WWUTT 2579 Do Not Seek What You Think are Greater Things (Jeremiah 45:1-46:28)

God has scattered Israel into the nations, but while he means to bring judgment against those nations, he will gather Israel again to himself. What would be the practical application of this today when we understand the text?

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Jeremiah’s Judgment on Baruch and the Meaning of Seeking Great Things

Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Jeremiah, we're picking up in chapters 45 and 46. Chapter 45 is actually the shortest chapter of Jeremiah, and then we'll go on from there into this continued judgment that's being pronounced against Egypt.

Remember that Johanan was a military leader in Judah in the absence of any king, and he had asked Jeremiah to seek the Lord on their behalf and tell Johanan what God wanted them to do. Well, Jeremiah said to them, If you will remain in the land, then you will be prosperous.

The Lord will bless you. But if you flee and go to another land, which they were thinking in their hearts about going to Egypt, if you go there, then judgment will come upon you, and you will be stricken with pestilence and with sword and with famine.

Well, they responded to Jeremiah saying, No, we don't believe you. We don't think that that's what God has said to you. If we stay here in Judah, then we'll surely starve to death. There's nothing for us here.

The Babylonians may come against us again, and we would go into exile into Babylon, but there's plenty, there's abundance in Egypt. So they decide to go to the land of Egypt, and not only going there, they also began worshiping the false gods that God had previously judged them for.

This was the reason why all of this calamity had come upon Judah, because the people were worshiping false gods. But Johanan and all that were with him, they decided, You know what? Life was actually better for us when we were worshiping the queen of heaven.

So let's go back to baking cakes to her and pouring out drink offerings to her. We had an abundance then. We'll do that in the land of Egypt, and we will be taken care of. So we're going to hear this judgment that's coming upon Egypt in chapter 46, the very thing that the people of Judah were attempting to flee from, they came right into.

They thought they were going to escape the Babylonians. Well, that's where the Babylonians are coming next. They're going to come against Egypt. First of all, we read in chapter 45 a judgment that's actually given to Baruch.

If you will remember, Baruch is Jeremiah's scribe, and he apparently had complained about the judgment that he was supposed to deliver from the word of the Lord. And so because of his complaint, God is going to keep him from the things that he wanted most, but he's also going to keep him from being conquered by Judah's enemies.

So let me go ahead and read it here. Jeremiah 45 verses 1 through 5. Hear the word of the Lord. The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah when he wrote these words in a book at the dictation of Jeremiah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah.

Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch. You said, Woe is me, for the Lord has added sorrow to my pain. I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest. Thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord.

Behold, what I have built, I am breaking down. And what I have planted, I am plucking up, that is, the whole land. And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not. For behold, I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the Lord.

But I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go. Now, before going on to these continued judgments that we have in chapter 46, what apparently was Baruch's attitude here, and this was when Jeremiah had told him to write these things down in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah.

This is probably not a flashback here. It's recalling the time that Baruch was instructed to write these things down, and Baruch obeyed. He did what he was told to do, but he had a bad attitude about it.

He was grieved in his heart over what the Lord was doing, and he had sought things for himself. He thought, I guess, that he was going to come out better on the other end of this. So the Lord, as a judgment against Baruch, says, You're not going to get the things that you are seeking.

But because Baruch was obedient, he just had a bad attitude about it, he will still keep his life as a prize. And wherever he goes, and he's welcome to settle wherever he wants. Jeremiah was given the same option.

So wherever Baruch goes and settles, there he will receive his life as a prize, wherever he went. So now let's go on to Jeremiah chapter 46, and we read here of the judgment that comes upon Egypt. This is a little bit longer chapter.

I'll begin by reading the first six verses. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations, about Egypt, concerning the army of Pharaoh Nico, king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates at Carchemish, and which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah.

Prepare buckler and shield, and advance for battle. Harness the horses. Mount, O horsemen. Take your stations with your helmets. Polish your spears. Put on your armor. Why have I seen it? They are dismayed and have turned backward.

Their warriors are beaten down and have fled in haste. They look not back. Terror on every side, declares the Lord. The swift cannot flee away, nor the warrior escape. In the north by the river Euphrates, they have stumbled and fallen.

Okay, let me go back a little bit to chapter 45. So remember that God had said to Baruch, what I have built, I am breaking down, and what I have planted, I am plucking up. So in Baruch's complaint about the judgment that was coming upon the land, God is responding to Baruch and saying, what I'm destroying, I built.

Like you didn't do this. I did this. What I have planted, I am plucking up. He's the one that put the children of Israel in that land. And because they disobeyed God, God is fulfilling what he said would happen to them if they worshiped false gods.

