Jeremiah

Jeremiah Chapter 49

• Jeremiah 49:1 Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the LORD; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities?
• 2 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the LORD.
• 3 Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together.
• 4 Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me?
• 5 Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts, from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him that wandereth.

Here we read about the judgment of God upon Ammon. Ammon originally was a brother to Moab, sons of Lot who was the nephew of Abraham. Ammon like Moab turned to idolatry and they also at times were enemies of Israel. They were inclined to gloat over any calamities that befell Israel.

We must not ever forget that God sees everything and knows when we sin as individuals or as nations. If He allows judgment to fall upon a nation such as Israel, never should we gloat and be happy for that judgment. We should never be high-minded and think ourselves better to have escaped God's judgment for if we do the same things that other nations did that received God's judgment, we shall surely receive the same judgment.

I fear sometimes for the United States. We have had so much. We have been blessed with wealth, peace, safety, and so much more than the rest of the world. We also have had the word of God preached from shore to shore. I doubt that there is one city in American that does not have a church of some kind and a witness to the fact that Jesus Christ came to die for sins and save the lost. We have had an abundance of bibles, books, tapes and the gospel in every form available.

Yet, I fear for us for if we turn away from God, we are without excuse more than Sodom and Gomorrah and more than the Jews who were blamed for Jesus' crucifixion. We have had more than any nation before us both in the gospel and in material wealth.

Yet look at us. Look at this nation. Look at what happened. First of all we allowed slavery which was a great sin of bringing people into this country and causing them to work on southern plantations and be bought and sold like cattle. It caused much suffering and a great war but we finally got rid of that awful sin. Too bad we didn't follow Great Britain's example and ban slavery after the influence and preaching of men of God in that day that turned their hearts against slavery.

Then things started to improve, not all at once but little by little. In the 1920's we started to consider evolution as an alternative for creation. The 1920's were a time of revolution and change. Many fell away from the fear of God. As a result this country went through the Great Depression where we lost much that we gained as a nation.

By the seventies, we had a serious drug problem among the youth. Abortion became legal 10 years after prayer left the classroom. Every year millions of babies are murdered in the mother's womb. Just a few years later, partial birth abortion was allowed. This is where a mother can abort the baby just prior to the time of birth. If the doctor kills the baby before it comes out of the womb, it is not considered murder but if they allow it to be born alive and then kill it, it is considered murder. What a shame on the face of the earth that this type of thing is allowed in a great country such as the United States. Since writing this study, babies born alive can be allowed to die in a couple of states if the mother makes that choice. Babies are harvested for organs and their tissue used in vaccines. Evil grows and grows as our conscience becomes seared.

Now we have confusion, sexual immorality, increased divorce rates. Children and young people confused about their gender.

A few years ago someone was rushed to the hospital that one of my kids knew. She tried to commit suicide in the parking lot where she worked. She was female who thought she was male. And before someone blames the conservatives, everyone treated her with kindness. She was not harassed. 

Romans chapter one in the bible explains plainly what has happened? When we deny our creator and do not retain God in our knowledge, we end up with a reprobate mind. Mental illness has increased. Evil is called good and good is called evil.

Now what do we have? Human trafficking, pedophilia rings, and other such evils have become uncontrollable and big business even among some government officials. This is leading us back into a more dangerous than the evil slavery than we had in the early days of American history.

We can be free from this immoral bondage through faith in Jesus Christ yet it is considered hate for us to tell them how they can be free?? Come on people, who are the real people who hate?

It is common knowledge that those that practice sexual immorality that God never ordained anyone to have, is in danger of having a shorter life than those who take care of themselves and use abstinence. What is killing them? Is it not the way they are living? Can't we love them enough to tell them the truth. They can be free and yet we are branded as hate-mongers if we preach against sexual promiscuity.

This is a bible study. These are not my opinions and words. The bible teaches these things. The bible is the written word of God, our creator. This is what is taught in His word. Is it because He wants us to be unhappy and miserable? No. He is trying to make us happy, safe, and well. He wants us to inherit eternal life through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. He loves. The bible is a message of love not hate.

