The Prophet & His Times

Transcript

GR 441
04/25/1982
The Prophet and His Times
Jeremiah 1:1-3
Gil Rugh

The prophet Jeremiah is an interesting prophet to study because he is the most personal of all the writing prophets. You find out more about Jeremiah’s personal life than you do any of the other prophets. We have other prophetic books that are long in their context, like Isaiah and Ezekiel, but those men do not reveal as much about themselves as Jeremiah does. Jeremiah is very open. His life, in effect, is a ministry, a pattern or example, for the people.

He is very open about his feelings. When he does not feel he can go on in his ministry, he expresses it. When he is frustrated because of being rejected, he determines that he won’t preach the Word of God any more. It’s just wasn’t worth it. And then he just couldn’t stand it. It just bubbled out of him like a fire in his breast.

Jeremiah is on the scene in Israel during a great prophetic period. A number of other prophets prophesied in the same general time period as Jeremiah--Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Daniel, Ezekiel. These all shared with Jeremiah the same general time period in their ministries.

That tells us something about Israel’s spiritual condition. The presence of a prophet in Israel is always an indication of spiritual decay and decline. We think of the glory and power associated with a prophet’s ministry. But the outstanding thing in a prophet’s ministry is usually negative. It’s a message of judgment. The prophets come with a message of rebuke and judgment. When you stop and consider how much of the Old Testament is a record of the message of prophets, you see how much of the message God communicated to His people was one of rebuke and judgment.
If you are called to preach a message of rebuke and judgment to a people who are in spiritual rebellion against God, you can expect that your ministry will not be characterized by popularity. The same is true of the prophet’s ministry. The prophets were not popular with the nation Israel. On many occasions the people were drawn to their message and impressed with its power, but consistently they rejected the prophets’ messages. Jeremiah is an outstanding example. He is a prophet of suffering, one who was rejected by the people.

You may remember in Acts 7:52 when Stephen was being stoned, he asked the question, “Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?” In this question, Stephen testified against Israel concerning their continual, persistent rebellion against the Holy Spirit. His statement showed that the Jews continually persecuted the prophets that God sent.

The first three verses of Jeremiah are a background for the book. They tell us who the prophet is, where he got his message and when he prophesied. Keep in mind as you read through Jeremiah that the prophecies are not arranged in chronological sequence. It is difficult to determine their order.

Who was Jeremiah? He’s brought to our attention in the first verse. “The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin.” Incidentally, Jeremiah is also the author of the short book that follows Jeremiah called the Lamentations of Jeremiah. It’s called Lamentations because it expresses his sorrow and agony over the destruction of Jerusalem as a result of the Babylonian invasion and captivity.

Jeremiah is “the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth.” Anathoth is a little town in close proximity to Jerusalem, about three miles northeast of the capitol city. Jeremiah is of a priestly family, but there is no attention given to his priestly character in his book which is devoted in its entirety to his prophetic ministry. Even though he is of a priestly family, it is significant to note that his family opposed him and rejected his message. In Jeremiah 12:5,6 God said to him, “If you have run with footmen and they have tired you out, then how can you compete with horses? If you fall down in a land of peace, how will you do in the thicket of the Jordan? For even your brothers and the household of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you, even they have cried aloud after you. Do not believe them, although they may say nice things to you.” So even the priestly family of Jeremiah rejected and opposed him and increased the difficulty under which he labored.

The next verse is key for Jeremiah, as it is to all the prophets. Jeremiah is the one “to whom the word of the Lord came” (Jeremiah 1:2). That’s crucial. The claim of Jeremiah is that he has a message from God. That means that those who reject the message of Jeremiah are not merely rejecting Jeremiah, but they are rejecting God and His message. Jeremiah is the one to whom the word of the Lord came. So it’s not Jeremiah’s message, but it’s God’s message through Jeremiah.

Earlier when we considered why we ought to study the Old Testament, we found that “no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Peter 1:21). Jeremiah is claiming that he is a man moved by the Holy Spirit and speaking with a message from God. This awareness will sustain Jeremiah and keep him going during the difficult and troublesome times of his ministry.

I am amazed that the prophets kept going. It’s relatively easy to preach week after week to people who are receptive and open to the Word of God. But it’s very difficult for me to identify with a man who was called to preach repeatedly for an extended period of years to people who were totally opposed to everything he said. These people claimed to be the people of God, worshipping Him, but they continually and consistently rejected and opposed everything that Jeremiah had to say. It was Jeremiah’s awareness that he was speaking God’s message that sustained him and kept him going.

As a result of his preaching, there were those who were planning his murder. “And the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. And when Jeremiah finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, ‘You must die!’” (Jeremiah 26:7,8). The only thing that Jeremiah has done is to speak everything that God has told him to speak. Yet, the response of the priests, prophets and all the people is, “You must die!” In verse 11, “A death sentence for this man!”

“Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and to all the people, saying, ‘The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard’” (v. 12). He goes on to encourage them to repent and reminds them that his blood will be upon their hands. But note, it’s the Lord who sent him to prophesy. The burning conviction that he had a message from God sustained him when all the religious leaders, all the prophets, and all the people stood against him.

We call Jeremiah the weeping prophet, and that he is. In this book we see him weeping, but we do not find Jeremiah weeping in his public ministry. We find him fearlessly proclaiming the word of the Lord. We often find him weeping as he is alone with the Lord. We find him in the Book of Lamentations as he weeps alone for the nation. But this is not the picture of a weak man. He is fearless in his public ministry as he confronts the people.

Note Jeremiah’s response as he expresses how the people have responded: “O Lord, Thou has deceived me and I was deceived; Thou hast overcome me and prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me. For each time I speak, I cry aloud; I proclaim violence and destruction, because for me the word of the Lord has resulted in reproach and derision all day long” (20:7,8). It’s important for us to learn from the ministry of the prophets. The fact that God has called us to proclaim His Word does not mean that will make us popular. If you’ve been a believer very long, you have experienced that. Sometimes you’ve shared the truth of the Word of God with friends and family, and they have rejected it and thus rejected you. Sometimes you go away feeling overwhelmed and say, “What is wrong? I tried to be faithful. I tried to tell them Your Word and this has been the result.” We need to back up, look at the Word of God and ask ourselves what we expected. We sometimes think erroneously that if we share the Word of God accurately and faithfully, that will result in popularity. Jeremiah said, “I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me”
(v. 7). The Word of God shared with people in a state of rebellion against God is not appreciated and is not acceptable.

But note verse 9. “But if I say, ‘I will not remember Him or speak any more in His name,’ then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones; and I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot endure it.” Jeremiah said, “I’ve made up my mind. I’ll just keep my mouth shut. That’s it! It doesn’t pay to tell this people the Word of God. But it’s just like somebody started a bonfire in my bones, and I just heat up and I have to speak. I have to tell them.”

That’s the supernatural character of the Word of God. You realize that when you share this message, it may result in rejection, making you a laughingstock, but you can’t contain it. It’s supernatural. You know that you have the tell them. And that which sustains you through those times is the awareness and the confidence that what you have is the Word of God. It’s crucial to remember that it is God’s Word, and it does not matter how people respond or what people think. It does not matter how people talk about you. All that matters is that you have a message from God to share with them, and that’s what you must do.

“To whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign” (1:2). Jeremiah began his prophetic ministry in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah, in 627 BC Evidently he began as a young man, because his ministry stretches over more than 40 years. That’s a long time to peach to people who wouldn’t listen.

I’ve been in Lincoln almost thirteen years (at this writing). If everybody had rejected my message for the first thirteen years and I had 27 more years to go, how would I feel? If I had been a laughingstock in the whole city, with constant derision, rejection and persecution, would I be able to say, “Oh well, I only have 27 more years to go. I can hardly wait to preach tomorrow”? That’s a long time to keep preaching and be totally rejected.

“It came also in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah” (v. 3). The eleventh year of Zedekiah is a crucial year, 586 BC Mark those two dates in your Bible and you have the general confines of Jeremiah’s ministry.

