048 Jeremiah 34-52
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HEAVEN’S HEROES Heaven has its heroes, but seldom does jected by his contemporaries. this world recognize them. More often than Even in the final throes of the na- not, the people God calls champs - the tion’s judgment – when it became obvi- world calls chumps. Christian author A.W. ous that what Jeremiah predicted would Pink observes, “It’s a strong proof of hu- come true – the princes of Judah still try man depravity that man’s curse and to shut him up. King Zedekiah throws Christ’s blessing meet on the same per- him in prison where he remains until Je- son.” Such was the case with Jeremiah. rusalem is destroyed. Jeremiah was a mighty man of God – Tonight we’ll read about Jeremiah’s faithful even in the midst of difficult cir- plight and the fall of Jerusalem… cumstances - yet he was despised and re- SOME BACKGROUND AND A TIME FRAME 34:1 provides us a setting, and estab- Zedekiah to ally himself with Egypt, and lishes a time frame… “The word which revolt against Babylon. It was a major came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when miscalculation with devastating conse- Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all quences. his army, all the kingdoms of the earth The Babylonians didn’t think too under his dominion, and all the people, highly of treason, and in 586 BC their fought against Jerusalem and all its cit- army launched a third and final inva- ies…” The Babylonians invaded Judah and sion. The Babylonian troops destroyed Jerusalem on three occasions… the city of Jerusalem, led its inhabitants First, in 605 BC. King Jehoiakim was to Babylon as captive, killed Zedekiah’s replaced by his son, Jeconiah. heirs, then plucked out his eyes so the Second, in 597 BC, when Jeconiah was last sight he saw was the death of his taken prisoner to Babylon, and replaced own sons. by his uncle, Zedekiah – a pro-Babylonian For 40 years Jeremiah sounded the puppet. alarm. In 34:2-5 he repeats the warn- Zedekiah owed his appointment to of- ing – Jerusalem will be burned, Zede- fice to the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnez- kiah brought before Nebuchadnezzar, no zar - but his court was pro-Egyptian. one will escape. Sadly, Jeremiah’s warn- Eventually his counselors influenced ing once again fell on deaf ears. Devotion Box - Are You Guilty Of A Panic-piety? The last half of chapter 34 reveals the straw that went to engage the Egyptians. But it was a broke the camel’s back. One of Judah’s sins were temporary break in the action. After the alter- their disregard for Hebrew slaves. cation, Babylon returned to her siege of Jerusa- Under the Law of Moses if you couldn’t pay your lem. bills you could sell yourself into slavery to work off In the meantime, the Jews had violated your debts. But after six years the slave holder had their covenant with God, and taken back their to free the Hebrew slave. Many of the Jews had re- slaves. They proved to be seasonal saints – fused… until the Babylonians came calling. when trouble comes they’ll serve the Lord, but With judgment knocking on their doorstep they when the dark clouds vanish they’re right back reconsidered. They entered a covenant – cut a deal to their selfish ways. Some call it jailhouse relig- with God. If God saved them from the Babylonians, ion, panic-piety, escape-hatch commitment. they would obey Him. In a moment of panic-piety God wants a permanent-piety – an all- they release their fellow Jews. But as soon as the weather devotion. Hopefully, the tread of your Babylonians disappeared they renewed their cru- faith grips the road in the rain, or snow, or heat. elty. A true faith is good under any conditions. Chapter 37 tells us of the brief reprieve that oc- For many of us, it was a crisis that brought curred. When the Babylonians heard that Pharaoh us to Jesus, and that’s okay - but hopefully now Hophra had deployed his troops to the region they we serve the Lord because we’ve fallen in love with Him. WAYS TO SHRED THE BIBLE GOD’S INDESTRUCTIBLE WORD After hearing just three or four columns of the book Jeremiah had written, King Jehoiakim grabbed the scroll, shredded it with a penknife, tossed it into the fireplace, and sat there defiantly watching the word of "Century follows century, there It stands. God burn to a crisp. How it must’ve broke the heart of the merciful and Empires rise and fall and are forgotten, dy- gracious God who was extending to Judah, and their king, one final op- nasty succeeds dynasty, kings are crowned portunity to