Jeremiah 35:12

 Jeremiah 35:12 says, Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying, Verse thirteen adds, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? saith the LORD.  This time, the word of the LORD was a question for Jeremiah to ask the people of Judah and Jerusalem.  God once again identified Himself, stating that He was the LORD of hosts and the God of Israel.  God is the God of all creation, but the people of Israel of which Judah and Jerusalem were a part whether they were acknowledging it or not, were those who were supposedly in a covenant relationship with God.  God asked if they would not receive His instruction and hear His word.  We need to live in obedience to God as followers of Christ so that He never has to ask us the same question.  Verse fourteen states, The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed; for unto this day they drink none, but obey their father’s commandment: notwithstanding I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye hearkened not unto me.  God then held the Rechabites up as an example.  He said that Jonadab, the son of Rechab commanded his sons to not drink wine, and they still continued to obey his command, but that God had spoken to those who were called His people from early in the morning to late at night and they did not obey His command.  We need to never be more faithful to some man or man made tradition than we are to the word of God and His commandments.  Verse fifteen adds, I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me.  God then says that He had sent prophets calling on His people to turn from their idolatry and wicked ways and to return to Him and He would keep them safe in the land that He had given them, but that they would not listen to the prophets.  We need to listen to God's word today as Christians if we are to be successful in our spiritual life.  Verse sixteen declares, Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them; but this people hath not hearkened unto me:  God once again cited the obedience of the sons of Jonadab and the lack of obedience of the people of Judah and Jerusalem.  Verse seventeen adds, Therefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them: because I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard; and I have called unto them, but they have not answered.  God said that He was going to bring punishment to the people of Judah and Jerusalem because they would not listen to His word and live in obedience to Him.  Being a part of a Christian family or even what is called a Christian nation will never save anyone.  We must individually listen to God's call to salvation and personally respond to it to be saved and become a part of His family.  Verse eighteen states, And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he hath commanded you:  Then verse nineteen adds, Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever.  God said that the obedience of the people of Rechab would be rewarded by always having someone to stand before Him.  I believe that this had to do with more than just following Jonadab's rules, but obeying God Who Jonadab represented.  We cannot be saved simply by obeying man made rules, but must live under the leadership of the Holy Spirit if we are truly God's people, and if we do we will be rewarded with everlasting life with God.

Jeremiah 35:1

Jeremiah 35:1  says,  The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying, Jeremiah prophesied during the reign of different kings we will note.  Verse two adds, Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of the LORD, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.  God instructed Jeremiah to go to the Rechabites and invite them into the house of the LORD and to give them wine to drink.  Matthew Henry said that the Rechabites separated themselves from the rest of Israel, lived in tents and did not drink wine.  They were already living in houses instead of tents because of necessity, so this would be a test to see if they would break their other vow when it was not of necessity.  It is one thing to do something out of necessity and another to do it simply because we may have found it necessary to give in to a certain religious practice just because we have failed in another.  Verse three states, Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habaziniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites;  Verse four adds, And I brought them into the house of the LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door:  Jeremiah brought the Rechabites into the temple as God had commanded him to do.  Verse five declares, And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine, and cups, and I said unto them, Drink ye wine.  Jeremiah said he set pots full of wine and cups before them.  This was in the house of God and would have been at no cost to them.  Yet, it would have broken their vow to God to drink it.  Not everything that happens in the church building today may agree with our own personal vow to God, and if it doesn't, even if other believers do it, we must refrain from dong so.  Verse six adds, But they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever:  The Rechabites declined to drink the wine because of the vow to their father.  Verse seven continues, Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any: but all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land where ye be strangers.  They also brought up the fact that they were not to build houses or plant vineyards according to the command of Rechab.  Verse eight states, Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he hath charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor our daughters;  They said that they had obeyed the commands of Rechab.  Verse nine adds, Nor to build houses for us to dwell in: neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed:  They repeated the vow to not build houses or plant vineyards.  They may have been living in houses at this time, but they had not built them and did not consider them a permanent home.  Verse ten continues, But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. Then verse eleven concludes, But it came to pass, when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians: so we dwell at Jerusalem.  The Rechabites said that they came to Jerusalem out of fear of the army of the Chaldeans.  Again, they weren't there to establish permanent homes.  We should never allow anything to come between God and us, but if we have made a vow to God we should do our best to keep it, even if everything seems to be going wrong around us.

