Bible-7, Maj Prophets-1, Isa-Lam: Part 2

LESSON 7

MAJOR PROPHETS  I

Isaiah, Jeremiah and Lamentations

Part Two:

By Rev. G. Evan Newmyer

Jesus came to establish faith, thus faith must have a desire to please God, yet we can’t neglect our Belief; we must Believe the Report in order to gain the Witness (Isa 53:2 & I Jn 5:7-8). Jesus looked beyond the Cross to the result, knowing it was worth it. We look beyond the saving of the soul knowing it’s well worth it.

When Jesus was on the Cross the weight of every transgression and iniquity was placed on Him, the very sky turned black from the sins of times past, times present and times future. The Hebrew has many descriptive words in these next few verses, all of which give us Wisdom regarding the Cross. He is despised (to think on as scorn or to consider as contemptible), He was rejected (to vacate or depart from) of men, yet He is a Man of sorrows (anguish or affliction – Isa 53:3). So many ask “why the Cross?” or “why didn’t God figure some simple way?”. The purpose of God was to redeem us from what we caused, and we caused more unrighteousness than many of us realize. We ignored the Cross, or at least many of the elements of the Cross, until the day when the Holy Ghost drew us to the Light, then we saw the purpose of the Cross. From the Cross we found we all begin in the same position, it doesn’t matter what our IQ was, or what our social position was, we all begin at the same position. To assume since someone has a high IQ they are more the Christian than someone else is error, or to presume social status gives one more favor is not in line with God’s character. We all begin with the same potential in order to grow in the same manner to reach the result.

Excuses to avoid the obvious is not repentance, nor do our excuses produce the fruit of repentance. Knowing we are incapable of gaining God’s Salvation on our own is a beginning, it becomes a place to keep us humble. With man it’s always impossible, but not with God, for with God all things are possible. Even to the point of bringing us into the Image of His Son (Isa 53:3). Surely Jesus has borne our grieves (diseases), and carried our sorrows (anguish or mental diseases): yet we did esteem Him merely stricken (lay hands on to be beaten), but He was smitten (beaten), it was allowed by God for our sakes (Isa 53:4). The Jews and Romans may have done the acts, but the Father, Son and Holy Ghost ordained them for us. The suffering of Jesus was a matter of His choice, but it was not self-inflicted, nor was it some form of suicide. Suicide is an act to avoid some pain, or danger; Jesus faced the danger and pain, overcoming them all for our sakes. Jesus took the suffering in His Body, then He said, “this is My Body, take eat”; thus, He gave His Body to us, we in turn impute our old nature with the flesh dead on His Cross.

Some of us think the Cross was the point where the religious leaders caused Israel to be cut off; however, Jesus told the Pharisees, the Cross was “marvelous in our eyes” (Mark 12:11). The stoning of Stephen broke the branches, yet it also opened the door for the Gentiles (Acts 7:60, 8:1, 9:1 & 10:1-45). Jesus said the sign to the Pharisees would be the Resurrection, thus their sign came after the Cross and Resurrection, yet they rejected it. The religious leaders had three opportunities after the Day of Pentecost to repent and believe; however, they mocked Peter and John, tossed Peter in jail, then killed Stephen.

Jesus was wounded (made an opening wedge) for our transgressions, He was bruised (beat to pieces) for our iniquities. It’s the transgressions and iniquities bringing the curse, for the curse never comes without cause. The curse is designed to make our minds and bodies ill at ease, yet Jesus took all curses and nailed them to the Cross (Isa 53:5). The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, yet peace is removed through iniquity (Isa 53:5). By His stripes we are healed (present tense), the word for healed is the root word used for Physician (Isa 53:5). Peter took it one step further by saying, By His stripes we were (past tense) healed (I Pet 2:24). The word Peter used for healed is also a root word for Physician also. James used the same word when he wrote, “confess your faults (transgressions) one to another that you may be healed” (James  5:16). One major cause of sickness is holding faults one against the other, or speaking evil of one another, yet we find there are times when sickness just happens, better to discern.

The same word we find for Healed in James is also found in reference to Paul, when he laid hands on the father of Publius who was sick with a fever, and healed him (Acts 28:8). This alone could expose strongholds and faults, since many contend no one has the power to heal; however, we are given the power in the Name of Jesus, thus Jesus never said, “go and make them sick”. However, if we are given the Power, but refuse to use it, we are in rebellion. Even before the Power from on high was granted the disciples, they were told to go out and heal the sick (Matt 10:8); therefore the Cross opened the Door to Grace, thus it was based in Mercy, thus God’s Mercy heals us.

