Jeremiah 41–43

Last week the Nepal team came up and gave a pretty lengthy overview of our trip. So, by the time we got into Jeremiah, we made it through chapter 40 only. And as we're coming to the end of the book of Jeremiah, these chapters are more historic than prophetic. We are going to jump back into some prophecy here in a few chapters, but at this point we're in some historic records of what happened sort of the movements of the remnant of the people in the land there after the fall of Jerusalem. The final wave of captivity was taken out of the land there.

And all that remains now is a small remnant of the poor and the undesirables that Babylon didn't want to take. The captain of the guard left behind named Nebuzaradan is sort of tying up some loose ends and putting some puppet governors in power and he there spoke to Jeremiah and we were told that Nebucharan's words were actually prophecy from the Lord and that he spoke to Jeremiah there and offered Jeremiah whatever he wanted. He said that he was free to decide whether he wanted to live in the land there or whether he wanted to come back to Babylon with Nebuzaradan and that he would come underneath Nebiz Nebuzaradan's protection.

Whatever he wanted, the land was open to him and he would be provided for there by the Babylonian government. But he didn't answer. And so then it came to the point where Nebiz Nebuzaradan had to leave and he said, "All right, well here I'll give you some rations and I would advise you to go over to Mizpah and come under the protection of Gedaliah." So Gedaliah was appointed to be governor over that region by Babylon. And so he was the new governor there at Mizpah. And so Jeremiah does that, goes over to Mizpah and stays there underneath Gedaliah at that point.

Among them or it then gave us a list of a number of the other people that were left in the land at that point. Among them was a guy named Ishmael and he's going to become more important to the story today in chapter 41. but last week we saw there that a prophet named Johanan came to Gedaliah and warned him about this guy Ishmael. Said that Ishmael was intending to kill him. And he said that there's this conspiracy that the king of Ammon has told Ishmael to kill you. And so he says I you know let me take care of this.

And so he says to Gedaliah, "Let me go and kill him before he can kill you." And Gedaliah says, "No, he doesn't want to be a part of that." And again, that's going to become pertinent to our story today. So he rejects that advice. The word of the Lord came to them there and said don't be afraid to that remnant that they were going to be safe in the land that Babylon was done conquering the land and that they could inhabit and they could serve underneath Gedaliah and dwell in safety. So that's where we left off last week and so we will pick up in Jeremiah chapter 41 today.

Father, we thank you. I praise you for these words. I thank you for these prophecies, these records of history. I thank you that we can see you moving in and through your people even here in the aftermath of the punishment that they received justly because of their sin and their disobedience. I pray that we would be able to glean from these chapters how we might serve you wholeheartedly today. Give us wisdom as we live and serve today. I pray that we would not be distracted by the things of this world, but that we would be focused upon serving you and trusting. We praise you Jesus name.

Amen. All right. Jeremiah 41:1. Now it came to pass in the seventh month that Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family, and of the officers of the king, came with 10 men to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam at Mizpah. And there they ate bread together in Mizpah. So this is that same guy Ishmael that was prophesied that he's has a conspiracy that he wants to kill Gedaliah and Gedaliah didn't listen to that. And so here now he comes and he's wanting to join with him in sapping together. And it says here that Ishmael is of the royal family.

Now that claim to be a descendant of the royal family is fairly obscure. He's not a child of Zedekiah. All of the sons of Zedekiah were put to death by Nebuchadnezzar. So his claim to the throne is not very legitimate. It's it's hanging by a thread. It was something that Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuzaradan did not consider a threat. And so he was left to remain in the land with the poor and the undesirables. But here he feels that he has of some royal family and has some right or claim to the throne. And so he comes there and he ss with Gedaliah. But then it says, "Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and 10 and 10 men who were with him arose and struck Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Chaan with the sword and killed him whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.

Ishmael struck down all of the Jews who were with him." that is with Gedaliah at Mizpah and the Chaldeans were found there the men of war. Now here Babylon has retreated out of the land. They've they've conquered everything. They've left it you know and as a subject nation to them and these riots are just going to stir up more trouble for them. Right? Jeremiah and Johanan had prophesied and said serve Babylon. You guys will be fine. You will dwell in safety. And here now this undesirable royal line is coming in and trying to usurp power. I mean, to what end? What is he going to do?

