After the Chaldeans return home for fear of the Egyptians, Jeremiah leaves Jerusalem to go claim his property in the land of Benjamin. A guard falsely accuses Jeremiah of defecting to the Chaldeans. So Jeremiah is beaten and thrown into a dungeon.

Many days later, Zedekiah secretly visits Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord. However, the Lord is consistent with His message to Zedekiah – “You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.” Then Jeremiah asks not to go back to the dungeon where he will die. So Zedekiah places Jeremiah in the court of the prison and gives him a daily ration of bread.

When some of Judah’s officials hear the Lord’s message from Jeremiah, that the people should go with the Chaldeans to live or stay and die, they want Jeremiah dead. The officials say that Jeremiah’s message is bad for morale, and they accuse him of being against the people. However, Jeremiah could not have been more for the people. He was speaking hard truths from the Lord so that the people may listen and live. But Jeremiah’s message from the Lord was not a popular message because it was not what the people wanted to hear. As one commentator said, “in a time of national crisis, religious fakers always flourish because many people want to hear only comforting messages, which may often be untrue.”

The weak King Zedekiah tells the officials they can do what they want with Jeremiah. So they lower Jeremiah into a muddy dungeon with no food or water where he is left to die. However, when Ebed-Melech, an Egyptian eunuch working in the king’s house, hears about the state of Jeremiah, he pleads for Jeremiah’s life, and Zedekiah allows him to rescue Jeremiah from the dungeon. 

This suffering servant, Ebed-Melech, who was taken as a slave, castrated, and forced to work in the king’s house, has more compassion on Jeremiah, a suffering servant of the Lord, than the high and mighty officials of Judah, who were going through all the religious motions with a heart of stone. Because of Ebed-Melech’s faithfulness, the Lord will later say to Ebed-Melech when Jerusalem is being besieged, “Behold, I will bring My words upon this city for adversity and not for good, and they shall be performed in that day before you. But I will deliver you in that day…and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword; but your life shall be as a prize to you, because you have put your trust in Me” (Jeremiah 39:16-18) — once again illustrating that the Lord provides salvation for the ones who trust Him.

After Jeremiah is rescued from the dungeon, he is placed in the court of the prison. Then Zedekiah secretly inquires of Jeremiah again, and again Jeremiah is consistent with the Lord’s message. He says to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If you surely surrender to the king of Babylon’s princes, then your soul shall live; this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. But if you do not surrender to the king of Babylon’s princes, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans; they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.’”

Zedekiah is afraid to surrender because he thinks the Jews who already defected will kill him. But Jeremiah assures him that all will be ok if he will just obey the Lord! Then Jeremiah is placed in the court of the prison where he will remain until the invasion of Jerusalem. And soon we will see if Zedekiah will obey the voice of the Lord and live, or choose to ignore His word and die.

Then we meet Ezekiel who served as a priest in the temple and was taken to Babylon during the second wave of captivity in 597 BC. Four and a half years later, while by the River Chebar in the land of the Chaldeans, Ezekiel has his first vision from the Lord. Ezekiel tries to explain what he sees, but he has never seen anything quite like it before. There are four marvelous creatures and four spinning wheels and at the sound of a voice the creatures appear to submit. Ezekiel sees the throne of the Lord and a splendid being – “Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. So when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking.”

The Lord tells Ezekiel to rise and while He is speaking to him, the Spirit of the Lord fills Ezekiel. God says that He is sending him to speak to rebellious people who may or may not listen, but Ezekiel’s job is to say just what the Lord has said. Ezekiel then eats a scroll that tastes like honey, “And written on it were lamentation and mourning and woe.” Then the Lord says, “But the house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to Me; for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted. Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads. Like adamant stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not be afraid of them, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.”

“Moreover He said to me: ‘Son of man, receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears. And go, get to the captives, to the children of your people, and speak to them and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ whether they hear, or whether they refuse.” However, the Lord says if Ezekiel knows God’s word and does not faithfully warn the people of the coming judgment, he would be held responsible for the bloodshed of the ones who die in their sins. But if he speaks the truth from the Lord, he will bear no guilt.

