Jeremiah 26:1

Jeremiah 26:1 says, In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word from the LORD, saying,  Verse two adds, Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD’s house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD’s house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word:  During the reign of Jehoiakim, God's word came once more to Jeremiah.  He was told to stand in the temple and declare God's word to all that came to worship, and to not diminish His word.  We today as followers if Christ need to stand and proclaim His word wherever He directs us to, and we certainly should never diminish His word.  Verse three declares, If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.  God said that if they repented of their evil that He might not do the things that He had proposed to do to them.  The only hope that sinners have is to listen to God's call to salvation and repent of their evil ways and accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.  Verse four states,  And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you,  Verse five adds, To hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye have not hearkened;  God said that He had sent prophets to them, who rose up early to speak to them, and was about to give them a warning if they did not listen to them.  God will send us plenty of people to call us to Him, and it is up to us if we listen or not.  Verse six continues, Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.  This would be the result of not listen to God's prophets and obeying His word.  The temple would be destroyed.  If we do not listen to God's word today and do not accept His salvation, then our fate will be even worse.  We will go away to everlasting punishment.  Verse seven states, So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD.  All the priests and the people heard Jeremiah speak these words.  Jeremiah did what God told him to do, then it was up to the people to do what God called on them to do, beginning with the priests.  Today, we who are followers of Christ need to listen to God's word and do what He calls us to do, especially the preachers who are to proclaim His word.  Not that any Christian is less responsible, but the preachers are called for the specific purpose of proclaiming God's word to the congregation of believers and those that need to come to Christ as well.  Verse eight says, Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.  After speaking God's word, Jeremiah had the people declare that he should die.  No matter what people may threaten to do to us today, we must faithfully declare God's word.  Verse nine asks, Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.  These priests and those gathered together in God's house in His name asked Jeremiah why he prophesied the things that he did.  They should have known if they were truly listening to God.  They then gathered at Jeremiah's house.  Verse ten adds, When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king’s house unto the house of the LORD, and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the LORD’s house.  Then verse eleven concludes, Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.  All the priests and prophets said that Jeremiah was worthy of death.  They claimed to represent God, but they didn't.  We need to make sure that what we proclaim to the people today in the name of God is indeed His word.