Yes, I fear for the United States if we continue to turn from the teachings in the word of God and keep listening to those who teach diversity. No we should never hate or persecute anyone who believes different but we should never stop preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ for fear of men.

We have allowed a few individuals to intimidate us and take the witness of God out of the public schools. The public schools have went downhill ever since. We pour more and more money into them but for nothing. Education has become our god, sports and pleasure have become our god and our real God is ignored. We are not much different from the nations that sinned against God in the Old Testament. Will we escape if we continue the way we are?

• Jeremiah 49:6 And afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith the LORD.

Ammon will be part of the latter day fulfillment of prophecy. They will be restored in the future kingdom of Jesus Christ. Any nation that repents and turns to God can be restored. There is hope.

• Jeremiah 49:7 Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? Is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?
• 8 Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will visit him.
• 9 If grape gatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough.
• 10 But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not.
• 11 Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me.
• 12 For thus saith the LORD; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it.
• 13 For I have sworn by myself, saith the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes.
• 14 I have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle.
• 15 For, lo, I will make thee small among the heathen, and despised among men.
• 16 Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the LORD.
• 17 Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof.
• 18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it.
• 19 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?
• 20 Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them.
• 21 The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red sea.
• 22 Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
• 23 Concerning Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet.
• 24 Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.
• 25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
• 26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts.
• 27 And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.
• 28 Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon shall smite, thus saith the LORD; Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and spoil the men of the east.
• 29 Their tents and their flocks shall they take away: they shall take to themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels; and they shall cry unto them, Fear is on every side.
• 30 Flee, get you far off, dwell deep, O ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith the LORD; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath conceived a purpose against you.
• 31 Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation, that dwelleth without care, saith the LORD, which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone.
• 32 And their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter into all winds them that are in the utmost corners; and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof, saith the LORD.
• 33 And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, and a desolation for ever: there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it.
• 34 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying,
• 35 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.
• 36 And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.
• 37 For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:
• 38 And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, saith the LORD.
• 39 But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the LORD.

God allowed Nebuchadnezzar to take over Edom also but they too are to be restored in the latter days. Edom came from Esau who was the brother to Jacob. Jacob was later renamed Israel by God. God judged them but has a plan for them in the latter days.  

Some have seen the United States in bible prophecy but I have not yet seen that so my guess is that our fate is up to us. It is up to us to choose whether we are going to serve God or throw away everything sacred and holy aside in the name of freedom and fairness. We don't know what we are doing if we choose the latter path.

God gave us this great country. The God who blessed us with wealth and good things can just say the word and it is gone. Learn the lesson of 1929. It can be gone before the next morning. There is nothing on the face of this earth that will last except God and those that love God.

God gave us a plan of salvation so that we can escape all evil and stand before Him and have eternal life. That plan was given through His Son, Jesus Christ. When we trust in Jesus and turn from sin, we will receive eternal life. In the days ahead only those who are standing on that solid rock of Jesus Christ will survive. Our treasure is in heaven, our souls will live forever. The things of the earth will pass away but those that are trusting in God will live forever. Only those who have true faith in Jesus Christ will endure the days ahead. 

Please don't ignore the salvation of your soul. I cry for souls and for my own nation. I don't hate, I cry. Read history. Nations do not survive that ignore human decency, use violence, live in sexual immorality, become cruel and also those that hate and persecute God's messengers. Because of the promise God made to Abraham, those that turn against Israel also will be taken down. We will not get away with ignoring God in our lives as individuals and as a nation. Ignoring God removes His loving protecting hand. He let us choose right now but He has to eventually bring an end to sin and suffering or it will continue for eternity. God has a better way. That is why He sent His Son Jesus to become one of us and bring a message of hope. To be free from sin, to become a new person in Christ and be baptized anew and afresh with the Holy Spirit. DC

Jeremiah 50