We were as dumb sheep, all going our own way (soulish), but Jesus took our iniquity, asked the Father to forgive us, by His Blood we are gain remission (Isa 53:6). Jesus gave a good confession before Pilate by never opening His mouth to justify Himself. Jesus told Pilate, “You could have no power at all against Me, except it were given you from above”, with “My Kingdom is not of this world: if My Kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered, but now is My Kingdom not from here” (Jn 18:36 & 19:11). Interesting? If His Kingdom were of this world they would fight to save Him. Although the disciples were afraid and ran, we find they were suppose to, they were yet to be endued with Power from on High, yet they still could not take Jesus down from the Cross, our Kingdom is not of this world.

Who then can declare this to His generation? Jesus was cut off from the land of the living, none of us saw Him destroy (make ineffective) the devil, none of us saw Him take captivity captive, none of us saw the Sacrifice in heaven. We can read about it, or form opinions regarding it, but we didn’t Witness it. Jesus made His grave with the wicked to save us from becoming the wicked (Isa 53:8-9). Who can give us first hand knowledge of all this? The New Man, meaning the Spirit is our sign of the Resurrection of Jesus.

It pleased the Lord to receive the pain for our sakes, He thought not on His own things, but on the things of others (Isa 53:10 & Ph’l 2:4-5). The greatest Sacrifice of all time was given when Jesus went to the Father during those seven days between the time He told Mary “Touch Me not”, until the time He told Thomas, “Touch Me and see”. The Father then said, “Your throne O God is forever and ever”; yet none of us saw it, but we have the Witness in granted from on High, the Greater He who has first hand knowledge, the same Spirit who raised Jesus is in the process of raising us daily.

Isaiah speaks to the Gentiles after the Cross, from whom most of us came (Isa 54:1). We were from a barren woman, but God provided the adoption process, where we can account our old existence dead, in order to join a New Family as New Creations in a New existence (Isa 54:1-4). The very Maker of all things has asked us to be His Bride (Isa 54:5). The only requirement was to receive All Jesus did, not just the bits and pieces of the Cross, grave, Resurrection or Sacrifice fitting our theology or condoning to our intellect, rather we believe it all as we continue to study to understand it all.

To the Remnant Jesus says, He hid His face for a small moment, but He will gather them in Great mercies, not Grace (Isa 54:7). The waters of Noah were in the days of Noah, our baptism with the Holy Ghost raises us above destruction as well, but the end times are as they were in the Days of Noah. In our case, we are lifted above the Time of Comfort, God has not appointed us to His wrath, thus we will be removed before it begins (Isa 54:8-9 & I Thess 5:9).

When the first great earthquake comes, the mountains (nations) shall depart, the hills (sub-nations) will also depart, as the earth becomes one land mass again. There will be no need for world governments to provide protection, only one world government will exist, it will be based in Jerusalem. There will be only one world religion providing the people with the knowledge of God, it too will be based in Jerusalem, at the same time others will worship idols on the roof tops. God brings it to pass to finish the prophecy, the enemies of Jesus will become His Footstool. The Lord tells us Heaven is His Throne, and “the earth” His footstool (Isa 66:1). We don’t want to be on the Earth when the Judgment comes, we want to be the “great Sea of Glass” before the Throne.

The prophet jumps to New Jerusalem, we know this is New Jerusalem since it speaks of stones and a foundation (Isa 54:11). The Foundations of New Jerusalem were established by the Apostles (Rev 21:14), the positional aspects of the Apostles are noted as various stones (Rev 21:19-20), but the Bride as Clear Glass (Crystal), yet the Remnant are Pearls, becoming the Gates of the City (Rev 21:21). The Scepter of the Kingdom of God is the Righteousness of Jesus, the New Man is Established in His Righteousness (Eph 4:24, Heb 1:8 & Isa 54:14). God forms (creates in KJV) the vessels of dishonor, they will be the ones in the next Season who form the Image of Jealousy (Isa 54:16). The division point is found in Isaiah 54:17, the “smith” made the weapon (idol), but it can’t prosper against us. Who made the Smith? God, but the Smith made the idol. The Waster is also created, thus even he has no power against the Creator. He who is slothful in his work, is brother to the Waster (Prov 18:9). What work? The Work of Mercy, thus the Waster knows nothing but to destroy, he can’t do anything else, he refuses to walk in Mercy, becoming the very iniquity identifying the workers of iniquity. However, it only shows the New Man will save our souls, he knows nothing else but Salvation, thus the Heritage of the Servants of the Lord is found in the New Birth.