You know, he's going to be the king over rubble at this point if he does have any legitimate claim to the throne. Commentators debate like what what claim he has and where where his association to the royal line is. There it says that he is Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elisha. Well, Elisha was the name of one of David's sons. And so, it's thought that maybe this is referenced back to that Elisha. There's another Elishama that we see in some other genealogies that was there at that time, but there's not any clear connection to royalty. And so it's thought that this is going back to Elisha, the son of David, which again was not of the line of Solomon that has held power for now hundreds of years.

And so is he going back hundreds of years to try to lay claim to the throne through that? I don't know. But again, he was his claim to the throne was so obscure that Nebuchadnezzar didn't consider it a claim at all. So he kills the governor. Sorry of the Jews that were left there in the city. And it happened on the second day after he had killed Gedaliah when, as yet no one knew it, that certain men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, 80 men with their beards shaved and their clothes torn, having cut themselves with offerings of incense in their hands to bring them to the house of the Lord.

The idea here is that he's not prepared for this entourage. That he's still trying to work out his little coup. You know, he murdered the governor. He's killed some of the men that were there in support of him. And he's still trying to figure out what he's doing. He's still trying to clean up this mess. And here this entourage of 80 men come down. And he doesn't he's not expecting them. He doesn't know what to do with them. We find I find some interesting things here in this group. We don't know where they've come from. They're they're coming from the north somewhere and they're headed down to it says the holy city or the house of the Lord.

And so it seems that Jerusalem is their final destination. The temple has been destroyed. It we're told here that this is the seventh month that we're in. In the fifth month is when the temple was destroyed. So, it's been about 2 months since the destruction of the temple. It's possible that they didn't know that it's been fully destroyed, or it's possible that they're coming down to mourn its destruction there among its ruins., some things to kind of point out is they don't have any live animals to sacrifice with them. It's just grain offerings that they're bringing, which again would kind of speak that they understand that there's no altar there to sacrifice an animal on.

They're also definitely in mourning because they've shaved themselves and they've torn their clothes. Those are traditional forms of mourning that we see among the Jews, but they've also mixed together some pagan rituals. It says there that they've cut themselves that was forbidden by the word of the Lord. And so these remnant here whether they are Jews or sort of the mixed multitude that was left behind from the Assyrian invasion is is not really clear. You remember that that the Assyrians when they conquered the northern kingdom in Israel they put other nations there and that as they were in the land the Lord brought animals against them.

We were told that lions and other wild animals were attacking them. And they felt that it was the God of that region attacking them. And so they sent back to Assyria and they asked for some priests of the Jews to come and to teach them how to worship the Lord that they might appease the anger of that local God and stop the lions from attacking them. And so indeed the Assyrians did send some priests back and those priests taught them about how to worship the Lord. But they didn't convert to Judaism. They simply mixed that worship of the Lord in with their pagan practices.

Ultimately that group that remnant is going to become the Samaritans that it speaks of during the time of Christ. And so as those priests came and taught them, they did not teach them the full council of the word. They taught them from the Pentateuch only. And there in the Pentateuch, it doesn't talk about Jerusalem. And so they came up with this idea that they're supposed to worship God on Mount Gerizim because in the law it talks about in Numbers and Deuteronomy, they're given instructions about worshiping God on Mount Gerizim. It was the mountain of blessing right there on the on either side of the valley of Shechem.

So the city of Shechem is there in the middle. You have Mount Ebal on one side and Mount Gerizim on the other side. And they were to shout back and forth these blessings and these cursings. Well, they didn't choose the mountain of cursing to worship on. They chose the mountain of blessing. And if you remember that conversation that Jesus has with the woman at the well she says, "We Samaritans worship here on Mount Gerizim." Well, that's the connection. It goes back a thousand years of history. And so, it's possible that this entourage coming down is part of that remnant. It's possible it's some Jews that are left in the land.

But what really strikes me there is that they're cutting themselves. And so, they're mixing things together. We need to be very careful that we don't mix the traditions of the world, traditions and religious tenants from false religions in with the word of God. They've got some things right. They were to shave their heads. They were to shave their beards. They were to tear their clothes. Those are forms of mourning. But to cut themselves was a pagan practice. And so it seems like they're trying to appease multiple gods. God does not allow that. He is a jealous thought. He says that we will worship him and him alone.

