Dec 10, 2015

Jeremiah's Prophecy Of The Jews' Defeat, Destruction, Captive Slavery And Grace

Common Sense Commentary: This is a prophecy of Religious Rebellion, Responsibility, Accountability and Judgement ... followed by God's Grace....

Jeremiah 19 and 20

"Hear ye the word of the LORD .... O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem .... 19:3.

"Because they have forsaken me and they have estranged this place, and they have burned incense in it unto strange gods .... and they have filled this place with the blood of innocents; They have built also high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind." 19:4-5.

Therefore I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem ... and I will cause them to fall by the sword ... 19:6.

From this "I will" verse for the next 15 verses, God expresses His perfect "I will" twelve times against the people's rebellious self-will. After God defined the sins of Judah and Jerusalem, following His "Because they have forsaken me",
he then made His astounding refutation, opposition and rejection of their wicked deviancy, and he concluded with this Holy Response ... "Therefore" followed by 12 "I wills" of terrible judgement. Those judgement, concluded with the final one in Jer.20:5 in which God said he would give them "into the hand of their enemies, which shall carry them to Babylon".

This is a very revealing event in the history of the Jews. It is a one sided battle of wills between God's chosen people and Himself, in which only they were fighting... by their rebellion. God does not need to fight, he simply drops overwhelming judgement on the self-willed rebels against His perfect will.

Finally, 15 chapters later, to emphasize the Jews' sin of a perverted self-will against His perfect will, God repeats his refutation, opposition and rejection of their perverse, false worship by the sacrificing of their children to a false god. In Jer.35:32, He reiterates ... "And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin." It was not God's perfect will, but they had a permissive will and they did it anyway of their own self-will.

One last observation .... One verse after this second mention, God's grace, for the rebellious Jews, is promised to them ...."Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely: And they shall be my people, and I will be their God: And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever...." Jeremiah 32:37-39






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