It's all the way back in the book of Deuteronomy. If you go after the gods of the peoples that are around you, I will pluck you out of the land. And that's exactly what's been done. They did not obey the word of God, but they went after the false gods, and they relished also in the behaviors and the excesses, the sins, the wickedness of the pagan people around them.

So God is plucking up. And what he has decided to do, he has the authority to do. He's the one who made man. He can destroy man. He's the one who planted Israel. He can pluck up Israel. God can do whatever he wants.

As said in Psalm 115, our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases. So what God has set for himself to do, that is what he will accomplish. Now, God will use secondary means in order to do this.

So it's not exactly God's hand that comes upon Egypt. It's not like the hand of God comes out of heaven and strikes it because of their wickedness. He brings Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, against Egypt, just as he brought Nebuchadnezzar against Judah.

And Nebuchadnezzar has been described as a servant of God. When the people of Judah were told to submit to Nebuchadnezzar and go into exile, they were told that Nebuchadnezzar is an instrument in my hands.

He is my servant. And Nebuchadnezzar was a wicked man. He did not fear God. Well, there was a time later on that he did. We read about that in Daniel 4. By the way, when we finish Jeremiah, I'm going to go on to Lamentations.

I'm going to skip Ezekiel and go to Daniel. So I'm going to go a little bit out of order, but we will come back to Ezekiel. Ezekiel is just a very long book. And so I wanted something a little bit shorter in the meantime, and I thought I would do Daniel.

So again, a little out of order, but it'll be where we get to see Nebuchadnezzar's redemption arc. So we've read about Nebuchadnezzar a lot. We get to see a little bit more of his story personally in the book of Daniel.

So anyway, Nebuchadnezzar is a servant to God. Even when Nebuchadnezzar was wicked, he's still described as God's servant because he is doing what God has sent him to do to strike down these nations, whether or not Nebuchadnezzar is even aware of it.

So these are those secondary causes that God is using to accomplish his will. And this is what God does in all of our lives. We read in Romans 8, 28, that God works all things together for good.

For whom?

For those who love God and are called according to his purpose. Not everything works out together for good for those who don't know God. But for us who do know God, he is working things out for our good.

And so we trust the Lord. And we know that whatever trial we are going through is ultimately going to be for our good and for his glory. God is putting certain things in our lives that would direct us in a certain way, in a certain course, that we would rely not on ourselves and not on this world, but we would call out to God.

And we would trust the Lord, the one who has raised the dead and has promised to raise us from the dead for all who believe in Jesus. God will accomplish all that he purposes, as he has said to Baruch.

And so we see in these judgments here that are even coming upon Egypt. Even Egypt itself exists because God has made it to exist. So he has created man. He can destroy man. And here, these prophecies about how the swift cannot flee away, the warrior cannot escape, God is going to do what he sets out to do.

And no one can turn back his hand. We read that previously in Isaiah. I have purposed, and who can turn it back? And so God is bringing these judgments upon Egypt, which will therefore also afflict the Jews that have gone there, thinking that they're safe there.

So continuing on in Jeremiah 46 to verse 7. Who is this rising like the Nile, like rivers whose waters surge? Egypt rises like the Nile, like rivers whose waters surge. He said, I will rise. I will cover the earth.

I will destroy cities and their inhabitants. Advance, O horses, and rage, O chariots. Let the warriors go out, men of Cush and Put, who handle the shield, men of Lud, skilled in handling the bow. That day is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, to avenge himself on his foes.

The sword shall devour and be sated, and drink its fill of their blood. For the Lord God of hosts holds a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. This is the Lord God even sacrificing to himself.

His wrath will be satisfied by the blood of his enemies. Verse 11, go up to Gilead and take Balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt. In vain you have used many medicines. There is no healing for you. The nations have heard of your shame, and the earth is full of your cry.

For warrior has stumbled against warrior. They have both fallen together. Now all that we're reading here, beginning in chapter 46 and going through chapter 51, these are all prophecies concerning these pagan nations, concerning Gentiles.

So we've heard prophecies concerning the Jews who will be struck down as they have attempted to flee from the judgment of God by going to Egypt. Well, God intends for Nebuchadnezzar to come against Egypt and judge them.

And eventually the Babylonians will be judged as well. So we're going to read several judgments upon several pagan nations here in chapters 46 to 51. As we continue on here now into verse 13, the Lord is talking about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar to strike the land of Egypt.

The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to strike the land of Egypt, declare in Egypt and proclaim in Migdal, proclaim in Memphis and Tapanes, say, stand ready and be prepared for the sword shall devour around you.