No man can begin the Night, yet no man can stop it, the time is ordained of God, He has the key to the House of David, we don’t (Rev 3:7). Whether we beat the bushes for the famed Antichrist, or destroy the machines making some computer chip, isn’t going to stop it, the mark of the Beast is ordained by God for those who love the world. The Wicked are ordained of God to hone the vessels of honor in this Season, then test the world in the next. All the events yet to come are nonetheless history in God’s eyes. Our course is not the restoration of Israel, our course is to receive the Living Waters without measure (Acts 1:6-8 & Isa 55:1-2). Our call is to open our ears to the Lord, as we seek the salvation of our souls, so we may live (Isa 55:3). The Testimony (Old Testament Scriptures) of Jesus will go on, the Witness of Jesus belongs to the Body of Christ. There is a  time for the Door to close, yet a lamp isn’t enough, one needs both the lamp and Oil to enter the Door. Those who Sleep in Jesus, will sleep through the Night, but our goal is to be a partaker in the First Resurrection. Seek the Lord while He may be found for the day comes when He who now lets us, will close the Door and the Day will cease (Isa 55:6-8).

God will not change His thoughts or ways to match ours, we must put away our wicked ways and our unrighteous thoughts in order to agree with Him (Isa 55:7-13). Some of us tend to say, “well you know God’s ways are not our ways, and God’s thoughts are not our thoughts”, it’s only true if our thoughts are unrighteous, or our ways are wicked (Isa 55:7). If we have the Mind of Christ, then our thoughts and ways are Godly.

The phrase “Seed to the Sower, and Bread to the eater” points to our Season. The Seed is the Word sown by the Holy Ghost, we are the Bread. The primary context here is the Seed of God, although the Remnant will be overcome, we find we shall go out with Joy and Peace, thus the Gospel is the Gospel of Peace (Isa 55:12). The metaphor Trees is also seen here, the Trees in the Field shall clap their hands (Isa 55:12). We can sit around all day long and watch a pine tree yet it won’t “clap” its hands, simply because it doesn’t have any; therefore, this is a metaphor showing us as the “Trees of the Field”, or the Good Fish, thus they are Good Trees. The Bad Trees are seen burning in the end, the Good with their Lord in heaven.

God’s justice is not the same as the judgment, or His wrath, rather His justice is mercy based. We give mercy to receive mercy, thus His justice removes the Remnant from the pains of His judgment (Luke 6:36-38 & Isa 56:1-2). We keep the Sabbath holy, this has nothing to do with keeping a day, rather we keep the True Sabbath Holy; meaning Jesus is our Rest and Sabbath, we keep Him holy by our continual belief in all He did, coupled with our faith in all He promised as we finish the course by Grace (Isa 56:3-12).

Since we have all it takes, it makes little sense to use the ways of the world, yet we know the danger is at the door. God calls to the “beasts of the field” telling them to devour; What? God tells them to devour? Yes, the “beasts of the forest” shows us the Bad Trees, thus the “beasts of the field” and the “beasts of the forest” are one in the same, depending on the Season. The reason? The watchman are blind, they are all ignorant, the word Ignorant here is akin to the Corinthian mind, it’s deliberate ignorance. The Watchman were told to “watch and pray”, but they became “greedy dogs which can never have enough”, they are “shepherds who cannot understand” (Isa 56:9-11). This is the “falling away” from the Faith, the time when manipulation and theology based in unbelief is more prominent than Belief, Faith, Love and Hope. The shepherds are no longer looking to God, but are filling themselves with “strong drink”, yet they have things (Isa 56:12). They have started looking to the increase of wealth, forgetting it was God who cares for our need. They have confused greed for need, they use manipulation and tricks to get people to give. They considered the ministry more important than the Ways of the Lord, their status more important than the Law of the Spirit, they use the Law of Moses or the world to their advantage; they are in danger of falling from Grace (Gal 3:21, 5:3 & 5:9).

