The Regathering of
Israel
Book of Jeremiah
Chapter 23
Before we get
started in our lesson we should see to whom the Lord is directing
these words. We only have to back up one chapter to chapter 22 verse
29.
Jer 22:29 O earth,
earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.
We should know that
all these things that went on in the time of Jeremiah took place
during his lifetime, but these things have a great meaning for the
nation of Israel today and further still in the future and we as
Gentiles and the Body of Christ need to listen and learn from all
these things.
If we had read these
things we would realize that King Coniah or Jeconiah, both are the
same. Coniah was of King David’s line through King Solomon and the
rights to this throne was cut off by the Lord. Joseph the husband of
Mary would be of this same line and God said the Messiah could come
from the line of David which the Lord had just ended.
Had Jesus been born
the natural way instead of the Super natural way, He would have no
claim to the throne in the line of King David.
Had Joseph chosen
someone besides Mary to be His wife, it would have broken the chain
to the Messiah.
Since the plan of
God cannot be altered, Mary was also of the line of David thorough
his son Nathan who was the first born of David and Jesus the Christ,
the Messiah, being conceived by the Holy Spirit holds the royal title
to the throne of David, which He will possess when He returns.
Since the Lord
cannot die then His throne is eternal!
Chapter 23 verse 1
*****Jer 23:1 Woe
be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture,
saith the LORD.
Things had gotten so
bad that Jeremiah had decided to quit on God, but he found that he
could not.
Jer 20:9 Then I
said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name
but his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones,
and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
God had rejected
this generation and He would be their enemy!
Jer 21:5 And I
myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a
strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.
Jer 21:10 For I
have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith
the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and
he shall burn it with fire.
Jer 22:6 For thus
saith the LORD unto the king's house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto
me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a
wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.
Jer 22:9 Then they
shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD
their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.
It will never be
good for those who have rejected the Lord God Jehovah!
*****Jer 23:2
Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that
feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and
have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your
doings, saith the LORD.
These shepherds
included the spiritual leaders of this nation but also the political
leaders of this nation!
We see right off
that it is the job of the Pastor to feed his flock and that food was
to be the Word of God!
The job of the
Pastor has not changed today, they are to be shepherds to the flock
that the Lord has given to them.
These had caused the
people of God to be scattered rather than to be gathered together as
one people.
**Do we not see this
thing today as many so-called Christians have joined with the evils
of our nation and the Church is scattered in its beliefs.
We are to gather in
one accord with the truth of God!
We simply do not see
righteousness and true justice in our society of today.
What had God
promised? Peace, security, and prosperity if, God's people would obey
Him.
Joh_8:31 Then said
Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word,
then are ye my disciples indeed;
When those behind
the pulpits of today fail to do their duty, the children of God will
be confused. This confusion would go away if they would study the
Word of God themselves and remove all those who teach lies rather
than the truth of God!
What do we know?
Those who scatter God's people are the same ones who increase their
personal wealth, their positions, and sometimes even power, while
they condemn God's people!
God says it is He
who will repay them for the evil that they have done!
Psa 62:9 Surely men
of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be
laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.
Psa 62:10 Trust not
in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase,
set not your heart upon them.
Psa 62:11 God hath
spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God.
Psa 62:12 Also unto
thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man
according to his work.
We should clearly
understand God will eventually punish everyone who oppress God's
people.
It is necessary at
this time for these things to take place, so all humans can have an
opportunity to repent.
How many will remain
true to the Lord?
*****Jer 23:3 And I
will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I
have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they
shall be fruitful and increase.
Some say this is
what is going on now and it is but most of these today are not
Christian. When the Lord gathers after or even during the Tribulation
Period they will truly be His people.
God expects every
government to take care of its people. In fact if the people at home
are not cared for then our government should not provide our
resources to other governments, especially to those that mistreat
their people!
Jer 25:32 Thus
saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to
nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of
the earth.
Jer 25:33 And the
slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even
unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither
gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.
Jer 25:34 Howl, ye
shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal
of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions
are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel.
Those that believe
that there is a power greater than the Lord are trusting in vanity!