In 586 BC, the Southern Kingdom, Judah and Benjamin, was carried into captivity by the Babylonians. Zedekiah was the last king to rule over the Southern Kingdom, also known as Judah, and he was carried away into captivity. So from the beginning of Jeremiah’s ministry to the carrying away of the Southern Kingdom was a period of about 40 years. And Jeremiah’s ministry wasn’t over yet. We don’t know how much longer he ministered, but after the captivity in 586, Jeremiah was left in the land. After being there for a short time, there was a rebellion in the land and Jeremiah was carried captive into Egypt by his own people. And he’s still telling them that disaster is coming. You’d think they would have learned. After hearing Jeremiah prophesy for 40 years and seeing everything happen as he said it would, they asked Jeremiah to tell them what the Word of the Lord was and they would surely obey it. So Jeremiah sat down and told them what God said, and they did exactly the opposite! The last we see of poor Jeremiah, he’s being carried away into Egypt against his will by his own people.

Let’s overview the events leading up to Jeremiah’s time and look at the character of each of the kings of the last years of Judah’s history. The Jews’ history goes back to Abraham at about 2000 BC God called Abraham and promised that his descendants would be a people and a nation of God’s own choosing. So the nation of Israel began with Abraham about 2000 BC

After the Israelites settled in this land God had promised them, they were ruled by judges as described in the Book of Judges--various individuals raised up by God to be judges of the people. The monarchy in Israel began with Saul who became Israel’s first king about 1050 BC He ruled from 1050 to 1010 BC, a period of 40 years. He was followed by David who ruled from 1010 to 970 BC, another period of 40 years. Then Solomon, the son of David, ruled from 970 to 931 BC, almost 40 years. These three men--Saul, David and Solomon--were the only kings to rule over a united Israel.

At the death of Solomon in 931 BC, Israel split into two kingdoms, Judah being under Solomon’s son Rehoboam. The ten northern tribes are usually called Israel because the bulk of the tribes are there. The two southern tribes are usually referred to as the Southern Kingdom, or Judah. The two tribes are Judah and Benjamin, but Benjamin is a very small tribe. So Judah is the large dominant element in the Southern Kingdom.

There is a succession of kings over the Northern Kingdom from 931 BC to 722 BC It’s easy to remember the character of these kings. From 931 BC to 722 BC when the Assyrians took the Northern Kingdom into captivity, there was never a godly king over the Northern Kingdom.

Over the southern tribes there were some outstanding kings along with some real rascals and bums! You can see something of these kings’ character by reading about them in the books of the kings: 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles.

The Northern Kingdom continued until it was conquered in 722 BC by the Assyrians. The nation was carried away into captivity and, for all intents and purposes, that was the end of the Northern Kingdom.

The Southern Kingdom continued until 586 BC, which date we saw as the eleventh year of King Zedekiah (Jeremiah1:3). The Southern Kingdom had the advantage of seeing God’s judgment brought upon the ten northern tribes. They saw how severely He dealt with Israel, but they failed to learn their lesson. They did not heed that message even though they had the advantage of seeing God’s hand of judgment.

The Northern Kingdom of Israel was spiritually unfaithful. “Then the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king, ‘Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a harlot there’” (Jeremiah 3:6). This is referring to spiritual idolatry as God viewed it. They were going up to the false places of worship, and God says they were playing the harlot. Verse 7 continues, “And I thought, ‘After she has done all these things, she will return to Me;’ but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.’” The Southern Kingdom of Judah, called her sister, is watching. “And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also. And it came about because of the lightness of harlotry, that she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. And yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in deception,’ declares the Lord” (vv. 8-10). Judah beheld the unfaithfulness of Israel, the Northern Kingdom. They saw God’s hand of judgment upon them. You would have expected Judah to have learned a lesson, but Judah didn’t. Judah went out and did the same thing Israel had done.

The Northern Kingdom went into captivity in 722 BC So as Jeremiah began his ministry in 627 BC, the Northern Kingdom had been in captivity for about 100 years.