repent of their sin! and uncrowned, emperors decree its extermi- I’ll never forget what happened in high school - while we were playing nation, there It stands. basketball, someone broke into our locker room to rip us off. But that’s Despised and torn to pieces, storms of not all they did. I had a pocket Bible that they ripped to shreds. I hate swirl about it, atheists rail against it, thought, what kind of person would rip up a Bible? In my mind I pic- agnostics smile cynically, profane punsters tured some kind of frenzied drug addict - with bloodshot eyes, frothing at caricature It, there It stands. the mouth, in a crazed, possessed state, shredding the Bible with his Unbelief abandons It, higher critics deny bare hands. Its claim to inspiration, thunderbolts of wrath But here’s what I’ve learned since. The people most likely to shred a smite It - an anvil that has broken a million Bible are not the crazed lunatics. In fact, they wear the uniform of edu- hammers, there It stands. cation and credibility. Three types of people are most prone to rip apart The flames are kindled about It. The ar- the Bible: the liberals, the liars, and the lukewarm. rows of hate are discharged against It. Radi- The first culprits are the liberal theologians. Rather than use a pen- calism rants and raves about It… There It knife to cut up Scripture they use a tool called “higher criticism”. Instead stands. of coming under the authority of the whole Bible they’d rather pick and The tooth of time gnaws but dents It not. choose what they want to obey. Thus, they have the audacity to tell you Infidels predict Its abandonment. Modernism what parts of the Bible they think are inspired and what parts are not. tries to explain It away. Devotees of folly de- The most blatant attempt of the liberal’s butchering of the Bible oc- nounce It. There It stands. curs every four years when a group called the Jesus Seminar meets to It is God's highway to Paradise. It is the refine their conclusions over what portions of the Bible are authentic, light on the pathway in the darkest night. It and what parts are fabrications. Of course, their so-called scholarship is leads businessmen to integrity and upright- a farce, and flies in the face of the historical facts. Their conclusions are ness. It is the great consoler in bereavement. contrived and their motives sinister. It awakens people numbed by sin. It answers They remind me of the atheist grandson who challenged the faith of every question of the soul. It solves every his elderly grandma, “Grams, how did Jonah possibly survive in the belly problem of life. It is a fortress often attacked of a whale?” The old lady replied, “I don’t know, when I get to heaven I’ll but never failing. ask him.” The grandson shot back, “What if Jonah isn’t in heaven?” She Its wisdom is commanding and it's logic answered, “Then you ask him.” convincing. Salvation is its watchword. Eter- nal life it's goal. Liberals cut up the Scriptures, but so do the liars. The cults are also It punctures all pretense. It is forward- culprits. The penknife is out every week in the Kingdom Halls and Mor- looking, outward-looking, and upward- mon temples. looking. The Bible outlives, out lifts, outlives, People deliberately manipulate the Scriptures to make it support their outreaches, outranks, and outruns all other false claims. Errant versions of the Bible have doctored problematic pas- books. Trust it, love it, obey it, and eternal life sages, and twisted translations to fit preconceived interpretations. The is yours." - by AZ Conrad New World Translation is a bogus Bible. The book of Mormon isn’t his- tory – it’s fiction and fantasy. Devotion Box - But the most subtle form of Scripture slicing is done by supposed Bi- Are You A Zedekiah? ble believers who’ve become selective in their faith – the lukewarm. They claim to believe the whole book, but there’re passages they won’t touch Zedekiah is an interesting study. He was the with a 10 foot pole. consummate politician. Privately, he respected Go to some churches and you’ll never hear the word “sin” or “repent”. You’ll never be challenged with the Lordship of Jesus, and the demands Jeremiah- but publicly kept his distance. He was of discipleship. Go to other churches and you’ll never hear of the rapture wise enough to recognize that Jeremiah spoke and Jesus’ soon return. Some pastors never deal with Acts 2. They God’s Word, but lacked the backbone to obey. preach the Great Commission each week, but they’re guilty of the Great Zedekiah was like the guy who comes to Omission.