Ezekiel is now commissioned to be the voice of God to the captives. Tomorrow the Lord has Ezekiel perform some strange symbolic acts to get the attention of the people in exile. Keep reading. (Jeremiah 37:11-38:28, Ezekiel 1:1-3:15)

Jeremiah sings praises to the Lord as he remembers that the Lord is the God of Creation – “He has made the earth by His power; He has established the world by His wisdom, and stretched out the heaven by His understanding… For He is the Maker of all things; and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance. The Lord of hosts is His name.”

However the people of Judah and the surrounding nations do not fear the God of Creation. Instead they walk in the ways of their deceitful hearts and worship gods made by their own hands. Therefore, the Lord is using Babylon to bring judgment upon the nations, including the nation of Judah. The Lord says Babylon is “My battle-ax and weapons of war: for with you I will break the nation in pieces; with you I will destroy kingdoms.”

After the Lord uses Babylon to judge the nations, He says He will then judge Babylon – “And I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion in your sight.” This repayment will occur when the Lord raises up the Medes and Persians to destroy Babylon. “For every purpose of the Lord shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant.”

In 597 BC Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, “came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, as his servants were besieging it. Then Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his servants, his princes, and his officers went out to the king of Babylon; and the king of Babylon, in the eighth year of his reign, took him prisoner. And he carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house, and he cut in pieces all the articles of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, as the Lord had said. Also he carried into captivity all Jerusalem: all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land. And he carried Jehoiachin captive to Babylon. The king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officers, and the mighty of the land he carried into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. All the valiant men, seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths, one thousand, all who were strong and fit for war, these the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. Then the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.”

Zedekiah is now sitting on the throne as the “puppet king” of Judah. He is the last king of Judah before the fall of Jerusalem. And although Judah still exists as a nation, it is under the rule of Babylon. “Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the Lord his God, and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the Lord. And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear an oath by God; but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord God of Israel. Moreover all the leaders of the priests and the people transgressed more and more, according to all the abominations of the nations, and defiled the house of the Lord which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.”

Zedekiah rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar by forming an alliance with Egypt. When the Chaldeans come up against Jerusalem, Pharaoh’s army from Egypt comes to help Jerusalem; therefore, the Chaldeans return home. Then the Lord says to Zedekiah, “Behold, Pharaoh’s army which has come up to help you will return to Egypt, to their own land. And the Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city, and take it and burn it with fire… Do not deceive yourselves, saying, ‘The Chaldeans will surely depart from us,’ for they will not depart. For though you had defeated the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained only wounded men among them, they would rise up, every man in his tent, and burn the city with fire.” The Lord has already purposed to bring judgment upon Jerusalem for their rebellion against Him, and nothing is going to stop the Lord’s plans and purposes. 

Tomorrow Jeremiah is thrown into a dungeon and we meet the prophet Ezekiel who was taken into captivity along with King Jehoiachin, so keep reading. (Jeremiah 51:15-58, 2 Kings 24:10-17, 2 Chronicles 36:10, 1 Chronicles 3:10-16, 2 Chronicles 36:11-14, Jeremiah 52:1-3, 2 Kings 24:18-20, Jeremiah 37:1-10)

“A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.” 

Remember Rachel, whom Jacob loved and wanted to marry, was the younger sister of Leah. However, the father of the girls, Laban, tricked Jacob into marrying Leah first. So Leah and Rachel both became Jacob’s wives and Jacob’s sons became the twelve tribes of Israel. The voice is Rachel weeping over the destruction of her descendants, the Israelites, which became Northern Israel, who was overthrown by the Assyrians, and Southern Judah, who is being overthrown by the Babylonians. 

The Lord tells Rachel to stop weeping because there is hope for her children’s future. God says He will bring His people home and make a new covenant with them since they broke the old covenant – “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Throughout the story, the Lord has been working His plan of redemption through covenants with His people. In the Patriarch Era, the Lord made a covenant with Jacob’s grandfather, Abraham, that He would give his descendants land and they would be a nation that would be a blessing to all the families of the earth. In the Exodus Era, the Lord established the Mosaic Covenant where He gave the people the law and established the sacrificial system. And in the Kingdom Era, He made a covenant with King David, promising him an everlasting dynasty from which the perfect King, the Messiah, will come.

