As It Was In The Days Of Jeremiah

Introduction

As it was in the Days of Jeremiah

"My heart within me is broken because of the prophets...for the land is full of adulterers...for both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord" (Jeremiah 23:9-11).

I. The Days of Jeremiah

Jeremiah preached at a time when Judah had turned from God. The prophets, priests, princes and the people rejected God's message. Jeremiah began to preach in the 13th year of the reign of good King Josiah who led the nation out of its darkest hours of apostasy, the legacy of debauchery during the 55 years of Manasseh's reign and 2 years of his son, Amon's, reign.

Josiah was only 8 years old when he began to reign. At 16 years he "began to seek after the God of David"( 2Chron. 34:3). At 20 years he "began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images" (2Chron.34:3). When 21 Josiah was joined by the youthful prophet Jeremiah, and at 26 years he repaired the Temple and held the greatest Passover since the days of Samuel the prophet. They were days of revival.

During the reign of Josiah, Jeremiah enjoyed 18 years of regal support, but when Josiah was cut down by Pharaoh-necho at 39 years, the whole scene changed. The sons of Josiah were an ungodly bunch who turned the clock back to the days of Manasseh. Jehoahaz lasted but 3 months before Pharaoh took him captive to Egypt. Jehoiakim reigned for 11 years, his son Jehoiachin 3 months, and his uncle Zedekiah for another 11 years before Jerusalem was burned by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

Three time the Babylonians came. Jehoiakim's dead body was "buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem" (Jer.22:19). The young 18-year-old King Jehoiachin spent 37 years in a Babylonian prison, and Zedekiah was captured by the Babylonians as he fled Jerusalem on horseback. He saw all his sons slain, his eyes were put out, and he was taken in chains to Babylon where he died in prison (Jer.52:8-11).

All through this harrowing period of 23 years which followed the death of Josiah, Jeremiah spoke the Word of the Lord to the nation and was opposed by the prophets, priests, princes, and the people.

Only a small remnant believed his message.

The prophets publicly contradicted his message (Jer.28:1-4), King Jehoiakim burned his Scriptures (Jer.36:23), and the men of his home town, Anathoth, warned him," Prophesy not in the name of the Lord, that thou die not by our hand" (Jer.11:21).

The priests demanded his death (Jer.26:11), while Pashur, the governor of the Temple, "smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord" (Jer.20:2). False prophets in Babylon wrote letters to the priests in Jerusalem urging them to "put him in prison, and in the stocks"(Jer.29:26). The princes left him to sink in a miry pit (Jer.38:6), and Zedekiah imprisoned him (Jer.38:13).

After Nebuchadnezzar released Jeremiah from prison, Johanan forced Jeremiah to accompany him to Egypt where, according to Jewish tradition, he was either stoned to death by the Jews at Taphanhes, or remained for 16 years till rescued by Nebuchadnezzar when Egypt was destroyed about 570BC (Jer.45:28).

II. The Last Days

The story of Jeremiah has remarkable parallels with the last days. Jeremiah had seen genuine revival in the reign of Josiah and had been a part of it. He had seen people turn from their idols to God and the pagan altars torn down, but this was followed by days of decline led by apostate leaders who claimed to be prophesying in the name of the Lord.

Great spiritual darkness had enveloped the land and the House of God had become a "den of robbers" (Jer.7:11). False prophets were telling the people that great days lay ahead, that the Babylonians would soon be overthrown, and those who had been taken captive to Babylon in 606 and 597BC would all come home with the vessels of the Temple which Nebuchadnezzar had removed. Hananiah even put a date on the recovery: "within two full years" (Jer.28:3).

Incredibly, as storm clouds were rising to Israel's north and Jerusalem's destruction loomed on the horizon, the false prophets were painting a picture of a glowing future with reunions, blessing and prosperity. Jeremiah's message of doom and gloom was only lightened by the promise of blessing after God's judgment had been fully carried out in 70 years of captivity.

