Monday, September 09,
2013, 2:41 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “Jesus Paid It All” playing in my mind. I read Jeremiah 37-38. I took some notes on the passages, and then I went
back to sleep for a couple more hours. I woke again around 9:00 a.m. I had a
vision of someone descending stairs, and I heard in my mind, “The king came
down.” Then, the Lord put the song “Amazing
Grace” in my mind, and then I read Jer.
39 (ESV). I will quote selected passages from these three chapters.
They Did Not Listen
Zedekiah
the son of Josiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of
Judah, reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim. But neither he nor his
servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Lord that he
spoke through Jeremiah the prophet. King Zedekiah sent Jehucal the son of
Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the
prophet, saying, “Please pray for us to the Lord our God.”
Jerusalem was under siege by the Babylonians. The king of
Babylon made Zedekiah king of the land of Judah. Zedekiah pledged loyalty to
the king of Babylon, but later he broke his promise. Evidently he turned to
Egypt for help, and they had come to help, but now they were headed back home.
The Babylonians would most certainly now come and burn Jerusalem to the ground,
proving Zedekiah’s trust in mankind to be futile.
Yet, this was not Zedekiah’s greatest sin, nor was it the
true cause of his ultimate downfall. His greatest sin was that he did not
listen to the words of the Lord, nor did his servants nor did the people of the
land. And, yet he sent word to Jeremiah asking him to pray for them to the
Lord.
The Bible has much to say on this subject of not listening
to God’s words and yet still expecting him to hear and to answer our prayers
(See Micah 3:4; Is. 1:15; 65:12; Jer. 11:11-14; Amos 5:22-24; Matt. 6:7; 13:10-16;
Jn. 10:27; 18:37; Jam. 1:5-8). If the Lord speaks to us, which he does, and
time and time again we turn a deaf ear to what he says, or if we are like the
person who looks intently in the mirror but immediately goes away and forgets
what he looks like, not doing what the word says, how can we expect to receive
anything from the Lord? We are like hypocrites just saying words which go
nowhere. Yet, God may answer us, like he did Zedekiah, but it may not be an
answer we like.
Burn it With Fire
And
the Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city. They shall capture
it and burn it with fire. Thus says the Lord, Do not deceive yourselves,
saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,” for they will not go away.
The Bible also has much to say on the subject of not putting
our trust in humans, in princes, or in manpower (our own strength and wisdom), as
well as it has much to say on the subject of not following after lies and
deceptions and messages which give a false hope. We are not to place our trust
in humans, human leaders, politicians, church leaders, armies, governments, the
institutional church and/or in our own resources and human abilities, because
they are fallible and subject to failure and to disappoint us, plus they are
subject to lies and deceptions. As well, putting our trust in other humans or
in ourselves is idolatry, if we choose trust in mankind over trust in Almighty
God.
Zedekiah’s downfall was two-fold: 1) He didn’t listen (heed)
the words of God, and 2) He put his trust in humankind over and above God. And,
this speaks to many hearts yet today of those who claim faith in Almighty God
and yet they fail to listen and to heed his words, and instead they put their
faith and trust in mankind and in human resources and in human reasoning. This
is a HUGE problem in the institutional church here in America. God has been
calling out to his church here in America for some time now for her to listen
and obey, repent of her sins of idolatry and spiritual adultery, and for her to
stop trusting in humans, but for her to trust in the Lord God/Jesus Christ as
her only Lord.
If she does not listen and obey, and if she does not repent
of her evil ways, and if she continues to put her trust in humankind over and
above God, he promises he will judge her (See Rev. 2-3). Yet, this is truly his
way of showing her grace. How? Because the purpose of God’s grace is that we
are delivered from our bondage to sin and we are set free to worship, honor,
love, and obey our Lord and to walk in his righteousness. If he cannot get us
to listen via so many, many messages coming from his word and from his
servants, then he will have to get our attention another way so that we will
repent and we will obey, and so we will cease following after the ways of this
world, but we will follow our Lord with all our hearts. This is called tough
love, and it is what America needs right now if the church here is to be
revived and set on fire for Jesus Christ and for his gospel.
