“King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and received him at the third entrance of the temple of the LORD. The king said to Jeremiah, ‘I will ask you a question; hide nothing from me.’ Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, ‘If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.’ Then King Zedekiah swore secretly to Jeremiah, ‘As the LORD lives, who made our souls, I will not put you to death or deliver you into the hand of these men who seek your life.’
“Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you will surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. But if you do not surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.’ King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, ‘I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest I be handed over to them and they deal cruelly with me.’ Jeremiah said, ‘You shall not be given to them. Obey now the voice of the LORD in what I say to you, and it shall be well with you, and your life shall be spared. But if you refuse to surrender, this is the vision which the LORD has shown to me: Behold, all the women left in the house of the king of Judah were being led out to the officials of the king of Babylon and were saying,
“‘Your trusted friends have deceived you
and prevailed against you;
now that your feet are sunk in the mud,
they turn away from you.’
‘All your wives and your sons shall be led out to the Chaldeans, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, but shall be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city shall be burned with fire.’
“Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, ‘Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die. If the officials hear that I have spoken with you and come to you and say to you, “Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; hide nothing from us and we will not put you to death,” then you shall say to them, “I made a humble plea to the king that he would not send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.”’ Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and asked him, and he answered them as the king had instructed him. So, they stopped speaking with him, for the conversation had not been overheard. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.”
God called me to preach shortly after I had come to faith in Christ Jesus the Lord. Almost immediately I began preaching in a prison farm in Kaufman, Texas. Later, I preached on the streets of the Marsalis Zoo, in various nursing homes situated in Oak Cliff, and wherever I could find people willing to allow me to speak. Soon after these halcyon days of declaring what God had done in my life, I was invited to leave the church in which I had come to faith. Too many Black people from my parish, the prison farm, were coming to faith and requesting baptism.
Among my responses to this situation was aiding a friend who was starting services in Cedar Hill, Texas. I worked with Ben until he was compelled to focus his energies on another project due to events beyond his control. I knew I just had to preach, and so I rented the gymnasium of the S. Gus Alexander, Jr. Elementary School in Duncanville, which was near our home at that time. I began to visit door-to-door in the area where we were living.
As I visited, one of the first people to respond to my invitation to join in our services was a large man who confessed Christ at the conclusion of the first service conducted in that gymnasium. This gentleman shortly began visiting with me in that neighbourhood, and we had a few people that responded positively to our invitation to join us in our services each a Sunday morning.
One evening, not long after these first hesitant steps into ministry, my friend knocked on my door, insisting that I accompany him on a visit. He was somewhat secretive, clearly hesitant to tell me who we were to visit or where it would be. I rode as he drove a circuitous route into the Oak Cliff section of Dallas. Soon, I was quite lost. At last, we pulled up in front of a luxurious looking house and walked to the door. Ringing the doorbell, two men dressed in dark suits opened the door, glaring at my friend. Despite their dark looks, it was apparent they knew him because they invited us in and immediately began to frisk my friend and myself.
“He’s expecting me,” was about all my friend said. And the two men who met us at the door didn’t say much at all. One turned and motioned us to follow, leading us into an inner room. A well-dressed man seated in front of a fire greeted my friend, who said, “This is the man I told you about. He has something that you need to hear.” I had no idea what this was all about, and I suppose my face betrayed my confusion.
The man seated in front of the fireplace looked at me, and my friend simply said, “Tell him about Jesus, Mike.” With that, I began to speak of the need for an individual to be saved and how the Son of God came to earth to present His life as a sacrifice because of our brokenness. After speaking for a brief while, I asked the man, “Are you a sinner?”
He responded, “Oh, yes, you have no idea how great a sinner I am.”
With confidence born of the Holy Spirit of God, I assured him, “My Saviour is greater than all your sin. If you put your faith in Him, He will save you and set you free from your sin and from the condemnation you deserve.”
We talked a little more with me repeatedly urging this man whom I had never met until that evening, to receive Christ as Saviour. He appeared to be moved but was unwilling to pray to receive Christ as His Saviour. At last, he thanked me for coming, saying, “It must have taken a lot of courage for you to come here.”