Jeremiah’s ministry began in the reign of Judah’s last great godly king, Josiah. He began to reign when he was a young man and reigned faithfully over Israel. He’s a man, interestingly, whose coming had been prophesied 300 years earlier. First Kings 13 takes us to the beginning of the Northern Kingdom. Jeroboam was king. God sent a prophet from Judah, the Southern Kingdom, to Bethel, which was the center of idolatrous worship in the Northern Kingdom. “Now behold, there came a man of God from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord, while Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. And he cried against the altar by the word of the Lord, and said, ‘O altar, altar, thus says the Lord, “Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you”’” (1 Kings 13:1-3). So 300 years before Jeremiah and 300 years before Josiah comes on the scene, a prophet prophesied Josiah’s coming by name and said exactly what he was going to do.

In 2 Kings 23, the 300 years have gone by, and Josiah is king. “Furthermore, the altar that was at Bethel and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down. Then he demolished its stones, ground them to dust and burned the Asherah” (2 Kings 23:15). Then he took the bodies from the graves (v. 16) and commanded them to be burned on the altar, desecrating that idolatrous place of worship. So you see, 300 years later, Josiah fulfilled the Word of God.

There are at least two interesting facts here. One, for 300 years that center of pagan worship remained in existence in the midst of a people who claimed to be called by the name of God. Second, God always keeps His Word exactly to the last detail! Three hundred years had gone by. That prophet was dead and buried--his grave is referred to in 2 Kings 23. But God hadn’t forgotten. Exactly as He had commanded, so it was done.

Things had gotten so bad by the time Josiah came to the throne in the Southern Kingdom that they had lost all the copies of the Law. Can you imagine that? The Jews had become so corrupted and things had become so bad that they did not even have a copy of the Law in order to know what God had said.

Josiah had a grandfather named Manasseh who was the worst of the worst. He ruled over Judah, the Southern Kingdom, for about 55 years. During these 55 years, he attempted to eradicate all the knowledge of Jehovah. He was a man who was saved in his later years, but the damage had already been done. So perhaps during his reign the copies of the Law had been destroyed.

While Josiah was renovating the temple, they discovered a copy of the Law. Josiah read it and realized that Judah was in trouble because they had not been doing the Word of God. So Josiah attempted to start a reform. You can read about the discovery of the law, the revival under Josiah and the people who followed Josiah’s lead in 2 Kings 22. That was a general revival in Israel, but it was an external revival. It did not change the hearts of the people. It lasted only as long as Josiah lived. As soon as he died, the people reverted to their pagan ways and their rebellion against God.

Even though Josiah was a godly king, he could not forestall the judgment that God had promised and prophesied. “Moreover, Josiah removed the mediums and the spiritists and the teraphim and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. And before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him. However, the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which His anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him” (2 Kings 23:24-26).

You ought to note 2 Chronicles 35:25 where we’re told that Jeremiah lamented the death of Josiah. This is a significant time for Jeremiah because the opening days of his ministry would have been carried out under the rule of a man who feared and obeyed God. From there on, it’s downhill with rebellion against God.

There is a movement afoot in our land today calling America back to God, which I certainly think would be great. But we need to realize that reforms pressed upon people do not change people. In spite of all of Josiah’s godly zeal, the nation Israel is unaffected and unchanged because they have not come to believe in Him as their God and Savior nor have they turned in heart to worship God. So all the reforms are simply external and produce no lasting significant benefits.

There are so many things we’d like to change today, pressuring people to make changes. But America will not return to God by simply changing laws, although I’d rather live where the laws conform to the Word of God. The preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ is all that changes lives. And until you’ve changed a person from within, you haven’t changed him.

I think it is a tragedy of overwhelming proportions that so many believers today are caught up merely in moral reforms, calling America back to God by trying to reestablish its Judeo-Christian ethic. I think that is an exercise in futility. There is no reason for ungodly people to found their lives upon the Word of God. And they do not over the long term. There is one thing that we can do to bring about lasting change, and that is to preach the life-changing message of the death and resurrection of the Son of God. When people are made new creations within, that will result in a change in the way they live their lives; and any other change is very temporal. While it is being enforced, it is simply stirring animosity and antagonism toward the gospel, because people are being forced to conform to a standard that they do not believe and do not adhere to. In Josiah’s reformation, the people are not changed inwardly. God’s attitude toward the people is unchanged, and judgment still comes.