Next Isaiah explains why the “good die young”; the righteous perish, the merciful are taken away, but it’s for their good. God sees some evil ahead, it’s far better to be with the Lord at an early age, than suffer forever (Isa 57:1-2). This is also another verse pointing to the Rapture, we shall enter the goal of Peace, yet the Wicked will say we were taken because we were the evil ones. Then we read about the “sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore” (Isa 57:3). The seed of the adulterer and whore point to the end times, the Adulterer is the False Prophet, the Whore is the Woman, but in this Season the Wicked are the “sons of the sorceress”, as Strangers from the Strange Woman. If they change not in this Season, they will face the fire of hell. They shall inherit the flames, rather than find their inheritance on the Holy Mount (Isa 57:3-14).

Isaiah 57:5 shows the “Green Trees”, but don’t get confused and think the Green Tree is an idol, it’s not. They worshiped idols under the Green Tree, just as Jesus said the fowls would take the fruit of the tree. The metaphor Green shows life based on the Mercy of God, it doesn’t mean Spirit filled or Grace. In Luke 23:30-31 Jesus remarked “if they do this in a Green Tree, what would they do in a dry”, at the time He was operating in the Father’s Mercy. It has to be metaphoric, since they weren’t “in” a real tree. This is one of those areas where the metaphor is defined after we find it. Green Trees have a firmer standing than the green grass, but nonetheless both are Green. However, in the Book of Revelation we find various greens, there is fading green becoming pale, a green losing its water, becoming yellowish. We also find God takes the Green Tree then makes it Dry, but He also takes the Dry Tree and makes it Green. How? Or better why? The Green Trees in the Night show us they operate by Mercy, but if they the spirit of the world they will become Dry, in danger of being spued out of the mouth of Jesus. Here we find they are using the Green Tree as protection, as they worship their idols.

In order for the Green Tree to become a Just Fir tree it must remain humble with a contrite heart (Isa 57:15 & Hosea 14:8-9). God dwells in the “high and holy place”; this is another promise of the Rapture. How? We find “with Him also”, showing a promise to be in the High and Holy Place (Isa 57:15). This one verse is a separation point, Isaiah 57:17 talks about the House of Jacob as it begins as the House of David. The division between the two shows the Time of Comfort begins with the Sixth church, who are attached to the House of David, but then comes Jacob’s Trouble with the number of a “man”

The phrase “the spirit shall fail before Me” would almost seem as if the Spirit loses, not so, the word Fail is the Hebrew Etaph meaning To hide, or Cover, it has the idea of darkness, but how can it be? This doesn’t mean the Spirit will be in darkness, rather it shows the Spirit will not be on the earth during the Night when the Night opens. This explains why Paul said, He Who now lets, will let, and during the letting time the Holy Ghost is planting the Seed, but the time will come when the Spirit will leave this earth, and we with Him. Where the Holy Ghost goes, so does the New Man, if our souls are attached to the New Man we go as well.

Although the House of Jacob is going about ignoring Jesus, it’s ordained of God, thus the Time of Comfort will heal the House of Jacob during the time of Comfort (Isa 57:16-19). Then we see “Peace, peace to him who is far off”, wait, isn’t Peace for the Day, and not the Night? There are three types of Peace, we have a Peace, not as the world gives, but as Jesus gave us. There is Peace wherein man doesn’t fight with man as Peace in the world, as it will be during the beginning of the Night. There is also a Peace as the world gives, a type of security based on who has the biggest gun. The Peace we have now, will not be on the earth during the Night. The mystery is found in the phrase “to him who is far off, and to him who is near”, showing two types of Peace, one type to those who are far off in heaven, another for those who are on the earth operating in Mercy. The promise for the Night is found in the phrase, “Restore Comforts”, nearly every Jew understands the phrase; this is why they desire to posses the entire city of Jerusalem. They will give land, but not the City, since they know from the City will come the blessing, but they don’t see the City becoming the Woman in the latter days. We do, because we know how it will end, yet the one Wicked element to bring it all down, begins in our Season, it came from us, but was not of us.

The Wicked will begin disturbing the troubled Sea (world), there is no Peace for the wicked (Isa 57:19-21). The Wicked set themselves against things, they are against most anything, they are only interested in their own self-goals. Jude says they are Raging waves of the sea, plus many other metaphors. Jude speaks in metaphors, but if we know the metaphors, we can see how God says the Wicked are like the Troubled Sea, as they bring Strife. They murmur in their tents, hold secret plans of destruction. The Wicked who are joined to their father the devil will use lies, false accusations, tricks, twisted facts, and most anything to attack, they will even use the pulpit; they have no fear of God.