I had no idea what he was talking about. I only knew my friend was concerned for him and wanted this man to hear the message of life. I asked if I might visit again, but he declined, indicating that such would be very difficult for him to accommodate.
Some days later, my friend told me that this man was the head of the Texas Mafia. My friend had worked as an enforcer for the Mafia, but when he heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he put his faith in Jesus and decided that he could no longer do what he had done in the past. He had informed those with whom he had worked that he could no longer do what he had done before. He was now a Christian, and he couldn’t do that any longer. He was asked to speak with the head of the syndicate, the man with whom I had spoken on that evening.
When my friend told this mob kingpin how he had come to faith, the man said he would like to hear about this business of salvation. And that is how I came to speak with a Mafia head, presenting the message of Christ. Though that mobster never came to faith, so far as I know, I know that he did have an opportunity to believe and be saved.
It is easy to imagine the spokesman of God as some individual who occupies a well-known pulpit in some great city. We imagine that the spokesman of God has a vast audience hanging onto every word spoken. We even imagine that the one who speaks for God is welcomed in the hallowed halls of government with national leaders eager to hear all that the man may say. However, I suggest that if you are a follower of the Christ, you are appointed to be His spokesman. There are people who will never hear the truth the Saviour delivers except from your lips. You represent the Lord Jesus to a chosen group consisting of family, of friends, of neighbours, and of colleagues. Without your testimony, there are many who will never hear the message given by the Spirit of Christ. You occupy a critical place in the life of many people. Therefore, we must ask whether we can learn anything of consequence from the Word that will equip you to fulfil the vital role you received. Is there anything in the life of Jeremiah that will equip you to fulfil the role that God has assigned? Let’s examine what is written to equip us to serve. Let’s review Jeremiah’s service before one of the last kings to be seated on the throne of Judah. Note that Jeremiah didn’t approach the king to deliver his message, rather, the king called Jeremiah to come give advice on how to respond to an invasion.
INEVITABLY SEEKING A WORD FROM GOD — “King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and received him at the third entrance of the temple of the LORD. The king said to Jeremiah, ‘I will ask you a question; hide nothing from me.’ Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, ‘If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.’ Then King Zedekiah swore secretly to Jeremiah, ‘As the LORD lives, who made our souls, I will not put you to death or deliver you into the hand of these men who seek your life’” [JEREMIAH 38:14-16].
Inevitably, the powerful of this world will seek a Word from God. I say “inevitably,” because the king, as is true for any of us, will ultimately confront the fact that he must give an answer to God. The day comes when each of us will be compelled to acknowledge that God lives, and that because He lives, we need Him. Inevitably, we discover that we must give an accounting for the choices we have made in our life.
In the text, we meet Zedekiah, King of Judah. Biblical history reveals that the king had no time for God except when he was fulfilling mandated duties in the Temple. In Zedekiah’s estimate, God was an inconvenience, an unwanted intrusion, until events forced the king to admit his need for God. And everyone, even presidents and prime ministers arrive at a day when they know that they are unable to govern, and they need answers. We wish that they would seek God early, but eventually they will seek Him.
Among the Proverbs you may recall one which teaches,
“Do you see a man skillful in his work?
He will stand before kings;
he will not stand before obscure men.”
[PROVERBS 22:29]
I suppose there are multiple ways one could apply this proverb, but one way I will apply it is to the Prophets of God whom we meet throughout the Old Testament. Whether we speak of the Major Prophets or whether we speak of the Minor Prophets, these all were men of God who spoke with courage and conviction, with passion and power. As we read the various accounts of the service of these bold men, we commonly witness the kings of Judah and the kings of Israel asking advice of these men who spoke for the Holy One concerning how they should govern. Tragically, those same kings were often determined to ignore the advice they received from God’s prophets.
One such incident is recorded in the text for this day, when the last king of Judah before the exile to Babylon called for Jeremiah to give him guidance. What is interesting in this incident is that Jeremiah was incarcerated when the king sent for him. It is unimaginable that a king would send for a prisoner so that the prisoner could give advice for how the king was to conduct matters of state. But that was what happened!