And if we try to mix our worship of the Lord with other worships, other things, other traditions if we try to come up with, I don't know, these mixtures of like Christian Hinduism or things like that, it's an abomination, right? It's something that God would spew out of his mouth. He will not share his glory with any. And so this group here that is it seems like their heart is right, their intention is right. They want to mourn the temple which has been broken, but they're going about it by the wrong method. Regardless, their entourage is a problem for Ishmael. And so as they come here and they it seems like they're just wanting to pass by Mizpah and head down to Jerusalem.

Ishmael sees them as a problem and says verse 6, "Now Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went all along. And it happened as he met them that he said to them, "Come to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam." So it was when they came into the midst of the city that Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, killed them and cast them into the midst of a pit. He and the men who were with him., so again, he is troubled by this entourage. He doesn't know what they're doing. So he goes out, he lies to him. He says, "Come meet with Gedaliah, the guy I just killed a couple days ago.

You can meet with his corpse." Right? He doesn't say that. But he invites them into the city to have an audience with the governor., knowing full well that the governor is already dead. And once he gets them into the city, he kills all of them. You know, this entourage of 80 people who are just trying to pass by to go and mourn the destruction of the temple, it seems. And so he casts them into a pit here. And, again, his conspiracy is not going well. He's trying now he's he's in you know this mode of trying to cover up.

Anytime we conspire against the plan of the Lord and set out to do things for our own glory and our own strength, there will be a wake of devastation that lies behind it. You know, any anytime we seek out our own selfish pleasures here, he wants to be king, right? And so he's murdered in order to bring that about. Well, that murder brings about more murder, brings about lies, brings about all kinds of devastation. Reminds me of David who for his own selfish pleasure took Bath Sheeba and committed adultery with her. And that that act of sin then led into more sin and more sin.

And there was a wake of destruction that was behind him that included the murder of one of his own mighty men. So Ishmael here still trying to cover things up. This untimely arrival of this entourage has now caused more bodies to pile up. And it says that he stashes them in this pit, this cyist that is there in Mizpah. Verse 8, but 10 men were found among them who said to Ishmael, "Don't kill us, for we have treasures of wheat, barley, oil, and honey in the field." And so he desisted and did not kill them among their brethren. Here he can be bribed, right?

And so they tell him that they have treasures and so he keeps them alive. Again this guy Ishmael is only out for his own pleasure. And here he wants this treasure. So he keeps these 10 alive. Puts the other 70 in the pit. Now the pit, giving us some context. Where did this pit come from? Why is this pit here? It says that the pit into which Ishmael cast all of the dead bodies of the men whom he had slain. Gedaliah because of Gedaliah was the same one. Oh, it's not his fault. It's Gedaliah's fault. Because of Gedaliah was the same one that Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha, king of Israel.

Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, filled in with the slain. The word for pit here, this word for cyesterine appears a few times in the Bible., one of the first places that we see it is back in Genesis when Joseph's brothers took him and they were intending to kill him., but one of their brothers said, "No, let's make some profit off of this and let's sell him to these Ishelite traders." Well, while they were waiting to make that decision, they put him into a pit into a cyin and it was a broken sister that could not hold water and so it worked as a good prison for him.

Here we see this pit as well also not having any water in it. The thought here is that it was probably dug out during that time when the king was afraid of the Israeli king Bahasha coming down and attacking them. And so he dug out this cyan maybe as a way to hide himself or maybe as a way to reserve water during a siege because water in the city becomes very important. Hezekiah we've talked about before. He built that tunnel to bring fresh water into Jerusalem. It seems like this cistin may have been a similar thought as a way to store water, but there's no water in it here.

It just becomes an empty pit. The Bible uses that as a spiritual analogy to us as well. It talks about false teachers being like emptyists. In the New Testament, it uses that analogy saying that false teachers will come and that they will be like empty or like clouds with no rain. Both of those things are very dangerous to somebody who's in drought, somebody who needs water. Jesus Christ refers to himself as the exact opposite, right? He is not an empty sister. He is not a cloud without rain. He is the rivers of living water, right? Right? And as we accept him, then we will become filled with that living water that then out of us will flow rivers of living water.

But false teachers, they promise water. They promise to satiate our spiritual thirst, but they are empty. And their words bring about death and destruction. And so I think it apt that this here is filled with dead bodies because that's what false doctrine brings. We see here that this entourage was mixing doctrine and so bringing false doctrine into their genuine worship and ultimately they end up dead in a pit, right? With no water, no water to satiate their thirst, no water to keep them alive. I think it another example in why we need to cling to the word of God and add nothing to it.

