Easter

Today we celebrate Easter. We have likely recalled His triumphant entry into Jerusalem just a few days before, and many people today would worship Him if He were the triumphant leader that they thought He would be, but He wasn't in earthly terms. That is why many people refuse to follow Him. They cannot see anything material in it for them. We may have remembered His last supper, when Jesus said one of those there with Him, His closest disciples, would betray Him. We may think of the disciples looking around wondering who it was but knowing that it wasn't him, though Judas knew. Still, when things got really bad, they all betrayed Jesus by their disbelief. We may question the faith of others while we fail to follow Jesus in complete faith, thereby betraying Him. We may remember the time in the garden when the disciples could not stay awake for an hour, in spite of their professed undying loyalty to Him, and we may ask how often we have failed in the simplest things that God calls us to do. When we say we will pray for someone, do we basically sleepwalk through it. We may remember Jesus's arrest and the same people who welcomed now crying crucify Him as they chose to free Barabbas. We may likewise choose to stand with others as they take actions that in effect crucify Christ once more. If any person, good or bad, becomes more important to us than Jesus Christ, we have become guilty of sin, and death is the penalty and Jesus Christ is the only One Who is qualified to pay that price and redeem us. We may remember Peter standing defiantly against the mob, and then slipping away after Jesus was arrested and denying Him. There may be times when our faith is very strong, and then if things don't go as we desire, we wallow in doubt, at which time we are denying Christ. We may remember the beating and the crucifixion when Jesus was mocked. We also must realize that even though the crucifixion happened centuries ago, we are just as responsible as the people in that day were. Jesus Christ died for us all.  We may remember the burial in a borrowed tomb that was sealed and guarded, seemingly ending all hope. If we only see Christ crucified and buried and defeated, then we have no hope, but what we must see and what we celebrate at Easter is the fact that the tomb was unsealed and empty. Our hope is in the resurrected Jesus Christ alone. Had Jesus Christ simply died and been buried, even if it was done for us, then He would not be able to bring us salvation. In the resurrection, He defeated sin and death for all time. So, this Easter, if you have not, I pray that you will accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord so that you may know the real joy of Easter. For those who have already done so, I pray that we will put our faith in Him at all times. HE HAS RISEN.

Jeremiah Lessons

 We will review some things learned from Jeremiah.  First,  just because people are called God's people by the world or themselves doesn't mean that they are.  The people of Judah were God's chosen people in name, but they were worshipping false gods.  Being God's people means being a a covenant relationship with Him and being obedient to that relationship by obeying His word.  We also need to realize that God will not allow sin, even the sins committed by those who profess to be His people, to go unpunished forever.  The people of Judah felt secure in their status as God's people even as they worshipped idols.  We cannot claim the security of Christ while at the same time worshipping other gods or idols, whether it be a real man-made idol or simply the material things of the world.  God sent Jeremiah to warn the people of Judah and Jerusalem that He was about to allow them to be deflated because of their idolatry.   I don't believe that we will ever be able to allow sin and idolatry back into our lives as Christians and not be warned by God that this will bring consequences.  We also see that the leaders of Judah, both religious and governmental, claimed that Jeremiah was wrong, and even imprisoned him at times.  We need to realize that if we call ourselves a Christian nation, we must always listen to God,  and this begins by being in a covenant relationship with Him individually.   Salvation does not come by a national declaration, but a personal relationship with God on the part of each individual in that nation.  If religious or governmental leaders declare anything different, then we should never listen to them but to God.  As Jeremiah found out, declaring God's word can sometimes lead us into dangerous situations, but we must never waver in proclaiming His word.  God always told Jeremiah what to say and do, just as He will us today if we are truly one of His people through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and there is no other way to be one of His people. 