Throughout the days of his ministry, Jeremiah faced opposition, even being threatened with death because of his service. Known as the Weeping Prophet, Jeremiah is a conundrum to many modern readers of his prophecy. Facing those who opposed him, Jeremiah is bold, almost defiant as he presents the message God gave him to deliver. Away from the eyes of those opposing him, in privacy and alone with his thoughts, the man of God is moved to tears by his compassion for those to whom he prophesied and by his frustration at the compulsion driving him to stand for God and for righteousness.
While reading my morning devotions earlier this year, I was reminded of the tension this prophet of God so often experienced. At one point God confronted Jeremiah after the prophet had received an unimaginable charge to speak to the nation. “Thus says the LORD: Stand in the court of the LORD’s house and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the LORD all the words that I command you to speak to them; do not hold back a word. It may be they will listen, and every one turn from his evil way, that I may relent of the disaster that I intend to do to them because of their evil deeds. You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you, and to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you urgently, though you have not listened, then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth’” [JEREMIAH 26:2-6].
The LORD’s command to His prophet could not have been eagerly received. There are divine calls that leave us breathless, paralysed with fear at what the call means. Perhaps we can understand how difficult this command must have been if we can imagine that we received a divine command to stand during a televised service conducted in the National Cathedral of the United States, and there we were to demand repentance of the nation lest the United States should be overthrown by their most dangerous opponent, Communist China. I suppose that doesn’t seem all that farfetched today.
Maybe the illustration would be more powerful if we were to imagine a command to declare that same message while standing in the rotunda of the U. S. Capitol. Such a command would be the equivalent of saying, “Repent, or learn that the vaunted might of the Army, Navy, Marines, and Space Force will be ineffective in turning aside the invading armies of China.” To even raise the matter in such a public forum would be seen as an insult to the nation.
Jeremiah’s obedience to the LORD throughout the days of his service would compel him to face incredible consequences, consequences that would prove brutal and bitter for the man of God. We read in that same twenty-sixth chapter of the prophecy bearing his name, “The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD. And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, ‘You shall die! Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, “This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant?”’ And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.
“When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the LORD and took their seat in the entry of the New Gate of the house of the LORD. Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, ‘This man deserves the sentence of death, because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears’” [JEREMIAH 26:7-11].
Just as no one is eager to be confronted with the need to repent, you may be certain that nations do not welcome the necessity to repent. Even the righteous within the nation can be so caught up in patriotic fervour that they react negatively to a call for national repentance. Everyone wants to believe that their nation is on the side of the angels. We know that even the Wehrmacht during the days of Nazi rule boasted the motto, “Gott mitt uns.” Note that since 1956, the official motto of the United States is, “In God We Trust.” Today, it is legitimate to question what god the nation is trusting. While I could wish that motto bespoke the true condition of the nation, it is difficult to believe that many, perhaps even most, elected officials and those who are appointed to office in the United States, honour the True and Living God with any sense of devotion. And we dare not neglect that leaders govern only with the consent of the governed!
THE KING ACTUALLY HAD NO DESIRE TO HEAR WHAT THE LORD HAD TO SAY! “Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you will surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. But if you do not surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.’ King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, ‘I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest I be handed over to them and they deal cruelly with me.’ Jeremiah said, ‘You shall not be given to them. Obey now the voice of the LORD in what I say to you, and it shall be well with you, and your life shall be spared. But if you refuse to surrender, this is the vision which the LORD has shown to me: Behold, all the women left in the house of the king of Judah were being led out to the officials of the king of Babylon and were saying,
“‘Your trusted friends have deceived you
and prevailed against you;
now that your feet are sunk in the mud,
they turn away from you.’
‘All your wives and your sons shall be led out to the Chaldeans, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, but shall be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city shall be burned with fire’” [JEREMIAH 38:17-23].
Wow! Just Wow! What a statement he was to deliver to the king, of all people! You cannot read Jeremiah’s statement given in response to the king’s insistent questioning without marvelling at his boldness. From his own testimony, we are certain that inside, the prophet was in turmoil. Throughout the book, Jeremiah reveals his timid constitution. When the Lord first called Jeremiah to this ministry, the young man hesitated, revealing his timid character. We witness Jeremiah protesting, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth” [JEREMIAH 1:6].