Jeremiah 34:12

 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.

Jeremiah 34:1

 Jeremiah 34:1 says, The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying,  God's word came to Jeremiah as Nebuchadnezzar was fighting against the city with all his army.  Verse two states, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:  God had a message for Jeremiah to carry to Zedekiah, king of Judah, and it wasn't one that he would want to hear.  God said that he was going to give Zedekiah over to Nebuchadnezzar and that Jerusalem would be burned.  The message we have for people today may not always be what they want to hear, but if it is God's message, we must proclaim it.  Verse three adds, And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.  God said that Zedekiah was not going to escape because of his turning away from God, in spite of what the other prophets had been saying.  Our message today is that people are not going to escape punishment for their sins if they do not accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.  Verse four declares, Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword:  God also said that Zedekiah would not die by the sword.  Verse five adds, But thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD.  God said that Zedekiah would die in peace.  Verse six declares, Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,  Jeremiah proclaimed the word of God to Zedekiah, just as we must proclaim His word to the world today, even if they do not want to hear it.  Verse seven says, When the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these defenced cities remained of the cities of Judah.  The army's of Nebuchadnezzar then came against Jerusalem, as God had said thy would.  Verse eight states, This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;  God's word once again came to Jeremiah, after Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people of Judah.  God said that liberty would come again.  Verse nine adds, That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother.  God said that all the Hebrews should set their servants free, and that no Hebrew should serve his or her brother.  God's law had said that they should be set free after seven years, but the people of Judah were not obeying His law.  We as followers of Christ should never attempt to have any other Christian in servitude to us.  Verse ten declares, Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go.  Jeremiah said that when the princes and all the people heard God's command, they let their servants go.  When we hear God's word, we need to obey it no matter what it may cost us in material terms.  Verse eleven adds, But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.  The obedience of the people did not last, as they once again brought the servants that they had freed back into servitude.  Temporarily doing what God commands but then rebelling against Him again is never enough.  We must obey God's word at all times.

Jeremiah 33:19

 Jeremiah 33:19 says, And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying,  Verse twenty adds, Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season;  God said that the covenant of the day and night would not be broken.  God established the daytime and the nighttime, and man cannot change it, and neither can they change any of God's covenants.  We may light up the night with artificial ight, but it is still night.  Verse twenty-one declares, Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.  God said that just as certain as the day and night continuing as He ordained them, so was the fact that His laws and His Redeemer, the everlasting descendant of David, Jesus Christ the Messiah, would never change.  Just as God is in charge of the coming of the day and night, He is in charge of the redemption on mankind, and there is only one way to redemption, and that is through faith in Jesus Christ.  Verse twenty-two adds,  As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.  Even though at that time the seed of David, God's chosen people, seemed to be defeated and destroyed, God said that His promise to make them as numerous as the stars or the sands of the sea, was still in effect.  No matter what our situation may be in the world, if we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, then our salvation can never be taken from us.  We are a part of the seed of David, because it isn't being a physical descendent, but a spiritual one that one that counts.  Verse twenty-three states, Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,  Verse twenty-four adds, Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.  God basically told Jeremiah to not worry about what people were saying about the nation of Judah or Israel.  The world may have seen them as two families and have claimed that God had cast them off, but to God they were always one family and He definitely had not cast them off.  The world may say that the church is defeated today, but as long as we remain true to God, He tells us we never will be.  Verse twenty-five declares, Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;  Verse twenty-six adds, Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.  God's promise was that as sure is there is day and night, the descendants of those who He had made the promise of an everlasting covenant with, would not pass away.  The promise had been made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob based on their faith in God, and the promise applies to everyone who accepts Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

