth?’ then youshall tell them, Thus says the LORD; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.
3 “And I will appoint over them four kinds, says the LORD: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy. 4 And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of[the influence of] Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah[who had lived about 50 years before this], for that which he did in Jerusalem”.[See note 1.]
5 “For who shall have pity upon you, O Jerusalem? Or who shall bemoan[cry for]you? Or who shall go aside to ask how you do?
***************(End Quote)
All that Manasseh had instituted was with the full agreement of the majority of the people because either they did not see the significance of what they were being asked to do, or because they wanted these gods rather than the living God. It was what was being done by the Pagans who lived among and around them and it seemed all right, just as it seems that way today!
However, shortly before he died, after having reigned the longest of any king of the Hebrews, Manasseh repented and tried to make amends for how he had behaved in his youth, but his evil influence was still strong among the people even in Jeremiah’s time. (See note 2.)
***************(Begin Quote)
Jeremiah 15:
6 “Youhave forsaken Me, says the LORD, youare gone backward: therefore will I stretch out My hand against you, and destroy you; I am weary with repenting[He does not really give up, but He is talking to us in our language to explain why He has to retract His protection.].
7 “And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land[throw them in the air for the “wind” to distribute them]; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy My people, since they return not from their ways. 8 Their widows are increased to Me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler[the king of the north] at noonday: I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.
9 “She[the city of Jerusalem] that has borne seven languishes: she has given up the[Holy]Ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she has been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, says the LORD”.
***************(End Quote)
From the days of David to this time there had been seven major opportunities to repent and to do what the LORD had asked of them (7x70), but now the time of “old age” had arrived and the “kingdom” was finished. There would never again be a physical king over Israelin place of the King of kingsafter the exile. 1 Timothy 6:15.
***************(Begin Quote)
10[Jeremiah cried]“Woe is me, my mother[the city and its religion], that youhave borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury[unreasonable interest], nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them does curse me”.
***************(End Quote)
In his agony at being alive at that time, Jeremiah called out for help and claimed that he had not done the most evil thing that he could think of – making a profit from his fellows.
***************(Begin Quote)
Jeremiah 15:
11The LORD[answered and] said[to the monarchy], “Verily it shall be well with your remnant; verily I will curse the enemy to entreat you well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction. 12Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?[But you still can’t win.]13Your substance and your treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all your sins, even in all your borders.
14“And I will make you to pass with your enemies into a land which you know not: for a fire is kindled in My anger, which shall burn upon you”.
***************(End Quote)
Even though this was the end result of their own action in requiring a human king (1 Samuel 8:7), the LORD said that He would be able to arrange for their exile to be modified if they did as He advised. There were some of the exiles who lost their lives in the beginning of the captivity, but eventually the majority settled down and followed Daniel’s example of doing the best they could on behalf of their captors. They had to go into captivity to learn the lesson, but it need not be harder than necessary.
The LORD had said, “But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, says the LORD; and they shall till it, and dwell therein”, and Jeremiah was one of these. Jeremiah 27:11. Others were offered the chance but refused it. “And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan[the new governor installed by the Babylonians]sworeto them[some resisters] and to their men, saying, ‘Fear not to serve the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you’.” Jeremiah 40:9.
“Then arose Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men that were with him, and smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and slew him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land. Ishmael also slew all the Jews that were with him, even with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans that were found there, and the men of war”. Jeremiah 41:2-3.
So Jeremiah was in the midst of much internal trouble and strife:
***************(Begin Quote)
Jeremiah 15:
15 [Jeremiah prayed]“O LORD, You know: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in Your longsuffering: know that for Your sake I have suffered rebuke.
16 “Your words were found, and I did eat them; and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts. 17 I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of Your hand: for Youhave filled me with indignation.
18 “Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? WillYou be altogether to me as a liar, and as waters that fail?”
***************(End Quote)
Still thinking in the power of destruction, Jeremiah called on the LORD to avenge him and the righteous. Like Job before him, he claimed that he had “done” righteousness and suffered for it, for he had not yet learned the lesson that this is the natural consequence of goodness in a world full of rejecters. The main reason for our existence is to show what the world led by Satan is really like. As Jesus said, “If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘The servant is not greater than his LORD’. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do to you for My name's sake, because they know not Him that sent Me”. John 15:19-21.