God would not accept that excuse; He responded,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a youth;’
for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,
and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
declares the LORD.”
[JEREMIAH 1:7-8]
Effectively, God says, “Jeremiah, you are assigned a ministry of destroying what man esteems. However, know that you are appointed not only to destroy, but after what is has been removed, you will build again.” God encourages Jeremiah, saying,
“Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to break down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.”
[JEREMIAH 1:9b-10]
From that point, the man of God would walk a lonely path that would not spare the people. Judah would be confronted with the perfidy of their religious exercise, the leaders would be confronted with their lese majesté to the Lord GOD, and the prophet would be continually attacked because as God’s messenger he would not speak smooth words that made the people feel good about themselves.
At last, the prophet of the Lord was brought before the king who would hear the unwelcome words that God sent. The essence of Jeremiah’s message to the king was— “Surrender or Perish.” These were the options. There was no wiggle room. According to the Word of the LORD, it was crunch time.
Leaders don’t like to hear the negative. In one confrontation with some of the prophets who were noted for their lying prophecies, Jeremiah was commanded to make yoke-bars, wearing them on his neck. Thus attired, he was to warn Zedekiah the king that he must submit to the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. At that time, Jeremiah was directed to pointedly warn the king, “Thus says the LORD: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, ‘Behold, the vessels of the LORD’s house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon,’ for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you. Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city become a desolation” [JEREMIAH 27:16-17a]?
Though those present at that time had heard the warning delivered by Jeremiah, a false prophet named Hananiah delivered an alternative message to the king and all who were present at that time heard this prophecy. Claiming to speak in the Name of the LORD, this man Hananiah testified, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the LORD’s house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. I will also bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon, declares the LORD, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon” [JEREMIAH 28:2-4].
Thus, two messages were presented; only one could be true. Hananiah reacted to Jeremiah when he pushed back by breaking the yoke-bars off the neck of God’s prophet [see JEREMIAH 28:10], vigorously refuting what Jeremiah had prophesied. Though we aren’t told that Jeremiah was confused, it seems apparent that he was questioning whether he could possibly be wrong. He retreated to his home, and perhaps he spent some time in prayer seeking clarification from the LORD for the message he had delivered.
And the LORD answered Jeremiah. Here is the Word as it is recorded in the book. “Sometime after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke-bars from off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: ‘Go, tell Hananiah, “Thus says the LORD: You have broken wooden bars, but you have made in their place bars of iron. For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put upon the neck of all these nations an iron yoke to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him, for I have given to him even the beasts of the field.”’ And Jeremiah the prophet said to the prophet Hananiah, ‘Listen, Hananiah, the LORD has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie. Therefore, thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have uttered rebellion against the LORD” [JEREMIAH 28:12-16].
The Word of God adds a simple appendix to this account, saying, “In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died” [JEREMIAH 28:17]. I should imagine that this man was terrified, knowing the cost of rebellion against the LORD.
It is abundantly apparent that the king had no desire to hear what God had to say. And you can be assured that the people were no more eager than was the king to hear the voice of the LORD. The prophet would continue to speak in the Name of the LORD, even with all the pain that would attend delivering the dark message assigned by the Living God. Though he would faithfully say what God would have him say, the impact of his words would give Jeremiah no joy. That is always the way with the prophet of God. No one who preaches prophetically enjoys the pain the people feel when the dark message is delivered. The people wouldn’t tolerate a negative message.
Jeremiah wasn’t the only prophet assigned to deliver a dark message. As an example, note the blunt message Isaiah was given to deliver to God’s people.
“And now, go, write it before them on a tablet
and inscribe it in a book,
that it may be for the time to come
as a witness forever.
For they are a rebellious people,
lying children,
children unwilling to hear
the instruction of the LORD;
who say to the seers, ‘Do not see,’
and to the prophets, ‘Do not prophesy to us what is right;
speak to us smooth things,
prophesy illusions,
leave the way, turn aside from the path,
let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.’”