Why are your mighty ones face down? They do not stand because the Lord thrust them down. He made many stumble and they fell. And they said to one another, arise and let us go back to our own people and to the land of our birth because of the sword of the oppressor.

Call the name of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, noisy one who lets the hour go by. Verses 18 and 19, as I live declares the king whose name is the Lord of hosts like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea shall one come.

Prepare yourselves baggage for exile. Oh, inhabitants of Egypt for Memphis shall become a waste, a ruin without inhabitant. Remember that part of the prophecy that was made to the Jews who were fleeing there to Egypt was that there was a certain set of stones and God had said the very throne of Nebuchadnezzar would be set down on those stones when he comes into the land.

So there are kings that are warring against one another, king of Egypt, king of Babylon, but ultimately the one who is ruling overall is the king, the Lord of hosts. And what he is proclaiming, the nations are in submission to.

Verse 20, a beautiful heifer is Egypt, but a biting fly from the North has come upon her. So the heifer is Egypt. The biting fly of course would be the Babylonians. Even her hired soldiers in her midst are like fattened calves.

Yes, they have turned and fled together. They did not stand for the day of their calamity has come upon them the time of their punishment. Now one of the objects of worship among the Egyptians was a calf.

And you're familiar with the account of the golden calf in the book of Exodus where the people of Israel worshiped a golden calf instead of the true God. Egypt thought that the calf represented their prosperity, their abundance or their fruitfulness.

And so Egypt is being compared here to a beautiful heifer which produces offspring. But the flies that bug the cows, pardon the pun, this represents Babylon, who is going to come in such great a number that the heifer of Egypt will not be able to swat these flies away.

Verse 22, she makes a sound like a serpent gliding away for her enemies march in force and come against her with axes like those who fell trees. They shall cut down her forest, declares the Lord, though it is impenetrable because they are more numerous than locusts.

They are without number. The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame. She shall be delivered into the hand of a people from the north. Verse 25, the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel said, Behold, I am bringing punishment upon Ammon of Thebes and Pharaoh and Egypt and her gods and her kings upon Pharaoh and those who trust in him.

I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their life into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his officers. Afterward, Egypt shall be inhabited as in the days of old, declares the Lord.

So this won't be a complete annihilation of Egypt. Even here you have a promise of restoration. Eventually, Egypt will be re-inhabited and it will be as it was before. Verse 27, but fear not, O Jacob, my servant, nor be dismayed, O Israel, for behold, I will save you from far away and your offspring from the land of their captivity.

Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease and none shall make him afraid. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, declares the Lord, for I am with you. I will make a full end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but of you I will not make a full end.

I will discipline you in just measure and I will by no means leave you unpunished. So there is affliction that's coming upon Jacob, but it's not going to be like the affliction that comes upon Egypt or even some of the later nations that are going to be named here in Jeremiah.

We'll next read about the Philistines in chapter 47. But though Jacob will be restored, there is a remnant that God is preserving for himself and he is bringing back to the land. They are still going to undergo punishment.

I believe that this promise that God makes here saying that I will make a full end of the nations to which I've driven you, but I will not make a full end of you. I think that that's still the case today.

We see that there are Jews, there is an Israel that still exists and through the Jews that are still alive today, God is demonstrating how he means to reconcile Jew and Gentile to himself and how is that done?

It is done through faith in Jesus Christ. Jew or Gentile, only belief in Jesus Christ is salvation. Romans 1 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

God will restore the Jews to their land because it's through the Jews that the Messiah will come. He will die on the cross for our sins. He will rise again from the dead. And then from that point on for those who believe in Jesus, there is no dividing wall of hostility as talked about in Ephesians 2, but we are all one in Christ Jesus and God continues to demonstrate how he reconciles Jew and Gentile to himself through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The Jews are still on the earth today for that very purpose. Heavenly father, we thank you for what we have read. We see these prophecies that you have made. We know they have been fulfilled, that you are a God of purpose, a God who has predestined and what you have purposed, you will accomplish.

And so we fear the Lord, our God, we trust you and put our lives into your hands. And in whatever situation we find ourselves, God, may we be obedient. May we be submissive to the Lord God, knowing and trusting that you are working this out for our good.

We pray to God. We ask that you would be with us in the midst of our troubles and deliver us ultimately into your heavenly kingdom. Help us to serve well while we are here on this earth and even through trials, rejoicing in the salvation that has been given through the son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ.

It's in his name that we pray, amen.

This has been, When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com and let your friends know about our ministry.

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