The call of the prophet comes as the Lord says, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet and show My people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins” (Isa 58:1). A Trumpet is a warning, the First Trump has sounded, the Last is yet to be heard, then comes the Great Trump at the very end. This is also the call of the Two Witnesses who call for repentance, thus when the Night begins Israel as the metaphor Sun is seen as sackcloth (Rev 11:1-3 & 6:12).

The people will fast for protection, but fail to afflict their soul for the transgression (Isa 58:2-4). In our Season the purpose for our fast is not to make self-gain, rather we seek the Power of His Christ to deal the Living Bread to the spiritually hungry; to bring the Truth of the Spirit to those who are poor in Spirit (humble in heart), to cover the naked with the garment of Righteousness, yet hide not our own nakedness from God (Isa 58:6-7). The “fasting of the soul” is much different from the “fasting of the flesh”, we don’t want to “afflict our souls”, we want our souls to find their rightful place in the Peace of the Lord.

Our type of fast is found in Isaiah 58:6, “Loose” the bands of Wickedness, we do so by binding the Strongman. We “undo the heavy burdens” by taking the Yoke of Jesus. We let the Oppressed go free by entering the perfect Law of Liberty as we see our own souls free of the works of the devil. The anointing comes because the Yoke is broken, the Fast we enter is to obtain the fullness of the Anointing, to enter the place in the New Man making our souls joyful spiritual laborers for Jesus.

Jesus taught on those who will be blessed by the Father, calling them brethren because they gave water, food, and the such (Matt 25:34-45). This teaching of Jesus is directed to those who do the Law, without knowing the Law of Faith. These are those who Sleep in Jesus, they are like the Remnant who operate in Mercy, yet for one reason or another, not their fault they didn’t become spiritual in nature. The Name of Jesus as the Son of man is centered in Mercy, the Name of Jesus as the Son of God is centered in Grace. As Jesus points out the group are “blessed of the Father”; therefore, they were doing the commandments of God as acts of Mercy (Matt 25:34). The Judgment finds four groups of people, the Jew who is judged to the five books of the Law, the Sea (those who sleep in Jesus), Death and Hell with their dead, these latter three are then judged according to their works of Mercy, yet we can’t find a place for the Living to be judged (Rev 20:12-13). We all face the Judgment Seat of God, but for us the Judgment Seat is found at the Table of the Lord, thus we judge ourselves, lest we be condemned with the world (I Cor 11:31).

Isaiah then talks about the Sabbath, where we find Jesus is our Sabbath. One can keep the day, yet never have Peace or Rest, but Jesus gave us a Peace and Rest for our souls, thus our Sabbath is a Who, not a What. When we deny the self, we die to the desires to do our carnal agendas (Isa 58:13).

One clue to the entering of the Saving of the soul is when the old man is exposed; if all we were is the old nature, why expose it? Or better who would expose it? The evidence of the New Man doing a work in us is proved in the exposure. Of course when exposed it will retaliate to show its supposed power, but in the process it finds it has no power. Our delight in the Lord is found in the Rest of the Lord (Heb 4:9, 4:12 & Isa 58:14). Regardless of the thickness of the veil, the Lord’s Hand can rip it from top to bottom (Isa 59:1-2).

In the latter days the Laodiceans are found in the wrong place with the wrong desires. The Woman holds a cup full of the blood of the prophets and saints, yet she gives it more honor than she does God (Rev 17:1-3). Even at that, God says, “Come out of her”, if they do, He will forgive and save them at the Judgment (Isa 59:3-8).

False teachings cause the backslider to grope for the Wall like a blind man, fables produce strongholds in the mind. The roar of the she bears against the mockers is close behind, those who said they were Christian, but lied are departing further and further from the Lord, the Truth has fallen in the Street, the Lord has seen it, and it displeases Him (Isa 59:9-15). The Lord looked about for an Intercessor and found none; therefore, He provided the Armor of God with His Righteousness, as an Arm reaching out for the lost (Isa 59:16-21). Notice the “garments of vengeance for clothing”? Why doesn’t Paul speak of this in the teaching on the Armor of God? This is the covering for the Night, not the Day. God will repay with the payment of Fury to His adversaries, thus the “garment of vengeance” is not assigned to us, it’s for those who make the enemies of Jesus His footstool.

