By: Dale Weckbacher
Text: Jeremiah
14:13-22
Jeremiah 14:13
Then I said: “Ah,
Lord God, behold, the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the
sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this
place.’”
(ESV)
Fake news and lying politicians
seem to be part of the new normal in the information age. While it may seem like a new normal, Jeremiah
14:13-22 gives us insight into the existence of fake news and lying
prophets during the time of Jeremiah. This
is comforting for it lets us know that fake narratives and false promises are
nothing new and that there is biblical guidance on how to handle them. Jeremiah
14:13-22 provides this guidance by showing us the importance of,
1) Calling
out the lying prophets (Jeremiah
14:13-16) – Jeremiah is a true prophet who only tells the people what the
Lord directs him to say. This places him
at odds with what the people want to hear and why the Jews were plotting
against him (Jeremiah
12:6). Other prophets avoid
confrontation with the people by telling them what they want to hear as opposed
to what the Lord wants them to hear (Jeremiah
14:13). The Lord reminds Jeremiah that
these prophets are not true prophets for God did not send them (Jeremiah
14:14) and reminds him that they will suffer from sword and famine as well
even though they are telling the people it will not occur (Jeremiah
14:15). The people listening to
these lying prophets will, unfortunately, discover the truth when sword and
famine come to the land (Jeremiah
14:16).
2) A
word from the Lord to the lying prophets (Jeremiah
14:17-18) – As a true prophet, Jeremiah waits for a word from the Lord
before speaking to the people.
Typically, God would give Jeremiah a word of rebuke to the people urging
them to repent (Jeremiah
5:3) but this time the Lord instructs Jeremiah to share his heart and how
he grieves at the people’s rejection of God (Jeremiah
14:17-18). Jeremiah has a heart of
love towards God and his people with him continuing to weep and grieve for
their sin. While it would have been nice
if the people would have listened and repented of their sin, this repentance
will only come after exile from the land.
3) Jeremiah’s
lament (Jeremiah
14:19-22) – With the Lord not urging Jeremiah to tell the people to repent
but to instead let them know his heart that grieves for the sin of the people,
Jeremiah now must come to grips with the fact that the Lord has abandoned Judah
and loathes Zion due to their worship of other gods (Jeremiah
14:19). Jeremiah then repents of the
sin of the people and then pleads with the Lord not to spurn Judah, bringing
dishonor to His name (Jeremiah
14:20-21). Jeremiah then asks a
rhetorical question asking which one of the false gods can bring rain,
acknowledging that only God can do that and why his hope is in God (Jeremiah
14:22).
Jeremiah is a true prophet from
God, speaking what God has told him to say to the people about the consequences
of their disobedience to God. Other
prophets contradict what Jeremiah says and Jeremiah brings this to the Lord’s
attention (Jeremiah
14:13). The Lord's response to
Jeremiah is calling these prophets lying prophets who will suffer the same fate
as the people. However, instead of
instructing Jeremiah to answer with a rebuke of the lying prophets and the judgment
the people will face, the Lord instructs Jeremiah to respond with his heartfelt
lament of what is about to occur to the people (Jeremiah
14:17-18). Jeremiah then asks the
Lord why he has rejected Judah, pleading for the Lord’s intervention (Jeremiah
14:19-21). Jeremiah ends his plea to
the Lord by acknowledging only He can end the famine destroying Judah and sets
his hope on the Lord (Jeremiah
14:22).
Chaotic times cause us to seek
teaching that tickles our ears and makes us feel good. This is why some may become offended and
leave the Church if they hear teaching from the pulpit that is the truth from
the Word of God that convicts instead of tickling the ears of the congregation
with a feel-good message. As Churches
come back from the lockdowns and restrictions of the pandemic, they can fall prey
to the temptation to abandon the truth that may convict for feel-good messages
that do not offend. Leaders in the
Church must not abandon speaking truth that may convict or offend for revival
that turns people back to God must have a basis in truth for it is the truth
that sets people free (John
8:32).
Those seeking a closer
relationship with God must seek teaching coming from a foundation of
truth. For believers in Jesus, this
foundation is the Bible, the Word of God, and why all believers must test teaching
using the standard of the Bible. For
those teaching, the challenge is not to fear teaching from the Bible that may
offend some or bring conviction by the Holy Spirit. For revival to come, we need more Jeremiah’s
in the pulpit and fewer lying prophets preaching a feel-good message lacking a
Biblical foundation. May God bless
everyone reading this post.
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