Day 500: Accepting God's will - Jeremiah 27 vs 1 - 11

1-2 In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord. Thus the Lord said to me: “Make yourself straps and  yoke-bars, and put them on your neck. 3-4 Send word to the king of Edom, the king of  Moab, the king of the sons of Ammon, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon by the hand of the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. Give them this charge for their masters:

5-7 ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: This is what you shall say to your masters: “It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever it seems right to me. Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him. All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes. Then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave.'”

8 “But if any nation or kingdom will not serve this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, declares the Lord, until I have consumed it by his hand. 9-10 So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon.’  For it is a lie that they are prophesying to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land, and I will drive you out, and you will perish. 11 But any nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave on its own land, to work it and dwell there, declares the Lord.”’” Jeremiah 27:1-11 English Standard Version.

Much as we would love to know God's will for us, would we always submit to it if it turned out to be something we did not like to hear? This chapter goes back to an earlier incident in Jeremiah's life when he was told to put on a yoke used for oxen, and to give a very unpopular message. It seems that a number of envoys had come to Jerusalem to plot with King Zedekiah how they could unite together to throw off the yoke of Babylon, which was the growing super power of the day. What was God's message to these envoys through Jeremiah? (vs5-7)

They were to go back to their kings and tell them that God Himself was giving Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, dominion over them. Jeremiah points out that, as Creator of the world, God had the right and authority to do as He chose. Over 600 years later the apostle Paul said of God: “He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.” (Acts 17:26) So it was God's will at that time to use Babylon as His instrument of judgement in the world. What would happen to the nations who refused to accept God's will and tried to fight Babylon? (vs8-10)

They would fight a losing battle and their countries would experience the sort of things which often accompany war and defeat, things such as sword, famine and plague. Jeremiah warns the kings to not listen to, and be misled, by the 'misinformation' of the false prophets, diviners, dreamers, fortune-tellers, and sorcerers. They were the 'fake news' pushers of those days. But nations who accepted God's will and surrendered to the Babylonians would experience better things.

We are still living in times when nations jostle for super-power status and sometimes it looks very much as if a godless nation is taking centre-stage. Nations such as Nazi-Germany, Stalinist Russia, and, today, Communist China. As Christians we need to keep in mind that it’s still God who is in ultimate control of the destiny of the world. If He chooses to use China as a rod of judgement in our generation we need to be patient and prayerful. Like Babylon of old, China, or any godless superpower, will eventually be judged by God. He is purifying His people now in preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ, the true Lord of all.