In 2 Kings 23, Josiah was killed in a battle with Pharaoh Neco of Egypt. Josiah died and was succeeded by his son. “Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem” (2 Kings 23:31). So he was not really too significant. He only reigned three months, but that was long enough for Jeremiah to say, “And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done” (v. 32). How would you like to reign for three months and have the demonstration of your ungodly character recorded in the eternal Word of God? Three months was plenty of time to find out what kind of bird Jehoahaz was! He was the son of godly Josiah, but Jehoahaz was a godless man.

After reigning for those three months, Pharaoh Neco came back through Palestine and deposed Jehoahaz. This pharaoh had already killed Jehoahaz’ father in battle. So he took Jehoahaz captive to Egypt. “And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim” (v. 34). He was another son of Josiah. Evidently Pharaoh Neco thought Eliakim would be more loyal to the Egyptians, so he changed his name to Jehoiakim and made him the king. “Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when be became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem . . . . And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done” (vv. 36,37). All the godless kings before him were a pattern for his life. So here’s another of Josiah’s sons who was a godless man, and he reigned for eleven years. He was a significant person during Jeremiah’s ministry. He had a very antagonistic attitude toward the Word of God.

In Jeremiah 36, we find King Jehoiakim sitting at his winter residence. “Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it to the king as well as to all the officials who stood beside the king. Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning in the brazier before him. And it came about, when Jehudi had read three or four columns, the king cut it with a scribe’s knife and threw it into the fire
. . . Yet the king and all his servants who heard all these words were not afraid, nor did they rend their garments” (vv. 21-24). And in verse 26, the king sends someone to take Jeremiah prisoner, but God protected Jeremiah.

Jehoiakim’s attitude toward the Word of God was clear. As it was read to him, he just took a knife and sliced the scroll and threw it into the fire. He let them read some more to him, and then he cut it and threw it into the fire until it was all consumed. Isn’t this amazing? Many of you who have never heard of Jehoiakim know about the prophecy of Jeremiah, and one of the ways you know about Jehoiakim is that we read about him in the Book of Jeremiah. Jehoiakim wasn’t too successful in getting rid of the Word of God. Even though he sat there in full confidence and cockiness and burned the scroll to ashes, we are here 2000 years after Christ studying the prophecy of Jeremiah. Why? God simply tells Jeremiah to get out the pen, and here we go! Jeremiah might have thought, Oh my, Jehoiakim doesn’t like what I’ve said. Well, there goes that prophetic message. No! Do you think God’s Word to Jeremiah changes? Not a bit!

In Jeremiah 36:29-32, God has the last word about Jehoiakim. “ ‘And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah, you shall say, “Thus says the Lord: ‘You have burned this scroll, saying, “Why have you written on it that the king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall make man and beast to cease from it?”’ Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: ‘He shall have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. I shall also punish him and his descendants and his servants for their iniquity, and I shall bring on them and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah all the calamity that I have declared to them--but they did not listen.’”’ Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the son of Neraiah, the scribe, and he wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire; and many similar words were added to them.” These were the things that God said were going to happen to Jehoiakim. And he died a godless death.

In Jeremiah 26, we have recorded the ministry of a prophet named Uriah. In verse 20 we read, “Indeed there was also a man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Uriah the son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim.” He prophesied similar to the words of Jeremiah, and then he fled to Egypt. Jehoiakim sent to Egypt and “they brought Uriah from Egypt and led him to King Jehoiakim, who slew him with a sword, and cast his dead body into the burial place of the common people” (Jeremiah 26:23). Jehoiakim is adamant in his rejection of the Word of God and anyone who speaks the Word of God. But note Jeremiah 22:18,19: “Therefore thus says the Lord in regard to Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, ‘They will not lament for him: “Alas, my brother!” or, “Alas, sister!” They will not lament for him: “Alas, for the master!” or, “Alas, for his splendor!” He will be buried with a donkey’s burial, dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.’”

