Jeremiah 21 FSI - HEAR, O EARTH

> [!title|noicon] **Jeremiah 21 Notes** > [[Jeremiah 20 FSI|<Prev]]   \[[Jeremiah 222 FSI|Next>\]] > [[Jeremiah 21|Verse list view]] > [Jeremiah 21:1](Jeremiah%2021.md#^1) note > > Zedekiah was the last king that ruled over Judah. Historically, he was killed in 587 BC, the year that the temple was destroyed by Babylon as pronounced by God through Jeremiah. And here he sends Pashur the son of Melchiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to Jeremiah with this request in verse 2. ^jer21-1 > [Jeremiah 21:2](Jeremiah%2021.md#^2) note > > The situation is that Judah and Jerusalem are being besieged by Nebuchadnezzar. In fact, in just a very short time they're going to be completely destroyed by him. Jeremiah has been speaking to them year after year after year -- maybe as long as 20 or 30 years already since the days of Josiah -- warning and warning that they are in deep rebellion against God, including their priests and their prophets, and God is going to destroy them. And now comes this committee of 2 from Zedekiah. Zephaniah was the son of a priest and represented the theological wing. And Pashur (this is a different Pashur than the one who put him in the stocks in [chapter 20:1](Jeremiah%2020.md#^2)) was likely one of the princes ([Jer 38:1](Jeremiah%2038.md#^1)) representing the political side. And they come with a directive to Jeremiah to inquire of the LORD that He might deal with them according to all of His wonderful works and that Nebuchadnezzar might leave them alone. > > By this time, they have been warned for years by God through Jeremiah, in the most dramatic language, that God is angry with them and that He is going to destroy them for their rebellion. And yet now they come confidently to the LORD to give them relief as though those warnings weren't really that serious. After all, they are God's people, right? And they have Jerusalem with the temple -- it's the holy city with the holy place. "So surely," they think, "God wouldn't *really* destroy them, would He?" It's much like what we hear from the churches and congregations today as they declare that the church has been established by Christ and will continue until the end, that God would never bring His judgment against all of them. After all, they still have the Bible there so they discount any thought that they might be in rebellion against God to the point of full destruction. They continue to falsely hope that all is well when all is not well. > > Now, the very fact that they're coming to Jeremiah to inquire of the LORD means they at least understand that Jeremiah is a prophet of God. They aren't accusing him of being a false prophet so that they won't even go to him to inquire of the LORD. They knew he was God's spokesman. Yet what God had been declaring to them through Jeremiah didn't register with them, they didn't believe it, they didn't take it seriously, even as Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon were besieging them to bring destruction! They still somehow believe they are in a good relationship with the LORD, even as they sense their danger, with the false hope that God will spare them and send Nebuchadnezzar away. ^jer21-2 > [Jeremiah 21:3](Jeremiah%2021.md#^3), [4](Jeremiah%2021.md#^4), [5](Jeremiah%2021.md#^5), [6](Jeremiah%2021.md#^6), [7](Jeremiah%2021.md#^7) note > > In light of what we've considered in verse 2, Jeremiah responds to them with the most ugly news possible through the remainder of the chapter. It's the most vicious statement imaginable. And that is, God will bring the Chaldeans, that is, the Babylonians, into the midst of Jerusalem, and God Himself will fight against Judah and Jerusalem through them in anger, in fury and in great wrath. God will smite them with the pestilence and deliver them into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and they will find no pity nor mercy -- he will not spare. This is exactly the opposite of what the emissaries of the king thought they were going to hear. Not only did God declare that they would be destroyed, but that He would be actively fighting with the enemy against them. > > Is this how God comes to the churches and congregations today? In [Ephesians 6:10](Ephesians%206.md#^10), [11](Ephesians%206.md#^11) God speaks of the warfare between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. And remember that King Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon represent and typified the kingdom of Satan. So God gives the true believers the armor of God with which we are able to stand over against the wiles and the assaults of the devil. Then in [Ephesians 6:12](Ephesians%206.md#^12) God declares that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against *spiritual* wickedness in high places. And in [Ephesians 6:13](Ephesians%206.md#^13), [14](Ephesians%206.md#^14) God particularly emphasizes *the evil day*, the day of Judgment -- and we can only stand with the Truth of God, Christ, the Word of God, as our Armor. So once the Truth of God has been abandoned in the evil day, once Christ has left, then they remain completely open to every assault of Satan imaginable, just as Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon assaulted and destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. What a terrible situation to be in! But this is not what they anticipate. Like the emissaries of Zedekiah, they wrongly expect that God would never bring them under judgment. ^jer21-3-7 Tags: #Old_Testament #Jeremiah #Gods_judgment_on_His_people #FSI