Jeremiah 19
Notes
Transcript
We last talked about the story of the Potter repairing the clay, and that just like He restored the clay, He could restore His fallen people
We saw how God has a role as a healer, and in our day and age that’s one of His primary roles
but God is a simple, yet complex God, His motives are simple - He’s loving, fatherly, and wants us to be a part of His family
we talked about that this is what God really wants from us, He wants us to be restored to Him and to be part of the family of God
but just like God is all too and all loving, He is all powerful too, and sin is directly against His nature
He has a spiritual enemy, spiritual evil, the devil and his armies, and humans are kind of on this side of the spiritual divide until we are reconciled to God
so since God is all powerful and sin is against His plan and His very nature, He will not have it.
though He gives us mercy every single day, there will become a point where God decides it’s too much
and that’s what we’ll end up seeing in the book of Jeremiah
1 Thus saith the Lord, Go and get a potter’s earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests;
So just like in the last story, God tells Jeremiah to go and get a potters “earthen bottle” which means it would have been some sort of clay jar or bottle
He’s continuing the imagery from the last story
sometimes we get distracted by chapter divisions and verse divisions, but these weren’t really instituted until the textus receptus by a man commonly called “Stephanus” who was continued the work of Erasmus
this occurred in the early 1500’s, so for years and years and years nobody had these or read their Bible like we tend to
it’s all one continuing narrative, and a better way to read is section by section, if you have a Bible that divides them this way
God also tells Jeremiah to take some priests with Him, so they could witness what God had to say by the mouth of Jeremiah and be able to repeat it to the people
so it’s important that we don’t just listen to God’s Word, but that we go out and repeat it! After all, that’s what a believer is called to do
God says if you’re ashamed of Him, He’ll be ashamed of you
2 And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee,
So God tells Jeremiah to go to a place in Jerusalem which is known for being a graveyard, for trash to be burnt, and for sacrifices to other Gods
so not only is there a lot of death and trash there physically, but spiritually as well. it’s great imagery from our wonderful God
He also tells Jeremiah to go to the east gate, which is where a lot of people would be passing in and out all day
Additionally, when Jesus talks about gehenna in the Gospels, the word itself is a play on the word “Hinnom” here of the hinnom vally
so we see a lot of parallels with death, spiritual death, fire, and trash with the Hinnom valley to provide great imagery or a parallel, to make people realize things
3 And say, Hear ye the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.
so this message is going all the way from the kings on down, everybody is subject to the Word of God, the kings or the rich get no exceptions
“Lord of hosts” - this, many times, is talking about the Lord of hosts of angels, the Lord of the heavenly armies - since hosts means many, like saying “there was a whole host of people there”
God says He will bring destruction on Jerusalem, and we will read about why shortly
God also says the destruction will be so bad that the people’s ears will tingle - the Hebrew word has some other meanings as well such as ring, quiver, and resonate
so this will be a very great and thorough destruction - just like God can create, we must also remember that He can destroy just as greatly
by why such a great destruction? (NEXT VERSE)
4 Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;
“they have forsaken me” - a very sad place to be, the only one who can save their souls, the only one who can heal them and provide fulfillment and purpose in their life they have given up and forsaken
even after all the wonderful things God has done for them, including creating them and having as much mercy upon them as He’s had!
they were really pushing the limits, really trying God, and that is a bad place to be, you don’t want to be pushing the limits with God?
why? for some temporary, earthly, hollow, vain pleasure? who are we living for?
they forsook God, and estranged the land from Him, His holy land that He’d given to Israel, that they’d fought so hard for
they’ve also burned incense to and worshipped other Gods - so they not only forsook God but they took up another, a spiritual enemy and evil that they’ve decided to go with
and these God’s were God’s that their fathers and even them knew nothing about! they were just some God’s that floated along through the country
different groups of people had all these different Gods. so the moabites might have their own set of Gods (a pantheon), the assyrians did, the babylonians did, the phoenecians did, the egyptians definitely did, and so on
so Israel, being along a trade route, would encounter all these different people and their gods, and sometimes take up worship with them
in God’s promised land no less!
lastly, it says they’ve even shed the blood of the innocents - and we know how God feels about this subject - God is very wrathful toward this, rightly so.
so we can see just how out of whack they’ve gotten, and we can get just as out of whack if we play into our human nature too much, if we care about our self and our pleasures more than God and His plan for and relationship to us
5 They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:
they built high places, places of worship and sacrifice, to baal, a foregin so called god
and they even sacrificed their sons to this god, what kind of deranged god would demand this? yet the children of Israel had fallen to the point of worshipping this deranged so called god
God even makes the point that it never even entered His mind to have the Israelites do this, showing His loving nature and intentions.
could you imagine taking an innocent child up to an altar, and then actually killing the child to worship a false god?
so when you hear someone talking about how the Old Testament God was supposedly so mean and just full of wrath all the time -
first of all, there are so many more instances of God’s love and mercy in the OT
secondly, this is what He had wrath against, He had wrath against and destroyed this kind of evil, the evil which was killing small children to please a false god
if that is so “wrong”, then I don’t want to be “right”
6 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.
