Gtcotr/ss022226
About 600 years before Christ, God called a prophet named Jeremiah to warn the people of Jerusalem concerning the consequences of their sin. In fact, God called Jeremiah to be a prophet before Jeremiah was even born. (Jeremiah 1:5) Jeremiah’s message however was not very popular, and his insistence on publishing his prophecies finally led to his arrest and ultimately landed him in jail, beaten and in stocks.
Jeremiah was really trying to help but people weren’t all that interested in changing their ways. It seemed like the poor and uneducated people just didn’t know any better and the rich were making a lot of money sinning. Still God was fed up with all the injustice and the immorality of the day.
Several times God had tried to get through to the people but somehow, they managed to sidestep real change and so, Jeremiah was born and became the weeping prophet of God. Let’s read some excerpts from Jeremiah 5: (Again – this is about the year 605 to 600BC. Jeremiah is in his 40’s.) This is the prophet speaking for the Lord to anyone who will listen:
Jeremiah 5 NKJV
1 ¶ “Run to and fro through
the streets of Jerusalem; See now and know; And seek in her open places If you
can find a man, If there is anyone who executes judgment, Who seeks the
truth, And I will pardon her.
·
If you can find a man … Find Me a man!
· Someone righteous, someone true … and I will pardon My people.
2 Though they say, ‘As
the LORD lives,’ Surely they swear falsely.”
· Although they claim to be godly and they say they are doing God’s will … they are liars.
3 O LORD, are not Your
eyes on the truth? You have stricken them, But they have not grieved; You have
consumed them, But they have refused to receive correction. They have made
their faces harder than rock; They have refused to return.
·
God
tried to get their attention, but their faces are harder than rock.
· They refuse to repent.
4 Therefore I said,
“Surely these are poor. They are foolish; For they do not know the way
of the LORD, The judgment of their God.
·
Jeremiah
first thought people were just poor and stupid.
·
He
imagined they just didn’t know right from wrong.
·
So
Jeremiah decided to go to the wealthy and educated people …
· Jeremiah even went to the rulers of the Temple …
5 I will go to the great
men and speak to them, For they have known the way of the LORD, The judgment of
their God.” But these have altogether broken the yoke And burst the
bonds.”
·
It
didn’t work any better …
· The rich and educated just sidestepped repentance and kept going.
I’d encourage you to read the whole chapter but for the sake of time here, allow me to skip down to verse 25 and then on to the end.
25 ¶ Your iniquities have
turned these things away, And your sins have withheld good from you.
·
God
wants to bless his people with money and with things money can never buy …
however
·
Your
own sins and iniquities have turned and withheld these blessings from you.
· What’s God saying? – Basically … it’s your own fault … please repent before something worse happens to you and to the nation.
God is not talking about every single person but about a collective people. These are representative of the whole nation, and indeed the majority sentiment did cast a shadow over the nation.
26 ‘For among My people
are found wicked men; They lie in wait as one who sets snares; They set
a trap; They catch men.
27 As a cage is full of
birds, So their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become
great and grown rich.
28 They have grown fat,
they are sleek; Yes, they surpass the deeds of the wicked; They do not plead
the cause, The cause of the fatherless; Yet they prosper, And the right of the
needy they do not defend.
29 Shall I not punish them
for these things?’ says the LORD. ‘Shall I not avenge Myself on such a
nation as this?’
30 “An astonishing and
horrible thing Has been committed in the land:
31 The prophets prophesy
falsely, And the priests rule by their own power; And My people love to
have it so. But what will you do in the end?
·
You
may be prospering now,
·
You
may have titles and positions of profound influence,
· But what will you do in the end?
Perhaps 3 or 4 years after Jeremiah wrote this, in the year 597BC, Jerusalem was overrun and many were taken captive. One of the captives taken from Jerusalem was a man named Ezekiel who was also a prophet of God. Ezekiel prophesied to the captives in Babylon. Guess what Ezekiel said:
Ezekiel 22:30 “So I
sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before
Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.”
·
God
said, “I sought for a man!”
·
Find
Me a man to stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land!
· And I will pardon My people.
Later Jeremiah wrote a letter to the captives in Babylon. You can read it beginning in Jeremiah 29. The prophet Daniel, who was taken captive from Jerusalem read the writings of Jeremiah and believed them. It was these same prophecies of Jeremiah that inspired Daniel to believe in the deliverance God planned for those whom He loved. (Daniel 9:2)
God was searching for a man … and finally 600 years later, He found one!
At the final trial of Jesus under Pontius Pilate, the last effort Pilate made to set Jesus free is found in John 19. Let’s read …
John 19:5 Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!”
God found a Man!!! His name is Jesus.
What does this mean for us? Jesus preached His first sermon about this very thing.
Luke 4
16 So Jesus came to
Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the
synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.
17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
Let me read it … it reads so much better than it preaches … Jesus just read it for His first recorded sermon:
Isaiah 61 NKJV
1 ¶ “The Spirit of the
Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good
tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim
liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are
bound;
2 To proclaim the
acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort
all who mourn,
3 To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”
Luke 4
20 Then Jesus closed the
book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of
all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
What will you do in the end? Nothing … God found a Man; His name is Jesus. He did it, and a pardon is waiting for you today.
Now all who call upon His name shall be saved.
You will never be too poor or too foolish to miss it, too rich or too educated to discount it. We can’t claim we didn’t know … we all need Jesus, and we need Him every day.
The prophecies of the Old Testament continue to be fulfilled in our day. Do not imagine God is dead or that He has grown tired of being a Father to the rich and poor alike. The New Testament teaches the unfolding plan of God since the foundation of the world. Have you considered: What will you do in the end?
Call upon the name of the Lord and He will save you. Isaiah 61:10 He will clothe you with the garment of salvation and wrap you in the robe of righteousness. Because, He found a Man …
Call
upon that Man now … His name is Jesus.
