Introduction Chapter 29 is a series of letters written to the first wave of prisoners taken in the capture of Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar. In the first letter Jeremiah encourages the captives to make the most of their circumstances. To turn tragedy into triumph would mean trusting God for the future. The people were to settle down, build houses, make a life, seek peace and prosperity in their new circumstances and pray for their captors. ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me will all your heart (v.13). God s Word remains the same for us. Have you lost touch with God? The Lord is available to you. The Lord longs for people to look to Him and live. His arms are open in loving invitation to all who will turn to Him. But it is true--that a diligent search is required. The second letter (Jeremiah 29:15) was a warning to guard against false prophets who deceived and were themselves deceived. Jeremiah singles out two leaders for special condemnation named Ahab and Zedekiah (see v.21). Their names would become a proverb and a curse; the two prophets were guilty of gross sins; including adultery, and preaching the captives would soon return to the land. But the prophets rejected God s Word and God s judgment. The false prophets taught lies---and lived godless lives! The False Prophets s Letter: A Picture Of Persecution (vv.24-29) The third letter is a response by the false prophet Shemaiah to Zephaniah--the deputy priest in Jerusalem. The letter is a type and picture of God s prophet Jeremiah being persecuted. A Bleak Blog From Babylon 24You shall also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying, Note: Jeremiah confronts Shemaiah the false prophet. The name appears some 27 times in the Old Testament and means the Lord has heard. 25Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, The false prophet has sent correspondence in his own name (under his own initiative) to the people of Jerusalem. Zephaniah occupies the office once held by Pashur (the guy who threw Jeremiah into prison--see Jeremiah 20:1-6!). 1
26 The Lord has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, so that there should be officers in the house of the Lord over every man who is demented and considers himself a prophet, that you should put him in prison and in the stocks. The false prophet declares that God has made Zephaniah the new High Priest in Jerusalem. The letter accuses Jeremiah of being a madman (demented); a false prophet who deserves to arrested and imprisoned! This is interesting to me. Shemaiah the false prophet accuses Jeremiah of being demented a madman. Why does Shemaiah accuse Jeremiah of madness? Because of Jeremiah s message. What was Shemaiah s message? The captivity is short lived. What was Jeremiah s message? The captivity would last 70 years! Today we judge a person s sanity on the basis of their connection to reality. We deem a person mentally ill in direct proportion to their disconnect with reality. Jeremiah is the very definition of sanity! The people who failed to heed the signs of the times; and who rejected the Word of the Lord were the ones disconnected from reality! Modern skeptics and agnostics believe Christians are afflicted with a kind of mental illness. 27Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who makes himself a prophet to you? In effect--the priest Zephaniah has been accused of being way to lenient with Jeremiah! Why have you not rebuked Jeremiah? Why haven t you arrested Jeremiah? 28For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, This captivity is long; build houses and dwell in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit. The prophet Jeremiah is charged with crimes against his country. Jeremiah is charged with teaching and preaching a negative, false message of hopelessness; that the captives should settle down and make the best of it in Babylon. Can you believe it? Jeremiah is accused of making a negative confession! In effect the false prophet is instructing the priest make Jeremiah keep quiet. Silence Jeremiah the Prophet. 2
Now Jeremiah is being charged with teaching a negative message, a false message of hopelessness; how in the world could Jeremiah be so bold as to suggest that the captives should settle down in pagan Babylon and try to make the best of their miserable circumstances! 29Now Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet. The priest Zephaniah reads the letter to Jeremiah. Why doesn t Zephaniah just grab Jeremiah and throw him back into the pit? Why doesn t Zephaniah lock Jeremiah up? It may be that Zephaniah reads the letter in the hopes of bullying Jeremiah into keeping his mouth shut! Or was Zephaniah sympathetic to Jeremiah s message? The Third Letter To The Exiles: The False Prophet Condemned (vv.30-32) 30Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying: Now Jeremiah writes a third letter to the captives in Babylon. In short he informs the people in captivity that God will soon judge Shemaiah and his family for his lying and wickedness. 31Send to all those in captivity, saying, Thus says the Lord concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I have not sent him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie Jeremiah warns the people that Shemaiah is a false prophet. He speaks lies. The Lord has not sent him....and he has caused you to trust in a lie. False prophets are self-appointed. False prophets are dangerous. The false prophets cause people to trust lies. What was the big lie? Zedekiah was still on the throne. There were Jews still living in Jerusalem. The false prophet reminded the people so long as there was a Jewish King on the Jewish throne in the Jewish City of Jerusalem there was hope! But God called them bad figs rotten fruit ready to be tossed! Once again the false prophet and the people missed the point of the message. The important thing was not what happened to the people in the land--but rather what was going on with the exiles in Babylon. The important thing was the Word of God--and the Promise of God. The important thing was--what will the people do with the Word of God! If the people believed the Word of God and obeyed the Word of God--God would work out His purposes and bless them! 3