Even in this warning, God is giving them a chance to repent, an act of true mercy
He certainly has no reason to other than the fact that He loves His children
so such a great destruction will happen that it will have a new name for the place
but it’s just so important to remember that God is exacting this upon evil and the powers thereof
and we have to be on one side or the other, and we must decide and make a true committment, we cannot serve two masters, we cannot be double minded
we have to wholeheartedly commit, and be in the world but not of the world
we have to live according to the Spirit, not according to our human nature, God gives us the tools to be healed, to rise above, and to be part of His family
but sometimes, in our lives, we forsake Him, whether it be just a little bit or a lot, whether it’s just for a moment or for an extended period of time
each and every time it’s a sad thing, no matter what, no matter if it’s skipping Bible reading, prayer or something worse
we only have so much time in this life, and if we skip praying, then that’s an opportunity that we’ll never get back, if we skip reading, we’ll have less understanding of God than we could have had
if we spend years in the world away from God, those are years that we’ll never get back, but God is always there if we will just turn to Him, because if we turn to Him, He WILL turn to us
7 And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives: and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.
this further describes the extent of the destruction that God will have upon this evil that has filled the promised land
and God warns that if you’re part of the spiritual enemy and His side, then God wants nothing to do with that, and will want nothing to do with YOU if you never seek Him
if you live a life of sin, you are living a life that is fundamentally anti-God and against His nature
Eternal torment truly is separation from God, separation from love and goodness, separation from mercy and life
So God gives us an opportunity, but He also gives us the choice, and we have to decide what side of the rift we’re going to be on
8 And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.
further describing God’s revenge upon the evil that’s overtaken, so much so that people who pass by will be “astonished” and want to stay away because of all the leftover disease
9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.
in these older days, and really even today, armies would “siege” a city of a country they were invading
they would get their armies and surround all the exits of the cities, and let nobody in and out,
this was a tactic to starve them out, thirst them out, cut off trade, and weaken their morale and physical condition
people would not be fighting well if they haven’t eaten for a week and would eventually give in to the opposing force simply for something to eat and drink
the Bible says that they will starve so badly that they will even resort to cannibalism - incredible
the destruction of evil, both then and in the future, will be complete
it can be viewed as a purging, like the wheat and the tares parable - if the evil is gone, good will be left
and we know that heavenly will be perfectly good, so the evil will be gone, and we read about this in the book of Revelation
this is what God wants us to avoid, He wants all men to be part of His family, but some choose not to and continue a lifestyle of evil even in the presence of this mercy
imagine being in hell one day and just thinking - “man, if I would have just listened, if I would have just given up this and that, I’d be in heaven right now”
and it’s the believers responsibility to be God’s agents and spread this message of life to others, so that they might be saved and give up their evils and sins
according to the 1st century Jewish historian Josephu, people also resorted to eating each other during the destruction of Jerusalem by the romans, when the temple was destroyed, fulfilling Christ’s prophecy
history shows that this was a very great destruction as well, and we can see why, it wasn’t long after Christ. 70 ad
10 Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,
11 And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.
So just like the potter in the last story healed the clay and made it new and God said He can do the same for us
cannot be made whole again BY MAN, but God can
we see the inverse in this verse, just like God can heal the clay, He can just as well destroy it
so we cannot take God’s mercy and goodness for granted, like the Israelites did
how many times have we seen people do this? we need to truly fear God, and fearing God is like a being reverent and respectful of His incredible power
Just as He can beautifuly create, He can also just as well destroy, and He destroys evil
Tophet was in the vally of Hinnom, a valley of death, disease, and burning trash
and this is where they will be buried, again we have some powerful imagery that shows the masterful mind of God
12 Thus will I do unto this place, saith the Lord, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet:
13 And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.
14 Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the Lord’s house; and said to all the people,
15 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.
sadly, we see that after Jeremiah left, God saw that the people were simply stubborn and didn’t listen to the message
they just kept doing what they were doing and going about their own business, worshipping other gods, sacrificing their children and so on
God will not stand for us being on the side of spiritual evil
we must seek Him and reconciliation with Him, and live a life devoted to Him
because He will give us life and life abundantly, but to evil, He will pronounce death, like would become of those Israelites in the valley of Hinnom
How sad, that they forsook God, and went the way of evil
God gives us a way out, a way to Him, a way to be on good terms with our Creator and heavenly Father, but will we take it? or will we live a life devoted to our own business and our own pleasures.
dont waste another minute forsaking God today, that’s time you could have used to be close to God that you’ll never get back - one life, don’t waste it