Here you see who’s going to have the last word in the matter regarding Jehoiakim. He’s not going to be buried as a royal king, he’s going to be buried as a jackass. Just drag him out of the city. This is a sign of disrespect to this man. Now remember, Jeremiah has to prophesy and preach under his rule. It’s easy for us to read the prophecy of Jeremiah and say, “Oh yeah, God’s going to overwhelm, God’s going to conquer,” but keep in mind that Jeremiah had to do the preaching while he saw Uriah get executed! He saw Jehoiakim continue his godless activity over a period of eleven years. And it seemed God was doing nothing, but in God’s time it all worked out. We ought to remember this when it seems God is taking such a long time to intervene on our behalf. “It’s been a long time, God,” we cry. “Why don’t You do something?” In His time, He does what’s right.

In 2 Kings 24, we have the successor to Jehoiakim who is Jehoiachin. “Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem . . . . And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done” (2 Kings 24:8,9). So he reigned three months, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.
Jehoiachin was carried off captive by the king of Babylon and was replaced with Zedekiah, Judah’s last king. “Then the king of Babylon made his uncle Mattaniah, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah. Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem . . . . And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done” (2 Kings 24:17-19). We had Josiah a godly king followed by three godless kings, all three in a state of rebellion against God.

One other thing I want to note is the biblical reason for the Babylonian captivity. This should give us a broad view of the time frame in which Jeremiah is operating and the reasons why he is ministering.

Why a seventy-year captivity? Why not a sixty-two year captivity? Why not a one-hundred-four-year captivity? We see why in Leviticus 25. “The Lord then spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, “When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and the six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop, but during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to the Lord; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard”’” (Leviticus 25:1-4). He is saying that every seventh year was to be a sabbath on the land. The Israelites were not to plant and not to harvest that year. That was a land sabbath to the Lord.

There is more detail in Leviticus 26:27-39. Verses 34 and 35 continue, “Then the land will enjoy its sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it will observe the rest which it did not observe on your sabbaths, while you were living on it.” God is saying that if they don’t observe every seventh year and set it aside to Him, He’ll take them all at once. He’ll take the people out of the land, and that way the land will enjoy all its sabbaths until God gets what He is owed.

Looking back in Israel’s history, for 490 years previous to Jeremiah’s time, Israel did not keep its seventh-year sabbaths. If you divide 490 years by seven, you find that there were seventy sabbath years in those 490 years that Israel did not set aside as belonging to God by not planting or harvesting the land. So in the seventy-year Babylonian captivity, God is taking His seventy sabbaths all at once. It was a lot harder on Israel to have to pay all seventy sabbath years at once, because they had to be carted off into captivity in another land. God concluded that the only way they would do what He said was to take them away from the land he had given them so they couldn’t plant and harvest it. We see this in Jeremiah 25:11 and 29:10 where God says He’s taking the sabbaths. We also read in 2 Chronicles 36, that Israel was removed from the land until all the sabbaths had been paid.

The time of Jeremiah’s life and ministry was a time of spiritual decadence and decay. It was also a time of great encouragement because in the midst of this spiritual decadence and decay, the Word of God came in power. It was a time when we see the fulfillment of what God had promised centuries before, and we see the Word of God always stands true. God always is true to His Word.

As believers in Jesus Christ ought to take heart and be encouraged in this, to recognize that we have a Word from God that is unchangeable. And just as everything in the past has happened as God said, so everything regarding the future will happen exactly as He says.

It sometimes seems to take a long time for God to intervene. We wonder how God can put up with the wickedness and sinfulness of mankind day after day, month after month, year after year. But He promises that in time He will intervene with judgment. He promises a time when the wicked will be called to account for their sin and punished for eternity in hell. He promises eternal salvation to all who believe in His Son, Jesus Christ. We’re in the same position as those in the days of Jeremiah. We have the Word of God. We have but to take God at His Word and believe what He has said.

Do you believe God? Do you believe His Word? Have you come to believe what He has said about His Son, Jesus Christ? About salvation? About forgiveness? About cleansing from sin? Everything He says is true concerning salvation, and also concerning judgment. Believe in His Son and you can escape God’s judgment on your sins.