God's Judgment on
Judah
Book of Jeremiah
Chapter 16
We can say that
"judgment" is the power of determining anything to be true
or false. In fact, in every instance of memory or perception there is
involved some judgment!
We do this even
without realizing what we have done. Every act of the conscious mind
involves judgment!
We should understand
that in most cases "Judgment" simply means God removes His
hand of blessing from us and allows Satan a little bit of control
over our lives.
God must judge all
things that are unholy, and this "Judgment" is a necessary
expression of God's character!
However, God's
"Judgment" will always be fair and according to His truth!
Rom 2:1 Therefore
thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for
wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that
judgest doest the same things.
Rom 2:2 But we are
sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them
which commit such things.
Rom 2:3 And
thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things,
and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
We must clearly
understand this one thing!
Rom 1:18 For the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Rom 1:19 Because
that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath
shewed it unto them.
We must also
understand that even this is not the final "Judgment" which
comes later!
Heb 9:27 And as it
is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Heb 9:28 So Christ
was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look
for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
Those that love the
Lord will meet Him at the "Judgment Seat of Christ".
Those that reject
the Lord will meet Him at the White Throne Judgment.
*****Jer 16:1 The
word of the LORD came also unto me, saying,
Jer 16:2 Thou shalt
not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in
this place.
Jeremiah was to live
his entire life separated unto the Lord.
Jeremiah was to be a
sign to the people of Judah, a warning to the families of this nation
and not just them but, a warning to all nations including those who
are alive today!
The Holy Spirit did
not include the Book of Jeremiah just, so we could ignore what God
says here!
Jeremiah was a young
man still but, unlike what the commentaries teach, a life dedicated
to the Lord is a life of peace, but knowing that everyone experiences
trials and tribulations and Jeremiah would have many of those days
until the Lord gave him rest.
Jeremiah would
certainly see the hardships of his nation, but he would not have to
worry about his own family if he did not have one!
Sometimes when we
think trouble is coming we will think of our family before we think
of God and Jeremiah would not have these concerns because, he knew
that serious trouble was in the near future for Judah and all her
people.
Sometime later we
will see that the Lord tells Jeremiah to buy a piece of land because
those who had repented of idol worship would return in the 70 years
allowed by the Lord and this land would always belong to Israel!
What did the Apostle
Paul say to those who would dedicate themselves to the Lord?
1Co_7:1 Now
concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man
not to touch a woman.
Even when Paul said
these things by the Holy Spirit it was during a time when Rome was
trying to stamp out Christianity and those times were very hard on
the family.
1Co 7:26 I suppose
therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it
is good for a man so to be.
1Co 7:27 Art thou
bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a
wife? seek not a wife.
It would be the same
for Jeremiah!
*****Jer 16:3 For
thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters
that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare
them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land;
Jer 16:4 They shall
die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall
they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth:
and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their
carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of
the earth.
Certainly, in the
times of war it is just real hard to keep your family safe. When I
was in Vietnam, we tried our very best to keep the families of South
Vietnam safe. I cannot say this was the same for all units, but it
was for my unit.
The Vietcong were
made up of some volunteers but most of that rebel army was made up of
men and children they kidnapped and by threats to other family
members cause them to fight many of them no more than ten or twelve
years old.
North Vietnam had an
army of children also. Even the US was an army of young people
because it is young people who fight wars! I turned 21 while I was
preparing an ambush for the Vietcong.
When the army of
Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to the cities of Judah and the city of
Jerusalem, many would die for lack of food and water.
These were grievous
deaths as friends and family looked on them with no way to make
things better except to surrender to the enemy which the Lord told
them to do.
There was no one to
cry for them and there was no one to bury them and when the army of
Babylon left for home with all the spoils of Jerusalem and the
Temple, the bodies of the Jews would just lie in the fields to rot
away or be eaten by animals.
Many would die in
the battle.
Many would die by
famine.
Many would die
because of sickness from being near dead bodies.
War is just a nasty
thing that needs to be avoided!
One of the most
terrible things of war is that human beings are no longer seen as
human beings but, no better than animals in need of destruction.
Amo 6:14 But,
behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel,
saith the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the
entering in of Hemath unto the river of the wilderness.
These people brought
this upon themselves because they rejected Jehovah who could have
kept them safe from any army!
These things happen
when God removes His hand of blessings!
Times worse than
these came when Titus destroyed Jerusalem and times even worse than
this will happen when the Lord returns to deal with the Jews and set
up His kingdom.
All for the same
reason for all those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ.
When the God of
peace removes His peace, this world will crumble under the rule of
sin!