This New Covenant to which the Lord is referring will complete His plan of redemption. It will be established through the shedding of the blood of the innocent, Jesus Christ, on behalf of guilty sinners, us. While Jesus is having supper with His disciples before His sacrifice, He will take a cup of wine as an illustration and tell the men, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20). And later Paul will explain how this is a better covenant than the old covenant which was based on the law (Hebrews 7:22). 

The people are in need of a new covenant because they are unable to keep the old covenant under the law. Under the New Covenant, the Lord will give the people a new heart which desires obedience to Him, and He will cleanse them from their sins. The sacrificial system only provides a covering for the sins, but the final sacrifice by Jesus Christ will provide a complete forgiveness of sins. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, Jesus will ascend to heaven where He currently sits at the right hand of the Lord as the High Priest. Those who put their faith in Jesus Christ will be saved by grace through faith. Therefore, Jesus “has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises” (Hebrews 8:6). As Charles Spurgeon said, “Things required by the law are bestowed by the gospel. God demands obedience under the law: God works obedience under the gospel. Holiness is asked of us by the law: holiness is wrought in us by the gospel.”

We end the reading with the Lord saying that He will punish Babylon because they took such joy in destroying His inheritance just as He destroyed the Assyrians – “‘Israel is like scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away. First the king of Assyria devoured him; now at last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.’ Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. But I will bring back Israel to his home, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan; his soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead. In those days and in that time,’ says the Lord, ‘The iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found; for I will pardon those whom I preserve.’”

Tomorrow, Babylon besieges Jerusalem and takes the final wave into captivity. Keep reading. (Jeremiah 31:15-40, Jeremiah 49:34-51:14)

The Lord shows Jeremiah two baskets of figs; one with very good figs and one with very bad figs. Then the Lord says, “Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans. For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.”

“And as the bad figs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad… so will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes, the residue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt. I will deliver them to trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them. And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.”

The Lord has promised to be a sanctuary for the ones who have been taken into exile in Babylon. Jeremiah will warn the people left in Judah that there is no hope in trying to resist the coming judgment. He will repeatedly tell King Zedekiah, whom we will soon meet, that he needs to surrender to the Babylonians and go with them to the land of Babylon and he will live. However, if he resists the Babylonians, he will die along with his family and servants, and Jerusalem will be burned. 

Jeremiah writes a letter to those in exile. He tells them to settle down in Babylon and build homes and lives for themselves there because they will be in exile for seventy years before the Lord will bring them out. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity.”

The Lord says for the ones who have not gone into captivity, “Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten, they are so bad. And I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence; and I will deliver them to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth—to be a curse, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, because they have not heeded My words, says the Lord, which I sent to them by My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; neither would you heed, says the Lord. Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.”

The Lord warns the people in exile not to listen to the false prophets in Babylon who are saying captivity will be short. The Lord will punish all false prophets who tell lies in His name.

Jeremiah speaks of the day of deliverance as he looks beyond the return of the Jews from captivity in Babylon to the day that the Lord will send the Savior to restore His people – “‘For it shall come to pass in that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘That I will break his yoke from your neck, and will burst your bonds; foreigners shall no more enslave them. But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them…Your affliction is incurable, your wound is severe. There is no one to plead your cause, that you may be bound up; you have no healing medicines… Your sorrow is incurable because of the multitude of your iniquities, because your sins have increased… For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds,’ says the Lord…‘You shall be My people, and I will be your God.’”

We can not cure our sin problem. We need a Savior to come and do for us what we can not do for ourselves. Jesus Christ is that Savior. He is coming soon in the story to live a perfect life that we can’t live and to die on the cross as the final Sacrifice, taking on the sins of the world as the substitutionary atonement for anyone who puts their trust in Him – “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5).

