A Ray of Light in a Day of Darkness

Most of this chapter deals with the false prophets. We are going to see some interesting things about them. However, the clouds do part for a moment in the ministry of Jeremiah. This chapter opens with a beautiful prophecy of the coming of the Lord Jesus. After we see this great light, the clouds gather back again and we continue seeing the gloom and doom that characterized Jeremiah’s ministry.

1. Israel will have a bright future (1-8).

A. A warning to the wicked leaders of Judah (1-2).

The shepherds were the political rulers. It was ultimately the kings who allowed idolatry to spread in Judah. With their alliances to other nations they introduced the people to pagans who worshipped false gods. The blame is on them. They did not care for the people. Injustice was common. Because the kings allowed idolatry and injustice to go unchecked the nation would be scattered and driven away from the land. This thought continues what we saw in chapter 22 with all of the wicked kings.

B. God promises to shepherd His people (3-4).

Notice all that God will do:

I will gather the remnant of My flock.

I will bring them back to the fold.

I will set shepherds over them.

God promises:

Fruitfulness

Safety

Restoration

God promises a new government established by Himself. The rulers He will place over them will be nothing like the wicked kings they have experienced. We can see a partial fulfillment of this when Cyrus releases the Jews from captivity. They return to Jerusalem and experience a measure of revival. However, what is promised here is far greater than anything we see that occurred historically in the Old or New Testament.

C. God promises a special King is coming (5-6).

This King will be of the lineage of David. Loot at how He will reign:

Wisely

Justly

Righteously

He will save the nation and give them protection. Notice what His name is. his name is “The Lord is our Righteousness”. This new King leads the people to righteousness, unlike the wicked kings of Judah

This coming King stands in contrast to the other Kings.

He is wise, they were fools.

He is just, they were unjust.

He is righteous, they were wicked.

D. God promises a complete restoration (7-8).

All over the world the Jews still celebrate Passover. It is the oldest religious holiday observed by Jewish people. It commemorates the Exodus. God says the new King will do something so great the exodus will not be spoken of any longer. What will be talked about is how this King gathers His people from all over the world and places them in their own land. The deliverance from Babylon under Cyrus was a shadow of the ultimate deliverance God’s people will experience when Christ returns. In the end days many Jewish people will turn to Christ, and they will be a part of Christ’s kingdom on earth.

2. Condemnation of religious leaders (9-15).

A. Jeremiah is broken hearted (9-10).

Jeremiah is a wreck. Look at the text.

His heart is broken

His bones are shaking

He is like a drunken man- confused

He is very emotional because he knows what the Lord is going to do to the people.

The land was experiencing drought which was proof that God had cursed it (Deut. 28). The reason for the curse was the adultery and evil the people were involved in. As I’ve mentioned before, the fertility rites of Baal included sexual immorality. The pagans did not have the same view of sex as the Jews had been shown in the Law.

Jeremiah knew what the Lord was going to do to the people because of their sin and it affected him inwardly.

B. The false prophets’ days were numbered (11-12).

Notice both offices, prophet and priest, were corrupt. The priests who worked in the Temple had forsaken God. These spiritual leaders would slip and fall. Their sin had placed them on slippery paths. They were like people trying to walk down a dark and slippery path. The year of their punishment would be the year of the invasion.

There is an expiration date on these spiritual leaders. They don’t believe it, but there is.

C. Samaria and Jerusalem were both filled with false prophets (13-15).

Samaria was a part of the Northern Kingdom. It had already fallen to the Assyrians in 722 BC. The false prophets in Samaria prophesied by Baal. In other words, they encouraged the people to worship Baal. In doing so they led the people away from God. The Southern Kingdom was aware of what happened to the Northern Kingdom.

Jerusalem was more sinful than Samaria. Their false prophets were worse.

They committed adultery

They walked in lies

They strengthened the hand of evildoers

Why was the South different? In the North they claimed to prophesy by Baal. At least they were telling the truth. In the South they claimed to prophesy by the Lord but were not. They were hypocrites. The South was worse because they had not learned the lesson of the North and they masked their Baal worship in Judaism.

The Southern Kingdom had become like Sodom & Gomorrah to God. They were disgusting. They would be objects of God’s wrath. He would feed them poisonous food and drink. This language is symbolic of the death that is coming upon them. The false prophets were to blame for the ungodliness of the land.

3. A description of the preaching in Jeremiah’s day (16-22).

A. They were prosperity preachers (16-17).

They gave hope to a people who were condemned.

They spoke their own visions.

They told the people everything was going to be ok.

They despised the Word of the Lord.

They did not preach repentance to a stubborn and sinful people.

