June 21, 2009 Jeremiah 14-16 notes

We had four tonight for Wordlisteners. Jeremiah 14 and 15 have some
good points. When I prepared the notes for Chapter 14 I outlined a
"sermon" - its just so relevant for today. We had a lively discussion
and I enjoyed it.

My notes are as follows:

Chapter 14
There is a drought, the rich are suffering- the rich usually are last to suffer. Farms are in ruins, animals are abandoning their young- a sign of severity.

They have exhausted all efforts and come back to God (have they?) begging Him to act. They admit they are sinners, and they come to Him as their last resort. They know they don't deserve it, but they ask Him to act for His own sake. They accuse Him of not caring- acting like a tourist. Wondering why He is leaving them in a lurch. His response – they did their own thing, and never gave Him a thought, so He will let them continue in the same way. He will merely note their guilt and punish them.

Notice- they came to God as the "last resort". They verbalized they were guilty, but no actions corresponding with repentance are present (no turning away from sin- its all verbal). They have Jeremiah who intercedes for them, and God tells him not to pray for these people. God says they will skip meals in order to pray, bring Him offerings but the underlying fault they still haven't addressed is that God desires their obedience to Him. They won't give it. There are preachers who tell them things will be all right- but these people aren't listening to God, nor is God telling them to say such- they are making it up. Sheer illusions. God is going to make the preachers eat their words and the people will experience the full brunt of their own evil.

Jeremiah cries. He sees his people battered and bruised, sees fields of unburied dead. He sees starvation – he sees preachers pretending nothing has happened. How does God let this happen? They wanted peace, they wanted healing, they admit they are sinners, then they try to control God by talking about His reputation, His temple, They even put God nearly in the right position- by saying He is above all the gods they have been serving. They are waiting on God, but only because they have exhausted all their other possibilities.

Chapter 15
God has had enough, even intercession by Moses and Samuel would not be enough. The people wonder what God wants (He still wants obedience) but now the choices aren't comforting. He has assigned some to die, some to be killed in war, some to starve, and some to exile. Go do what you were assigned to He says- He consistently wants our obedience. The dead won't be buried, but rather be food for dogs, vultures and hyenas. The entire world will see. Not because God isn't fair, but because of Man's choice- Mannasseh is the example held up. The people followed Manasseh as he (2 Kings 21:1-16)- He re-introduced previously purged moral rot, he built sex shrines, he listened to constellations- building temples for these within God's temple, he burned his own son, practiced black magic and fortune telling, held seances and consulted spirits, placed an image of asherah (sex god) in the Temple, he indiscriminately murdered people.

Who will feel sorry for those people who went along with the evil king? Obey leaders as they obey God. Following a leader's sin is not going to be a valid excuse before God.

The people left God, it wasn't that God left them (it never is). He was tired of letting them off the hook, so He let them be scattered. He made sure they lost all He had given them. Widows will be created, and moms will lose their children. Death will happen, and those that aren't killed will be rounded up and killed.

Jeremiah was obedient to God by telling the country exactly what God had asked him to. The country responded to him by hating him, some plotted to physically hurt him to stop the messenger. Jeremiah prayed for them and their best interests.

Who can endure God's judgment, what are the chances of outlasting Him? As vast as God's universe is and as small and insignificant we are compared to that, our pride tends to want to elevate us. God planned to take what He had given to Israel (which would be everything) and give it to someone else. What would Israel be left with? Nothing, making them slaves.

Now an interesting little sidebar. Jeremiah states his obedience and his submission. He longed for God's word and eagerly accepted it. Jeremiah never joined the party crowd with their focus on self interest. Yet he was in pain, severe chronic pain that he wasn't healed from (compares to some extent to Paul's thorn in the flesh). His pain was so bad that he called God a mirage. God responded take your words back and use your words carefully. Use words well, no cheap whining. Do we complain about the state of the world and how bad things are and how we wish they would get better? Thats what I see as cheap whining- God wants us to stay on message (His message)- His positive message and come to the place where we won't change our message to suit others. When we do that he will protect us, and the attacks will bounce off. God will defend us.

Chapter 16
A message for Jeremiah- don't get married, don't have a family. The judgment is pronounced. Will a similar message come out for the faithful just before the trib period? Since people will marry up the last day I think this means He will take us, and protect us, a subtle point that supports rapture. In Jeremiah's day His people were about to endure His judgment so not marry or have kids was actually a statement to protect them, or make it easier for them.

In Judah children will be killed, there will be stacks of dead- unburied like the result of Armageddon. Jeremiah had a tremendous heart for these people – often crying for them and with them. God said stop. His judgment is pronounced, famous and obscure will be affected- this is a comprehensive judgment. Don't attend funerals, no laughter, no smiles. As bad as he can imagine, it will be worse. In the last days it will be worse than our active imaginations can think. Jeremiah was told he would see the judgment in his time- God said it.

Jeremiah continues to share with the people. They ask what they had done wrong. They had no idea that they had continued the actions of their ancestors by turning away from God. They turned from His ways in favor of their own. They did what they wanted and ignored God. They paid Him no attention. Its interesting in our day there are two un-churched generations. People like to plead ignorance of God but can they really? Or is it just denial and an avoidance of what acknowledging God has to mean. God's word is at an all time high in terms of availability, but God denial may be just as high.

God will act and bring Israel back from exile, gather them from all over the world. A miracle on the order of (and more recent than) the parting of the red sea. People will talk about it. This I believe is prophecy of the future (now) - post WW2.

On a more immediate note (Jeremiah's time) people will be looking for the jews trying to escape God's judgment (God will see that it happens), and bring them back for His judgment. He knows where they all are, and they won't get away without facing it. I think the Babylonians were the group, and God set judgment in motion.

God is then called a safe retreat when trouble descends (His church will be safe during the tribulation period?). He will protect and it will be clear to the world that it is Him (some may try and deny). The godless nations will come, and God will teach the wrongheaded people (Himself). He will teach them who He is and what He does.