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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
But as soon as Jeremiah finished
telling all the people everything the Lord had commanded him to say, the
priests, the prophets and all the people seized him and said, “You must die! Why
do you prophesy in the Lord’s name that this house will be like Shiloh and this
city will be desolate and deserted?” And all the people crowded around Jeremiah
in the house of the Lord.”
When the officials of Judah heard
about these things, they went up from the royal palace to the house of the Lord
and took their places at the entrance of the New Gate of the Lord’s house. Then
the priests and the prophets said to the officials and all the people, “This
man should be sentenced to death because he has prophesied against this city.
You have heard it with your own ears!”
Then Jeremiah said to all the
officials and all the people: “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house
and this city all the things you have heard. Now reform your ways and your
actions and obey the Lord your God. Then the Lord will relent and not bring the
disaster he has pronounced against you. As for me, I am in your hands; do with
me whatever you think is good and right. Be assured, however, that if you put
me to death, you will bring the guilt of innocent blood on yourselves and on
this city and on those who live in it, for in truth the Lord has sent me to you
to speak all these words in your hearing.”
(Now Uriah son of Shemaiah from
Kiriath Jearim was another man who prophesied in the name of the Lord; he
prophesied the same things against this city and this land as Jeremiah did. When
King Jehoiakim and all his officers and officials heard his words, the king was
determined to put him to death. But Uriah heard of it and fled in fear to
Egypt. King Jehoiakim, however, sent Elnathan son of Akbor to Egypt, along with
some other men. They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim,
who had him struck down with a sword and his body thrown into the burial place
of the common people.)
Jeremiah 26:8-15, 20-23
This ends today’s reading from God's holy
word. Thanks be to God.
What can happen when we are obedient to God’s call to share
His words with others?
As we see in today’s scripture and as we very well know if
we follow the plight of Christians in certain parts of our world today, you may
put your life at risk. In other words, you may end up facing the death penalty
for the cause of the Lord.
This is the plight Jeremiah found himself in after sharing the
message God provided to all the people of the towns of Judah who had gathered
to worship in the house of the Lord (Jeremiah 26:2). It was these people who
were facing God’s judgment if they failed to first listen to what God was
saying and then turn from their wicked ways. God was giving His people an
opportunity to change and all they had to do was accept His offer to spare
themselves a lot of hardship. But as we look again at our passage for today, we
find that they did not receive His words favorably:
But as soon as Jeremiah finished telling all the people everything the Lord
had commanded him to say, the priests, the prophets and all the people seized
him and said, “You must die! Why do you prophesy in the Lord’s name that this
house will be like Shiloh and this city will be desolate and deserted?” And all
the people crowded around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.”
When the officials of Judah heard about these things, they went up from
the royal palace to the house of the Lord and took their places at the entrance
of the New Gate of the Lord’s house. Then the priests and the prophets said to
the officials and all the people, “This man should be sentenced to death because
he has prophesied against this city. You have heard it with your own ears!”
Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people: “The Lord
sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the things you have
heard. Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the Lord your God. Then
the Lord will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you. As
for me, I am in your hands; do with me whatever you think is good and right. Be
assured, however, that if you put me to death, you will bring the guilt of
innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on those who live in it, for
in truth the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.”
(Now Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath Jearim was another man who
prophesied in the name of the Lord; he prophesied the same things against this
city and this land as Jeremiah did. When King Jehoiakim and all his officers
and officials heard his words, the king was determined to put him to death. But
Uriah heard of it and fled in fear to Egypt. King Jehoiakim, however, sent
Elnathan son of Akbor to Egypt, along with some other men. They brought Uriah
out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him struck down with a
sword and his body thrown into the burial place of the common people.) Jeremiah 26:8-15, 20-23
How far were God’s people immersed in sin?
So far that some of the first to seize Jeremiah and demand
his execution were the priests and prophets, leaders in the temple who you
would expect would be Jeremiah’s staunchest supporters. They refused to believe
the message of potential destruction and desolation Jeremiah proposed. Perhaps
if they had just consulted God Himself for validation, they would have
discovered that the prophet was telling the truth, But no, the priests,
prophets, and other people who accosted Jeremiah were leaning on their own
understanding and thus were believing what they wanted to believe.