You know, we need to not add the tenants of false religions into our worship of the one true and living God. We need to not try to change his identity to make him some universal God that meets everybody in their own religious faith. That is a lie. Right? He is the one true and living God alone and there is no other. Any other religion or non-religion is worshiping the devil. It is a false religion that has been created to plate man's spiritual desires. It is only in Christ that we can find satiation for our thirst, our spiritual thirst that God has created us with. Verse 10.

Then Ishmael carried away captive all of the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, the king's daughters, and all of the people who remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had committed to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam. And Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, carried them away captive and departed to go over to the Ammonites. It was prophesied in the previous chapter that he was in this conspiracy with the Ammonites. And here it says it again that now he's headed to go over to the kingdom of Ammon. So Ammon is in the same place as the modernday Amman in Jordan.

And so it was that nation that was east of the promised land on the other side of the Jordan. And so they're headed off in that direction. The capital city of Riblah back then is now on the ruins of or yeah Aman today is on the ruins of Riblah which is the capital city of Aman back then. So he's headed over in that direction. It mentions here these daughters of the king. These again were not a group that Nebuchadnezzar or the Babylonians felt important to to bring back to Babylon. They were left there in the in the country with the remnant with the undesirables.

Whether they're actually Zedekiah's daughters or not is unclear. It kind of just lumps them together as royal females. These are princesses., so they could be of Josiah or any of Josiah's three sons or his grandson., it's kind of just any of the royal females that were left behind that Nebuchadnezzar figured were not important., I think they play in here in Ishmael's sort of claim to the throne that while he has some sort of obscure connection to royal blood, also capturing these royal females would help him in that claim to the throne and so they become important to him.

All of this remnant would have been safe there in the land if they just submitted to the rule of Babylon as God had told them, as God had been telling them, as Jeremiah has told them for over 30 years. And yet here when they could dwell safely in peace, they're stirring up these riots and stirring up all this problem against them. So he sets out here towards Ammon with these king's daughters and all of the other people. Jeremiah is in this group even though not mentioned by name. Jeremiah in having stayed in the land is now sort of at the will and the whim of the rulers of the land.

He was told that if Gedaliah were there, he'd be able to dwell safely under Gedaliah. But he's dead now. And so now he's being drugged away from Mizpah with this group. Verse 11. But when Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all of the captains of the forces were with him, heard of all of the evil that Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, had done, they took all of the men who went to fight with Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and they found him by the great pool that is in Gibian. And so it was when all of the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and all of the captain of the forces who were with him that they were glad.

And all of the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned around and came back and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men and went on to the Ammonites.

So again, just some historical record of the movements that are going on. He's trying to flee to Ammon. Johanan, he was the same prophet that in the previous chapter wanted to kill Ishmael in the first place. Now hears about what's happened. Hears that his prophecy has indeed come to pass. Gedaliah is dead. And so he goes out to track down Ishmael. And as he goes out, the captives that Ishmael has taken all see him coming and they immediately turn around and they run out towards this force that is going to rescue them. But Ishmael is able to escape and he gets out with eight men and returns to the Ammonites.

Verse 16. Then Johanan the son of Kareah and all of the captains of the forces that were with him took from Mizpah all of the rest of the people who sorry whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah after he had murdered Gedaliah son of Ahikam the mighty men of war and the women and the children and the unics whom he had brought back from Gibian. And they departed, and they dwelt in the habitation of Chimcham, which is near Bethlehem. And they went on their way to Egypt, because of the Chaldean. For they were afraid of them, because Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, had murdered Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had made governor in the land.

So now Johanan has rescued this group and they're now kind of encamped at Chimcham there near Bethlehem. But they're afraid. They're afraid that the governor's murder is going to provoke the wrath of Babylon and that while Babylon had said you guys can dwell safely in the land, they're afraid that Babylon is now going to come down and destroy them all. And so instead of turning to the Lord instead of seeking wisdom, which Johanan is a prophet, he has this relationship with the Lord, he just heard from the Lord in the previous chapter. He was able to prophesy for the Lord, but he doesn't seek the Lord for guidance here.