And for all the
naysayers, Israel will one day occupy all the land that was given to
Abraham!
Even today with the
leaders Israel has, the people of Israel are not very afraid of all
those larger enemies that surround them, but must never let pride
enter into their politics ever again!
What has God
promised?
*****Jer 23:4 And I
will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall
fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith
the LORD.
Jer 23:5 Behold,
the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a
righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall
execute judgment and justice in the earth.
What is the sign of
the true Pastor? They are called of God!
God gives us all a
job to do but God calls His Pastor in another way, so they can know
they have been called. All others who claim to be a Pastor but are
not called of God, are imposters!
The true Pastor will
not fear what the government can do to him and he will instill this
into the flock of God.
As Christians we
must never fear what this world can do to us because at death we go
to the glory land!
And a greater
promise of them all, the Lord Jesus Christ will return and this time
He will claim the throne of David!
There are many
lessons and many prophesies of the Second coming of the Messiah and
this is just one of them.
Isa 9:6 For unto us
a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be
upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of
Peace.
Isa 9:7 Of the
increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the
throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish
it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The
zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
Jeremiah and Isaiah
both knew these things were to be in the future then and still are
today, but the time draws very near that the Lord will soon return.
Rev 19:11 And I saw
heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was
called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make
war.
Rev 19:12 His eyes
were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had
a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
Rev 19:13 And he
was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called
The Word of God.
Rev 19:14 And the
armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed
in fine linen, white and clean.
He will have a name
much grander than them all:
*****Jer 23:6 In
his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and
this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR
RIGHTEOUSNESS.
To the Jews His name
would be "Jehovah-Tsidkenu".
To each Christian,
since we have no righteousness of our own, He is called The Lord Our
Righteousness.
It is because Our
Lord spent a sinless life upon this earth that He could take our
place on the Cross on Mount Calvary!
2Co 5:21 For he
hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him.
When we place our
trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, God applies the Righteousness of His
Dear Son to us and it is because of this that we can become
acceptable to Him.
So who is the
Messiah? The Messiah is none other than the righteous Son of God, The
Lord Jesus Christ!
The truth is we did
not have the ability to become "righteous" on our own.
Isa_64:6 But we are
all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the
wind, have taken us away.
In fact there has
never lived one person upon the face of this earth that has lived a
righteous life beside the Lord Jesus Christ.
Rom_3:10 As it is
written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Rom 3:21 But now
the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being
witnessed by the law and the prophets;
Rom 3:22 Even the
righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and
upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
Rom 3:23 For all
have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Rom 3:24 Being
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus:
The days we live in
now are the days of the Church but the soon coming Age will be the
days of the restored nation of Israel.
*****Jer 23:7
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no
more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel
out of the land of Egypt;
Jer 23:8 But, The
LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of
Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had
driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.
This prophesy will
not see it's fulfillment while the Church is still upon the face of
this earth! The Church will already be in Heaven and then return with
the Lord when He returns!
When the Lord sits
upon the throne of David, then He will gather His people from all the
countries of the world and lead them back to the Promised Land.
Mat 24:29
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be
darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall
fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Mat 24:30 And then
shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all
the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man
coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Mat 24:31 And he
shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall
gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven
to the other.
The Promised land of
the Jews is not heaven, but it is a symbol of Heaven.
What we see going on
in Israel today is just a partial filling of this prophesy of
Jeremiah!
There is a big
difference between the Prophet Jeremiah and the false prophets of his
days.
*****Jer 23:9 Mine
heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones
shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath
overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his
holiness.
What is the truth of
those false prophets?
Jer 14:14 Then the
LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them
not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they
prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of
nought, and the deceit of their heart.
This same thing is
true of those false preachers of today in the Church.
Jeremiah had
thoughts like many today. Just how could a loving God allow the
destruction of His people.
First, we need to
describe God's people.
Mat 22:37 Jesus
said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is
the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the
second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40 On these
two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
If cannot fit
yourself into these words of the Lord, then you are not God's people.
It is just that simple!
These false prophets
will cause many to go astray but only if they reject the truth of
God!
It breaks the heart
of God for these things to take place, but He can never go against
His Word in any case!
