Jeremiah 28 FSI - HEAR, O EARTH

> [!title|noicon] **Jeremiah 28 Notes** > [[Jeremiah 27 FSI|<Prev]]   [[Jeremiah 29 FSI|Next>]] > [[Jeremiah 28|Verse list view]] > Intro note to [Jeremiah 28:1](Jeremiah%2028.md#^1), [2](Jeremiah%2028.md#^2), [3](Jeremiah%2028.md#^3), [4](Jeremiah%2028.md#^4) > > Remember from the previous chapter that, for the past 11-15 years, Jeremiah had been carrying a wooden yoke around his neck, demonstrating how Judah and Jerusalem were to be under the yoke of the king of Babylon or to be destroyed. God had ordained that Judah had come under judgment and those who remained faithful to God were being warned through Jeremiah to go out of Judah and Jerusalem and fall to the king of Babylon before its destruction by him. But the general prophets were lying to the people, saying that they were not to fall out to the king of Babylon, declaring instead that God would shortly return the captives and the temple vessels that had already been carried to Babylon ([Jer 27:8-16](Jeremiah%2027.md)). And this is exactly what we see the false prophet, Hananiah, declaring here. So this chapter is a follow-up to what Jeremiah had just declared in [Jeremiah 27:12](Jeremiah%2027.md#^12). ^jer28-1-4 > [Jeremiah 28:1](Jeremiah%2028.md#^1), [2](Jeremiah%2028.md#^2) note > > This was a big event. All of the priests and the people were present as Hananiah brought this message to Jeremiah in the house of the LORD. Hananiah was recognized as a prophet as he declares, "Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel." He comes exactly as Jeremiah himself might come again and again -- claiming to speak with the Authority of God. He looks like a legitimate prophet and talks like a prophet. And now he has a great piece of information that everyone will be delighted to hear. You can almost see them clapping and jumping for joy when he says, "God has declared that He has broken the yoke of the king of Babylon." Joy, happiness, wonder -- "We're finally going to come out from under this siege!" > > Remember, this is the fourth year of Zedekiah. In another 7 years they're actually going to be totally *destroyed* by King Nebuchadnezzar. So the pressure is coming on them. People have already been taken captive, a lot of people have been killed and little villages around Jerusalem have been destroyed by the Babylonians. The carnage is developing and developing. But Hananiah comes with this beautiful message that they would all be glad to hear in [verses 3](Jeremiah%2028.md#^3), [4](Jeremiah%2028.md#^4). ^jer28-1-2 > [Jeremiah 28:3](Jeremiah%2028.md#^3), [4](Jeremiah%2028.md#^4) note > > So again, the priests and all the people are standing there ([v5](Jeremiah%2028.md#^5)), along with these 2 prophets. One is Jeremiah who had just declared in [Jeremiah 27:12](Jeremiah%2027.md#^12) that they were to come under the yoke of the king of Babylon and to serve him and his people. They were not to listen to the false prophets who declared that God would shortly bring back the temple vessels that had been plundered by the Babylonians ([Jer 27:14](Jeremiah%2027.md#^14), [16](Jeremiah%2027.md#^16)). > > Remember, we saw back in [Jeremiah 14:13](Jeremiah%2014.md#^13), [14](Jeremiah%2014.md#^14), [15](Jeremiah%2014.md#^15), [16](Jeremiah%2014.md#^16) that the false prophets were declaring peace to the people, saying the sword would not even come against them to begin with. But here in Jeremiah 28, this is well after the sword of Babylon had already begun to come against Judah and Jerusalem. So the situation now was actually far more acute than it was then. And yet the false prophets continue to deny what God is warning the people through Jeremiah. > > So then we have this other prophet, Hananiah. He now gives a very specific time period, saying that *within 2 full years* God will indeed bring back all of the plundered vessels, as well as all of the captives that had been taken into Babylon previously. Now, Hananiah was very clever. Even as they are now being ruled over by Nebuchadnezzar, which they can't deny, he continues to declare that peace is coming. He couldn't disavow the terrible situation they are in so he is saying to expect this to occur in two years, not right away. And you can imagine how this was an enormous encouragement to the people to continue in the wrong paths they had been following. Plus, they won't be listening to Jeremiah anymore because this is great news that Hananiah is bringing them. > > So how could they really tell whether Hananiah was a true prophet or not? Well, they could wait 2 years to see what happens. In [Deuteronomy 18:22](Deuteronomy%2018.md#^22) God had given a formula as to how you could determine whether a prophet was true or false. First, they could wait to see if what the prophet declared came to pass. But God complicated this in [Deuteronomy 13:1](Deuteronomy%2013.md#^1), [2](Deuteronomy%2013.md#^2), [3](Deuteronomy%2013.md#^3) where even if what a prophet declares comes to pass, they had better be careful that he wasn't leading them