Jeremiah 33:10

 Jeremiah 33:10 says, Thus saith the LORD; Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast,  God said that the land of Judah would be bare, but that it wouldn't stay that way. even if the people gave up hope of the land being occupied again, God gave them assurance that it would be.  No matter how bad things may seem, we as Christians need to keep our faith in God.  Verse eleven adds, The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the LORD.  God said that they would once again praise Him, because He would return them to the land.  God had given them the land to begin with, and they had only lost it due to a lack of faith.  If our life seems to be hopeless as followers of Christ, we need to simply return to Him in faith once again and we will find the joy of our salvation once more.  Verse twelve states, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Again in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, shall be an habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.  God said that the land would once again be full of shepherds who would tend their flocks in peace.  God did not promise a land of military might, but a land of shepherds filled with His peace.  Verse thirteen adds, In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that telleth them, saith the LORD.  God said that the land would be filled with cities and people throughout.  The sheep would be under the authority of the shepherds, just as the people would be under the authority of God.  Verse fourteen says, Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.  God told Jeremiah and the people of Judah that the day was coming when He would restore them.  The day is coming when we as God's people will be called home to heaven, God's promised land for us.  Verse fifteen adds, In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.  God then gave the promise if the coming Messiah.  This is where the only hope of salvation lies.  Just as the people of Judah and Israel failed to live up to God's standards and therefore earned all the destruction that came to them, so does everyone at any time in history.  Yet, God provides a way of redemption through faith in Jesus Christ. Verse sixteen states, In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness.  God said that Jerusalem and Judah would be saved, and that it would be done for glory of God.  We must always give God the glory in our lives if we are followers of Christ.  Verse seventeen adds,  For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel;  This was not a promise of a descendant of David being on the throne physically forever, but of the coming Messiah Who would be spiritually on the throne forever.  Verse eighteen continues, Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.  There would never be a lack of a Priest, but this was not an earthly priest, because they once again became corrupt, but a heavenly Priest, Jesus Christ, the Messiah.  He is still our Priest today, standing in our place before God if we put our faith in Him.

Jeremiah 33:1

 Jeremiah 33:1 says, Moreover the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying, God didn't quit speaking to Jeremiah while he was imprisoned, and if we were to find our self imprisoned for speaking God's word today, that does not mean that He will no longer be able to use us.  We cannot be locked away from God and His word to us.  Verse two declares, Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name;  Jeremiah once more identified the God Who spoke to him as the only true God.  We need o always remember Who God is.  He is the Creator of all things.  Verse three adds, Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.  Jeremiah said that God instructed him to call on Him and that He would show Jeremiah great and mighty things that Jeremiah did not know.  God will give to us an understanding of life that we cannot know without putting our faith in Him.  Verse four states, For thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the mounts, and by the sword;  God said that He was going to tell Jeremiah things about Jerusalem and Judah that he could not see, or know, on his own.  If we would have a true understanding of the world today, then we must look to God to give us that understanding, and not to the situation that we may find ourselves in.  Verse five adds, They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in mine anger and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city.  God said that the people of Judah were going to fight against the Chaldeans, but that they were going to lose, because God was not with them because of their sin.  If we have sin in our life, especially if we claim that the sin is God's will, we will suffer defeat in the world today.  Verse six declares, Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.  God said that those who remained true to Him or returned to Him in repentance would be restored to the land that He had given them once more.  If we have strayed away into sin, God waits ready to restore us once more if we return to Him in faith.  As stated many times, if we are truly a born again believer in God, I do not believe that we will ever lose our salvation, but we can certainly lose the joy of our salvation and our effectiveness as servants of God.  Verse seven adds, And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.  God said that He would return the people of Judah and Israel to the land and restore them once more.  We cannot defeat the sin of the world on our own today, but if we put our faith in God, He will keep us safe.  Verse eight continues, And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me.  God said that he would cleanse the people of Israel of all their iniquity and heal them.  Forgiveness of sin and restoration to a right relationship with God can come only from putting our faith in Him.  We cannot earn forgiveness by our own ability.  Verse nine concludes, And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it.  God said that He would be glorified by what He was going to do for the people of Judah, just as He should be glorified by our salvation today.