Isaiah 59:19 is a verse quoted often, but we want to keep it in context, if someone moves the “comma” in this verse it would make it appear as if the Spirit is the flood, not so, the enemy is the flood. The flood is moving but the Spirit Stands, then the Spirit places the Standard up, causing the flood to run away. The flood is identified as people moving into a place they should not, as they are motivated by the devil (Rev 12:15 & 17:1-3).

The Lord hasn’t forgotten us; He tells us to rise and shine for the Glory of the Lord is still available for the one who seeks, asks and knocks (Isa 60:1). Darkness will cover the earth, the darkness here is the Night, thus we Arise as the Sun for the Day, the Night comes when no man can work (Isa 60:2). There is the Lesser Light of the Night, the light seen in Isaiah 60:3 as the Lesser Light. The Gentiles after the Rapture will come to the Lesser Light, whereas, the Greater Light goes with us in our Season. The Remnant remain in Jerusalem, we go ye into all the world, two different premises for two groups, yet both groups belong to Jesus. Paul noted this by saying, “But every man in his own order; Christ the Firstfruits; afterward they who are Christ’s at His coming” (I Cor 15:23). Two groups, the Firstfruits at the Rapture, then those who Belong to Jesus at His coming. However, the Rapture is still future tense, this is still the Day. God is still building the Wall, and looking for those to fill the City of the Lord. The Remnant are assigned the gates, they will enter when New Jerusalem (the Bride) descends, then Zion will be joined with New Jerusalem (Isa 60:14). Those who Sleep In Jesus will come with Him when He returns to heaven after the Judgment, it’s still true, no man comes to the Father except through Jesus, thus Jesus is the Judge, we’re not.

Our wilderness has a purpose, the wilderness of Jesus had a purpose, both bring us to the position to proclaim with confidence, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me” (Isa 61:1). The rest of this prophecy is for the Remnant as we read, “to appoint unto them who mourn in Zion” (Isa 61:3). We know from Luke 4:18-19 Jesus stopped short in quoting this verse, leaving off “and the day of vengeance of Our God, to comfort all who mourn” (Isa 61:2 & Luke 4:18-19). Why? The separation between Day and Night, this connects to the Intercessor with the “garment of vengeance”, thus from Isaiah 59:17, 61:3 and Luke 4:18-19 we find there is a division between Day and Night, we are not those of Vengeance, but those of Mercy and Grace, don’t mix them up.

Ezekiel will show us the 144,000 mourn in Jerusalem because of the abomination; John shows the 144,000 (Remnant) are marked on Zion after the Rapture (Ezek 9:4 Rev 6:12 & 7:1-9). We are called the priests of the Lord’s, the Remnant are called the ministers of God (Isa 61:6). If we allow the veil of unbelief to remain or ignore it, we are a shame, yet our shame will be doubled as our confusion multiplies (Isa 61:7-11).

Isaiah again goes to the Time of Comfort, showing how it will come to pass; the Remnant will receive a New Name with a crown of Life at the end (Isa 62:1-3). The gates are prepared for the Remnant, the Wall for the Church, Isaiah points to the gates for the Remnant (Isa 62:10-12). The other side of the coin is the judgment of God, the time when the Winepress will be trodden (Isa 63:3). The Great Gethsemane of God must be, the blood of the saints will be sprinkled on the robe of Jesus to proclaim the judgment (Isa 63:5). We either receive the Blood of Jesus sprinkled on us, or face the blood sprinkled on Him.

Isaiah speaks of the iniquity of the children in the wilderness, when they rebelled against the Lord. Paul used this area to show we can be sealed by the Holy Spirit, yet we can also grieve the Holy Spirit after we are sealed (Eph 4:30). Isaiah says, “but they rebelled and vexed (grieved) His Holy Spirit; therefore, He was turned to be their enemy” (Isa 63:10). How can this be? The Holy Spirit wasn’t given until Jesus was glorified? Prophetic, the kingdom of heaven is our wilderness, thus the prophet compares the children in the wilderness to those who grieve the Holy Spirit in our Season; the same thing Paul did with the Corinthians (I Cor 10:1-11). The word Turned shows the Holy Spirit was for them, but their corrupt communication caused the Spirit of God to become their enemy. This is the same context Paul uses in Romans when he says the Spirit “helps” us, the word help means the Holy Spirit is so bent on saving us, anything opposed to the premise is His enemy, even if we happen to be the ones opposed (Rom 8:26).