Jeremiah wasn’t the only one who was facing danger for
following the cause of the Lord.
For we read in the scriptures of another man, Uriah, who was
also saying the same things as Jeremiah. And as the king and his officers and
officials heard the message he shared, they wanted to put him to death, just as
they wanted to do to Jeremiah. But in the case of Uriah, he was able to get
wind of the plot to kill him and escaped Judah, fleeing to Egypt. His hope was
to hide out and remove himself from the risk at hand but the plan didn’t work
for King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt to find Uriah and after locating him, they
brought him back to Judah where he was “struck down with a sword” and his body
was “thrown into the burial place of common people.”
On the other hand, Jeremiah managed to survive but it wasn’t
because he chose to be silent. Rather, he had additional words for the leaders
and people who had seized him:
“The Lord sent me to
prophesy against this house and this city all the things you have heard. Now
reform your ways and your actions and obey the Lord your God. Then the Lord
will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you. As for
me, I am in your hands; do with me whatever you think is good and right. Be
assured, however, that if you put me to death, you will bring the guilt of
innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on those who live in it, for
in truth the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.”
Note that Jeremiah was not quick to condemn those who
attacked him. Rather, he still was giving them a chance to reform their ways
and actions, returning to an attitude of obedience toward God. He reminded
everyone that he had not come to prophesy against them on his own accord but
rather was their through the Lord’s bidding. In other words, if they were going
to lash out in some way, they should be choosing to lash out at God instead
since He was the one who instigated the encounter between them and Jeremiah,
the prophet.
So what direction would this situation go in?
It really was up to the people of God. The ball was firmly
in their court.
If they chose to listen to Jeremiah, receiving God’s message
and turning from their evil ways, then God in turn would pull back and refrain
from sending His punishment upon them. Ignore the prophet (and in doing so God)
and all bets were off and God would bring His judgment upon them, a judgment
that would only be amplified if any harm was done to Jeremiah, particularly if
they killed him and shed innocent blood in the process.
So what are we to take from this today? What is God’s word
trying to convey that we might use for our daily Christian walk?
I believe there are things:
1. We serve a Lord
who is grounded in mercy.
Even after Jeremiah had delivered God’s message and the
priests, prophets, and people seized hi, threatening him with death, God still
allowed them another chance to reform their ways and actions, returning to Him
in obedience.
Think about how many chances the Lord has given you to do
the same in your life and it’s easy to see this part of His blessed character.
2. We all run the
risk of harm when we go forth to do the Lord’s work.
This should come as no surprise for any Christian. Jesus
Himself warned us that if they hated Him then they would hate anyone else who
went forth in His name (John 15:18-25). The hatred of Jesus in His time led to
the cross and crucifixion after he was severely beaten. Indeed, as Isaiah
predicted some 700 years earlier, Jesus was the suffering Servant.
Today, we see where Christians are still being assaulted and
executed merely for their belief and trust in Jesus as Savior and their
commitment to carrying out His Great Commission and the call to share the
gospel. As those in Christ, we need to know that there is always a risk of
peril that comes along with our commitment and conviction to serve Him in
obedience.
3. God’s judgment
will come on anyone who refuses His call to repent from sin and reform behavior
toward the righteousness He offers.
The people of God were given more than one opportunity to
change their wicked ways and respond to God’s message in obedience but they
refused to listen to Him and thus He did not relent on His promise of
punishment. Instead, we know that He sent forces against His people that left
Israel and Judah in ruins and the people of Judah carried off into seventy
years of exile at the hands of the Babylonians.
Today, we need to remember that God will no more tolerate
our disobedience and apostasy than He did more than 2,000 years ago. We can
either comply with His word, will, and way willingly or He will bring
consequences that will lead us to compliance. No one is beyond His discipline.
No one.
Frankly, we could make it much easier on ourselves and learn
from the mistakes of the Old Testament Israelites who only needed to accept God’s
offer to listen and turn from their evil ways to restore themselves to His
favor.
In 2016, let’s all take God up on His offer, repent, and
pursue His righteousness that will drive out the sin that would bring us into opposition
with Him.
Amen.
Let us pray.
In
Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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