Jeremiah

Jeremiah Chapter 37

• Jeremiah 37:1 And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.
• 2 But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the LORD, which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah.

This is probably one of the saddest things one can read. "They did not hearken unto the words of the Lord." We are going about running to and fro, some do evil, some do good, some do nothing, and some do everything but the sad part of it all is that most do not pay any mind to the spiritual things.

Our salvation comes, not from any religion or creed, it comes through trusting and believing in Jesus Christ, His death for our sins and in His resurrection. He was raised from the dead getting victory of death so that we too can be raised from the dead and receive the gift of eternal life. To be born again by the spirit of God is to receive life from the deadness of sin. It is beautiful. 

Hell is something we do not like to hear about. It is sad to hear about. Yet God did not want this to happen to His creation. He sent Jesus to die for our sins in our place. Since Jesus did not die for His own sins, for He did not sin, His death counts for us who believe. Jesus brings us the gift of eternal life. It is like someone who did no wrong taking our place for breaking the law he did not break and receiving punishment we deserve because we did break the law. 

To receive this one must see that he or she has sinned and is in need of a savior from sin. He or she must repent and ask God to forgive their sins and ask Jesus Christ into their lives. They then become reborn or "born again." God's spirit comes to dwell with them giving them strength to stay away from sin and live for Jesus Christ.

Just as in Jeremiah's day when he showed the king and all Judah how to be saved from God's judgment, they did not hearken to the word of God, we see today the majority do not hearken to God's gift of salvation but prefer to stay in their sins and live according to what is right in their own eyes. What seems right to society though does not please God.

• Proverbs 16:25 There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Yet we see that God is not one that desires to see any of His creation lost. He makes a way of salvation.

• Isaiah 55:6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 
• 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 
• 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

His ways are higher. In Him and in Him is victory to overcome all sin and live in the righteousness of Jesus the Christ.

• Jeremiah 37:3 And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now unto the LORD our God for us.
• 4 Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people: for they had not put him into prison.
• 5 Then Pharaoh's army was come forth out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem.
• 6 Then came the word of the LORD unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
• 7 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to enquire of me; Behold, Pharaoh's army, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land.
• 8 And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire.
• 9 Thus saith the LORD; Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart.
• 10 For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.
• 11 And it came to pass, that when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army,
• 12 Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to separate himself thence in the midst of the people.
• 13 And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans.
• 14 Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Irijah took Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes.
• 15 Wherefore the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the prison.
• 16 When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon, and into the cabins, and Jeremiah had remained there many days;
• 17 Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took him out: and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any word from the LORD? And Jeremiah said, There is: for, said he, thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.
• 18 Moreover Jeremiah said unto king Zedekiah, What have I offended against thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in prison?
• 19 Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?
• 20 Therefore hear now, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray thee, be accepted before thee; that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.
• 21 Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city were spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.

The king sends for a word from the Lord perhaps hoping that the Lord would change His mind. Notice that Zedekiah doesn't seek the Lord until he sees with his eyes that the Babylonians are coming and there is not other way out of his situation.

Do we seek God only when we are in trouble and we turn to God as a last resort? I guess it's better to turn to God then than not at all but how much better it is to serve God when times are good as well as in bad times. He is so good and faithful to us and in return we are not faithful to Him.

They once depended on Egypt to help them but Egypt turned back probably out of fear. The only one we can really count on is God. He is the only one who will stand by His believers no matter what. He loves us when we are young, when we get old and wrinkled, when we fail, when we are happy, when we are sad, when things are going bad and when things are going good. God never fails.

I honestly believe that Israel will one day only have God and His mercy to help them. I believe in some time in the future that they will not be able to even count on the United States. In fact as I write and update this study, we are seeing this now that the United States is not a friend to Israel that it once was at least before the election of Donald Trump. Trump restored that relationship and is a strong supporter of Israel. Still I don't care how great and mighty is the armies of Israel or the United States, God is the only one who will save them on that day when all hell breaks loose upon the inhabitants of the earth.  If you want to learn more of this, read the bible. 

If the kings of Judah would have only served God continually and not served other gods, if the people of Israel and Judah had stayed faithful to God or even repented at the preaching of the prophets, the Babylonians would never have been able to defeat them. They could only defeat Israel if the hand of God's protection is removed. 

No nation, great or small can defeat Almighty God. Under the hand of God nations stand and nations fall. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed is the nation or the people whose God is the Lord. Without Him there is nothing and no hope. We cannot exist without the God that created us. Mankind would not last very long if God's hand of protection was removed.  DC

Jeremiah 38