Day 787: Hear the messengers! - Jeremiah 44 vs 1 -11

1-3 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Judeans who lived in the land of Egypt, at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Memphis, and in the land of Pathros, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the disaster that I brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. Behold, this day they are a desolation, and no one dwells in them, because of the evil that they committed, provoking me to anger, in that they went to make offerings and serve other gods that they knew not, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers. 4-6 Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, ‘Oh, do not do this abomination that I hate!’ But they did not listen or incline their ear, to turn from their evil and make no offerings to other gods. Therefore my wrath and my anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they became a waste and a desolation, as at this day.

7-8 And now thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves, to cut off from you man and woman, infant and child, from the midst of Judah, leaving you no remnant? Why do you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, making offerings to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have come to live, so that you may be cut off and become a curse and a taunt among all the nations of the earth? 9 Have you forgotten the evil of your fathers, the evil of the kings of Judah, the evil of their wives, your own evil, and the evil of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10-11They have not humbled themselves even to this day, nor have they feared, nor walked in my law and my statutes that I set before you and before your fathers. “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set my face against you for harm, to cut off all Judah.” Jeremiah 44:1-11 English Standard Version

There's a surprising paragraph in the book of Revelation where after six angels had blown trumpets to announce judgments of God, and the nations of the world had experienced all sorts of destructive disasters, we read: “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshipping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.” (Revelation 9:20-21)

That’s the same defiant attitude Jeremiah was seeing among the Jewish refugees who had fled to cities in Egypt after Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Babylonians. What had God done for Jerusalem and the Jews that made their rebellion worse, and led to a day of reckoning? (vs 4-6)

He had sent messengers to warn them what their sins would lead to, and to plead with them to repent and return to His ways. But what were the Jews who'd fled to Egypt now doing? (vs 7-9)

They had adopted the idols of Egypt and were worshipping them in their dwellings. Notice, it was the wives as well as the men who were paying homage to idols which provoked God's anger. These idol gods would’ve been like 'good luck' charms to the people. What was Jeremiah's challenge in vs 9?

He asks them if they had forgotten that it was those very things being done in Jerusalem which caused God to bring down His judgment upon them. Books like Jeremiah and the other prophets are very solemn and are heavy reading. But in them people are being reminded of how sin leads to judgment. They are God's messengers even today. They call men and women, wherever their words are read or heard, to turn from sin and from their idols. These idols are not only wood, stone or gold. They are all the evil things men and women choose to put at the centre of their lives. The book of Revelation is the culmination of God’s messengers and warns of the ultimate day of reckoning. Happy are those who’ve heard the warnings, taken heed to their ways, repented of wrongdoing, and called upon the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.