We are to remember the days of old, not only does this refer to the days of the Early church, but to the these days as well. Here is the clue to what this prophet is giving us, the children in the wilderness are a warning to us, they were free of Pharaoh and Egypt, but they vexed God by tempting Him. What was the purpose of the wilderness? To be trained in order to rule the Promised Land in a Godly manner, thus the reference. By prophecy God projected the attitude to the future, we enter the kingdom of heaven, but it ‘s not the end, we must continue to believe (Isa 63:9-15 & Mark 16:16). Here are the other two places where we find the title “Holy Spirit” in the Old Testament, showing all three references point to the New Testament. The Holy Ghost operated over the holy men inspiring them to write about the Spirit of Christ yet to come, but the Holy Spirit is strictly a New Testament concept as the Spirit of Holiness (Rom 1:3-4, Jn 7:39  & Eph 4:24). This is a vital area, since the children in the Wilderness didn’t have the Holy Spirit. There are seven references to the Holy Spirit in the Bible, three in the Old, four in the New. By Paul using these verses to show we are sealed by the Holy Spirit, yet we can grieve the Holy Spirit we find God speaking through the prophet using the children in the wilderness as a lesson to those who would be sealed with the Holy Spirit. The seal of the Holy Spirit of Promise isn’t the end of the race, only the beginning.

It was once said, “we must know how God speaks to us today”, it’s true, but if God spoke through these prophets who were not Born Again, how much more will He speak through us? God isn’t going to run off in the corners of heaven, and say, “You have My Son, that’s it, forget it, no I won’t listen”, rather we have the New Man, Another Comforter who still bears Witness, as he speaks on behalf of Jesus. God is a good preacher, He will speak to anyone who will listen. Perhaps it’s not a matter of knowing how God speaks, but simply having ears to hear Him speak. Just because God is talking, doesn’t mean we are listening.

Isaiah goes again to the end of all time saying the earth will be forever, only the forever is a ball of fire (Isa 64:2). Daniel saw the Beast with ten toes as mixed clay and iron; clay represents the flesh, iron bondage. Here in Isaiah we find the clay is the flesh of man, the iron connects to the bondage of idol worship, rebellion produces iniquity (Isa 64:8). The Rod Jesus uses to correct us is not idol worship, rather it’s more like the shepherd’s staff.

The Remnant won’t know Jesus as Jesus, thus He uses the term, “My God” in addressing them (Rev 3:12). They are a people not called by His Name (Jesus), but there are also those of the Seventh church who are walking in a place they should not be; Jesus calls out for them as well (Isa 65:1-4). They will not Deny His Name, we found His Name is defined and Proclaimed in Exodus 34:6-7. We have one aspect of His Name, they will finish the last aspect.

Some will refuse the call, rather they will continue to walk around thinking they are saved. They are abominable vessels unto the Lord, the warning of the Seventh church shows the result of self-deception, they think one thing, but God sees another (Isa 65:4-6). God will bring the Time of Comfort, the Sixth church will inherit the Mountains (Isa 2:1 & 65:9). God created New heavens for a people who were never promised heaven, those in the Rapture will be the first to dwell therein as ten thousand times ten thousand, yet the Remnant will be the Thousands from Thousands (Isa 65:17 & Rev 5:11).

The Time of Comfort will be like the time of Noah, during Noah’s time the child lived to be a hundred, during the Time of Comfort the curse will be lifted, peace on the land will be real (Isa 65:18-25). Wait, isn’t this heaven? No, the child lives to be a hundred then dies, yet the sinner is also seen. We know in heaven there is no death or sin, thus this is on the earth during the Time of Comfort. Again Isaiah shows the result as the people begin to worship a small idol here, a larger one there, then the abomination is found where it should not be (Isa 66:1-6). Does this sound like, “if they say Christ is here, or Christ is there” don’t believe them? Yes, the division of Seasons shows some during the Day say Jesus is the Christ, they will even say they are “Christ Like”, but their ways show they are wolves in sheep’s clothing. In the next Season they will run around pointing to idols saying, “there is your Christ”.

Before Jerusalem travailed, she brought forth the Man Child (Isa 66:7), we know this is the city from verse 6. John also shows the Woman gave birth to the Man Child, then the Woman entered the wilderness during our Season (Rev 12:2 & 12:6). The Church didn’t bring the Man Child, the Man Child brought the Church, it was Jerusalem who brought the Man Child, yet she abused her own Child. The Church was established on the Rock, not the Woman.

