THE HIGH COST OF MISTRUTH

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies. Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the Lord.’”

In the seventh month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died.

Jeremiah 28:15-17

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Yesterday, we looked at an extensive section of scriptures from three chapters of the Book of Jeremiah, all dealing with the matter of false prophets. As we study God’s word, we find that there was no shortage of them in biblical days and there is certainly no shortage of them today either underscoring the importance of validating everything we hear or read through the Lord to ensure the messages we’re exposed to are true and legitimate.

One thing is certain: The Lord will never allow us to be deceived when we look to Him for truth.

But what about the consequences for anyone who might think it’s a good idea to spread falsehood while using the name of the Lord as a cover? What punishment might the Lord inflict as a deterrent to try and prevent people from lying and spreading false prophesy and direction?

Well, God answers that question in the final verses of Jeremiah 28 and as we will see, there is a high cost to be paid for mistruth. Look again at this passage for today:

Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies. Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the Lord.’”

In the seventh month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died. Jeremiah 28:15-17

We were introduced to the prophet Hananiah in yesterday’s devotion and although he was a messenger like Jeremiah, the similarity ended there. For while Jeremiah was loyal and faithful in carrying out the Lord’s will and way as he was told to, Hananiah decided it was a good idea to completely fabricate his message in a way that would gain the people’s trust even though he was in no way speaking on behalf of the Lord as he claimed.

At the heart of Hananiah’s ruse was his claim that the Lord was going to return His people and all the articles taken from the Lord’s house way before the Israelite’s seventy year exile to Babylon was over, claiming that the Lord would break the yoke of the king of Babylon. To reinforce his declaration, Hananiah took the wooden yoke off of Jeremiah’s neck and broke it, saying that the Lord would act to break King Nebuchadnezzar in two years. His story was so convincing, even Jeremiah believed it and proclaimed praise saying, “Amen! May the Lord do so!”

But then Jeremiah learned the truth as he was addressed by the Lord. Hananiah had fabricated everything he had said and was definitely not speaking on behalf of the Lord who made His point that the consequences on His people would go on as He said they would. And just in case anyone would think they could break the yoke that God was placing the Israelites under, He changed the material the yoke was made out of from wood to iron.

Then the Lord turned his attention to Hananiah himself and imposed a special penalty on him: the death penalty. Such is the high cost of mistruth, especially when we are deceiving others while posing as if we are speaking on behalf of the Lord. Hananiah had persuaded God’s people to trust in lies once and there would not be a repeat performance for the Lord told the lying prophet that He was going to remove him from the face of the earth, bringing death on him within the year ahead. This promise came to be when Hananiah died in the seventh month of the year. He would never spread false messages again.

Friends, the Lord expects us to speak His truth to others when we speak on His behalf and as we see in today’s scripture passage, there’s a high cost for choosing to do otherwise. Hopefully, this word of God will serve to deter and ward off false prophets in the future but just to be safe, check everything you hear with the Lord for validity to keep yourself from deception and know that anyone who does try and lie will pay the price at the hands of the Lord.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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