to worship other gods. So there were 2 conditions that had to be met: First, the event had to come to pass, and, second, they had to analyze whether that prophet was subtly leading them astray or not. > > But the way in which Hananiah brought his message was so clever, it was done in such a righteous and holy way that you couldn't really detect that he was leading them astray to follow other gods, that he was declaring lies. This is how sinister the deceptions of Satan can be as he claims to come with the Word of God. ^jer28-3-4 > [Jeremiah 28:5](Jeremiah%2028.md#^5), [6](Jeremiah%2028.md#^6), [7](Jeremiah%2028.md#^7), [8](Jeremiah%2028.md#^8), [9](Jeremiah%2028.md#^9) note > > Jeremiah is saying in these verses, "Listen, everyone, to what Hananiah is saying. There's something drastically missing in what he is prophesying." If you go back through the Word of God and look at what the prophets declared, what normally accompanies a prophecy of restoration and peace? It's always in the context of warning the people they are under the wrath of God and that they must turn away from their rebellion and sin. The prophets were not just to say, "There's something wonderful coming." The Gospel is always a two-edged Sword, there's always the warning of judgment. And this is what was lacking in Hananiah's prophesy -- he only prophesied of peace and of lovely things. > > We can see this very prevalent in our day. Pastors and teachers say, "Sure, there's a judgment day coming. But we don't know when it is and it's very possibly a long way off still. But today we have a glorious day when people are becoming saved. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life and so on." And this is prevalent everywhere in the world where the churches are operating -- out in the mission field and in the sanctuaries and in personal witnessing. You seldom hear, "We're getting nearer to judgment day, how do we stand? We better reexamine our lives more carefully against the Word of God than ever." Instead, they are much more like Hananiah. They appear to be loving and caring, they appear to want the very best for people. They have a message of joy, peace and wonder. They may emphasize that the Bible is the infallible Word of God and will teach some lessons from it: How we're to live, how we're to love each other, how to grow in sanctification. But they don't get into the terrible nature of sin and judgment. Sadly, someone can preach a lovely message from the Word of God in which everything they say is true as much as one can tell. It sounds fine in itself. But if the message has nothing to do with our desperately sinful nature, judgment and salvation then it is empty of the real message of the Gospel. ^jer28-5-9 > [Jeremiah 28:9](Jeremiah%2028.md#^9) note > > This certainly ties us back to [Deuteronomy 18:22](Deuteronomy%2018.md#^22). And the question is, "Is there going to be peace, as you say?" ^jer28-9 > [Jeremiah 28:10](Jeremiah%2028.md#^10), [11](Jeremiah%2028.md#^11) note > > Hananiah was really on fire for his message. He felt gung-ho that God was with him and that he was teaching the right thing, effectively saying, "Look, Jeremiah, you're all wrong. We're not going to be under the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon at all in 2 years." He put a big exclamation mark on his message by grabbing that wood yoke and yanking it off Jeremiah's neck and smashing it in pieces. He has made his point, he had been sent by God (so he declared) and had a wonderful message of joy and future prosperity and that was that insofar as he was concerned. ^jer28-10-11 > [Jeremiah 28:12](Jeremiah%2028.md#^12), [13](Jeremiah%2028.md#^13), [14](Jeremiah%2028.md#^14) note > > Now Truth begins to shine through, we have the true message of God. Jeremiah has spoken, Hananiah has spoken, and now God is setting the record straight through Jeremiah. God *shall* make the nations serve the king of Babylon and will put a yoke of *iron* upon their necks that shall not be broken. It *is* God's determination, it *is* His program that Satan (typified by Nebuchadnezzar) is going to rule and that the nations must serve him. > > We saw this previously in [Jeremiah 27:5](Jeremiah%2027.md#^5), [6](Jeremiah%2027.md#^6). And like we read there, we also read here, "and I have given him the beasts of the field also." God is making sure that we understand that everyone and everything will (and now has) come under the spiritual rulership of Nebuchadnezzar, representing Satan, during this time. The beasts of the field (think of the unclean beasts, Acts 10:11-14) spiritually represent that *all* the unsaved of the world (of the field - [Mt 13:38](Matthew%2013.md#^38)) will serve him. To put it another way, when God looses Satan for a little season near the end of the world, Satan goes forth to deceive the nations and to compass the camp of the saints about ([Rev 20:7](Revelation%2020.md#^7), [8](Revelation%2020.md#^8), [9](Revelation%2020.md#^9)). God has purposefully given up the world to sin and has *employed* Satan (again, typified by Nebuchadnezzar) as His servant not only to prepare the churches for judgment day, but to prepare the entire world for judgment day. > > We find more information about this in [Ezekiel 29:18](Ezekiel%2029.md#^18), [19](Ezekiel%2029.md#^19), [20](Ezekiel%2029.md#^20), where God speaks of Nebuchadrezzar (Nebuchadnezzar), who represents Satan, and his army having *served this service* that was wrought *for Him* -- as we also saw in [Jeremiah 27:6](Jeremiah%2027.md#^6), where God calls him *His servant*. So in Ezekiel 29:18-20, God is using language that He has *employed* him as His servant. (This is seen also in [Revelation 17:17](Revelation%2017.md#^17) where God put into the hearts of the world to fulfill His will in fully serving the beast.) So as God prepares the local congregations ([2 Thes 2:1-12](2%20Thessalonians%202.md)), and the world ([Ro 1:18-32](Romans%201.md)), for the judgment throne by giving them over to Satan, He has employed Satan to plunder them as part of God's program that sin would be magnified before Judgment Day. And this is why there has been such a falling away from fidelity to the Word of God to a more calloused, more superficial lip-service insofar as the Bible is concerned. They are further away from Truth than they have ever been, they are losing what they have. > > We can see how God's plan has been worked out right in our day as sin has increased to the most gross, wicked sins imaginable in the churches and congregations and throughout the world. It's like a most aggressive virus that's out to kill, you just can't stop it. It's because God has given this world up to Satan. He has employed him to assist in the preparation of this world for Judgment Day, just as God gave Judah and all the nations over to the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. > > So this brings us back to Hananiah. Hananiah is like those who say not to listen to all of the warnings God has declared in the Bible that He has brought Satan against them, and that they are placed under the iron yoke of service to him. And this is His plan. Those in the churches think that the visible church will somehow be protected by God until the very end regardless of how much they fall away from Truth, in direct opposition to the warnings of Scripture. They have selected all of the promising verses while overlooking the dire warnings of judgment and of what God's plan is for the end-time church and the world. And their self-imposed hermeneutic (method of Bible interpretation) prevents them from being able to understand this. So they aren't reading the Bible the way God intends for it to be read, they are reading it as they want to read it. So, of course they don't have the Truth and believe all is peace and safety when it's not that way at all, now that judgment has already begun all over the world until the final harvest is completed. ^jer28-12-14 > [Jeremiah 28:15](Jeremiah%2028.md#^15), [16](Jeremiah%2028.md#^16), [17](Jeremiah%2028.md#^17) note > > So God brings a very sober indictment against Hananiah. And this indictment applies to any pastor, any teacher, any evangelist and any witness who is not being faithful to the Word of God. Hananiah died that year. > > Now, the idea that Hananiah died was a way in which God kept control on apostasy. Again and again preachers, teachers, evangelists or prophets have arisen that had a great charm or charisma so that all kinds of people would listen to them. But God limited what they spoke through various means, and also by taking them in death. This reminds us of [Revelation 12:15](Revelation%2012.md#^15), [16](Revelation%2012.md#^16) where Satan comes with all of his false gospels as a flood to destroy, but God controls this as the earth helps the woman by opening her mouth and swallowing up the flood. We see this idea further in [Deuteronomy 11:6](Deuteronomy%2011.md#^6), where there was a group of people who rebelled against Moses (and ultimately against God Himself) and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up. So in that way God was controlling Satan so that the true Gospel would go forth exactly as God intends. So even as Satan sends out a flood to try and destroy in some way (and we see this as those in the churches and in the world try to silence the Truth), God always remains in control. > > Now, God sometimes uses the figure of a *year* in reference to the final tribulation period when God's judgment had begun. It is the *year* of visitation ([Jer 23:11](Jeremiah%2023.md#^11), [12](Jeremiah%2023.md#^12), [48:44](Jeremiah%2048.md#^44); [Rev 9:15](Revelation%209.md#^15)). That is the year in which the false prophets, who come looking like true prophets -- typified by Hananiah -- will die spiritually. So the fact Hananiah died that year doesn't mean that every false prophet will literally die within a year of declaring falsehood. It's simply pointing to the fact that, spiritually, they will die in the year of visitation. And this is for causing people to trust in a lie. > > In [verse 17](Jeremiah%2028.md#^17), God tells us that Hananiah died in the 7th month. So in Jeremiah's case, the fulfillment of this prophesy occurred very quickly so that the people should know that God is speaking through Jeremiah. But God has recorded this for *us* so that we might ponder why Hananiah died in the 7th month. And when we study the Bible carefully, we find that the calendar year actually had 2 endings. The biblical calendar year began in the Spring. The first month was when Passover occurred and was celebrated ([Ex 12:1](Exodus%2012.md#^1), [2](Exodus%2012.md#^2)) and which coincides with the month of March. (Interestingly, that first Passover in Egypt likely occurred on March 21, which was the vernal equinox when the length of the day and night, light and darkness were equal. Of course, this day varies each year in our calendar since the biblical calendar follows the lunar cycles.) > > The Bible also speaks of the first day of the ***7th*** month as the end of the year (and the beginning of a new year). The Feast of Ingathering, also called the Feast of Tabernacles, was at the end of the year ([Ex 23:16](Exodus%2023.md#^16), [34:22](Exodus%2034.md#^22)). It was the feast commemorating the end of the yearly harvest. And after each period of *7 years* during that feast it was also called a *year of release* ([Deut 15:1](Deuteronomy%2015.md#^1), [2](Deuteronomy%2015.md#^2); [Deut 31:10](Deuteronomy%2031.md#^10)). And this release at the end of every 7 years points to the 7 days before the flood in Noah's day when God commanded Noah to come into the ark ([Gen 7:4](Genesis%207.md#^4)) -- a picture of judgment day that would come very shortly after 7,000 years from that time ([2 Pe 3:6](2%20Peter%203.md#^6), [7](2%20Peter%203.md#^7), [8](2%20Peter%203.md#^8)). Judgment day coincides with the completion of salvation, or the year of release, for all of the elect when every sin that God planned to forgive has been forgiven. So the 7th month and the Feast of Ingathering, or Feast of Tabernacles, points to the end of the world. > > So when Hananiah *died* in the 7th month, it points to the fact that everyone who is in rebellion against the LORD will perish at the end of the world in the 7th month. > > Now, on the ***1st*** day of this 7th month, we read that there was a memorial blowing of trumpets in [Leviticus 23:24](Leviticus%2023.md#^24) and [Numbers 29:1](Numbers%2029.md#^1). And the word translated *trumpets* in those 2 verses is translated *jubile* (jubilee) in [Leviticus 25:9](Leviticus%2025.md#^9), speaking of the 10th day of the 7th month which was the Day of Atonement. (The word translated *trumpet* in [Lev 25:9](Leviticus%2025.md#^9) is a different word that relates to the blowing of a ram's horn). So this memorial of the blowing of trumpets on the first day of the seventh month was actually a *memorial of jubilee* each year, and then on the 10th day of the month, the Day of Atonement, they again sounded the ram's horn of jubilee. And it was on the 1st day of the 7th month that Christ was announced by John the Baptist, "Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world," ([Jn 1:29](John%201.md#^29)). > > So there is this crossover situation where there is the beginning of the new year at the same time that it is the end of the year in the 7th month. And this points to the fact that, just as we reach the end of time and the final (or great) tribulation, and as judgment begins to fall -- first on the churches and congregations and then upon the whole world -- there is the beginning of the final period of the latter rain when God begins to save a multitude of people outside of the local congregations right up until the very end of the world. This is the little season when Satan is loosed ([Rev 20:3](Revelation%2020.md#^3), [7](Revelation%2020.md#^7), [8](Revelation%2020.md#^8), [9](Revelation%2020.md#^9)), but also when God is calling those in the highways and hedges to compel the remainder of His elect to come into the kingdom because those who were not bidden refused to come while they were caught up in their earthly lives ([Lk 14:23](Luke%2014.md#^23), [24](Luke%2014.md#^24)). > > In consideration of the end of the world, God speaks of the final day of the Feast of Tabernacles in the 7th month as the *last day*. For example, we read in [John 7:37](John%207.md#^37), where Christ stood up on the final day of the feast and cried, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink," and God speaks of it as the *last day* (see also [Neh 8:18](Nehemiah%208.md#^18)). Four times in John chapter 6 God speaks of the *last day* as the very end of the world ([Jn 6:39](John%206.md#^39), [40](John%206.md#^40), [44](John%206.md#^44), [54](John%206.md#^54)), and again in [John 11:24](John%2011.md#^24) and [12:48](John%2012.md#^48). So we strongly suspect that the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles will indeed be the last day in the final year. ^jer28-15-17 Tags: #Old_Testament #Jeremiah #Gods_judgment_on_His_people #FSI