What is one of our
greatest problems? We cannot always realize the truth of today until
it becomes our past.
It seems we always
want more truth when we have the greatest of all truths in the
Scriptures preserved for us in the Word of God!
We must know God
well enough to know that He never does things because of anger. He
does things because these are the things that He said he would do.
The Lord never does
things because of a lack of love, He does these things because this
is what He said he would do and He will never go against His Word.
It is because of the
Holiness of His Words.
Holy words are those
words that lead us to obey the will of God!
The Word of God is
Holy! The Word of God is set apart as the complete truth in a world
full of lies and deceit!
*****Jer 23:10 For
the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land
mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and
their course is evil, and their force is not right.
Jer 23:11 For both
prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their
wickedness, saith the LORD.
We should know that
most false worship in the adjacent nations involved sexual sin.
Adultery here refers to sexual adultery and more important "Spiritual
Adultery" which is idolatry.
The false prophets
and the false ministers can commit no greater sin than immorality,
sexual or Spiritual.
The Prophets of God
are held to a higher standard just as those who preach the Word of
God today are!
When a so-called
prophet of God turns away from the Lord they have committed apostasy!
It is the same as
running away from the Lord as did Jonah. Jonah returned but these had
rejected the Lord and the Word of God refusing to repent.
These men had broken
the heart of God and God was already bringing drought and famine.
The land was
mourning and refused to provide for these people.
The land of Israel
never regained the power to provide for Israel, until the children of
Israel began to return as Israel was "Born Again" on May
14, 1948. Israel has since blossomed into a truly pleasant land.
This was a sign to
them all, that they would certainly face the judgment of God!
The prophets and the
priests had chosen wickedness for their model of right and wrong.
Sounds more and more
like the America we live in today!
Jas 4:4 Ye
adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the
world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the
world is the enemy of God.
How many today have
forgotten this simple verse of Scripture?
This is just the
opposite of what God has called us all to do!
Rom 12:1 I beseech
you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable service.
Rom 12:2 And be not
conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of
your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and
perfect, will of God.
Rom 12:3 For I say,
through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not
to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think
soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of
faith.
It is for this
reason their life would be made miserable.
*****Jer 23:12
Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the
darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring
evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.
We know that the
persecution of Christians has increased many times over, but we can
also be sure that those who preach a false message will be persecuted
by God Himself, when the time is right.
It is a terrible
thing to walk into a place we do not know when it is too dark to see.
When we find that the walkway is also slippery it just adds to our
fright.
These priests in the
day of Jeremiah would walk in the daylight as if it was total
darkness and stumble about until they fell for good.
They would be
banished from ever serving God again!
Psa 35:1 Plead my
cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that
fight against me.
Psa 35:2 Take hold
of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help.
Psa 35:3 Draw out
also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say
unto my soul, I am thy salvation.
Psa 35:4 Let them
be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be
turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.
Psa 35:5 Let them
be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase
them.
Psa 35:6 Let their
way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the LORD persecute
them.
Psa 35:7 For
without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without
cause they have digged for my soul.
Psa 35:8 Let
destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath
hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.
We sometimes fall
into the trap of thinking that God will continue to allow these
things to take place, but the Scriptures prove to us the God will
cause these things to end and those that do these things to come to a
wicked end themselves!
They had Blasphemed
themselves as they had committed blasphemy in the Temple of Solomon!
As we live day by
day as Christians we have the responsibility of keeping ourselves
clean without even having the appearance of evil.
The message of the
false prophets has not changed much from the time of Jeremiah till
the day we live in!
In fact the world
keeps telling us that things are better than they ever have been,
which is just one of the lies of today!
Spiritual leaders
are saying as long as you do things in moderation God will forgive,
which is another lie. God may forgive but that forgiveness will not
come without repentance. God does not change His ways!
When we reject the
truth, we are believing a lie, it’s just that simple!
There is not one
nation upon this earth that is immune to the truth of God!
God will gather all
the Jews one day and I believe He has started now but most of that
fulfillment comes after the Church is taken out of this world.
God always does what
He says He will do!
Amen
Let’s Pray!
