Jeremiah 34:12 says, Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Verse thirteen adds, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, saying, God told Jeremiah that He had made a covenant with the people of Israel when he brought hem out of the land of Egypt. The covenant went both ways. He was to be their God and they were to be his people, and they had failed to keep the covenant. Verse fourteen states, At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear. God said that the covenant required that any Hebrew who was a servant or slave of another Hebrew would be released from servitude after seven years, but the people of Israel or Judah had failed to follow God's command in the past and the present. When we enter a covenant relationship with God through our faith in Jesus Christ, then all His laws apply to us and we are to live guided by them. Verse fifteen declares, And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name: God said that the people of Judah turned to Him again and declared the servants free while they thought they were in danger. Verse sixteen adds, But ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids. God said that as soon as they thought they were safe that they once again enslaved those who had been set free. God said that this polluted His name. We cannot call on God in times of trouble and turn away from Him if He brings us out of the trouble without polluting His name. Verse seventeen declares, Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. God said that he was proclaiming liberty to the people of Judah to find the sword, pestilence and famine and to be removed from the face of the earth. This is what being free from obeying God will bring us today. We may be the richest person in the world, but if we have not entered into a covenant relationship with God through the salvation of Christ, this is our ultimate fate. Verse eighteen adds, And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof, God then had a warning to those who had professed to obey His word and had not. Simply claiming to be a follower of Christ today without following God's law through a persnal relationship with Jesus Christ is not enough to save anyone. Verse nineteen continues, The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf; God said that all the people professed to follow God by participating in worshipping Him. Again, this was an empty ritual that had no spiritual meaning to them. Verse twenty says, I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth. God said because of their sins, He was going to give them over to their enemies and they would be killed. If we do not accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we will ultimately be given over to a everlasting spiritual death, which will be to be forever separated from God and His loving kindness. Verse twenty-one adds, And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which are gone up from you. God said that he was going to give the rulers of Judah over to their enemies. When we do not follow God's word in faith, we are spiritually under the power of sin. Verse twenty-two concludes, Behold, I will command, saith the LORD, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant. God said that the people of Judah were going to be defeated and Jerusalem was going to be burned. This was a result of their continued rebellion against God. If God is against us, it does not matter who is for us.
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