When Jeremiah attempted to
find a group of people in history who suffered to the extent of
Jerusalem and Judah, he found none to compare. Their buildings, their
gates, their sanctuaries, and their spiritual practices were all
attacked. Their children swooned in the streets and found no
sustenance from their mothers, and in chapter two and verse fourteen
Jeremiah gives them one of the reasons they came under such heavy
devastation. He wrote:
Your prophets have seen
vain and foolish things for you: and they have not discovered your
iniquity, to turn away your captivity; but have seen for you false
burdens and causes of banishment.
The
verse begins, “Your prophets have seen vain and foolish
things for you:” Jeremiah was
not the only prophet who shared with the people of Jerusalem. There
were false prophets among them as well. These false prophets told
them things were going to be okay as they saw “vain and
foolish things” for them.
Rather than telling them the truth, these false prophets told things
of “emptiness, vanity, and falsehood”. They spoke of
“foolish things” or things that were “insipid,
tasteless, unseasoned, and whitewashed”. In other words they spoke
of “uncertain” things which never came to pass.
The verse continues, “and they have not discovered your
iniquity, to turn away your captivity;” These false prophets
did not expose the people's “iniquity” which means “perversity,
depravity, iniquity, guilt or punishment of iniquity”. Because they
did not speak of the error of the people, they were taken into
captivity whereas the people could have avoided it. Over and over
again in the book of Jeremiah he plead for the people to turn from
their wickedness, but false prophets would refute Jeremiah's words
and tell them differently. The people believed the false prophets
instead of Jeremiah, and they were captured because of it.
Finally
the verse says, “but have seen for you false burdens and causes
of banishment.” These false prophets soothed the people with
their words, and spoke against the idea of them having burdens by
others. They saw “false burdens” and false “causes of
banishment” which were as though they would never face any type of
“uprising” against them. They would never be subject to
“seduction, enticement, or thing to draw aside”. In other words,
where Jeremiah told the people that their actions and behavior would
lead them to burdens and banishment from what they had known, these
false prophets shared the opposite.
Whom do
we believe, the true word of God, or false teachers and prophets? If
we think about this idea long enough, we may see that we have a
similar situation in our world today. There are those who speak of
God's coming judgment, and there are those who say there is nothing
gone amiss. There are those who bring the word of God which convicts,
convinces, and persuades people of their sinfulness, and there are
those who tell us that “sin is outdated” and not relevant for
today. It doesn't take a genius to see that Jeremiah's words were
correct and the false prophets were not. May the Lord Jesus lead us
to the truth, and may we fully follow after Him when we find it.
Next
time we will see the neighbors of Jerusalem rail upon them, so read
ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow...there is more...
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ;
www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at
www.mrzlc.com/bookstore
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