The message of the false prophets was palatable and they were in the majority. They claimed to speak the Word of the Lord just as Jeremiah did, and they were far more entertaining. Whether they were right, did not matter, their message was what people wanted to hear.

"Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, He (God) saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord" (Jer.23:31-32).

Lies and lightness! What a combination; deception and decoration, arsenic and sugar, folly and frivolity. The word in the Hebrew translated "lightness" is pachazuwth meaning frivolity. It comes from pachaz, meaning; to bubble up or froth (as boiling water), i.e. (figuratively) to be unimportant -light (see Strong's Dictionary). They were "froth and bubble".

Today the world is teetering on the brink of the greatest holocaust of all time. Islam is threatening to take peace from the earth, if it has not done so already. Nobody, and no nation can consider itself safe. Plans that Russia and America had for disarmament have been shelved because irrelevant. Antichrist's kingdom in Europe is almost complete. Bulgaria and Romania join the EU on 1 January 2007. Israel is increasingly under pressure and threat of annihilation.

If some scientists are correct, global warming is bringing changing weather patterns that will result in environmental disaster. Nations are rushing to arm with weapons so powerful that, if released, human life could be extinguished. In many places longevity is drastically reduced by famine, and disease.

To deny the imminent dangers confronting this world is folly and blind stupidity. The world is already at war and the final countdown has begun.

Yet we have Preterist preachers telling the people that the kingdom of God came in AD70, and assuring people that the Gospel will triumph and bring the world to peace and prosperity without the blood-bath of the Great Tribulation. Religion has become "a fun thing", and "Christians" are "rocked" into a state of insensibility by loud amplified music and the beating of drums!

"Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord" (Jer.23:1-2).

Constantly we hear of godly people being driven from their churches by the last-days contemporary false prophets. Many have worshipped in their churches for decades, but the entertainers have taken over and consider that the saints are holding up progress and must be disposed of.

"For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord" (Jer.23:11).

The Hebrew word translated "profane" is chaneph, meaning to soil, to be hypocritical or impious; a perfect description of the worldly, casual, irreverent, rowdy "worship" promoted by false prophets. The word "hypocrite" means stage actor. These have turned the pulpit into a theatre stage. Preachers and singers become performers. They have profaned the house of God!

God says, "The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord" (Jer.23:28).

Let's be honest. The preacher who wants to entertain should take a position with a theatrical company. He should not come into the house of God and offend the saints and God. Let these false prophets take their chaff elsewhere; the saints need the seed of the Word of God. They will be satisfied with nothing less.

III. A Warning To False Prophets

It is a serious thing to assume the responsibilities of a shepherd of God's flock. When the false prophet Hananiah opposed the "doom and gloom" preaching of Jeremiah, he was opposing God. His optimism did nothing but deceive the hearers.

"Hear now, Hananiah; The Lord hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie. Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the Lord" (Jer.28:15-16).

To the false prophets in Babylon, Jeremiah wrote, "Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: he shall not have a man to dwell among this people; neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, saith the Lord; because he hath taught rebellion against the Lord (Jer.29:32).

Every Preterist, every Amillennialist, every lazy Pan-millennialist should weigh this warning carefully. Those who have led the churches into the contemporary or Charismatic programs, and who tell the people that revival lies ahead, should be solemnly warned. God holds you accountable, and just as surely as Jerusalem was destroyed, so the wrath of God will descend on this wicked world in a baptism of fire. The only hope for this generation is the new birth: to be born again into the family of God. Only those who are part of the true Bride of Jesus Christ, who "love not the world", will be caught up Before the Day of the Lord's wrath comes.

"For God hath not appointed Us to wrath (of the day of the Lord), but to obtain salvation (deliverance) by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him" (1Thess.5:9-10).

Just as Jeremiah was preserved from the slaughter, Noah was kept from the flood, and Lot from the fire, so the Church will be raptured away before the day of the Lord. God told Jeremiah, "Verily it shall be well with thy remnant... in the time of evil and in the time of affliction" (Jer.15:11).

Will you be raptured or reserved for judgment? Are you with Jeremiah, or the false prophets?