[ISAIAH 30:8-11]
He would not only speak this stern warning exposing the people as actively seeking a false message, but he was also to write it down so that no one would mistake what was being said. The LORD intended that the message would be preserved for a time to come. I must think that the time to which the LORD was pointing is this present time. Surely, the demand even of the churches, is for a message that makes people feel good rather than one that warns of pending judgement and one that consists of a call to repentance.
You may recall another instance when a prophet didn’t say what a king wanted to hear. Two kings had come together to wage war against another land. The King of Judah insisted that he wanted to hear from a prophet of the LORD, and not hear the words of a hack pretending to speak on behalf of the LORD. The King of Israel finally suggested one man with considerable reservation. Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there not here another prophet of the LORD of whom we may inquire” [1 KINGS 22:7]? Ahad, the vile toad that sat on the throne of Israel, grudgingly responded, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil” [1 KINGS 22:8].
The prophet, when forced to appear before the kings, replied with biting sarcasm, “Go up and triumph; the LORD will give it into the hand of the king” [1 KINGS 22:15]. The lack of respect for Ahab was apparent in his voice, since the king of Israel demanded, “How many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD” [1 KINGS 22:16]. Thus, at last, Micaiah would deliver the sad news that the combined armies would experience defeat and loss. At this Ahad whined, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil” [1 KINGS 22:18]?
Each of these instances bespeak the tragedy that extends even to this present day as the Age of Grace is waning. Nations, and even congregations of the Faith of Christ the Lord will always find someone willing to deliver the message they want to hear. Just as lawyers are known to shop for a judge who will be sympathetic to their plea, so churches are guilty of shopping for a messenger that will the deliver the message they want.
A friend invited me to speak to a convocation meeting at a large church in Dallas. I delivered a message that was unwelcomed that day. In the text, PHILIPPIANS 3:8-14, the Apostle testifies most powerfully, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
After the service, my friend who had invited me to speak that day pointedly said, “Mike, what you said was true. We needed to hear that. But you aren’t welcome to speak here again.” The people present on the day in question wanted to hear a “positive” message, something to assuage their souls, they wanted a message that would assure them that the Lord approved of how they were living; they wanted to be known as a church that made sure that those attending felt good about themselves. At the conclusion of the message that day, hardly anyone would speak to me. Those who looked at me glared; I don’t recall any smiles. And I never did speak there again after that morning.
The response I received from that assembly was much like the response I received from the members of another congregation here in Canada. I spoke in the assembly for which I assumed pastoral oversight during a time of crisis for the church. Soon after I had assumed the pastorate, the congregation in question prospered and grew until some of the old “charter” members let it be known that the message I delivered was too hard, too demanding, it did not affirm them. One of the deacons whined to me, “We can’t chew this meat; we need milk. I want to be affirmed. I work hard all week and when I come to church, I don’t want to hear that I’m not pleasing God.” This was a man who claimed to have been walking with the Lord for over thirty years. I have often said, and I said at that time, “It is not important how long you’ve been on the journey; what matters is how far you have come.” His whining made it clear that my deacon had not come very far.
You know very well that the message of the cross will affirm the one who is walking with the Lord, and that same message will condemn the one who seeks to walk in the broad path that leads to destruction. It is precisely as the Master said as He taught, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” [MATTHEW 7:13-14]. Ouch!
BUT I DON’T REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE LORD GOD WOULD HAVE ME DO! “Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, ‘Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die. If the officials hear that I have spoken with you and come to you and say to you, “Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; hide nothing from us and we will not put you to death,” then you shall say to them, “I made a humble plea to the king that he would not send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there”’” [JEREMIAH 38:24-26].
Asking what the will of the Lord is when there is no intention of doing what He says is more common than you might imagine. I have witnessed supposed Christians asking, “What does God want?” when they really have no interest in knowing the will of God. If you think about this, I suspect that you can recall someone who has moaned that they don’t know what God wants, and they really don’t want to know what God wants.
The Lord was reaching the limits of His patience with His people when He spoke to the Prophet Jeremiah. And what a message the LORD delivered to His prophet. In the twenty-third chapter of Jeremiah’s Prophecy we read,
“‘Do you people think that I am some local deity
and not the transcendent God?’ the LORD asks.
