Jeremiah 28:10-17

10 Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and broke it, 11 and he said before all the people, "This is what the Lord says: 'In the same way will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon off the neck of all the nations within two years.' " At this, the prophet Jeremiah went on his way.
12 Shortly after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 13 "Go and tell Hananiah, 'This is what the Lord says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but in its place you will get a yoke of iron. 14 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will put an iron yoke on the necks of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I will even give him control over the wild animals.' "
15 Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, "Listen, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies. 16 Therefore, this is what the Lord says: 'I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the Lord .' "
17 In the seventh month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died.

28:10-11 - How impetuous, how prideful Hananiah is. Has he sought the favor of the Lord? Obviously not. He does things under his own wisdom and his own strength.

28:12-13 - This is what happens when we go against the will of God. When we decide that we want to do what we want to do. He then punishes us for our sin showing us that He alone is God and He alone is in control. Unless we are submitted to Him and allow Him to move us, allow Him to use us, we will be doing our own thing.

28:14 - As a result of Hananiah's sin and pride, the entire nation of Israel, even the nations surrounding Israel, even the animals are condemned. The responsibility to seek the Lord's favor is so important. If we are just doing it within our own power and with our own limited understanding, we are condemning those that have nothing to do with our sin.

Israel is not completely faultless. They were the ones that believed the lies. They were the ones that rejected Jeremiah and the Lord. Because of their arrogance and their pride, they will be humbled by comming under the rule of a foreign king.

28:15 - I can just imagine Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, standing firm and unleashing piercing words of fire deep into Hananiah's heart. Jeremiah rebukes Hananiah and continues to deal out the punishment.

28:16 - Not only is Hananiah rebuked by Jeremiah, but he is rebuked by the Lord. Not just death, but removed from the face of the earth. How terrible is that?

28:17 - What the Lord declares, the Lord does.

Jeremiah 28

1 In the fifth month of that same year, the fourth year, early in the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, said to me in the house of the Lord in the presence of the priests and all the people: 2 "This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3 Within two years I will bring back to this place all the articles of the Lord 's house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed from here and took to Babylon. 4 I will also bring back to this place Jehoiachin [1] son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and all the other exiles from Judah who went to Babylon,' declares the Lord , 'for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.' "
5 Then the prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah before the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord . 6 He said, "Amen! May the Lord do so! May the Lord fulfill the words you have prophesied by bringing the articles of the Lord 's house and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon. 7 Nevertheless, listen to what I have to say in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people: 8 From early times the prophets who preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague against many countries and great kingdoms. 9 But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if his prediction comes true."

28:1-2 - Here is Hananiah standing up against what Jeremiah is saying. It must have been hard for Israel to discern who was speaking the true word of God because of both their sinful hearts and the lack of discernment from the prophets. Was Hananiah purposely misleading Israel? I don't think so. I think he was blinded for the Lord's purposes, not only by his own sins but by the hand of God as well.

When Hananiah spoke this prophecy against Babylon, he was declaring his own vision and his own desire for Israel, not that of the Lord. Sometimes, we try to tell the Lord what He should do, but that's not the way He works. Instead, He tells us what to do, but we disobey Him. So the Lord will go ahead and does as He pleases.

28:3 - All the spoons, the plates, the bowls, all the items of worship. Has Hananiah missed the point? That they need to seek God first and His favor. The Lord is always telling them to turn their hearts back to Him. Even now, after Nebuchadnezzar has come in and began breaking Isreal, they are still hard hearted. They still miss the point. They're so caught up in their "acts of worship", in their religion, that they fail to worship the Lord.

I see this with my Youth Group. We've become so caught up with the acts of worship: singing, praises, dance. That we've failed to search for the Lord. We minister to the symptoms: image, suicide, instead of ministering to the root: sin. Even after the Lord took our King, our leader, away from us, we still denied Him and searched for those items that belonged in His house, instead of searching for Him alone.

28:4 - So many times we've had pastoral candidates, but none of them have come very far. This time though, we have one. Perhaps this is the time of God's salvation. Maybe this is the time for His healing. As long as we continue to seek Him, He will give us discernment in these matters.

28:5-6 - I wonder if Jeremiah is being sarcastic. For some reason, i can see Him just shoting searing words of sarcasm at Hananiah, each word a burning blade cutting into the depths of Hananiah's soul. As if Jeremiah was saying: "Haven't you been paying attention? Idiot! Yes, it would be great if these things would happen. But it isn't what the Lord has declared."

28:7 - So listen to this. We'll see who is right. We'll see who God is speaking through.

28:8-9 - So far, all the prophets who have prophesied wrath have been confirmed in one way or another. But the one that prophesies peace and is fulfulled is truly from God. Only the Lord would know these times of peace.

Jeremiah 27:1-7

1 Early in the reign of Zedekiah [1] son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord : 2 This is what the Lord said to me: "Make a yoke out of straps and crossbars and put it on your neck. 3 Then send word to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon through the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. 4 Give them a message for their masters and say, 'This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Tell this to your masters: 5 With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please. 6 Now I will hand all your countries over to my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him. 7 All nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his land comes; then many nations and great kings will subjugate him.

27:2 - I wonder what Jeremiah was thinking when the Lord spoke this to him. I probably would have asked God, "Why?" Sometimes we don't need to know why, we just need to know that it's the Lord that has spoken to us. That is reason enought that we should follow and obey. Even if it may seem rediculus or even pointless.

27:3 - All these nations around Israel, they have no reason to listen to Jeremiah. They probably already know about him from the kings of Judah. Is it even important that they listen at all? In a lot of ways, this sounds like evangelism. We bring the Gospel to all these nations to all these people. It's not our responsibility to make them believe or even take heed of what we say. We've done our job and there's nothing else we can do about it.

Jeremiah was probably put into a hard position by this command. It would've been hard for him to even get close to the envoys, considering all the pople who wanted to kill him and what not.

27:5 - We question why the Lord does what He does. Why he brings suffering upon His people or anything else that happens in history. He is the author and the creator. Everything that is belongs to Him. The Lord doesn't need to give us an explanation for why he does these things. It's enought that He gives us His credentials.

Too many times we try to tell God what to do. "Lord, save this person." "Lord, do this." But he doesn't have to listen to us. He chooses to out of His infinite love. Just like how we humor little kids who ask for silly things. He humors us and does what is best for us and for His kingdom.

27:6 - The Lord can use anything and anyone for His purposes. Here, we see that the Lord is using one of the most wicked and sinful men in history for His great purpose. Do we have the vision to see how God can use any situation, anyone for His glory? Half the time, I only see God using those around me, my Christian bretheren and my church. He could just as well use my non-Christian bretheren or even my school.

27:7 - I think about the rise of Hitler or Muscillini or Stalin. In one period of history, 3 evil men rose up and conquered their respective areas of the world. I think about how could these things be a part of God's plan or pupose. The irony, is that these "great" men of history are now almost forgotten. When we think of World War II, we only think of Hitler and all the evils that he did. We neglect to mention Stalin and all the persecution and mass slaughter he caused to Christians. Will we even remember these men in another 5 years, another 10 years?