It was Christ Himself who had led the Hebrews through the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:1-4), and had daily fed them with the bread from heaven. (Exodus 16:15.) That food was a type of the real bread from heaven. The life-giving Spirit, flowing from the infinite fullness of God and found in the words of the Bible, is the true manna. Jesus said, “For the bread of God is He which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world”. Then said they to Him, ‘LORD, evermore give us this bread’. And Jesus said to them, ‘I[also] am the bread of life: he that comes to Me shall never hunger; and he that believes on Me shall never thirst”.” John 6:33-35. If we will take God at His word, we shall see of His salvation. The gospel that we present to save perishing souls must be the very gospel that saves our own souls. We must receive the word of God. We must eat the word, live the word; it is the flesh and blood of the Son of God. We must eat His flesh and drink His blood – receive by faith His spiritual attributes.
Naturally of a timid and shrinking disposition, Jeremiah longed for the peace and quiet of a life of retirement, where he need not witness the continued impenitence of his beloved nation. His heart was wrung with anguish over the ruin wrought by sin. “O that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears,” he mourned, “that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! O that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them”. Jeremiah 9:1-2. Using words that apply also to his God, he cried,“Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed?”
However, for our Saviour they really do mean “perpetual” and for ever, while we as humans, can get over them when we receive immortality in the new world. “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away’. And He that sat upon the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new’. And He said to me, ‘Write: for these words are true and faithful’.” Revelation 21:3-5.
***************(Begin Quote)
Jeremiah 15:
19 Therefore thus says the LORD, “If you return[retain your new heart], then will I bring you again, and youshall stand before Me: and if you take forth the precious from the vile, youshall be as My mouth: let them[the people] return toyou; but return not youto them.
20 “And I will make youto this people a fenced brazen wall: and they shall fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you: for I am with you to save you and to deliver you, says the LORD. 21 And I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you out of the hand of the terrible”.
***************(End Quote)
When called to drink more of the cup of tribulation and sorrow, and when tempted in his misery to say, “My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD,”Jeremiah recalled the providences of God in his behalf and triumphantly exclaimed, “It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Your faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, says my soul; therefore will I hope in Him. The LORD is good to them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeks Him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD”. Lamentations 3:18, 22-26.
Thus when men and women's hearts are softened and subdued by the constraining influence of the Holy Spirit, they will give heed to counsel; but when they turn from admonition until their hearts become hardened, the LORD permits them to be led by other influences. Refusing the truth, they accept falsehood, which becomes a snare to their own destruction.
The children of Judah were numbered among those of whom God had declared, “You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation”. Exodus 19:6. Never did Jeremiah in his ministry lose sight of the vital importance of heart holiness in the varied relationships of life, and especially in the service of the most high God. In the end, he plainly foresaw the downfall of the kingdom and a scattering of the inhabitants of Judah among the nations; but with the eye of faith he looked beyond all this to the times of restoration. Ringing in his ears was the divine promise: “I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds. . .Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS”. Jeremiah 23:3-6.
Thus prophecies of oncoming judgment were mingled with promises of final and glorious deliverance. Those who should choose to make their peace with God and live holy lives amid the prevailing apostasy, would receive strength for every trial and be enabled to witness for Him with mighty power. And in the ages to come the deliverance wrought in their behalf would exceed in fame that wrought for the children of Israel at the time of the Exodus.
The days were coming, the LORD declared through His prophet, when “they shall no more say, ‘The LORDlives, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt’; but, ‘The LORDlives, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries where I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land’.” Jeremiah 23:7-8.
Bye for now,
RonP
In this reading the old-fashioned words of the KJV have been modernised, and in some instances, the man-made punctuation has been altered for greater understanding. Some of the comments are adapted from books in my library. No recognition is given because they are not intended as authorities, but are used because they express my understanding clearly. All the ideas expressed in these readings, right or wrong, are my own. Some of these readings are available at Past books will be available from time to time.
Note 1:
***************(Begin Quote)
2 Kings 21:
1Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hephzibah.
2And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel. 3 For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal[the god of punishments], and made a grove[using a tamarisk tree as an alternative picture of salvation as some among us use a cross] as did Ahab king of Israel[and Abraham, who did the real thing. Genesis 21:33]; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them[with the full co-operation and desire of the priests and people].