Instead, he looks to Egypt. He looks to the world for comfort and safety. He's turning to his own resources. And there again is a great spiritual analogy for us that when we I don't know feel threatened, when we feel afraid of what the world is doing or what governments or kingdoms are doing, we ought to look to the Lord and not to ourselves, not to the world, not to our strength, not to the strength of any you know worldly government, but we ought to turn to the Lord. But here Johanan doesn't he's looking to Egypt and he's thinking he's just afraid. You know, a lot of times the fears that we have are unfounded, right?

The only fear that we ought to have is to fear the Lord God Almighty. If they feared the Lord, they would have sought the Lord for wisdom. But here, they're allowing their fear to dominate them, and they're looking to Egypt, which isn't going to help. I'll tell you the end of the story there. They go to Egypt and then Babylon does get mad and they go and then they destroy Egypt. Right? So Egypt is not a place that's going to give them any haven at all. Let's let's get into 42. Jeremiah 42:1. Now all the captains of the forces, Johanan the son of Kerat, Jazaniah the son of Hosiah, and all of the people from the least to the greatest came near and they said to Jeremiah the prophet, "Please let our petition be acceptable to you and pray for us to the Lord your God for all of this remnant since we are left but a few of many."

And for as you can see that the Lord your God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing we should do. Now again Johanan is a prophet himself. Why didn't he ask the Lord? Why does he set his eyes towards Egypt? You know he's determined to go down to Egypt now. But they do stop here after I don't know after saying that they're going to head down to Egypt and they ask Jeremiah. So again we now we see that Jeremiah is indeed among that group. So, he's been drugged around now. He was captured from Mizpah, taken out to Gibian, and now they're turning to Jeremiah, and they're saying, "Inquire for us.

Ask the Lord. What are we supposed to do?" So, praise the Lord. They're going to seek the Lord here. Verse four, then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, "I have heard indeed I will pray to the Lord your God according to your words. And it shall be that whatever the Lord answers you, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you. Notice the words here that are used for the relationship with God. I find it interesting in their request in verse three, they asked him or in verse two, please let our petition be acceptable to you and pray for us to the Lord your God.

Right? So, they're not taking possession of the Lord themselves. They're saying that he's the God of Jeremiah. Hey, Jeremiah, turn to your God and ask him about this. Well, then Jeremiah in his response says, "Indeed, I'll do that. I will ask the Lord your God." Right? So Jeremiah is like, "Don't call him my God. He's your God. He's our God." He's going to later start to use the word our, but here I think he intentionally uses the word your to tell them that you need to have possession of this God as well. You know, God isn't some distant dictator sitting up in heaven. He is our personal Lord and Savior.

He wants to have that relationship with us that we would be willing to say that he is our God. Not that he's just a God. Not that he's somebody else's God. Not that he's my pastor's God or my leader's God or my wife's God or whatever it is, but that he's my God. And so I think that Jeremiah here in seeing their failures, seeing their lack of trust in him, their fear that they're allowing themselves to be dominated by and them even taking that disconnect and calling God his God. He says, "No, he's your God. This is your God. Yes, I'll ask him."

Verse five. So they said to Jeremiah, "Let the Lord be true and a faithful witness between us if we do not do according to everything which the Lord your God." So again they put it there your God sends us by you whether it is pleasing or displeasing. We will obey the voice of the Lord our God. So notice it changes there. To whom we send you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God. They make this proclamation before they've even heard the response. I love that. That is the way that we ought to approach the Lord.

Notice that even in the midst of this proclamation, they change their words. They start out that he's Jeremiah's God, the Lord your God. But then when they make that commitment that they'll listen to anything that he says, they'll do everything that he says, then they claim him as their God also. The Lord our God. This is the posture that we should come to the Lord with always. Anytime we go to the Lord in prayer, we should be submitted to accept whatever he says back. You know, God's word, God's opinion, God's will is not optional in our lives. So many people treat God's will as optional.

They seek the Lord and they say, "Hey, Lord give me some advice in this situation and then when they hear the advice, they're like, "Nah, that doesn't sound good." Because he's not their God. It's because they are actually making themselves God. And God is just some puppet, right? Some counselor that they've allowed to give them a little bit of advice. And then they become the judge of that advice. That's not how we ever ought to treat our God. If he is our Lord, then we are his servants. If he is our Lord, then we belong to him and he ought to decide whatever he wants regarding our life.

