Jeremiah 12:1
The Bible says in Jeremiah 12:1-2, Righteous
art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy
judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they
happy that deal very treacherously? Thou hast planted them, yea, they have
taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their
mouth, and far from their reins. Jeremiah asked a question that
many people have asked: Wherefore doth the
way of the wicked prosper? If you measure
only a few years or shorter, then you will conclude that the wicked prosper.
But if you measure a greater amount of time than just a few years, you will see
that in reality the wicked do not prosper. A good illustration of that would be
Adolf Hitler. At the height of his power in
Young people often make a similar
mistake when evaluating which patterns of behavior to emulate. They see the
ones who are having fun and they decide to join that crowd, not considering
where the fun will end up. If the fun involves sin, then it will end in
unhappiness, and that will not be fun at all. Wherefore doth the way of the
wicked prosper? Their way does not prosper at all. Their way leads to sorrow,
and destruction, and judgment.
The Bible says in Jeremiah 12:3-5, But thou, O
LORD, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart toward thee: pull
them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of
slaughter. How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither,
for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? the beasts are consumed, and the
birds; because they said, He shall not see our last end. If thou hast run with
the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses?
and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then
how wilt thou do in the swelling of
The Bible says in Jeremiah 12:6, For even thy
brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with
thee; yea, they have called a multitude after thee: believe them not, though
they speak fair words unto thee. This verse describes one of the
sufferings that Jeremiah had to endure as a faithful servant of the Lord in the
day in which he lived. He suffered treachery from those who were his brethren. The word brethren can refer to either
your direct family members or to your spiritual family, i.e. other believers.
Jesus told us that we would have persecutions that would come from our family
members. Jesus said in Matthew 10:34-38, Think
not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a
sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the
daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or
mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and
followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
There is a false teaching that at different times has been spread around in
Christian circles that if you serve the Lord faithfully in your home, then the
rest of your family members including your own children will turn to the Lord
and serve Him too. Nothing could be further from the truth, and this is not
what Jesus taught. Jesus taught the exact opposite of such a thing.
Those who are the closest to you are
the ones who can hurt you the most. Everyone who is saved through faith in
Christ is part of the family of God. One would think that believers would love
each other and support each other even more than their own family members.
Jesus told us to love each other. Jesus said in John 13:34-35, A new
commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you,
that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my
disciples, if ye have love one to another. And Jesus also said in John
15:12-18, This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved
you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I
call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I
have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have
made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained
you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should
remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it
you. These things I command you, that ye love one another. If the world hate
you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. We just
naturally expect that other Christians are going to support us, help us, and
pray for us. But even many Christians have fallen so far away from the
teachings of Christ, that many who claim to be born-again will not support you
and will not help you in your service to God. As a matter of fact, the more
that you try to serve the Lord Jesus, the more that you will find some
Christians who will oppose you, criticize you, and yes, persecute you. We live
in the last days. Many Christians are weak and unspiritual, and the devil will
attack the weakest links, and will then use them to attack you. These things
will happen. You will need a tough skin and a tender heart.
In Jeremiah 12:7-9 we are given a
description of what Jeremiah experienced when persecutions and sorrows came
from his own family members. It says, I have forsaken mine house, I have
left mine heritage: I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of
her enemies. Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest; it crieth out
against me: therefore have I hated it. Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled
bird, the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts
of the field, come to devour. Notice that Jeremiah eventually came to the
point where He said in verse 8 that he hated his heritage. The people that
you are going to be with in heaven are other believers, and not your human
family members necessarily. It might happen to you that your human family
members are so wicked and they cause you so much suffering because of what they
do against you that you will have to let them go. The goal of life is to have a
greater love for Gods people. Never forget that. Your earthly family is of the
flesh. Your heavenly family is of the Spirit. The flesh and the Spirit are
always contrary the one to the other.
But as we have already stated, you
might also suffer greatly from Gods people, or those who claim to be Gods
people. Notice what it says about pastors in Jeremiah 12:10-11, Many pastors
have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have
made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. They have made it desolate, and
being desolate it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no
man layeth it to heart. Not only will other Christians persecute you, or at least
those who claim to be Christians, but often the persecutions will come from
those believers that you would least expect to have such spiritual problems:
the pastors. Jeremiah said that many pastors destroyed his vineyard. As a
matter of fact, one of the reasons that there are so many problems with
modern-day Christianity has to do with the Christian leadership. If the leaders
of the sheep have gone wrong, will they lead the sheep to green pastures? Will
the sheep become safer and stronger by following their leadership? Mark it
down: if you are a true follower of Jesus in these last days, some of your
greatest persecutions will come from those who are pastors or who have other
positions of Christian leadership. They will use you, they will harm you, and
they will teach you error. What is said of people in general will also be true
of pastors in general, and it says in Second Timothy 3:1-7, This know also, that in the last days perilous times
shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters,
proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural
affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of
those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than
lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from
such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead
captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning,
and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. And Paul also wrote in Second Timothy 3:13, But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse,
deceiving, and being deceived. Not all
supposed Christian leaders fall into this category, but many do, and many more
will as the day of the Lord approaches. Be careful, and trust in the Lord, not
in man.
The Bible says in Jeremiah 12:12-13, The spoilers are come upon all high places through the
wilderness: for the sword of the LORD shall devour from the one end of
the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh shall have peace. They
have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they have put themselves to pain, but
shall not profit: and they shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the
fierce anger of the LORD. Notice the phrase in verse 12, the sword of the Lord. This phrase is used four
other times in the Old Testament. It is used in Judges 7:18 and 7:20 as the sword of the Lord and of Gideon, combining
Gods judgment with that of the servant of God. It says in Judges 7:20-23, And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the
pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their
right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of
Gideon. And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all
the host ran, and cried, and fled. And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and
the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the
host: and the host fled to Beth-shittah in Zererath, and to the border of
Abel-meholah, unto Tabbath. And the men of Israel gathered themselves together
out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after
the Midianites. The term the sword of the
Lord is used in First Chronicles 21:12 concerning the chastisement that
would come upon King David. And the term the sword
of the Lord is used in Isaiah 34:6 concerning the terrible affliction
that will come over the entire world in the Great Tribulation and at the battle
of Armageddon. Of course, a sword was the basic offensive armament of the
soldier of the Old Testament, and a sword brought the image of combat and
death.
The Apostle Paul also used the image of a Roman
soldier and equated that to the Christian life in the great description in
Ephesians 6:10-18. The only part of that description that was an offensive
weapon was the Roman sword. Notice carefully what the sword is for the New
Testament Christian. It says in Ephesians 6:17, the
sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God. All of the other
armament described in Ephesians chapter six are provided to protect you, or
strengthen you, or shelter you from the teachings of the world and from the
onslaughts of the wicked one that will come against you. But the one piece of
armament that you have to attack and to destroy the forces of evil is the Word
of God. Are you using it? Are you using your sword? The sword of the Lord and
of Gideon will bring the victory: no one and nothing else can do this work in
this world.
___________________________________________________
Copyright; 2012 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved