Jeremiah (1-31) 29:20 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Jeremiah (1-31) 29:20

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Listen, says Jeremiah, all ye of the captivity in Babylon. You will see this happen; you will see the Jerusalemites fall, and the false prophets of Jerusalem severely dealt with. The lying prophets are named: Ahab and Zedekiah (not King Zedekiah, obviously, who was the son of Josiah). Ahab and Zedekiah are the leading liars, pretenders, false prophets in the north. They will come to a terrible end at the hand of the king of Babylon. You will have waited two years and the false prophecies haven't come to pass. You will wait another nine years and Jerusalem will fall completely. Where will you stand then with regard to these false prophecies? – ‘Don't listen to Jeremiah or to God, everything will be alright.’ By an overruling of God they will somehow upset the court of the king and be arrested and slain in public. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, will slay them before your eyes and they will become a curse word among the Israelites. Why was the judgment of God so harsh upon them? Partly because they took the place of God with their false prophecies. God sometimes deal very severely with those who oppose him to his face, and it is right that we should notice this and attribute it to the Lord. There are further warnings about those that stay, those that do not go into captivity. ‘Because they have committed villainy in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours' wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them; even I know, and am a witness, saith the LORD.’ Away in Babylon they thought they could live as they liked. And there were adulterers, as well as lying prophets speaking lying words in God's name.

Application

We are seeing that today: false prophets. Think of these megachurches, the phenomenon of megachurches in the United States. I suppose some of them are sound and good, but most of them are semi-charismatic or completely charismatic, and absolutely wild and entertainment-based and worldly in the extreme. Look what's happening now. We are getting so much news of big-time rich pastors of megachurches being arrested and sent to prison, found guilty of all kinds of moral offenses: against children, against members of their flocks. And here you are reading it in the Book of the prophet Jeremiah. The false prophets, their lives also, were completely foul. You can tell the false prophets. There has just been an arrest rest of a whole group of church leaders in America of a megachurch there, who apparently have been committing massive fraud for years and years. They are likely to spend almost the rest of their lives in jail, if they are found guilty. These things happen. As though, perhaps, like them, it heralds future coming restoration: a blow being struck at the bastions of falsehood. So the warnings are given.

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Jeremiah (1-31) 29:20 Commentary and Bible Study