*****Jer 16:5 For
thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go
to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this
people, saith the LORD, even lovingkindness and mercies.
Jeremiah was
commanded not to comfort anyone who had lost a member of their family
even before war came.
God said these
people should be happy because they had received exactly what they
asked for.
Sometimes what we
ask for will be the beginning of our miseries!
They had pushed God
out of their lives and out of their nation and worshipped false gods.
God would deprive
these Jews of all His mercy and all His loving kindness.
God said, surely
people must be happy when they receive exactly what they ask for!
We wonder why
Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet, it is easy to see why!
Some would even
begin to wonder even before these things came upon them because they
would remember what Jehovah had said to their forefathers!
Deu 31:17 Then my
anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake
them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured,
and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say
in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not
among us?
The Lord knows the
ending and the beginning, and He repeatedly told these Jews what he
would do because He knew what they would do.
Those that do not
know the Lord will not understand that Jehovah had to do these things
to remove the sin of Israel and he will do much to remove the sin in
our world.
Isa 27:9 By this
therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the
fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the
altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images
shall not stand up.
Isa 27:10 Yet the
defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and
left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he
lie down, and consume the branches thereof.
Isa 27:11 When the
boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women
come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding:
therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that
formed them will shew them no favour.
We wonder what will
happen to America, maybe we should just look at Israel during the
time they had left their first love! Our God never changes!
What else is very
true? God is no respecter of persons!
*****Jer 16:6 Both
the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be
buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor
make themselves bald for them:
Jer 16:7 Neither
shall men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for
the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink
for their father or for their mother.
We must clearly
understand that sometimes it may seem very hard to be a Christian,
but the Lord said we are to take our stand on the Word of God, even
if we are the only one standing!
We can just imagine
as some of these who would die were most certainly part of Jeremiah's
own family.
If we remember the
time Elijah had defended the Lord against pagan priests, cutting
themselves and removing their hair was a part of pagan rituals when
attempting to get the attention of false gods.
Those that know the
Lord need only to obey the Lord and pray and the Lord will hear every
word of that prayer!
The rich would die
with the poor because in the end, we are all poor without Jesus
Christ! When we stand on the Word of God we are building treasures in
Heaven.
We can be sure that
none of these false priests would dare to show up to celebrate the
death of any believer because all of them were dying also, their gods
of no use to them.
Amo 8:10 And I will
turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation;
and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every
head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end
thereof as a bitter day.
Amo 8:11 Behold,
the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the
land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing
the words of the LORD:
Jeremiah was
forbidden to attend funerals, mourn for the dead or show sympathy to
any of those who would die, even his own family.
All those of the
nation of Judah had to realize that God had moved His hand of
protection.
God had withdrawn
His Mercy.
God had withdrawn
His Love.
God had withdrawn
His peace.
God had withdrawn
His comfort because He had been rejected.
It was a custom
among the Jews, when they had any friend, that had lost his
relations, to send them some meat (for among the Hebrews all things
they ate were called bread) and then to go and sup with them and
speak comfortably to them. They would also send wine, so they could
drink away their sorrows; this is called, The cup of consolation.
Jeremiah was not
only forbidden to go into the houses of mourning, he was also
forbidden to the times of feasting!
*****Jer 16:8 Thou
shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat
and to drink.
Jer 16:9 For thus
saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to
cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of
mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and
the voice of the bride.
Jeremiah could not
participate in festive occasions!
The Lord has said
that there may be pleasure in sin for a short period of time, but
that time of joy would turn to a time of sorrow.
Jeremiah was in his
person to reflect the "Judgment of God"!
We can see that God
used Jeremiah to represent a complete loss of fellowship with our
Creator.
These people
desperately needed to repent, or they had better prepare to meet the
God they had rejected.
The Lord does not
ask us to live righteously, He demands that we live righteously!
As Christians we are
never to mix and mingle with this lost world.
We are never to
attend worldly events where sin has become a lifestyle!
Eph 5:10 Proving
what is acceptable unto the Lord.
Eph 5:11 And have
no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather
reprove them.
Eph 5:12 For it is
a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in
secret.
Eph 5:13 But all
things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for
whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
Eph 5:14 Wherefore
he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and
Christ shall give thee light.
We must remember God
had been talking to Jeremiah while he was still in the womb of his
mother.
Jeremiah had to not
only speak the words God had given to him but, he was also to live as
a picture of God's coming judgment!
The truth is, when
the Lord is not the central part of our lives, then we will see the
things around us change for the worse.