In this case the lie included telling the people in captivity they would soon return to the Land. The people would soon be blessed with peace, security, and prosperity. The false prophet does not teach the whole counsel of God. In this case the false prophet asked the people to focus on the blessing and God s promises --but it had a tragic and toxic effect on the people. The people came to the false conclusion that they could live any way they wished, ignoring God s holy commandments. And for that reason judgment would come swiftly on the false prophet. What do you trust? Who do you trust? 32therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his family: he shall not have anyone to dwell among this people, nor shall he see the good that I will do for My people, says the Lord, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord. The Bible says that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. The Lord promises punishment for Shemaiah and his family. The punishment included no survivors--no descendants to see God s promise fulfilled. The Lord s charge: Shemaiah preached rebellion against God s Word. In an age of tolerance and acceptance we are shocked to discover that God s Word takes a stand for truth and against error. Sin always brings ruin. Judgment is inevitable, automatic and eternal. When false prophets give a false word and false hope they teach rebellion against the Lord. In the New Testament the Pastor s job included administering the ordinances baptism, The Lord s Supper (Matt. 28:19-20). The Pastor was to be a man of prayer (1Tim.2:1); the Pastor s job included warning the flock (1 Tim.4:1,6); studying God s Word (2 Tim.2:15) and preaching God s Word (2 Tim.4:2; Acts 6:2-4). The Pastor was to exhort and rebuke (1 Thess. 5:12; Titus 2:15); to watch over souls, his own and to feed and lead his flock and be an example to all. In Hebrews chapter 10:26 the writer of Hebrews issues a warning to those who are wavering in their commitment to Christ. Some Jews wanted to return to the Jewish sacrifices. Some wanted the Old time religion--a religion that did not rely on the sacrifice of Jesus. Hebrews 10:26 (NKJV) For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 4
What is the willful sin--being referenced? I think it means apostasy--a turning from the gospel and a rejection of the sacrifice of Jesus and a return to the sacrificial system of Judaism. The writer than makes this contrast Hebrews 10:27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has rejected Moses law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord. And again, The Lord will judge His people. 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. We live in a world that rejects God and rejects God s Word. In the Book of Isaiah the prophet wrote; Isaiah 13:11; And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15). Conclusion Warren Wiersbe: What life does to us depends largely on what life finds in us. If we seek the Lord and want His best, then circumstances will build us and prepare us for what He has planned. If we rebel or if we look for quick and easy shortcuts, then circumstances will destroy us and rob us of the future God wants us to enjoy. The same sun that melts the ice also hardens the clay. God s thoughts and plans concerning us come from His heart and lead to His peace. Why look for substitutes? (Be Decisive) 1. In the end what is the principle? Settle down and prepare for the long haul. 2. Be a good citizen. Make the place you are living a better place. Jesus said, I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world (John 17:15-16). 3. Don t allow yourself to be deceived. The land of the exile was teeming with the pagan gods of a foreign society. False prophets within the family of Jews and false prophets in the culture. How is it that we see the lies and short-comings in the secular society and refuse to see the false doctrine within the so-called body of Christ? Paul wrote passionately to the Galatians who were being led astray by false doctrine. There are some who trouble you and want to 5
pervert the gospel of Christ (Gal. 1:7). Paul was familiar with Jeremiah s words; Do not let your prophets and your diviners...deceive you...i have not sent them says the Lord (vv.8-9). 4. Think about your circumstances. No matter how difficult, no matter how bleak, you have a future and you have a hope. Many of those who heard the disturbing news of the length of the captivity may have had reason to feel utterly hopeless. They would never live to see the promise fulfilled. I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place (v.10). The only comfort they might embrace was the knowledge that their children or their grandchildren might return to the land. But clearly Jeremiah also spoke of a future and destiny that reached beyond time to all who honor the Lord with their earthly lives. 5. The false prophets would soon be destroyed. False prophet are many and common and plentiful. Jeremiah spoke of a people who would not only come back home to Jerusalem, but would come back to the Lord, to the intimacy and joy described in the New Testament. There is an intimacy promised to those who will come to Jesus. Conclusion In the last four chapters (26-29) three large themes emerge: (1) the theme of truth--which prophet speaks the word of the Lord? Who is the true spokesman for God? In each instance the answer is Jeremiah! (2) the next great theme is that a powerful feel good optimistic message is not always God s message! There is something inside of us that wants to see the bright side, the optimistic side! And make no mistake about it---we all want hope and we all need hope! But what we don t need is false hope! Hope is found in God s will and God s Word. But sometimes optimism is blinded--to God s will and God s Word. (3) It is easy to doubt whether our message is a true message and God s message--when there are people who proclaim a message that is the exact opposite of the message given to us by God. How do you know your message is really God s message? In the book of Joshua the Lord spoke to Joshua (6:2). The Lord spoke concerning his plan for victory over Jericho. The Lord gives the plans for victory. In short Joshua saw a man with a drawn sword in his hand. When asked about the man s identity the man answered As captain of the host of the Lord am I come. Joshua fell on his face and said What saith my Lord unto His servant. Joshua was ready to listen to the Word of the Lord. Joshua was willing to learn the will of the Lord. Joshua was willing to love the way of the Lord. And Joshua was willing to lives the wishes of the Lord. That created confidence. Confidence to look for victory in the Lord. 6
Think about that for just a moment. Joshua did all the Lord told him to do--and did it in the way the Lord told him to do it. When the armies marched around Jericho in the fashion God prescribed on the seventh round, on the seventh day, Joshua commanded the priests to sound the trumpets and the people shouted. As they did--joshua stood looking for victory and the walls of Jericho fell--and victory came. It was glorious. Listen to the Word of the Lord, Learn the will of the Lord, Love the way of the Lord--live his wishes, look for victory and it will come. 7