Only through a relationship with Jesus Christ are we healed from our sin sickness, deemed righteous in the eyes of the Lord, and restored to His Father, God of Creation. Keep reading. (Jeremiah 23:33-24:10, Jeremiah 29:1-31:14)

Jeremiah continues to pronounce judgment against the nations:

• Ammon, Lot’s descendants – God will humble them and, “Afterwards I will bring back the captives of the people of Ammon.”
• Edom, Esau’s descendants – “Your fierceness has deceived you, the pride of your heart,” therefore, the Lord will destroy Edom like He did Sodom and Gomorrah.
• Damascus, a prominent city in Syria – Their days of joy will be cut off and turned into days of sorrow.
• Kedar and Hazor, Arab tribes from the east – Babylon will destroy them, and the land will become desolate.

King Jehoiakam dies after reigning eleven years and his son, Jehoiachin, becomes the next king of Judah. Jehoiachin will only reign three months before he is taken off to Babylon with Ezekiel during the second wave of captivity. There he will spend thirty-seven years in prison (2 Kings 25:27).

Jehoiachin is wicked like his father; therefore the Lord says, “None of his descendants shall prosper, sitting on the throne of David, and ruling anymore in Judah.” God will bring judgment upon all the wicked leaders and false prophets who have scattered His flock and have not attended to them. However, the Lord will gather the remnant of His flock, “And they shall be fruitful and increase.”

The Lord is bringing a Righteous Ruler, Jesus Christ, for His people – “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.’”

We end the reading with the Lord warning the people not to listen to the words of the false prophets which will not profit them, but listen to the word of the Lord – “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; they speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord. They continually say to those who despise Me, ‘The Lord has said, ‘You shall have peace’; and to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, ‘No evil shall come upon you.’ For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord, and has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard it? Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury— A violent whirlwind! It will fall violently on the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly.”

Judgment is coming upon the people who do not listen to the word of God just as in the future, when Jesus returns, judgment will come upon the entire earth. And in that day, just as in the days that we are reading about in our Bible, the only thing that will spare anyone from eternal damnation will be whether they chose to listen to the word of God or not; and according to the word of the Lord, the only way for eternal salvation is through His Son Jesus Christ. 

The Lord says, “Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal.” The false voices in the world will try to get people to forget the Lord. However, Christians are called to speak His word and to share the Good News of Christ no matter the cost. How the world responds is on them, but that doesn’t stop our mission, as the Lord says – “The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully.”

In order to speak His word faithfully you have to know His word, so keep reading. (Jeremiah 49:1-33, 2 Kings 24:5-7, 2 Chronicles 36:6-8, 2 Kings 24:8-9, 2 Chronicles 36:9, Jeremiah 22:24-23:32)

The Lord tells Jeremiah not to marry or have a family because the ones born in Judah along with their parents “shall die gruesome deaths”. He also says don’t mourn for the ones who die because they will die as a result of their great sins and unrepentant hearts. 

However, the Lord gives “hope despite the disaster”. He is sending some into captivity, and one day He will bring them back to their land. On that day, the people will no longer say that the Lord lives who brought His people out of Egypt, but, “‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.”

God curses the man whose trust is in man and blesses the man whose trust is in Him. The Lord says that He is the one who knows the heart of each person and He knows the ones who truly have a heart for Him – “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” And only the ones who have a heart surrendered to the Lord will receive salvation on the day of His final judgment.

As a potter shapes clay, so the Lord shapes the nations according to His divine purposes. If He speaks to destroy a nation and the nation repents, then He will relent of the disaster He was going to bring. If He speaks to build up a nation and the nation turns to evil, then He will relent of the good He was going to bring. Therefore the Lord tells Jeremiah to tell the people, “Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. Return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.” However, the people reject the warning from the Lord – “And they said, ‘That is hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and we will every one obey the dictates of his evil heart.’” 

The Lord rebukes Judah for saying it was hopeless for them to obey Him, and He uses the example of the Rechabites obeying their earthly father as an illustration of obedience. The Lord asks why it is so hard for Judah to obey their Heavenly Father, the God of Creation, when the Rechabites can obey their earthly father. To prove the Lord’s point, Jeremiah commands the Rechabites to drink wine, but they refuse because their earthly father, Jonadab, forbade it. The Lord then tells the Rechabites that since they obeyed their father, Jonadab, they, “Shall not lack a man to stand before Me forever.” But as for disobedient Judah, “Behold, I will bring on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the doom that I have pronounced against them; because I have spoken to them but they have not heard, and I have called to them but they have not answered.”

Per “gotquestions.org” – “The Rechabites were descendants of Rechab (or Recab or Rekab), a Kenite and thus related to the Midianites and Moses’ family by marriage (see Judges 1:16). According to Jeremiah 35:6, the Rechabites’ strict rules were put in place by a son (or descendant) of Rechab named Jehonadab (or Jonadab). This is the same Jehonadab who helped Jehu rid Israel of Baal-worship after the time of Ahab (2 Kings 10:15–27). Scholars have differing opinions as to why Jehonadab implemented the rules, but many believe he sought to preserve the primitive lifestyle of his nomadic forebears.”

Tomorrow Judah receives a new king, so keep reading. (Jeremiah 16:1-18:23, Jeremiah 35:1-19)

Jeremiah wonders why the wicked prosper. The Lord tells Jeremiah not to grow weary because He has a plan and Jeremiah is part of His plan, but it will be a long, hard road.

God says that He will punish all of Israel’s evil neighbors, but they too will have a chance to be redeemed – “‘And it shall be, if they will learn carefully the ways of My people, to swear by My name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they shall be established in the midst of My people. But if they do not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation,’ says the Lord.”

The Lord has Jeremiah purchase a sash and wear it as a symbolic act of His message. Then He tells Jeremiah to go to the Euphrates and bury the sash. After some time, the Lord has him return and dig it up; thus illustrating how the Lord is going to destroy the pride of the people who at one time clung to Him, as the sash did Jeremiah’s waist, but left Him for pagan worship.

Then, as another symbolic picture, Jeremiah instructs the people to fill their jugs with wine. For as wine leads to drunkenness, the sins of the people will lead to their destruction.

In an attempt to lead the people to repentance, the Lord sends a drought. He tells Jeremiah not to intercede for them because judgment for their sins was inevitable. The false prophets, who keep telling the people that all is fine when it is not fine, will also experience God’s wrath, for they do not speak the word of the Lord but lies.

Jeremiah asks if the Lord has totally rejected Judah, and he prays for healing. The Lord says at this point, not even Moses or Samuel could intercede for them because King Manasseh led Judah to such a state of corruption that the people have completely abandoned the Lord. Therefore some will die by sword, some by famine, and some will be taken into captivity.

We end the reading with Jeremiah struggling because he is despised for speaking the words of the Lord – “O Lord, You know; remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In Your enduring patience, do not take me away. Know that for Your sake I have suffered rebuke. Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts. I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone because of Your hand, for You have filled me with indignation. Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will You surely be to me like an unreliable stream, as waters that fail?”

The Lord responds to His faithful servant, Jeremiah – “I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall; and they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you; for I am with you to save you and deliver you… I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible.” 

Those called by the Lord will experience opposition and persecution in this world. And although the Lord’s calling upon your life may be a hard road to follow, the Lord promises to carry you through it till the end. God always provides salvation for those who walk with Him by faith, trusting that He is using all things, even the tough trials, to accomplish His good plans and purposes.

More from Jeremiah tomorrow. Keep reading. (Jeremiah 12:1-15:21)

“How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us’? Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood. The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord; so what wisdom do they have?”

We have seen throughout this story that anytime the people choose to ignore the word of God and walk in their own ways, things never go well. Although the Lord has sent prophet after prophet to warn the people to turn from walking in their own ways to obeying the word of the Lord and walking in His ways, the people do not listen. They believe that they are wise and that they can navigate life apart from the Lord. However, there is no wisdom to be found apart from God’s word. 