And so here, I love the way that they start out. I love this posture. I love and that's the way we also ought to come to the Lord that we should come to the Lord in prayer and say,"Lord God, here's the problem. Here's my fear. Here's what's going on. Whatever you say, I'll do it. Anything, everything, whatever you say, I'll do it." That's the way we ought to approach him. That's the way a servant approaches their master. And he being our loving master treats us as sons, treats us as princes. His advice for us is always good. His advice for us is always to bring about his will and purposes in our lives.

Who are we to look at it and say, "No, that doesn't look comfortable, God. I'm not doing that." A lot of times what God tells us to do isn't comfortable, but it's good and it's right. But we like spoiled children would just like to eat potato chips all day and not eat the broccoli or the things that are unpalatable. And it happened after 10 days that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. It's interesting. 10 days. 10 days doesn't seem like a long time to wait in God's economy, but it is definitely letting us know that he did not answer them immediately. He made them wait.

He made them wait in this in the midst of their angst and their anxiety. You know, they're they just got drugged out of Mizpah, taken off into the wilderness. They were rescued. They've come down into Jim Jam. They're waiting there and I'm sure every day they're pestering Jeremiah. Hey, have you heard from the Lord yet? Did you get an answer yet? Took 10 days. I like looking at Scriptures that let us know that what is the speed of prayer. This is something we were talking about I don't know in men's study last week or so and we there are Scriptures that tell us that the speed of prayer is instantaneous right that the moment we pray God hears it and there in Genesis chapter 24 when Abraham's servant was praying for Rebecca it says that God started answering that prayer even before he was done praying So, it's faster than instantaneous.

God knows what we would pray even before we've prayed it, which is awesome, right? So, God knew what Jeremiah was going to pray even before he prayed it. And yet, he still made them wait 10 days. Why? God was able to answer immediately. God could have given them those instructions right away, but he made them wait. Anytime God makes us wait, there is a purpose for that. A lot of times when God makes us wait, it is because he's waiting for our will to align with his own. You know that if he answered us immediately, we might not accept that answer, right? But as he makes us wait and as we are patient and seek him and worship him and praise him and read his word and continue to bring that petition to him, then eventually our hearts align with his desires and then he answers.

And I've seen that in my own life. 10 days is a short time. I like to remind people that God makes people wait for long periods of time throughout the Bible. You know, there are those that wait 10 years, 20 years, 40 years so 10 days is a short time. He answers them 10 days. Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah or Kareah all of the captains of the forces which were with him and all of the people from the least even to the greatest and said to them thus says the Lord. Now they've already said they're going to listen right whatever he says everything everything God says we're going to do it.

So here it comes. Thus says the Lord God of Israel to whom you sent me to pretend to present your petition before him. If you will still remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up. For I relent concerning the disaster that I have brought upon you. Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not be afraid of him, says the Lord, for I am with you to save you, to deliver you from his hand, and I will show you mercy that he may have mercy on you and cause you to return to your own land.

So awesome words. He says, "I know you're afraid of the king of Babylon." You know, God knows our fears. God knows our anxiety and he wants to answer them. He wants to deliver you from fear. Fear is a prison that will shackle you and render you inept to serving the Lord. And God wants to deliver you from that. And God sees them and he says, "I know your fear. Here's what you're going to do. Stay in the land. He promises them, you stay in the land, I'll bless you. I'm done. He says, I'm I'm done destroying the land. I relent from all of the destruction.

It was right. It was just. He brought it. But now it's done. And so he says, stay there. I'll bless you there. I won't pluck you out. You don't need to be afraid of him. I will show you mercy. I'll cause the king of Babylon to have mercy upon you. Verse 13. But if you say, "We will not dwell in this land," disobeying the voice of the Lord your God, saying, "No, but we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of a trumpet, nor be hungry for bread, and there we will dwell." So God knows what's in their heart as well.

He knows their fears. He knows that they want to go down to Egypt and he says if you do. So this is a consequence that he's laying out for them clearly. If you do, he knows why. Right? He knows our fears and he knows why we have them. He knows our desires. Here they are desiring comfort. They're desiring peace. They're desiring food. Right? They want to go to Egypt because they think that in Egypt there will be no war. They won't even hear the sound of a trumpet. They won't be hungry for bread and they'll be able to dwell there. It says verse 15, "Then hear now the word of the Lord, oh remnant of Judah, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, if you will wholly set your faces to enter Egypt and to go to dwell there, then it shall be that the sword which you feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt.

The famine of which you were afraid shall follow close after you there in Egypt." and there you shall die. So shall it be with all men who set their faces to go to Egypt to dwell there that they shall die by the sword by famine and by pestilence and none of them shall remain to escape from the disaster that I will bring on them. The very things that they're afraid of, God says, "If you don't listen to me, those very thing will come upon you." There are many times that people come to me and they ask me counsel and they share with me fears that they have and I encourage them to trust in the Lord, to give those fears to the Lord.

But then I see them not listen and go and to try to protect themselves. And it's astounding how many times I have seen the very things that people are afraid of come upon them. And it's sad. You know, we want to protect ourselves and really in so doing we set up the situation that will bring about the very consequences we fear. It is only in the Lord that we will find deliverance when we fear those things. When we fear things like so the examples that were given here are war, famine and pestilence. To fear those things is to make those things idols because fear reveals our idols.

It means that they've made the situation of peace an idol in their life. Oh, how many worship peace today who set it up on a pedestal and worship it as a God. Governments are submitted to that God. And by making that an idol, making that a God, they then submit themselves to worship it and it will dominate them. And they will die at that altar. Famine, pestilence, these are things that they were making idols, right? Famine would be the idol of provision, the idol of comfort and success. You know, that I don't want to starve, that I'm just going to provide for my family.

And in so doing, you make those things an idol rather than trusting in the Lord. God doesn't want you to starve. He wants to provide for you. But if you make those things an idol, then you're alienating him from providing for you and you're taking that upon your own strength. And again, you're making yourself a God. And so he says here that the very things that they fear, those idols that they've lifted up in their own lives, they will come back to bite them. Verse 18 says, "For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, as my anger and my fury have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so will my fury be poured out on you when you enter Egypt.

And you shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse, and a reproach. And you shall see this place no more. The Lord had has said concerning you, oh remnant of Judah, do not go to Egypt. I think he's being really clear here. Anybody missing the message? Right? I mean, all of these that are hearing this message, they're like, I wonder what God wants us to do. Now verse 19, very clear. The Lord has said concerning you, oh remnant of Judah, do not go to Egypt. Know certainly that I have admonished you this day, for you were hypocrites in your own hearts when you sent me to the Lord your God, saying, "Pray for us."

Here Jeremiah, he's like, he already knows that they're going to disobey. Says, "Even though you guys said you'll do everything, I know you were hypocrites. You're not going to listen." He says here very clearly, "Do not go to Egypt. Pray.", yeah. When they were hypocrites, when he said, "Pray for us to the Lord and according to all that the Lord your God says, so declare to us and we will do it. And I have this day declared it to you." But you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, or anything which he has sent to you by me. Now therefore, know certainly that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go and to dwell.

Again, very clear, right? He's not sugarcoating this. He's not holding it back. Don't go to Egypt. But they're already set. They're already determined. One of the hardest things about counseling people in the word of God is that often times when I meet with them, they're already determined to do the contrary thing. You know, it's like I'm there trying to convince them not to follow their own the dictates of their own heart. You know, they come and they say that, yeah, they want to seek the Lord and they want to seek the word and what does the word of God say to this? And they hear it and they're like, "Yeah, I don't want to do that."

Hey, you didn't want to do it before you even scheduled the meeting. Verse 43. Now, it happened when Jeremiah had stopped speaking or sorry, chapter 43. to all of the people all of the words of the all of the words the Lord their God for which the Lord their God had sent him to them. All of these words that Azariah the son of Hosabayiah, Hosa, Johanan the son of Keriah, and all of the proud men spoke, saying to Jeremiah, "You speak falsely. The Lord our God has not sent you to say, do not go to Egypt to dwell there." So they just rejected outright. Ah, you're lying to us.

It's not what God said. But Baruch, the son of Neriah, has set you against us to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans that they may put us to death and carry us away captive to Babylon. So their fear is still there. They're still fearing Babylon. They've heard the truth, but they say that it's lied. How many people hear the word of God and just say, "No, no, no. That's not true." And they still cling to their fears. They still cling to their idol. So Johanan the son of Kareah and all of the captain of the forces and all of the people would not obey the voice of the Lord to remain in the land of Judah.

