Year 3, Day 80: Jeremiah 27

Everyone Loves a Coup, Right?

Sometime in 593, leaders from the conquered lands of Babylon met in order to try and form some kind of coup.  During that year, Nebuchadnezzar had to defend his empire from an uprising from the nations and regions listed here in this chapter.  Nobody particularly liked being under Babylonian control, and there was a thought that perhaps together they could overthrow the Babylonian government.

It was to the envoys from these nations that Jeremiah is sent.  Jeremiah was to get a yoke – yes, the thing they use to put oxen together – and go before these emissaries.  Jeremiah told them that God had ordained Nebuchadnezzar to be a ruler over them until the time of God’s choosing.  Their coup would not succeed.  In fact, their coup would not even be kept private.  If Jeremiah knew about it and God had established Nebuchadnezzar as the ruler of this place, then Nebuchadnezzar would be prepared to defeat their uprising.

Another Attempt to Proclaim Humbleness

So what does Jeremiah tell these emissaries?  Jeremiah lets them know that these nations have two options.  They can submit to God – therefore submitting to Nebuchadnezzar, God’s appointed ruler – or they can rebel.  If they submit to Nebuchadnezzar, they will be allowed to remain in their own land underneath the power of the Babylonians.  But if they rebel, God will punish them with the sword, plague, and famine.  Sounds like a fun choice, right?

There are a few things that I can take away from this.  First, judgment does come.  Judgment comes from God.  We cannot escape judgment.  However, we can also see that there is grace in judgment.  If we accept judgment and embrace what God is doing in our life things can still go well even underneath God’s rod of judgment.  Yet, if we continue to rebel underneath God’s judgment then we will feel the full brunt of His wrath.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t really want to feel the full brunt of God’s wrath.

It really and truly is a chapter on humbleness before God.  We all have an opportunity to experience God.  We can hear God calling to us in our life through His grace and respond.  Or we can wait until God judges us and respond to His grace even in judgment.  Or, we can ignore Him completely and drink full that cup of God’s wrath.  But it really is our choice: humble or not?

God Confronts Falsehood

This section is also about how God deals with lies – especially lies spoken in His name.  God is clear throughout this whole chapter.  Those people who are proclaiming peace are absolutely lying.  They are absolutely giving a false message.  They are completely and totally prophesying under their own spirit rather than through the Spirit of God.

It is only the Spirit of God that is the true source of all prophetic words.  It is the Spirit of God out of which we can receive wisdom.  It is only from the true Spirit of God that we should receive our counsel.

Jeremiah Before the King

Jeremiah then goes before the King in Jerusalem.  He essentially gives the king exactly the same message as he had given to the emissaries.  This time, Jeremiah also uses logic.  Jeremiah asks what sense there is in dying under the depth of God’s full wrath.  Jeremiah asks what sense there is in drawing the sword, famine, and plague among them.  There is no reason to resist Nebuchadnezzar – especially when God has not ordained the resistance!

Jeremiah Gets Real Specific

In the last section of this chapter Jeremiah goes before the priests and gives the message once more.  However, in this portion of the passage Jeremiah gets terribly specific.  Jeremiah tells the priest to not get sucked into the “prophecy of peace” and the “prophecy of prosperity” that the false prophets were selling.

You see, the false prophets were trying to convince the priests to support their ideas.  In order to do so, the prophets told the priests that the wealth and splendor of the temple – which had been removed by Nebuchadnezzar – would be returned to the temple if they would just rise up against Nebuchadnezzar.  The prophets were pulling on the hearts – or perhaps the pocketbooks – of the priests in order to get them to lean the way of the false prophets.  Jeremiah gives them a stern warning.

Here’s what we can really take away from this chapter.  Be careful that you don’t listen to people who are trying to make a friend out of you by telling you something you want to hear.  Be careful that you don’t confuse the voice of God with what you would actually prefer to hear.  Truth is usually difficult and challenging.  God’s truth is usually even more this way.  When people are telling us precisely what we desire to hear, we need to listen very carefully.

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