SNBS Jeremiah 4
Notes
Transcript
5 Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say, “Blow the trumpet through the land; cry aloud and say, ‘Assemble, and let us go into the fortified cities!’
6 Raise a standard toward Zion, flee for safety, stay not, for I bring disaster from the north, and great destruction.
7 A lion has gone up from his thicket, a destroyer of nations has set out; he has gone out from his place to make your land a waste; your cities will be ruins without inhabitant.
8 For this put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned back from us.”
9 “In that day, declares the Lord, courage shall fail both king and officials. The priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded.”
10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God, surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘It shall be well with you,’ whereas the sword has reached their very life.”
11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind from the bare heights in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse,
12 a wind too full for this comes for me. Now it is I who speak in judgment upon them.”
13 Behold, he comes up like clouds; his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles— woe to us, for we are ruined!
14 O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil, that you may be saved. How long shall your wicked thoughts lodge within you?
15 For a voice declares from Dan and proclaims trouble from Mount Ephraim.
16 Warn the nations that he is coming; announce to Jerusalem, “Besiegers come from a distant land; they shout against the cities of Judah.
17 Like keepers of a field are they against her all around, because she has rebelled against me, declares the Lord.
18 Your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you. This is your doom, and it is bitter; it has reached your very heart.”
11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
12 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the Lord.
13 He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord, the God of Israel.
14 All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the Lord that he had made holy in Jerusalem.
15 The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.
16 But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.
17 Therefore he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged. He gave them all into his hand.
18 And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon.
19 And they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious vessels.
20 He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia,
21 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
The last kings were nothing like the first kings. The greatness of David and Solomon, civil and military, is not seen in kings like Jehoahaz, Jehoiachin and Jehoiachim. The kingdom divided after Solomon, with Rehoboam and Jeroboam each taking a part.
Zedekiah was the king who actually accompanied Judah into exile. Those preceding him paid tribute to the ruling kingdoms, Assyria and Egypt.
We see the root cause of the exile is contained in verses 15-16: Rejecting His Words was the same as rejecting Him. Jesus told the parable in Mark 12.
What is the result of rejecting His Word? Ultimately, eternal separation. For the believer? Let’s toss this statement around: Sin doesn't separate us from God, it strains the relationship. How about for the church? When the church rejects the Word of God, what is the result? Will He remove the lamp stand?
The call to/chance for repentance.
O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil,
that you may be saved.
How long shall your wicked thoughts
lodge within you?
Until the land enjoyed it’s sabbaths. 70 years of exile. The end was expected.
The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. The Sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves and for your hired worker and the sojourner who lives with you, and for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land: all its yield shall be for food.
Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.”
