Jeremiah 42:7
The Bible says in Jeremiah 42:7-11, “And it came
to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah.[8]
Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces
which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,[9]
And said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent
me to present your supplication before him;[10] If ye will still abide
in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant
you, and not pluck you up: for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto
you.[11] Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be
not afraid of him, saith the LORD: for I am with you to save you, and to
deliver you from his hand.” When God told the remnant in verse 10 to abide “in this
land,” we know that there is a spiritual significance. The fact is that God has
a place where He wants each of us to be, and we need to be listening to the
Spirit’s call and guidance to be sure that we are where God wants us to be.
Jesus passed by the James and John who were fishermen, and Jesus said, “Follow
me.” They left their nets and followed Jesus, and Jesus led them to places
where they would never have gone as fishermen. Some people are really tied to a
particular place, but what if God wants you to go some place else?
In Jeremiah 42:11 the remnant were
told to not be afraid of the king of
The Bible says in Jeremiah 42:12-14, “And I will
shew mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return
to your own land.[13] But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land,
neither obey the voice of the LORD your God,[14] Saying, No; but we will
go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the
trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell:”
Notice one little word in verse 14 that people say who refuse to go God’s way.
It is the word “No.” Can it be that a human being would say “No” to God? Sadly,
it does happen. The Lord has given us a free will. And some people use their
free will to say “No” to God and to the salvation that only Jesus can give. The
worse decision that anyone will ever make will be to say “No” to Jesus Christ.
They will lose their home in heaven and live forever in a devil’s hell.
The Bible says in Jeremiah 42:15-18, “And now
therefore hear the word of the LORD, ye remnant of Judah; Thus saith the LORD
of hosts, the God of Israel; If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt,
and go to sojourn there;[16] Then it shall come to pass, that the sword,
which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine,
whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there
ye shall die.[17] So shall it be with all the men that set their faces
to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine,
and by the pestilence: and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil
that I will bring upon them.[18] For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the
God of Israel; As mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the
inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye
shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and
a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more.”
Going into
The Bible says in Jeremiah 42:19-22, “The LORD
hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah; Go ye not into Egypt: know
certainly that I have admonished you this day.[20] For ye dissembled in
your hearts, when ye sent me unto the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto
the LORD our God; and according unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so
declare unto us, and we will do it.[21] And now I have this day declared
it to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, nor any thing
for the which he hath sent me unto you.[22] Now therefore know certainly
that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the
place whither ye desire to go and to sojourn.” Notice the phrase in
verse 20 where Jeremiah said that these people “dissembled” in their hearts.
That means that they did not truly want to know God’s will. They had other
intentions all along. Do not say that you want God’s will if you do not really
want it. He knows your heart. Of course, if they did not want God’s will, then
it does not surprise us that it says in verse 21, “ye have not obeyed the voice of the LORD.” It is never good to be in such a situation, especially if
you are under the covenant of the law. This is the weakness of the law: man’s
failure. And of course, under the law punishment always resulted from sin and
failure to obey God. That is why it says in Galatians 3:13, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law,
being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth
on a tree.”
Jesus has also saved us who believe
from the penalty of the law, which is death. Because the Israelites failed at
keeping the law, notice that it says in Jeremiah 42:22, “therefore
know certainly that ye shall die.” Physical death symbolizes spiritual
death. If physical death is horrible, and it certainly is, then spiritual death
is even more horrible. There is a second death, the spiritual death that comes
after physical death. Pray that others may escape the second death. It says in
Revelation 20:11-14, “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from
whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for
them.[12] And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the
books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and
the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books,
according to their works.[13] And the sea gave up the dead which were in
it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were
judged every man according to their works.[14] And death and hell were
cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.”
The Bible says in Jeremiah 43:1-4, “And it came
to pass, that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people all
the words of the LORD their God, for which the LORD their God had sent him to
them, even all these words,[2] Then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah,
and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah,
Thou speakest falsely: the LORD our God hath not sent thee to say, Go not into
Egypt to sojourn there:[3] But Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on
against us, for to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might
put us to death, and carry us away captives into Babylon.[4] So Johanan
the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people,
obeyed not the voice of the LORD, to dwell in the land of Judah.”
In these verses we see the correct method of the preacher, but the wrong
response of the people. The method of the preacher was to speak “all the words of
the Lord.” This is not a minor point. God
speaks to us from His Word. His Word is truth. His Word is life and light. His
Word is our spiritual food. Jesus said in Luke 4:4, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of
God.” That is one of the values of expository
sermons that open up and present God’s Word verse by verse. Be very careful of
your own illustrations, explanations, and descriptions. It is easy to depart
from God’s Word and give you own words. And when you do that, you start giving
the wrong teaching or making the wrong emphasis. Paul wrote in Second Timothy
4:2, “Preach the Word.”
Unfortunately for the listeners, they
do not always respond correctly to the Word when it is preached. These
listeners “obeyed not the voice of the LORD.” We live in an age of freedom.
God has given freedom to all people. Every person is free to turn to the Lord
Jesus Christ or to reject Jesus. God gives that freedom, and so do we. Some
might ask, “What was accomplished by preaching the Word, if it was rejected.”
What was accomplished is that God’s will was done. The name of Jesus was
glorified. And poor lost souls were given a chance to believe. Also, at the
last judgment God’s name will be glorified because when these souls are cast
into hell, it will be shown that faithful preachers were sent by the Lord and
that God gave these people every chance to be saved by trusting in Jesus as
their Savior.
The Bible says in Jeremiah 43:5-13, “But Johanan
the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of
Judah, that were returned from all nations, whither they had been driven, to
dwell in the land of Judah;[6] Even men, and women, and children, and
the king's daughters, and every person that Nebuzar-adan the captain of the
guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah
the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah.[7] So they came into the land
of Egypt: for they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: thus came they even to
Tahpanhes.[8] Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes,
saying,[9] Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the clay in
the brickkiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the
sight of the men of Judah;[10] And say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of
hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king
of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have
hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them.[11] And when he
cometh, he shall smite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to
death; and such as are for captivity to captivity; and such as are for the
sword to the sword.[12] And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the
gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captives: and he
shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his
garment; and he shall go forth from thence in peace.[13] He shall break
also the images of Beth-shemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses
of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire.”
One of the lessons to be learned from this passage is that no one can run from
God and hide from Him. Jonah learned that lesson the hard way. God’s will was
that Nebuchanezzar was going to punish the Israelites. He wanted the Jewish
people to accept their fate patiently and with faith, because God also promised
to eventually restore them. Judgment was coming, and no one could escape God’s
judgment. For those who fled to
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Copyright; 2013 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved