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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.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
But
Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard left behind in the land of Judah some of
the poor people, who owned nothing; and at that time he gave them vineyards and
fields.
Now
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had given these orders about Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan
commander of the imperial guard: “Take him and look after him; don’t harm him
but do for him whatever he asks.” So Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard,
Nebushazban a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other
officers of the king of Babylon sent and had Jeremiah taken out of the
courtyard of the guard. They turned him over to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son
of Shaphan, to take him back to his home. So he remained among his own people.
While
Jeremiah had been confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the Lord
came to him: “Go and tell Ebed-Melek the Cushite, ‘This is what the Lord
Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I am about to fulfill my words against this
city—words concerning disaster, not prosperity. At that time they will be
fulfilled before your eyes. But I will rescue you on that day, declares the Lord;
you will not be given into the hands of those you fear. I will save you; you
will not fall by the sword but will escape with your life, because you trust in
Me, declares the Lord.’”
Jeremiah
39:10-18
This ends today’s reading
from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
When
we do something in service to the Lord, particularly when we make a big
difference in the life of another, we can expect that the Lord will look
favorably on what we have done and send His blessings in some form.
The
Lord has shown this time and time again in the scriptures and we see one of
those instances in the closing verses of Jeremiah, Chapter 39. Look again at
those words here:
But Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard
left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people, who owned nothing;
and at that time he gave them vineyards and fields.
Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had
given these orders about Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial
guard: “Take him and look after him; don’t harm him but do for him whatever he
asks.” So Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard, Nebushazban a chief officer,
Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officers of the king of
Babylon sent and had Jeremiah taken out of the courtyard of the guard. They
turned him over to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him back
to his home. So he remained among his own people.
While Jeremiah had been confined in the
courtyard of the guard, the word of the Lord came to him: “Go and tell
Ebed-Melek the Cushite, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel,
says: I am about to fulfill my words against this city—words concerning
disaster, not prosperity. At that time they will be fulfilled before your eyes.
But I will rescue you on that day, declares the Lord; you will not be given
into the hands of those you fear. I will save you; you will not fall by the
sword but will escape with your life, because you trust in Me, declares the Lord.’” Jeremiah 39:10-18
In
order to get a full picture of what is going on here, we need to go back in
time a little to the place where Zedekiah was still in power and Jeremiah was
in custody, accused of trying to defect to the Babylonians.
You’ll
recall from the words in Jeremiah 37 that Zedekiah had summoned Jeremiah to ask
him privately if the prophet had any word from the Lord. Jeremiah told the king
he would be handed over to the Babylonians and then followed with a question as
to why he was being imprisoned when his prophecies had come true, unlike the
words of Zedekiah’s prophets who kept telling him he had nothing to fear from
the Babylonians. Jeremiah petitioned Zedekiah to not return him to the dungeon
cell in the home of Jonathan and the king honored his request, confining him to
the courtyard of the guard.
That
situation didn’t last long because as soon as we turn the page to Chapter 38,
we find Zedekiah’s officials coming to the king to convince him Jeremiah
deserved death for the way he had stirred up fear in the hearts of the
Israelites soldiers and people through his prophecies. Zedekiah turns the
prophet over to his officials who then placed Jeremiah in a deep cistern which
had no water within but had a floor that was so muddy that Jeremiah sunk down
into it after being lowered down. The intent was for Jeremiah to die in the
cistern but an unlikely figure would come to his rescue.
Scripture
tells us that a servant of the king, a Cushite (Ethiopian) named Ebed-Melek,
went to Zedekiah with concerns about the way Jeremiah had been treated, calling
the actions of the other officials as wicked. The king allowed Ebed-Melek to
take thirty men to pull Jeremiah out of the cistern and the Cushite did just
that.
Jeremiah
was saved in what was a great rescue, initiated by a man who would soon be
facing a peril of his own.
For
as we now see in Jeremiah 39, the Babylonians have fully invaded Jerusalem and have
taken over. Further, Zedekiah, the king who violated God’s proposition by attempting
to flee the city instead of surrendering to the Babylonians as God commanded,
was captured, brought before the king, and forced to watch his sons slaughtered
before his eyes were put out and he was carried off in shackles to Babylon.
Exile
awaited all other residents of Jerusalem with the exception of a remnant of the
poorest people who had owned nothing but would be left behind in Judah and given
“vineyards and fields” to tend to.
As
for Jeremiah, we read where “Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon” gave orders to Nebuzaradan,
the commander of the imperial guard, ordering him to not harm the prophet but
rather to “do for him whatever he asks.”
Huh?
An
invading king who is in total control of everything and everyone he has
captured allows one man to dictate what gets done for himself?
Friends,
only God can be the one orchestrating that kind of scene, a scene of great
rescue for the faithful way that Jeremiah served His Master. Scripture tells us
that the prophet was taken from the courtyard of the guard and was turned over
to Gedaliah so Jeremiah could return to his home, safe and sound while remaining
among his own people.
But
God wasn’t done with His great rescuing.
For
no sooner was Jeremiah liberated from further captivity and harm that he
received a word from the Lord to pass onto the man who had saved him, the
Cushite Ebed-Melek.
The
message was simple. God was about to do what He said He was going to do. He was
going to bring disaster and destroy Jerusalem but Ebed-Melek would not be
harmed. Rather, God gave the Cushite His word that he would be rescued and
saved from those who might wish to do him harm. The man who bravely interceded
to save Jeremiah would escape with his life.
Why?
Because
he simply put his trust in the Lord. We know this because the Lord tells us
Himself.
Friends,
the Lord is trying to teach us something very critical to our Christian walk
today. For those who place their trust in the Lord will find the Lord honoring
that loyalty with His care and protection. There is little doubt that God cares
for those who remain steadfast in their faith toward Him and obedient to His
will and way.
And
perhaps there is no greater example I could use than Jesus who was sent by God
to rescue all His people from sure destruction from their sins. Since no person
could have atonement for sin without some form of sacrifice, God sent His Son,
often appropriately referred to as the Lamb of God, to serve as the final
sacrifice needed to atone for the sins of all people. After Jesus’ death and
resurrection, all a person would have to do is to believe in Jesus as their
Savior and they would be washed clean by His blood that was shed in their
place, justified before God (or made to be just as if they had never sinned).
This
is the extent with which God loves His people, that like Jeremiah and
Ebed-Melek, He would not wish for them to perish but rather to experience divine
salvation.
In
the end translation, God is the one who orchestrates every great rescue.
Have
you done what you need to do to ensure you have yours secured?
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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