Prophecy in Josiah's Day
Notes
Transcript
Setting: There was reform in Josiah’s day, a removal of many of the idols from the temple, and a restoration of the temple. The finding of the law, and the repentance of Josiah. Josiah did much to remove the priests who served the idols, the idols themselves, and to have the people worship the Lord.
Some say that Jeremiah 2-6 were written in Josiah’s day. I do not think we have a good way of knowing that for certain, as all of Jeremiah’s prophecies were recorded / written down later in his ministry to be taken to Jehoiakim.
Jeremiah 3 is following on the heels of Jeremiah 2, which is a total condemnation. It is like a court scene, where the charges are being brought against Israel and Judah.
Jeremiah 2 is the Lord speaking to the people of Jerusalem like a husband accusing his wife.
The people did not seek the Lord who had brought them out of Egypt into a fertile land.
The priests did not seek the Lord.
The leaders rebelled.
The prophets spoke by Baal.
“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
and so they were suffering at the hands of the nations around them.
Have you not brought this on yourselves by forsaking the Lord your God when he led you in the way?
And yet the people, during Josiah’s day at least, would claim that they were not that bad...
“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? See how you behaved in the valley; consider what you have done. You are a swift she-camel running here and there,
a wild donkey accustomed to the desert, sniffing the wind in her craving— in her heat who can restrain her? Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves; at mating time they will find her.
Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry. But you said, ‘It’s no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.’
They claimed that had to do this. It is who they are. It is their desires.
When caught, they did not have repentance and sorrow over their sin, but rather sorrow because they were caught.
“As a thief is disgraced when he is caught, so the people of Israel are disgraced— they, their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets.
They continued to sin, but would cry to God to save them.
They say to wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’
They would accuse God for all of their hardships in life.
“Why do you bring charges against me? You have all rebelled against me,” declares the Lord.
And, they would change their ways, but not to truly follow God. They just found another of their desires to follow. They were not humble before the Lord, owning their sin, and then following the Lord. They would in one breath say, “I sinned,” and in the next instance continue to follow their prideful hearts to another of their desires, instead of knowing and following the Lord.
Have you not just called to me: ‘My Father, my friend from my youth,
will you always be angry? Will your wrath continue forever?’ This is how you talk, but you do all the evil you can.”
It is in this context that God sends his message through Jeremiah.
Message: Repent / Turn
Message: Repent / Turn
Jeremiah 3.6-4.4 includes condemnation of Israel, Judah, and promise if they return, as well as prophecy of their return, new shepherds
There is a lot of condemnation still in this section of Jeremiah, however the main message is to Repent / Turn.
Word play of turn (turn away) and re-turn (turn to)
Return / turn / turn away - 18 times in Jeremiah 3:1-4:4 .
Faithless / Backsliding / Turn away - 8x
Jer 3.6; 3:8; 3:11; 3:12; 3:14; 3:19; 3:22
Return - 10x
Jeremiah 3:1; 3:7; 3:10; 3:12; 3:14; 3:22; 4:1
During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there.
I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it.
I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery.
Certificate of Divorce - metaphor for them being sent away into captivity
Not divorced as He will later say, “I am your husband,” Jer 3:14. We’ll get there...
Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.
In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the Lord.
What does it mean, only in pretense…
They were worshiping in the temple, but their hearts were not fully the Lord’s. They still had their own desires. They still practiced their sinful ways while going to the temple.
Jeremiah speaks of this later...
You are always righteous, Lord, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?
You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts.
Their hearts were not for the Lord and His ways.
Ezekiel spoke of the same issue...
My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your words, but they do not put them into practice. Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain.
And Isaiah 29.13
The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
And later, John the Baptist had the same message to the people of his day...
Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
The Lord said to me, “Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah.
How could Israel be more righteous than Juday?
But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
Go, proclaim this message toward the north: “ ‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am faithful,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will not be angry forever.
Only acknowledge your guilt— you have rebelled against the Lord your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me,’ ” declares the Lord.
Repentance - returning to the LORD because He is faithful, He will not be angry forever.
The Faithful LORD’s Call to repentance
The People’s Response of acknowledging guilt
God’s promise for the repentant
The People Following the Lord from a humble heart
The first part is key. The emphasis is returning because the LORD is faithful. That is the true foundation, the starting point for repentance.
“Return, faithless people,” declares the Lord, “for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion.
if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.
What the Faithful God will do
Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.
In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the Lord, “people will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made.
At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the Lord. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.
In those days the people of Judah will join the people of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance.
God’s lament, Jeremiah 3:19-22, God’s Call to Repentance.
“I myself said, “ ‘How gladly would I treat you like my children and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’ I thought you would call me ‘Father’ and not turn away from following me.
But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you, Israel, have been unfaithful to me,” declares the Lord.
A cry is heard on the barren heights, the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel, because they have perverted their ways and have forgotten the Lord their God.
“Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding.” “Yes, we will come to you, for you are the Lord our God.
The repentant response:
“Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding.” “Yes, we will come to you, for you are the Lord our God.
Surely the idolatrous commotion on the hills and mountains is a deception; surely in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.
From our youth shameful gods have consumed the fruits of our ancestors’ labor— their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters.
Let us lie down in our shame, and let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the Lord our God, both we and our ancestors; from our youth till this day we have not obeyed the Lord our God.”
The promise:
“If you, Israel, will return, then return to me,” declares the Lord. “If you put your detestable idols out of my sight and no longer go astray,
and if in a truthful, just and righteous way you swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’ then the nations will invoke blessings by him and in him they will boast.”
The command to follow through:
This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns.
Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire because of the evil you have done— burn with no one to quench it.
Follow through:
Put away
Swear Allegiance
Cultivate the Heart
Break up the hard soil
Remove the weeds
Receive the Word
clue from verse 1: put away the idols, stop going astray
What do I put before the Lord? What is it that I desire more than the Lord?
Sports? Work? Leisure? Hobbies? Recreation? Entertainment?
Verse 2: Swear - public declaration and commitment
Verse 3: Cultivate the heart (Parable of the soils, Matthew 13)
breaking up the hard soil (hard heart)
removing the weeks (James 1.21)
receive the word of the Lord
Repentance is not emotion.
Repentance is not regret.
Repentance is based upon the Faithfulness of God.
Repentance is the call of God
Repentance is the response to that call, truly acknowledging guilt.
Repentance is trusting the promise of God, rather than our hearts or our ways
Repentance is following through:
Removal of idols
Swearing allegiance
Cultivating the heart
breaking the hard soil
removing the weeds
receiving the Word
What about me?
What about me?
Am I like Israel or Judah?
Am I like Jeremiah?