“‘Do you really think anyone can hide himself
where I cannot see him?’ the LORD asks.
“‘Do you not know that I am everywhere?’
the LORD asks.
“The LORD says, ‘I have heard what those prophets who are prophesying lies in my name are saying. They are saying, “I have had a dream! I have had a dream!” Those prophets are just prophesying lies. They are prophesying the delusions of their own minds. How long will they go on plotting to make my people forget who I am through the dreams they tell one another? That is just as bad as what their ancestors did when they forgot who I am by worshiping the god Baal. Let the prophet who has had a dream go ahead and tell his dream. Let the person who has received my message report that message faithfully. What is like straw cannot compare to what is like grain! I, the LORD, affirm it! My message is like a fire that purges dross! It is like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces! I, the LORD, so affirm it! So, I, the LORD, affirm that I am opposed to those prophets who steal messages from one another that they claim are from me. I, the LORD, AFFIRM that I am opposed to those prophets who are using their own tongues to declare, “The LORD declares…” I, the LORD, affirm that I am opposed to those prophets who dream up lies and report them. They are misleading my people with their reckless lies. I did not send them. I did not commission them. They are not helping these people at all. I, the LORD, affirm it!’
“The LORD said to me, ‘Jeremiah, when one of these people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, “What burdensome message do you have from the LORD?” Tell them, “You are the burden, and I will cast you away. I, the LORD, affirm it! I will punish any prophet, priest, or other person who says, ‘The LORD’s message is burdensome.’ I will punish both that person and his whole family.”’
“So, I, Jeremiah, tell you, ‘Each of you people should say to his friend or his relative, “How did the LORD answer? Or what did the LORD say?” You must no longer say that the LORD’s message is burdensome. For what is “burdensome” really pertains to what a person himself says. You are misrepresenting the words of our God, the living God, the LORD who rules over all. Each of you should merely ask the prophet, “What answer did the LORD give you? Or what did the LORD say?” But just suppose you continue to say, “The message of the LORD is burdensome.” Here is what the LORD says will happen: “I sent word to you that you must not say, ‘The LORD’s message is burdensome.’ But you used the words ‘The LORD’s message is burdensome’ anyway. So, I will carry you far off and throw you away. I will send both you and the city I gave to you and to your ancestors out of my sight. I will bring on you lasting shame and lasting disgrace which will never be forgotten”’” [JEREMIAH 23:23-40 NET BIBLE].
Focus on what the Lord God says in that thirty-third verse: “Jeremiah, when one of these people, or a prophet, or a priest asks you, ‘What burdensome message do you have from the LORD?’ Tell them, ‘You are the burden, and I will cast you away. I, the LORD, affirm it!’” God is warning, “You ask for the will of the LORD, though you have no intention of doing what He commands? There is nothing left but for the LORD to remove you!”
Something like that applies to the life of professed Christians among the churches today. If you seek to know the will of God, you’d better be prepared to do His will. Have you never read, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you” [LUKE 6:46]? The words Jesus spoke at that time are sobering for anyone who is serious about knowing and doing the will of the Lord. You may recall Jesus saying on another occasion, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” [JOHN 14:15]. By this criterion, how many among the churches do you suppose love the Saviour?
In the first missive the Apostle of Love wrote, the Spirit of Christ prompted him to pointedly address the tendency of Christians to play church rather than obey the Master. Recall that John wrote, “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked” [1 JOHN 2:1-6].
Dear people, we are given an alternative. We can either commit ourselves to discover the will of the Saviour and do what He commands, or we can play at being Christians, deceiving ourselves. No one else will be fooled by our ecclesiastical charade, but we will assuredly injure ourselves by trying to fool them with our religious acts. I pray each one listening will choose to serve the Master. If we content ourselves with ignoring Him, no matter how much we claim to want to know His will, we will discover at the last that we have deceived ourselves and the cost will be eternally dreadful.
Christians are challenged when Paul writes, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test” [2 CORINTHIANS 13:5]! Passing the test means obeying the will of the Master. Know Him and serve Him. Amen; amen, indeed.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