Jeremiah 52:24

 Jeremiah 52:24 says, And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door:  These were five men from the temple.  Verse twenty-five adds, He took also out of the city an eunuch, which had the charge of the men of war; and seven men of them that were near the king’s person, which were found in the city; and the principal scribe of the host, who mustered the people of the land; and threescore men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city.  Matthew Henry points out this was two men from the city, five from the court, and sixty out of the country, that with the five already mentioned was a total of seventy, which was the number of the elders of Israel.  He says the fact that there seem to be two more is because Jeremiah and Ebed-melech were two of those taken, and they were discharged.  Verse twenty-six states, So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.  Nebuzaradan,  captain of the guard,  brought these men to Nebuchadrezzar,  king of Babylon.   Verse twenty-seven adds, And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death in Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive out of his own land.  Nebuchadrezzar had all these men killed, and the rest of the people of Judah taken away captive.  God's people, who by now were His in name only, were killed or taken captive because they had turned away from God.   If we turn away from God today as a people who are known as a Christian nation, we should not be surprised if God allows us to be defeated.  Verse twenty-eight says, This is the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year three thousand Jews and three and twenty:  In the seventh year of his reign, Nebuchadrezzar carried three thousand and twenty-three people of Judah into captivity.   Verse twenty-nine adds, In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty and two persons:  Eleven years later,  when Jerusalem fell, he carried another eight hundred and twenty-two people.   Verse thirty continues, In the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadrezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred.  Two years later, Nebuchadrezzar carried another seven hundred forty-five away captive.   The total of those carried away captive was four thousand six hundred, which was not a great number to represent all the people of Judah.   Verse thirty-one declares, And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the first year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison,  When a new ruler came to power in Babylon,  he had Jehoiachin brought out of prison.  Verse thirty-two adds, And spake kindly unto him, and set his throne above.the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon,   The new king was kind to Jehoiachin and placed him above the other kings that were with him in Babylon.  Verse thirty-three continues, And changed his prison garments: and he did continually eat bread before him all the days of his life.  Verse thirty-four concludes,  And for his diet, there was a continual diet given him of the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.  Though no longer in power, Jehoiachin lived the rest of his life in relative ease.  God had warned the people of Judah that they would fall, and they did, because of their corruption.   We can warn the people of the world today that they will fall into everlasting punishment if they do not accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. 

Jeremiah 52:12

 Jeremiah 52;12 says, Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, which served the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem,  Verse thirteen adds, And burned the house of the LORD, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, and all the houses of the great men, burned he with fire:   Nebuchadrezzar's troops had entered Isreal and burned the house of the LORD, the king’s house, and all the other houses.   Jerusalem was completely destroyed, as Jeremiah had told the people that God said it would be.  Verse fourteen continues, And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about,  The walls around Jerusalem were also torn down.  The walls had not really been what protected Jerusalem anyway, but God had until the people of Jerusalem turned their back on Him.  Nothing in the world today can protect us, even as Christians, if we turn away from following God's will.  Verse fifteen states, Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive certain of the poor of the people, and the residue of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude.  Nebuzaradan carried the poor people of Jerusalem and certain others away captive.   The priests and prophets of Judah had said Jeremiah was wrong when he told them that God had said this would happen, but they were either killed or carried away captive as well.  Not everyone who professes to speak for God actually does, and we as followers of Christ must be able to know who is speaking the truth of God.  Verse sixteen adds, But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left certain of the poor of the land for vinedressers and for husbandmen.  Some of the poor were left in the land to serve as caretakers of the crops.  They were not free as they had been when living in a covenant relationship with God, and neither can we be totally free if we are not living in a covenant relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.   Verse seventeen says, Also the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans brake, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.  The Babylonians also broke up and carried away the things of the house of the LORD.  Nebuchadrezzar must have felt that he had defeated not only the people of Judah but their God as well.  Some countries today may believe that they have defeated God and attempt to remove all things that are associated with Him from their country,  but one day they will find out how wrong they are, just as the people of Babylon did.  Verse eighteen adds, The caldrons also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the bowls, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away.  The Babylonians took away everything out of the temple, they killed or enslaved God's people, but they did not defeat God.  No matter what happens in this world,  God is the everlasting Victor.  Verse nineteen continues  And the basons, and the firepans, and the bowls, and the caldrons, and the candlesticks, and the spoons, and the cups; that which was of gold in gold, and that which was of silver in silver, took the captain of the guard away.  This continues to list what the Babylonians carried out of the house of the LORD.   Verse twenty says, The two pillars, one sea, and twelve brasen bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the LORD: the brass of all these vessels was without weight.  Verse twenty-one adds, And concerning the pillars, the height of one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a fillet of twelve cubits did compass it; and the thickness thereof was four fingers: it was hollow.  Verse twenty-two continues, And a chapiter of brass was upon it; and the height of one chapiter was five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the chapiters round about, all of brass. The second pillar also and the pomegranates were like unto these.  Verse twenty-three concludes, And there were ninety and six pomegranates on a side; and all the pomegranates upon the network were an hundred round about.  These verses simply describe some of the things that the Babylonians took out of the temple.  They totally destroyed or plundered the house of the LORD, except for some people who were called His people.  No matter what is destroyed or taken from us as followers of Christ today,  as long as we remain faithful to God, we will always be victorious. 

Jeremiah 51:52

 Jeremiah 51:52 says, Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will do judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land the wounded shall groan.  God warned the Babylonians that the day was coming when He would bring judgment on all the graven images, just as He will with all graven images one day when Jesus Christ returns.  God also said the wounded people, those who had not put their faith in Him, would groan.  Verse fifty-three declares, Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.  God told the Babylonians that no matter how much they fortified themselves militarily that they were still going to be defeated.  No matter how powerful a country may become today it will never stand against God's coming judgment.   Verse fifty-four adds, A sound of a cry cometh from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans:   God said there would come a cry from Babylon at the coming destruction, just as we are told there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth by the lost when Jesus Christ returns in judgment.   Verse fifty-five continues, Because the LORD hath spoiled Babylon, and destroyed out of her the great voice; when her waves do roar like great waters, a noise of their voice is uttered:  God said that He was the one responsible for their destruction, no matter who might be 5he ones to defeat them.  Verse fifty-six says,Because the spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken, every one of their bows is broken: for the LORD God of recompences shall surely requite.  The people of Babylon were told that all their bows would be broken and her mighty men taken, and that it was because of God's judgment.  When God's judgment comes, all the weapons used against God will be useless and all those who think of themselves as powerful people who stand against Him shall bee defeated.   Verse fifty-seven adds, And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.  God said that all those who were in power in Babylon were going to die like drunken men.  No matter how wise or powerful someone may feel that he or she is today, he or she is like a drunk person when denying the authority of God.  Veree fifty-eight declares, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire; and the people shall labour in vain, and the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.   God said there was to be a total destruction of Babylon, which would include their cities and the people.   Nothing nor anyone can stand against God's judgment.   Verse fifty-nine states, The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was a quiet prince.  Verse sixty adds, So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon.  We are told of one particular time frame when Jeremiah prophesied the word of God against Babylon and that he wrote the prophesy in a book.  We today have God's word written for us in the Bible, and we should read and learn from it.  The Bible contains the truth of God's word to all people, but it is up to each individual to either accept or reject it.  Verse sixty-one states, And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words;  Verse sixty-two adds, Then shalt thou say, O LORD, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever.  Jeremiah was sending Seraiah to read the words he had written to the people of Babylon and he was to make sure that they knew that it was God's word that was being read.  For the Bible to have any real impact in our lives today, we must acknowledge that it is God's word.  Verse sixty-three says,  And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates:  Then verse sixty-four adds, And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.  Jeremiah told Seraiah that after he read the book that he was to tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates, and that its sinking would symbolize the sinking of Babylon. 

Jeremiah 51:29

 Jeremiah 51:29 says, And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.  The destruction of Babylon would be a total destruction.  Verse thirty states, The mighty men of Babylon have forborn to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might hath failed; they became as women: they have burned her dwellingplaces; her bars are broken.  Verse thirty-one adds, One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end,  God said the brave men would lose their bravery and that those on post, or wa5ch, would run to the next post sending messengers to the king telling him that his cities were being taken.  Verse thirty two continues, And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.  The king was to be told that everything was being destroyed and that the men of war were frightened.  I am not sure that I would want to be the one to deliver this message to a king, but we as Christians have a message about the coming destruction of all who defy God today and we must be willing to deliver it to everyone that we can.  Verse thirty-three declares, For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor, it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.  The God of Israel,  the only true God,  said that soon Babylon would be like a threshing floor.  Verse thirty-four adds, Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out.  God said that Nebuchadrezzar had defeated His people.   Though this says that Nebuchadrezzar had defeated and crushed God, it could only be that he had defeated God's people.  Verse thirty-five continues, The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say.  God said that the Babylonians would be held responsible for what they had done to His people.   God will likewise one day hold everyone who attempts to harm or destroy His people today responsible.   Verse thirty-six says, Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.   God said that He would plead the cause of His people, just as He does for Christians today.  We stand by the fact that God has made salvation possible, and we will stand with Him forever no matter what happens in this world if we truly put our faith in Jesus Christ.  Verse thirty-seven adds, And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.  Verse thirty-eight continues, They shall roar together like lions: they shall yell as lions’ whelps.  God continues to tell Jeremiah how the people of Babylon would fall.  Verse thirty-nine states, In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD.  God said that the men of Babylon would be drinking and fall asleep, but they would never wake from that sleep, because the coming army would destroy them.   Verse forty declares, I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats.  God said that they might see themselves as lions,but to Him they were like sheep led to the slaughter.  No matter how powerful those who defy God may believe they are today, they are like helpless sheep before God.  Verse forty-one asks, How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations!  God said other people around Babylon would ask how they had fallen.  Verse forty-two says,The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.  God said that Babylon would look as if it had been swallowed up by the sea.  Verse forty-three adds, Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.  God then said Babylon would be a land where no one lived.  No one can survive the coming judgment of God unless he or she accepted Jesus Christ as his or her personal Savior and Lord.   Verse forty-four declares, And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up: and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him: yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.  God said that the nations would no longer look to Babylon for help or as a source of concern.  Verse forty-five continues, My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD.  God called on His people to get out of Babylon, just as we must get out of the world today spiritually.   We can no longer look to the world for protection or deliverance, but must trust in God alone.  Verse forty-six states, And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.  God said that His people should not fear the rumors that were coming.  We likewise as Christians hear rumors of destruction today,  but we are not to fear them.  One day, the end is coming to this old world, but as followers of Christ we have nothing to fear.  Verse forty-seven declares, Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.  God said there could be a certainty that His judgment was coming on Babylon, just as we can be certain that His judgment is coming on the whole world when He decides the time is right.  Verse forty-eight adds Then the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for Babylon: for the spoilers shall come unto her from the north, saith the LORD.  God said the heaven and the earth would sing for Babylon, because the spoiler had come.  The fall of Babylon would be noted everywhere.   Verse forty-nine says, As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth.  God said that just as Babylon had caused the slain of Israel to fall, so would Babylon fall.  God may have allowed Babylon to defeat the people of Judah and Israel because of their idolatry, but that did not mean that they had somehow become His chosen people.   The world may defeat and destroy Christians today, but if they do, it will be a hollow victory.  God's judgment will come one day.   Verse fifty states, Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind.  God calls on the people of Israel who had survived the sword, or in other words who were still alive, to remember their land.  If we find the world today to be almost overpowering, we need to simply remember that we serve the all-powerful God.  Verse fifty-one adds, We are confounded, because we have heard reproach: shame hath covered our faces: for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the LORD’s house.  God said that when the people of Israel remembered their land that it should cause them shame because they had caused it to fall due to their idolatry.  If we fail in our relationship to God today and then  return to Him for forgiveness, it should bring us shame that we allowed the things of this world to come between God and us.

Jeremiah 52:1

Jeremiah 52:1 says, Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.  This is back to the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah.  His was a very bad reign.  Verse two adds, And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.  We are told that during his reign, Zedekiah did all that was evil in the sight of God.  He was compared to Jehoiakim, during whose reign the people of Judah and Jerusalem had already suffered defeat.  Verse three continues, For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.  God said that because of His anger against Zedekiah and the people of Judah and Jerusalem that He cast them out.  They were God's chosen people,  but they were not choosing to be obedient to Him.   We cannot be God's people in name alone if we are to be successful in our Christian journey.  Verse four states, And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and built forts against it round about.  During the fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah,  Nebuchadrezzar came to seize Jerusalem and the rest of Judah.  Matthew Henry says that Zedekiah's greatest sin was to rebel against Nebuchadrezzar,  whom God had told him through the prophesy of Jeremiah not to do.  Verse five adds, So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.  Jerusalem was under siege for about seven years.  Zedekiah resisted surrendering to Nebuchadrezzar for as long as he could,  even though God had told him not to.   We need to make sure that we do not attempt to hold on to things that God tells us to let go of.  Verse six adds, And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.  The people of Jerusalem were basically without enough food for several months that year.  We should be careful that we never allow ourselves to starve spiritually by not feasting on God's word.   Verse seven continues, Then the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden; (now the Chaldeans were by the city round about:) and they went by the way of the plain. We are told that at the end of those months that the men of war fled Jerusalem, attempting to slip away safely.   There is no way that we can slip away from God's punishment, except through accepting God's word, which calls us to salvation through Jesus Christ.  We cannot make our own way.  Verse eight says, But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.  As was already stated in a previous chapter, Zedekiah and his army were overtaken by Nebuchadrezzar.  Of our own ability, we will never escape the judgment of God when He sends it, and the people of Judah and Jerusalem had already been told that God was going to allow them to be defeated by the Babylonians.   Verse nine adds, Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; where he gave judgment upon him.  Zedekiah was captured and carried before Nebuchadrezzar, who sat in judgment over him.  Verse ten continues, And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.  Once again we are told that Zedekiah's sons were slain as he watched.  Verse eleven concludes, Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.  Zedekiah was then blinded, chained and thrown into prison until he died.  He had refused to listen to Jeremiah when he told him to surrender to Nebuchadrezzar, and he paid a terrible price because of his refusal.   Those who fail to listen to God's call to salvation today will pay an even greater price, which is everlasting punishment separated from God and His mercy.