People often say “I will admit that the Bible is true if ______ happens”. Or, “I will repent when _______ happens”. Today’s reading shows us why that isn’t a good policy.
Jeremiah lived during the time when Jerusalem fell to its enemies. You will remember that the northern kingdom has already fallen, just as the prophets had predicted. But that hasn’t changed everyone’s opinion. Even though Isaiah and Micah and others have spoken about these specific events, the people still do not trust that what they are saying is true. That alone is incredulous, but there’s more.
Josiah was a good king, and he was Jehoiakim’s father. Jehoiakim was actually skipped over for the throne, which was given to his younger brother Jehoahaz when Josiah was killed in battle with the Egyptians. For some reason Pharaoh didn’t like Jehoahaz as his puppet ruler, and replaced him with Jehoiakim. So Jerusalem fell into the hands of the Egyptians who plundered some of the temple goods…but that still didn’t phase the people…they kept right on misbehaving. Jehoiakim was an evil king. It’s recorded that he killed men so he could have sex with their wives, and he had sexual relations with his mother, step mother and daughter in law as well.
Three years after the Egyptians placed him on the throne they were defeated in battle by the Babylonians. So Jehoiakim switched allegiance to them. Then several years later the Babylonians tried to invade Egypt and failed, so he switched allegiance back to the Egyptians….which made the Babylonians so mad they stormed the city and killed him, and took everyone else captive. Just like the prophets had predicted.
In spite of all this turmoil, where nations continually ravaged Judah, the people still didn’t recognize their sins and repent.
But wait, there’s more.
Did you notice that when Jeremiah prophesied that there were also false prophets saying the exact opposite? The wicked kings listened to the wrong prophets! God even revealed to the people that the prophets were false by informing them that the ones who spoke falsely would be dead within the year. And, you guessed it….it happened just like the Lord said. Did anyone recognize their error, admit their sins and change their ways? Well, none of the leaders did, anyway. They were just as hard headed as they ever were.
There will always be misinformation and lies that the enemy (the devil) spreads around to confuse the issue and obscure the truth. Our job as Christians is to be wise enough (through the Holy Spirit) to recognize his attacks and not fall prey to them. In Ephesians 6 we learn that the shield of faith stops the fiery arrows of the devil. Our faith protects us from the devil’s lies. In Ephesians 5 it tells us not to live in sexual immorality, and warns us not to be greedy, impure or immoral. The devil will send false prophets among us that will encourage us to listen to their message, but it can always be discovered as false, since it is motivated by greed, impurity or some form of immorality. Faith and knowledge of God protects us from satan’s lies.
I found myself today remembering the times when I said “I will become a Christian later, after I have done a few wild and crazy things” (that my unredeemed soul wanted to do). I promised myself that if I saw end times things starting to happen, or if I had children, or if I did something really bad…..I would confess and get my life turned around. Except I never seemed to do that…because my focus wasn’t ever on Christ when things were bad.
Faithfully,
PR