Jeremiah grieves over the sinful state of Judah – “For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt. I am mourning; astonishment has taken hold of me.” As Charles Spurgeon said, “A preacher whom God sends will often feel more care for the souls of men than men feel for themselves or their own salvation.” Because someone who is walking with the Lord and knows His word knows the ultimate outcome for those who choose to ignore Him. 

The Lord speaks of the outcome for rebellious Judah – “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it, but they have walked according to the dictates of their own hearts and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them… Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. I will scatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them.”

The Lord instructs the people not to glory in the things of the world that will perish and fade away when calamity comes upon them, but to glory in Him and His long suffering, just, and righteous nature – “‘Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,’ says the Lord.”

Jeremiah reminds Judah that, “The Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth will tremble, and the nations will not be able to endure His indignation.” The Lord, the God of creation, will destroy all other gods who did not make heaven and the earth. And since Judah has broken their covenant with the Lord and has turned to worship these false gods made by the hands of men, nothing will save them at this point, not even Jeremiah’s prayers.

The reading ends with Jeremiah’s enemies plotting to kill him for speaking the words of the Lord, but God assures Jeremiah that He will punish those who intend him harm. And in spite of threats against his life, Jeremiah will stay faithful to proclaiming the word of the Lord. Therefore, we will hear more from Jeremiah tomorrow. Keep reading. (Jeremiah 8:4-11:23)

Nebuchadnezzar has a disturbing dream, so he gathers all the magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and Chaldeans and asks them to tell him what he dreamt and then to interpret his dream. They respond, “There is not a man on earth who can tell the king’s matter; therefore no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean. It is a difficult thing that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.”

“For this reason the king was angry and very furious, and gave the command to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. So the decree went out, and they began killing the wise men; and they sought Daniel and his companions, to kill them.”

Therefore, Daniel goes to his house and asks Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah to pray with him that the Lord would reveal the dream and interpretation so that they would be spared. Daniel knows the power of prayer. Jesus is later going to say, “for where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matthew 18:20). 

The Lord hears their prayers and reveals the secret to Daniel in a night vision. “So Daniel blessed the God of heaven” for giving him knowledge and wisdom. Daniel says the Lord “Reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells in Him.”

“Therefore Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him: ‘Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; take me before the king, and I will tell the king the interpretation.’”

When Daniel is before the king he explains that no man can tell him his dream, but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets and He is the one who interprets dreams. So Daniel shares with Nebuchadnezzar that in his dream Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold with a powerful kingdom, but after him would come three other kingdoms. Two inferior kingdoms will arise, Medo-Persia and Greece, and then another really powerful kingdom will arise, the Roman Empire. Then Daniel says, “And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.” Commentators believe this is a reference to the return of Jesus when He will overthrow all earthly kingdoms and reign for eternity. 

Upon hearing the interpretation, Nebuchadnezzar says, “Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.” He also promotes Daniel and his friends to be rulers in Babylon.

However, over time Nebuchadnezzar must have forgotten when he said, “Truly your God is the God of all gods,” because he later builds a large golden image and demands everyone to worship it when music is played. Those who refuse to worship the image will be thrown into a blazing furnace. When Daniel’s friends refuse to worship anything or anyone but the Lord, Nebuchadnezzar tells them that he will cast them into the furnace. 

“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.’” 

This response infuriates the king so he has the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego are bound and cast into the furnace, whose flames kill the men tossing them inside. But when Nebuchadnezzar looks inside, he sees a fourth person in there – “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” The Lord was in the fire with the men who trusted Him with their lives, and He delivered them from harm. So Nebuchadnezzar brings the men out “and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.” Then Nebuchadnezzar says, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God! Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this.” And once again, Nebuchadnezzar promotes the men of God in the province of Babylon.

Back in Jerusalem before the Babylon invasion in 597 BC, Jeremiah is still warning the people not to believe that they are secure just because the temple is located in Jerusalem. He warns them to stop their evil, repent, and turn to the Lord or the temple and everything else will be destroyed. But the people are still not listening.

More from Jeremiah tomorrow, so keep reading. (Daniel 2:1-3:30, Jeremiah 7:1-8:3)