When we become
self-righteous we will ask, why has the Lord pronounced all this evil
toward us?
We will ask, what
evil have we done?
We will ask what is
our sin or what is our iniquity?
We will ask these
things because we have become fools who have rejected our only means
of righteousness!
We will never reach
a point in our lives where we are righteous enough to get into
Heaven.
Our Father in Heaven
can only see the righteousness of His Dear Son.
1Co 1:30 But of him
are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
1Co 1:31 That,
according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the
Lord.
Jesus said it very
plainly:
Joh_15:5 I am the
vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the
same bringeth forth much fruit: "for without me ye can do
nothing".
We are nothing
without the Lord Jesus Christ and we cannot be nothing without the
Lord Jesus Christ!
It was the same with
these Jews, they could be nothing without Jehovah!
We live in a nation
today that is rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ, and many will be
asking these same questions soon because God never changes His ways
and until the end of the Church Age finally comes, "Repentance"
will still be the key to stopping the judgment of God!
What is the truth?
Heb 1:1 God, who at
sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the
fathers by the prophets,
Heb 1:2 Hath in
these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed
heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Heb 1:3 Who being
the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and
upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
So how will the Lord
answer all these questions?
*****Jer 16:11 Then
shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me,
saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served
them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not
kept my law;
Jer 16:12 And ye
have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one
after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken
unto me:
This is not only the
way of the world today but, is the way of our own nation today. Not
many are listening to what God is saying.
Many because they
are fooled by that word "God".
Many reject God but
many who believe in an ultimate Creator, just do not know who He is!
The absolute truth
is because our world exists then there must be a Creator.
Without any argument
our Creator explains who He is in the Scriptures.
Because our world,
some say cosmos exist in order and in a useful arrangement then, we
know we have a Creator of order and arrangement.
Without a doubt we
can see that our Creator is loaded with intelligence and purpose and
His vast creation is in harmony with itself.
Psa 8:3 When I
consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the
stars, which thou hast ordained;
Psa 8:4 What is
man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou
visitest him?
Psa 8:5 For thou
hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him
with glory and honour.
Psa 8:6 Thou madest
him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all
things under his feet:
Psa 8:7 All sheep
and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
Psa 8:8 The fowl of
the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the
paths of the seas.
Psa 8:9 O LORD our
Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
All talk of accident
and evolution are just a foolish denial of the truth.
Our creation had its
beginning because Elohim, God the Father, God the Son, and God the
Holy Ghost, has a purpose for His creation!
Gen 1:1 In the
beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
One day after the
Church, all the Born-Again Christians have been removed from this
world and reside in the Glory World, this world will ask these same
questions, why has God abandoned them when the truth is they have
rejected the truth of Jehovah God, The Lord Jesus Christ!
My prayer is, that
when I am gone and the many more of my age, I hope that there will
still be many who follow in the ways of the Lord Jesus Christ.
What was Jeremiah's
message?
These people of
Judah had not only rejected Jehovah, they had done even more evil
than their forefathers!
Anything or any
object or any way of life we put in place of our Heavenly Father
becomes an idol of worship, Apostasy!
Those who teach "to
follow your own heart" are foolish teachers.
The heart that has
not been given to the Lord Jesus Christ is an evil heart that is
following its own path which is evil!
What was God's
judgment on this day?
*****Jer 16:13
Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know
not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods
day and night; where I will not shew you favour.
We should remember
Pharaoh of Egypt how he had hardened his heart against Jehovah well
these people were doing the same thing, hardening their heart against
the one who had brought them out of Pharaoh's bondage.
The days of our life
are good or bad depending on the choices we make!
We should clearly
understand God will honor the decisions we make right or wrong.
God will never force
Himself on anyone!
God has given us His
Word delivered to us by the Holy Ghost (Spirit) and it is our choice
to believe or not to believe.
All the good things
in the Word of God are true!
All the things God
has judged as evil, then He will do as He says, and all these words
are also true!
God never changes.
God is the same God today as the God that created our world just over
6000 years ago!
The Jews of Judah
would be cast out of the land they had lived on since the time of
Joshua.
Remember "Joshua"
in the Greek is "Jesus"!
To be in a favorable
relationship with our Lord is to repent and obey all the Word of God!
It's just that simple!
Job 4:6 Is not this
thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?
Job 4:7 Remember, I
pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the
righteous cut off?
Job 4:8 Even as I
have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the
same.
Job 4:9 By the
blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they
consumed.
God is a God of
promises and God never breaks a promise!
Amen
Let's Pray!
