Jeremiah 23:25

The Bible says in Jeremiah 23:25-27, “I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.” These verses tell the origin of false religion: the vain imagination of man. One human being can dream a dream purely from his own imagination, and then tell everyone what he or she dreamed, and then claim that it is true just because. It is very strange that then millions and millions of other people just might believe that person. How ridiculous is that, and yet it happens. It has happened many times in the history of the human race.

There are two sources of religious teaching. One source is from God and one source is from man. One of the major characteristics of the world in which we live has to do with the difference in these two sources of religious teaching. There are teachings that are taught that come entirely from man. These teachings do not come from God, and of course, the teachings are not true. God said in Jeremiah 23:28, “The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.” Those that speak falsehood are speaking about their own dreams and imaginations. Jesus said in John 17:17, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” Those that speak the truth are the ones speaking God’s Word. One of the values of having a written Word is that we can always take that written Word and compare anything that anyone says to the Word.

Notice the comparison that the Lord gives in Jeremiah 23:28 of the teachings from man’s dreams compared to the teachings from God’s Word. “What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.” Of course, the chaff is blown away with the wind and is of no value. The wheat is of great value and remains after the chaff is long gone.

God describes the power of His Word in Jeremiah 23:29. God says, “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?” In this verse God compares His Word to fire and to a hammer. The purpose for using these two symbols is to tell us that the Word of God will win in this contest of false teachings against the truth. One of the strongest forces in the world is truth. Nothing can stand before a consuming fire. The hardest rock can be broken into pieces by a strong hammer. On this earth there may be nothing harder than a hardened heart, and yet God’s Word can touch that heart and turn it into soft clay to be molded by Him. O how powerful is the Word of God. There is a memorable passage in the New Testament that compares the Word of God to a sword. It says in Ephesians 6:17, “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

In the verses that we just read the Word of God is compared to fire, a hammer, and a sword. Do you want to be powerful? Do you want to be able to stand against all the forces of evil, and to come away victorious? Then take the power of Almighty God and His Christ that have been made available to you. Read the Word of God, study the Word of God, learn the Word of God, memorize the Word of God, remember the Word of God, meditate upon the Word of God, teach the Word of God, speak forth the Word of God and you will have a fire; you will have a hammer, and you will have a sword. You will have a fire that will burn up the chaff of falsehood. You will have a hammer that will break the hardest of rocks that have become even harder over time in their opposition to God. And you will have a sword that will pierce into the innermost being of anyone. It will slay falsehood just as surely as the sword of the Lord and of Gideon did slay the Midianites on the field of battle.

The Bible says in Jeremiah 23:30-32, “Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.” These verses tell the effects of false teachings on the people who listen to the false teachings. The Lord said in verse 32 that the false teachings “shall not profit this people at all.” And the Lord also said in verse 32 that the false teachings “cause my people to err by their lies.” Religious teachings are very important. Listen to and respond to the right teachings, and both your soul and your life will be better off for it. But listen to and accept the wrong teachings and the results will be terrible and ultimately destructive for you.

It is interesting to notice that God said in Jeremiah 23:30 that the false prophets “steal my words every one from his neighbour.” God thinks of false prophets as thieves. What do they steal? They steal “words.” Falsehood and truth cannot exist side by side. The one will drive out the other. Whoever teaches falsehood drives out the true words and in effect replaces truth with falsehood. That false teacher is a thief. He has stolen the truth.

The Bible says in Jeremiah 23:33-40, “And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD. And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man and his house. Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken? And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man's word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God. Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken? But since ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus saith the LORD; Because ye say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the LORD; Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence: And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.” The key phrase in these verses is “the burden of the LORD.” A burden is something that is heavy and that weighs you down. It symbolizes being deeply concerned about something. The truth is that there are certain things that God is deeply concerned about. Jesus spoke about God’s burden when He said in Luke 19:10, “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” God’s burden is to save lost souls. No wonder that the Bible says that His ways are not our ways. Sometimes we have too much care and concern for the wrong things. The Bible tells us what Jesus said to Martha in Luke 10:41-42. It says, “And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Martha was a busy housekeeper, while Mary waited at the feet of Jesus. There is nothing wrong with being busy, but make sure that your business is dedicated to the Lord and is done hand-in-hand with your fellowship with Jesus.

In Jeremiah chapter 23 we notice that even though the people claimed that they wanted to know the burden of the Lord, it was not revealed to them. It was not revealed to them because they were not sincere, and because they had no intention of turning from their evil ways. You always want to read the Word of God with the following attitude: “What do I need to change in my life so that I can be more in sync with the spiritual principle that I just read?” If you read the Word of God and never make any changes to your life, you are no different than these Israelites. God said to them in Jeremiah 23:39-40, “Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence: And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.” Thank God that we live under the principle of grace instead of under the law like they did. We will never be forsaken in this way once we are saved by faith in Jesus, but the same spiritual principle of true in that the Lord is not pleased with our actions unless we are totally and completely dedicated to Him. Jesus said to the believers in the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2:4-5, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”

The Bible says in Jeremiah 24:1-6, “The LORD shewed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.” There is a wonderful spiritual truth to notice about the symbolism of the two baskets of figs. Notice the emphasis that is made. One of the baskets had “very good figs.” These were not just good figs, but very good figs. These figs are symbolic of all believers from God’s standpoint. The reason that God views us as being so good is because every believer had been credited with the righteousness of Christ. We do not have our own righteousness. Jesus is our righteousness. As it says in Romans 4:3, “For what saith the scriptures? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” On the other hand, those who do not believe do not have the righteousness of Christ. Therefore, the unbelievers have no righteousness at all. That is why unbelievers are symbolized by the bad figs. God said about the bad figs that they are “evil, very evil.” No wonder it says in Revelation 20:15, “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” The lesson to the first six verses of Jeremiah chapter 25: make sure you are in the right basket. You do that by bowing at the feet of Jesus and accepting Him as your Lord and Savior.

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