Jeremiah 38
What would sinful men do if they could get their hands on God? We have a good sense of the answer to that question through the events of the cross. Normally no one can lay a hand on God. Even in the case of Jesus Christ, his death on the cross, though surely by the hands of sinful men, was also according to the express plan and foreknowledge of God. His death was the fulfillment of His mission.
While people cannot get their hands on God today, they can do the next best thing. They can show their hatred for God by attacking the one who comes to speak His message. Throughout the history of God’s use of prophets we have seen this happen. One of the most memorable examples of this in the Old Testament is the treatment of Jeremiah by those who despised Him. They hated his message, for he honestly told the people that the way of safety would be through surrender to the Babylonians. He said this not because he preferred
His enemies were not content to ignore him. If a prophet can be simply ignored and treated as unimportant and marginal, there is no reason for anyone to kill him. Jeremiah was having an impact on some of the soldiers. There were officials that knew that Jeremiah could not simply be ignored. They wanted to kill him, and the king seemed to give them permission to do with him as they saw fit. Since that was the case, it is surprising that he lived. This reminds us that a man like Jeremiah lives and dies according to God’s plan, and not because of his relative strength when compared with his enemies. They were not able to kill him, but they did lower him to the bottom of a muddy well, abandoning him there, that he might face a slow and certain death.
An Ethiopian man, a eunuch, simply could not let this stand. He brought news of this to King Zedekiah. As he considered that the Lord’s prophet would surely die from hunger at the bottom of that well, he could not be content with such a thing. He brought news of this to the king, calling the action of others evil, and asking the king to allow Jeremiah’s rescue. This the king did, ordering the prophet’s removal from that pit.
This experience of life in the pit seems to have had another purpose. Later, when King Zedekiah calls for Jeremiah, God’s word through the prophet uses the imagery of a muddy pit to describe the situation that Zedekiah faces. All of his friends, advisors, and false prophets have deceived him, and now the king is like an abandoned man, stuck in the mud at the approach of the Babylonians.
The only way of life for Him is through surrender to the Babylonians. Not only will he save his own life through that surrender, but if this is done, the whole city will be spared. Of course, the city was not spared. Zedekiah did not take the advice of Jeremiah, for he was fearful of others who had already deserted to the Babylonians. What would they do to him if he followed Jeremiah’s advice?
There seemed to be no way out for Zedekiah, at least in his own mind, and the plan of Jeremiah did not offer him an alternative that he was willing to try. He was stuck. The fear of man was more potent in his life than the fear of God. He considered it a small thing to reject the word of God through Jeremiah, and a very large thing to suffer the harm that men could inflict upon him. He did not even want anyone to know the truth of his conversation with Jeremiah, and so he instructed him to answer any inquiries with reference to a previous conversation regarding Jeremiah’s safety. The fact that he wanted to hide is that they had talked about the king’s safety. He did not want that known, nor was he willing to take action based on the advice from God that came through Jeremiah.
Would we have done better in such a fearful situation? Our confidence today is not in our own reaction when under fire. Our hope is entirely vested in the Man who had the courage to give himself into the hand of a betrayer. He allowed himself to be horribly mistreated, unjustly condemned, and brutally tortured and killed by evil men. More than all of this, He gave himself up to the wrath of His loving Father, who was well-pleased with Him. In this one great act of obedience we find our salvation, for He is our Substitute. He was quite unwilling to come down from the cross when wicked men mocked him and taunted Him. By His stripes we are healed.
No other king could have accomplished what He did for us. This great Son of David sent no one out with half truths to try to protect his body or his reputation. He was despised and rejected by men in every way. Even His own disciples abandoned Him. Yet from the moment of His greatest shame, has come the power and love that is the boast of millions today. We who believe in Him love His cross, and have come to see that through His death, we have eternal life.
posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM
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