Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna and Mikayla,
Now in one of my lasts post God had told Jeremiah to go out and buy a girdle...a new pair of underwear. God sometimes asked His prophets to do some strange things. In Chapter 16 God tells Jeremiah not to get married, and not to attend funerals, weddings or feasts. Lots and lots of fun to be had being God's prophet.
Let's look at the marriage prohibition first. Now really, when we think about it, Jeremiah with all his trials, was probably better off single. These restrictions were all symbolic, however, of the bigger picture. The time was coming when children would die by either the sword or starvation...Jeremiah was to be alone as the people would be alone...bereft.
So why not attend the people's feasts, funerals and weddings? Turning down funeral, wedding and feasts invitations as well as not getting married would just make Jeremiah even more unpopular. Even so, he was not to do the socially acceptable thing because soon there would be people dying in the streets and no time to even bury them let alone comfort the families...as for the weddings and the feasts....there would be no joy in the land of destruction.
What was Jeremiah to answer the people when they asked why he was not getting married or attending Uncle John's funeral or Aunt Patty's wedding? God's answer begins in verse 10.
“And it shall be, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’ then you shall say to them, ‘Because your fathers have forsaken Me,’ says the LORD; ‘they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them, and have forsaken Me and not kept My law. Therefore I will cast you out of this land into a land that you do not know, neither you nor your fathers; and there you shall serve other gods day and night, where I will not show you favor.’ And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me.
So didn't the people know that what they had been doing was wrong...I mean they had to ask?? My only answer is the title of a previous post. Sin makes us stupid! We can give ourselves all kinds of reasons or excuses for what we are doing and eventually believe our own lies. The people were comfortable with their sin and their conscience's were seared. They really thought that God would not allow His Holy City and His own temple to be desecrated....history had proven to them that He would...but they still believed it would not happen to them. God tells them they had done worse than their fathers because each one did what they wanted to...and did not listen to Him.
The Lord remembers mercy in verse 14 and 15 and tells Jeremiah that He will bring the people back from the land of the north and from all the places that they had been scattered. Our God is so good...Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning. His compassion fails not. They would return from Babylon a corrected people who would never again turn to the idols of the Gentile nations around them. Jeremiah 25 speaks about the 70 years of exile and Jeremiah 23 and 31 speak of the remnant returning to rebuild the temple and the nation. What Jeremiah (God) said would happen...happened. History recorded in advance. Amazing!
In the last verses Jeremiah not only sees the remnant returning but also the coming of the Gentile nations to worship the Lord...Here are his (His) words:
The Gentiles shall come to You
From the ends of the earth and say,
“ Surely our fathers have inherited lies,
Worthlessness and unprofitable things.”
20 Will a man make gods for himself,
Which are not gods?
21 “ Therefore behold, I will this once cause them to know,
I will cause them to know
My hand and My might;
And they shall know that My name is the LORD.--Jeremiah 16:19-21
Now as I read this my heart burst for joy for two reasons. The first one is prophecy! Girls...the prophet, Zechariah was given the same message as was the prophet, Isaiah. They all foresaw a day when the Gentile nations would turn from their useless idols and worship the Living God. The Bible predicts what will happen ahead of time...that is because it is written by Someone who knows the end from the beginning. Someone who lives outside of time. We do not believe cunningly devised fables...we believe in Him who holds the world in the palm of His hand and controls the nations. Prophecy is not only an encouragement to our faith but a confirmation of it. As I read these and think of all the prophecies that have already been fulfilled especially the ones regarding Jesus I am so encouraged...Israel is once again back in her land and a nation! No other people group in the history of the world has come back from the kind of devastation and scattering that they faced...not even once. The Jewish nation has returned to the land twice.
The second reason that I was filled with joy was in thinking about how our trials lead us into a deeper relationship with Jesus. When we come through the trial we shine brighter for Him...there is now less of us and more of Him...Others will see it and glorify our Father in Heaven!
Love
Mom
The verses referenced from Isaiah and Zechariah are below...
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
That the mountain of the LORD’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow to it.
3 Many people shall come and say,
“ Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
And rebuke many people;
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.--Isaiah 2:1-5
10 “ And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”
11 It shall come to pass in that day
That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time
To recover the remnant of His people who are left,
From Assyria and Egypt,
From Pathros and Cush,
From Elam and Shinar,
From Hamath and the islands of the sea.
12 He will set up a banner for the nations,
And will assemble the outcasts of Israel,
And gather together the dispersed of Judah
From the four corners of the earth.
13 Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart,
And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not envy Judah,
And Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
14 But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west;
Together they shall plunder the people of the East;
They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab;
And the people of Ammon shall obey them.
15 The LORD will utterly destroy[a] the tongue of the Sea of Egypt;
With His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the River,[b]
And strike it in the seven streams,
And make men cross over dryshod.
16 There will be a highway for the remnant of His people
Who will be left from Assyria,
As it was for Israel
In the day that he came up from the land of Egypt.--Isaiah 11:10-16
14 Thus says the LORD:
“ The labor of Egypt and merchandise of Cush
And of the Sabeans, men of stature,
Shall come over to you, and they shall be yours;
They shall walk behind you,
They shall come over in chains;
And they shall bow down to you.
They will make supplication to you, saying, ‘Surely God is in you,
And there is no other;
There is no other God.’”--Isaiah 45:14
20 “Thus says the LORD of hosts:
‘ Peoples shall yet come,
Inhabitants of many cities;
21 The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying,
“ Let us continue to go and pray before the LORD,
And seek the LORD of hosts.
I myself will go also.”
22 Yes, many peoples and strong nations
Shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem,
And to pray before the LORD.’
23 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”’”--Zechariah 8:20-23
