Rēad to Read …Again
Daily Reading: Jeremiah 23-25
Jeremiah 25:11
And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
So, it is proclaimed, so it will be done, so it was done! Israel, God’s chosen people were conquered, and most were carried away to Babylon. There they served Nebuchadnezzar for seventy arduous years. In comparison, the forty years of wilderness wanderings were a picnic relative to this captivity. The nation was completely ransacked and suffered many atrocities and deaths. They were carried away in captivity to the king of Babylon and were there for seventy years. Why? Because they would not hear and obey God’s Word as proclaimed by the prophets of God.
According to Jeremiah 25:3 he spoke to them about this coming catastrophe often. The writer of II Chronicles mentioned this prophecy in the last chapter and the third to last verse of his book. To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years. (II Chronicles 36:21) Evidently this prophecy was tied to Israel’s failure to keep the yearly sabbath and in general keep His law.
True to God’s Word on the matter, Israel was in captivity for seventy years from 606 BC to 536 BC. 606 BC was their first deportation; two more took place in 597 BC and 586 BC. God’s Word always comes true. To read more about this absolutely horrible time go to Deuteronomy 28, the warning Moses gave to Israel went largely unheeded, the Babylonian captivity was the result.
Back to Jeremiah 25. Notice the prophet’s words in verses 3-7, herein the man of God sets forth, again, God’s complaint culminating with these words: Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the Lord; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt. How sad. They did not hear the Word of God; therefore they could not know the Word of God; therefore they could not obey the Word of God.
It is the same today. Contemplate about this for a while. In Romans 10:13 an astounding promise of God is given. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But then immediately the writer of Romans (the apostle Paul) also wrote: How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! Preachers of God’s Holy Word preach the good news of the Gospel that brings eternal life to all who receive it. They preach the whole counsel of God’s Word unsparingly; rightly dividing it for all to hear. But how can they hear if there is not a preacher? Or if they stay away from the preaching?
Not long ago I met a man that was raised in our town and now in his twenties. I was witnessing to him of the gospel and mentioned Noah. He said he had never heard of Noah. I asked about Paul, “No, I’ve never heard of Paul.” He had never, not one time, ever stepped foot in a church, and had never read any portion of the Bible. This was in our town not some far flung unreached land. Our town. But still unreached.
Doesn’t it make sense that each person should have the right to hear the simple Gospel story at least one time in their life? Then they can rightly choose: Believe God and reap the great benefits He only can offer, or reject Him and reap the unfortunate results of unbelief. Most in Israel did not believe the preaching. Theirs is a cautionary tale if there ever was one. It didn’t have to be that way; they could have obeyed God’s Word. By the way, if you don’t know it, there is another prophecy, worse than the one Jeremiah gave. It’s found in the book of the Revelation. But that is a topic for another day.
Dr. William T. Howe
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