Jeremiah 24

 

1 The LORD showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD, after Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. 2 One basket had very good figs, like the first ripe figs: and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. 3 Then the LORD said to me, What do you see, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, so bad they cannot be eaten. 4 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 5 This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says; Like these good figs, so I will acknowledge those that are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.

 

  • God did the same for Joseph.
  • Joseph’s father had four wives, and Joseph had 11 brothers and one sister.
  • His father doted on him and 10 of his brothers hated him enough to try to kill him.
  • God allowed him to be taken to Egypt in slavery.
  • God was with him.
  • He humbled him and molded him into a ruler of men.
  • He then made him prime minister of Egypt to save the lives of many people during one of the world’s worst famines (Genesis esp. chs. 37, 39-50).
  • Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those that love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose.

 

He will bring them back and build them up; He will give them a heart to know Him

 

6 For I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. 7 And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they will be my people, and I will be their God: for they will return to me with their whole heart.

 

  • Deuteronomy 6:5 And you are to love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

 

8 And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely this is what the LORD says, So I will give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt: 9 And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I drive them. 10 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, until they are consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.

 

  • These people refused to return to Him. He is life.
  • Psalm 96:5 For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.

 

                                            Jeremiah 25

 

1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), 2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: 3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the word of the LORD has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened. 4 And the LORD has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear. 5 They said, Repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD has given to you and your fathers forever and ever.

 

  • Turn around go the other way, God said—this way leads to death.
  • Remember the two trees of the Garden of Eden.
  • The first tree was the tree of life.
  • The second was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
  • To partake of it was death.

 

God does not harm those who listen to Him

 

6 Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them, and do not provoke me to anger with the works of your hands; and I will not harm you. 7 Yet you have not listened to me, says the LORD, that you might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt. 8 Therefore the LORD of hosts says this: Because you have not heard my words, 9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, says the LORD, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations.

 

  • Their example led everyone around them to eternal death
  • Psalm 103:19 The LORD has prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom rules over all.
  • Daniel 4:32 the most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whoever he will.

 

10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. 11 And this whole land will be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 Then when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, says the LORD; and I will make it a perpetual desolation.13  I will bring on that land all my words that I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book that Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations.

 

God repays according to our ways

 

14 For many nations and great kings will be served by them also; and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands. 15 For this is what the LORD God of Israel says to me: Take this wine cup of fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. 16 And they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.17 Then I took the cup from the LORD'S hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the LORD had sent me: 18 Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day; 19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, and all his people; 20 all the mixed multitude, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines (namely, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod); 21.Edom, Moab, and the people of Ammon; 22 all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are across the sea; 23.Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who are in the farthest corners; 24 all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed multitude who dwell in the desert; 25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes; 26 all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. Also the king of Sheshach will drink after them.

 

  • Mark 16:15 And he said to them, Go to all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

 

27 Therefore you say to them, This is what the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel says: Drink, be drunk, and vomit! Fall and rise no more, because of the sword that I will send among you. 28 And it will be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you are to say to them, The LORD of hosts says: You will certainly drink! 29 For behold, I begin to bring disaster on the city that is called by my name, and should you go utterly unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth, says the LORD of hosts.'

 

  • Violence was their solution; therefore, God called for violence against them.

 

God has a lawsuit against the nations

 

30 Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and say to them: The LORD will roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation; he will roar mightily against His fold. He will give a shout, as those who tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. 31 A noise will come to the ends of the earth for the LORD has a lawsuit with the nations; he will plead his case with all flesh. He will give those who are wicked to the sword,' says the LORD. 32 The Lord of hosts says this: Behold, disaster will go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind will be raised up from the farthest parts of the earth. 33 And at that day the slain of the LORD will be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They will not be mourned, or gathered, or buried; they will become dung on the ground.

 

  • God has every right to do this.
  • He made all things. He made them.
  • He tried to bless them.
  • He died for them.
  • A day like this is coming again soon if mankind does not turn and listen to their Almighty Creator.
  • Revelation 19:15 And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should strike the nations: and he will rule them with a rod of iron: and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

 

34 Wail, shepherds, and cry! Roll about in the ashes, you leaders of the flock! For the days of your slaughter and your dispersions are fulfilled; you will fall like a precious vessel. 35 And the shepherds will have no way to flee; nor the leaders of the flock to escape. 36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a wailing of the leaders to the flock will be heard. For the Lord is destroying their pastures. 37 And the peaceful dwellings are cut down because of the fierce anger of the Lord. 38 He has left his lair like the lion; for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.

 

  • His fierce anger is not equal to the destruction and suffering mankind has done.
  • He gives us the fruit of our doings to teach us what is harmful.
  • When we will not listen and turn, His infinite righteousness has no choice but to judge.
  • In infinite love He made a way back—He Himself came and died for the sins of all.
  • If that payment is refused, there is no recourse and we have no one to blame but ourselves.
  • Psalm 103:10 He has not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.  11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
  • 2Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

 

 

                                            Jeremiah 26

 

1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the LORD, saying, 2 The Lord says this; Stand in the court of the Lord's house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the Lord's house, speak to them all the words that I command you; do not diminish a word: 3 Perhaps they will listen and turn every man from his evil way so that I may repent of the evil that I purpose to do to them because of the evil of their doings.

  • How momentous would it be if we received a message from the President? How much more stunning to received a message from the Creator of the Universe!
  • If they will not listen they will be made desolate and a curse…verse 6.
  • We can’t receive mercy and grace for evil and rebellion.

 

God is diligent, not weary

 

4 Say to them, The Lord says this; If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you, 5 To listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent to you, both rising up early, and sending them, but you have not listened; 6 Then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.


  • Hasn’t this happened? Even in our day the Jews are the most despised and persecuted people on earth.
  • They didn’t listen. But this should not be our attitude toward them.
  • Our attitude should be the same as God’s. He is loving and kind to all.
  • And we need to remember God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12, I will make of you a great nation I will curse those who curse you and bless those who bless you. In you shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.
  • Isaiah 40:28-31 Have you not known? Have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint or become weary? There is no searching of his understanding. 29.He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increases strength. 30.Even the youths will faint and be weary, and the young men will utterly fall: 31.But they that wait on the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings as eagles; they will run, and not be weary; and they will walk, and not faint.

 

7 So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD. 8 When Jeremiah finished speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized/arrested him, saying, You must die!

 

  • Just like Jesus. When he got done speaking they were ready to kill him.
  • John 15:20 Remember the word that I said to you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

 

9 Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD. 10 When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king's house to the house of the LORD, and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the Lord's house.11 Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the princes and to all the people, saying, The judgment of death for this man; for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.

 

  • John 10:31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him (Jesus).

 

12 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and to all the people, saying, The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. 13 Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent him of the evil that he has pronounced against you.

 

  • God is high and holy.
  • He only wants good for each and every person who He has created in His own image.
  • He doesn’t change.
  • He is the best that could ever be. That’s what high and holy means.
  • He still wants to make us like him.
  • He has provided abundant means for us to make that change.
  • God told Jeremiah not to fear the people. God would be His shield.
  • Ezekiel 33:4-6 Then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and does not take warning; if the sword comes, and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. 5.He heard the sound of the trumpet, and did not take warning; his blood will be on him. But he that takes warning will deliver his soul. 6.But if the watchman sees the sword come, and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned; if the sword comes, and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but I will require his blood at the watchman's hand.

 

God had sent a previous warning and prior example of repentance

 

14 As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me what seems good and fitting to you. 15 But know for certain, that if you put me to death, you will surely bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on its inhabitants: for it is true that the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears. 16 Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy of death: for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God. 17 Then certain of the elders of the land rose up, and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying, 18 Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, The Lord of hosts says this; Zion will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest. 19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the LORD, and seek the LORD, and the LORD turned away from the evil that he had pronounced against them? So, we are doing great evil against our souls. 20 And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath-je'arim, who prophesied against this city and against this land like all the words of Jeremiah: 21 And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death: but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt; 22 And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt. 23 And they brought Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him to Jehoiakim the king; who killed him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people. 24 Nevertheless, the hand of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, was with Jeremiah, that they did not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death

 

  • Genesis 15:1 Do not fear, Abram: I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward.
  • Zechariah 2:5 For I, says the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.

 

 

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SUMMARY: Jeremiah 24-26

 

  • He will bring them back and build them up
  • He will give them a heart to know Him
  • God does not harm those who listen to Him
  • God repays according to our ways
  • God has a lawsuit against the nations
  • God is diligent, not weary
  • God had sent a previous warning and prior example of repentance