Persecution
Thus
says the Lord: This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the
king of Babylon and be taken.” Then the officials said to the king, “Let this
man be put to death, for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left
in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them.
For this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm.”
When people don’t want to hear the words of the Lord, and
they don’t want to be confronted with their sins or told they need to repent,
or when they don’t want to hear that God will judge them if they refuse his
words, or if they refuse to repent and obey him, they may take out their anger
and frustration on the messengers God sends. Many just want to hear happy-happy
messages that make them feel good, that are non-threatening, non-judgmental,
comfortable and that tickle their ears. This is the direction the institutional
church here in America has been heading for some time now. Marketing techniques
of humans for how to build “churches” has replaced Jesus’ plan for how to build
his church. Humanistic philosophy has replaced the word of God. True worship
has been replaced with feel-good fun and entertainment. And, the gospel of
Jesus Christ has been diluted to where it no longer requires the sinner to turn
from his sin or to obey Christ’s commandments, even though the word of God says
we must if we want to have eternal life.
So, if we are preaching the true gospel, and especially if
we are warning of impending judgment, we should expect to be persecuted,
rejected, despised and ostracized. And, we may even be killed for our
testimonies for Jesus Christ and for his gospel. Yet, we are to be encouraged,
because Jesus will never leave us or forsake us, and he will honor us even when
no man does, and one day he will take us home to be with him, and there we will
receive our eternal rewards for being his faithful servants.
I Will Fulfill My
Words
Thus
says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will fulfill my words
against this city for harm and not for good, and they shall be accomplished
before you on that day.
When God makes a promise, he keeps it. It may be years
before his words are fulfilled which were spoken through his prophets, yet they
will come to pass, because God does not lie. He does not promise and then not
fulfill. He told us via his prophets that a day was coming in which a global
empire (the beast), symbolized here by the Babylonian kingdom, would take over
the world and would rule for a short period of time. This beast kingdom has
been forming for some time now, and has been in the workings for probably
hundreds of years. Our government of the United States of America has been
leading the way in this rise of this New World Order (the beast). For years they
have been in the process of conquering the kingdoms of the world through
intrigue, deception, false flag operations, man-made natural disasters, creating
chaos in order to bring order; through war, and false messages, etc. Via TV
they can deceive many to believe their lies, for it is such a powerful tool for
deception and manipulation. So, even though they give an image that they are
the “Saviors” of the world, truly the “grace” they purport to offer these
hurting nations is a “Sinister Grace,”
for it is riddled with evil intent, is threatening, and it intends harm.
Yet, God is using and will use their evil deeds as a means
of his grace to the world in opening blinded eyes and turning them from
darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God so that they might receive
forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are being sanctified and made
holy by our Lord Jesus (See Ac. 26:16-18; Is. 61). He is giving and will give the
power to the beast to rule and to conquer the saints of God for a time (See
Rev. 13), i.e. this rule is limited and it will be short, but God will accomplish
his purposes in reviving his church, in preparing his bride for his return, and
in advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world so that many, many
will flock to Jesus Christ and to his salvation (See Isaiah 2). I believe this
is what the prophets spoke about with regard to these last days, and although I
don’t know exactly where we are on that timeline, I do know that this beast is
forming, that it is conquering nations, and that our government has been instrumental
to its success. Yet, God will come against our government in judgment, and he
will use this beast to come against us, too. I believe that time is at hand.
Amazing Grace / John Newton
Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found
Was blind, but now I see.
'Twas Grace that taught my heart to
fear,
And Grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come.
'Tis Grace hath brought me safe thus
far
And Grace will lead me home.
When we've been there ten thousand
years
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we'd first begun.
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