B. They had not heard from the Lord (18-20).

The council of the Lord symbolizes a place where privileged information is shared. None of them had heard the Word of God. They had no idea what God was saying in that day. They were no like Jeremiah or even Isaiah who saw the Lord lifted up in His Temple.

In verses 19-20 we see the truth about God’s response to idolatry.

This was the message they would not preach. The anger of the Lord was like a storm brewing and about to be released on the people. When it is released, it will burst upon the heads of the wicked. Sadly, none of the wicked would understand the message of Jeremiah until after the captivity.

C. True prophets warn people about the danger of sin (21-22).

Look at verse 22. If these prophets were of God they would have preached in such a way that the people would have turned from their sin. This is the proof that God did not send them. They did not preach repentance. They allowed the people of God to live in sin without warning them. This is one of the ways you know if a person is preaching the Word or not. Those who preach the truth do not ignore the parts about sin. God’s men will call people away from sin and to righteousness.

4. The prophetic ministry matters to God (23-32).

A. God questions the people (23-24).

Am I a God at hand and not a God far away?

Can a man hide Himself from God?

Do I not fill heaven and earth?

The questions are meant to show the people that God knows everything. No one can hide from God. God is everywhere. Perhaps the false prophets were telling the people that God was not aware of their sins or that He was so far removed from them that He didn’t care about them.

B. The source of false prophecies (25-27).

God is aware of what the false prophets are saying because He is omniscient. God says the source of what these prophets are saying is their own heart. Their heart is deceiving themselves and others as well. Their prophecies are causing people to forget the name of God. They are like the false prophets of the Northern kingdom. They are drawing people away from God. I’m going to say more about the dreams in a moment. The point is the false prophets were the source of their own revelation.

C. The Word of God is easily distinguished (28-29).

In sarcasm the Lord says, “Let the false prophet keep telling his dreams.” As long as Jeremiah and others keep preaching the truth it will be easily distinguished from the lies of the false prophets.

God asks:

What does straw and wheat have in common?

The answer is nothing. Anyone can tell the difference. One is worth something the other is not.

God says His Word is like a fire and His word is like a hammer. His Word is powerful (Hebrews 4:12). It burns up dross, it shatters hardened hearts. You will know when the Word is being preached. Idols will be destroyed. Ideas will be cast down. The words of the false prophets did nothing but affirm and soothe the people. Jeremiah came with a sledgehammer causing devastation. The two messages of that day were very different. One was from God, the other was not.

D. Three types of false prophets (30-32).

Those who preached other prophet’s messages (30). Some of the false prophets were stealing their messages from other prophets. These were guilty of plagiarism. Never trust a man who preaches other people’s messages.

Those who were eloquent (31). These people talk a lot and qualify their preaching with “Declares the Lord”. Good speakers do not necessarily mean good preachers. Some people can talk but they can not preach. They can give a speech but not a sermon.

Those who were mystical (32). They preached their dreams and visions. Be careful of the people who talk about their visions and dreams. They often do this because they figure people cannot question them. They claim to have had an experience with the Lord but you cannot confirm it because it was such a secret and personal thing.

None of these prophets were any profit to the people. They hurt the people.

5. The burden of the Lord (33-40).

A. The people were mocking the burden of the Lord (33-34).

The burden of the Lord was the message God gave a prophet. It was often so difficult it caused sorrow to the man of God.

The people used this phrase to mock Jeremiah. They would ask “What is the burden of the Lord?” God had enough of that and instructed Jeremiah on how to respond to them.

The Hebrew is difficult here. Some translate the response as the ESV “You are the burden” and others like the KJV translate it as a question “What burden?”

What is clear is the people had become a burden to the Lord. That’s why He is going to cast them off. Anyone who continues to give their own “burden of the Lord” will experience judgment.

B. The people were forbidden to use the phrase (35-37).

The people are given an alternative phrase to use. They can no longer ask ‘What is the burden of the Lord?” They must now ask “What has the Lord spoken?’ or “What has the Lord answered you?” They needed to have more reverence for the Word of God. Doing away with a phrase they used so flippantly might cause them to think about what the words actually mean.

C. A warning to those who continue to use the phrase (38-40).

If they continued to mock the Word of God they could expect judgment. I think about Revelation 22:18-19. God promises to curse those who add to or take away from his Word. How we handle and respond to God’s Word determines how He will handle us. The false prophets could expect eternal shame. They were claiming their own Words were the Words of God. They pretended to be the spokesmen of God but they were not.

In our age we need to remember to judge preachers by the Book. We are not here to share our own opinions. It is dangerous for us and others when we do so. When you hear someone claim to have a Word from God that doesn’t come from the Bible do not listen to them. The only Word you know for sure that comes from God is the one that is found in the Bible. In our age God speaks through His Word. If the preacher is not preaching from the Bible do not listen to him.