But Johanan the son of Kareah and all of the captains of the forces took all of the remnant of Judah who had returned to dwell in the land of Judah from all of the nations where they had been driven. Men, women, children, the king's daughters, and every person whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had left with Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Sha, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch, the son of Nari. Now, they were accusing Jeremiah of conspiring with Baruch. It seems like Baruch is probably the only one that's standing with Jeremiah at this point. And it's clear here that not only are they determined to go to Egypt because of their fear, but they're going to force Jeremiah and Baruch to go with them.

And so they drag Jeremiah down to Egypt here. And so they went to the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the Lord. And they went as far as Tahoney. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in Tahhanese saying, "Take large stones in your hand and hide them in the sight of the men of Judah in the clay in the brick courtyard which is at the entrance to Pharaoh's house in Tapan. And say to them, "Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I will send and bring Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his royal pavilion over them.

When he comes, he shall strike the land of Egypt and deliver to death those appointed to death and to captivity those appointed for captivity and to the sword those appointed to the sword. I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt. And he shall burn them and carry them away captive. And he shall array himself in the land of Egypt as a shepherd puts on his garment. He shall go out from there in peace. He shall also break the sacred pillars of Bethsh that are in the land of Egypt and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians. He shall burn with fire.

As they're coming down into Egypt, I wonder if they told Pharaoh what was going on. You know, hey, we're running from the Lord. He told us not to come. He said that if we come, you're going to get destroyed. I doubt they said anything, right? Probably didn't declare that. He puts these stones hidden underneath these clay bricks and he says that they will be a witness that Nebuchadnezzar is indeed going to come down, destroy Egypt, and he's going to put a throne right there on top of those bricks. You know, probably some temporary seat of power as he watches them all be humbled. And so, a literal monument gets built here to their disobedience.

If God won't use if they won't serve the Lord to be used for his glory, then God will use them in disobedience as a bad example and set up a monument to it. So too in our lives, God will be glorified always. He will be glorified in our obedience and he wants to be glorified in our obedience. Please let him do that. But he will also be glorified in your disobedience even though it may mean that you fall into the hands of your own fears. That the consequences of that may be sword, famine, pestilence, death, heartache. But God will be glorified. If you've fallen into those things, repent.

Get out of them. God can redeem those things. He can use that to create in you an incredible testimony. He can use you as a monument to others as he used these stones. This is a an archaeological site that some people believe they've found. Whether it's true or not, I don't know. It's I don't know. It I hear I've never been to that region of the world or to Israel or Egypt. But I hear that they rate sites like this is an A site, a B site, a C site as to their definite authenticity. Well, this is one that's considered like a lower a B or a C maybe.

But in the mid 1800s, a guy named oh, I don't know, his last name was Petri. He was a an archaeologist. He believes that he found this that he found this this courtyard of bricks that this took place at. And so it is considered to be the site. I don't know if it's authentic or not, but I'm I know God knows exactly where it is and that it's still somewhere in the earth as a monument that he will not be mocked yet. Even today. Amen. Let us submit to his will and allow him to rule and reign in our lives.

Come to him in prayer, submitted already to his answer. Amen. Father, we praise you and we thank you, Lord. I thank you for all that you did in the life of Jeremiah. I thank you for the examples that we're able to read here. Even these these bad examples, examples of disobedience. I pray that they would motivate us to fear you and you alone. To not seek our own comfort, to not make decisions that are going to set us up to be able to pursue our own, I don't know, hobbies and desires and successes and our own dreams, but that we would be fully submitted to you to bring you glory, whatever that cost.

I praise you, Jesus. Amen. All right, let's all stand for this last song. I was just thinking as Clint was preaching that I was literally just thinking about that yesterday about how wh sorry God will be glorified whether whether we want in or not. And I asked my mom about that when I was little. I was like, "So why does God need us to worship him?" And she said, "Well, he doesn't need us to worship him. He wants us to." And she explained that same way. She said, "He is inviting us in to worship him because it's a blessing to worship him."

And to be submitted to him is that's life to have Christ is life. And so she said she was explaining to me that in the end, God is going to win and he wants us to win with him, right? So praise God for that. He doesn't need us. There's a line in a song that I love that says, "If every knee is going to bow, why not here? Why not now?" So let's do that right now. Let's bow to him right now. Let's glorify him right now. He doesn't need it. He wants it. He doesn't need you. He wants you. What a God.

He made all this. He didn't need us. Thank God.