God has another child in the womb, the Remnant, they will have their time (Isa 66:9-13). How do we know? Isaiah 66:7 says “Man Child”, but 66:8 shows Zion will also travail and bring forth “children”, two different things. The Man Child is Jesus, recalling Jesus wept over Jerusalem, not the nation. The First Coming of the Man Child brought Salvation, the Second Coming brings Judgment. When Jesus comes again to the earth, it will be a dark day, not a day of joy, but a day of fire and judgment (Isa 66:15-21). God promises the Remnant will be saved, as long as heaven and earth remain, so does the promise to us, as well as the Remnant (Isa 66:22). In heaven all things are New, day to day. Nothing is old, thus there is no yesterday or tomorrow, only now (Isa 66:23). Hell will be now forever as well, but forever in torment in the lake of fire (Isa 66:24).

From Isaiah we gain some information on the difference between a Word and a Vision. A Word from the Lord is timeless, it can be given in a time for the time, or a time future, a Vision is always future, thus Isaiah had a Word for those in his time and for those in times to come, but his Vision was clearly for a time to come. However, a warning is a warning; everything Isaiah gives us is purposed to warn us not to cease in our belief and faith, the reward is well worth it. The prophet doesn’t paint a gloom and doom picture, there was hope and deliverance presented, if they receive it. Free moral choice was in their hands, just as it‘s in ours. There are times when it does look bad, but if we just look about we will find the Precious, knowing God is among us of a truth. God will send the Word of correction to us, just as He did to the Corinthians and the Galatians, but He will not force us to receive it. Learn to discern, don’t burn.

Next is Jeremiah, who was sent to address another group, yet his Word will nonetheless warn us of the dangers of religious conceit.

LESSON 7

MAJOR PROPHETS  I

Isaiah, Jeremiah and Lamentations

Part Two:

By Rev. G. Evan Newmyer

JEREMIAH

Jeremiah is going to open up some interesting areas, one will define whether God was seeking sacrifices, or obedience from the children; another is a division between the Precious and Vile. Jeremiah is also an example of how God plants the ministry into the person, it begins to grow in the person matching their desire. Jeremiah will also show just because God is talking, it doesn’t mean the people are listening. Communication is a two way street, we can’t expect God to answer our prayers, if we refuse to hear Him.

Jeremiah’s calling is much like Moses, Isaiah, you, or I. God tells Jeremiah, “before I formed you in the belly I knew you and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you and I ordained you a prophet unto the nations” (Jere 1:5). This doesn’t say Jeremiah knew God on some distant planet before the physical birth of Jeremiah, in fact it doesn’t say Jeremiah knew God at all. It shows how God saw the end of Jeremiah’s ministry, before Jeremiah was born. This is termed “predestination”, or the ability of God to know what we will do before we knew God. God is still the Alpha and Omega, while Jeremiah was answering the call, God saw it complete as a matter of history.

Both Isaiah and Jeremiah looked at their present state when they heard the call, both assumed it had to involve their might and power; however, God provides the power, we provide the feet and mouth. Jeremiah says, “I, Ah, Lord God!” or “Who me?”; then he adds his excuse by saying, “behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child” (Jere 1:6). Jeremiah heard God’s statement, but retorted with a fact, yet God wasn’t looking for facts, He was looking for a prophet. God wasn’t looking at Jeremiah in the womb or as a child, rather God said before Jeremiah was formed, God knew him. God was looking at Jeremiah the prophet, by saying, “Say not, I am a child” (Jere 1:7). God didn’t tell Jeremiah to go about saying, “I’m a prophet, I’m a prophet” nor does it mean Jeremiah is to say, “I’m not a child”, rather God is telling Jeremiah to stop saying he is but a child, thus Jeremiah was to stop confessing the factual evidence, so he could believe in God’s vision. Was Jeremiah a child? Yes, but if he kept confessing the fact, he would never enter the Vision. Wait, if the factual evidence showed Jeremiah was a child, doesn’t it mean God is telling Jeremiah to lie? Not at all, God asked Jeremiah to agree with the calling and vision of God. Simp0ly, God saw the ministry, He is asking Jeremiah to join with His vision. Jeremiah was Jeremiah, the anointing would make him a prophet. Of course the wrong answer would been, “Yes, Thee are correct oh Lord, I are a prophet indeed”. Two sides, God was looking for the Equal part, know you are incapable by knowing God is capable.

There is a difference between not saying something, and saying something not in line with God’s vision. God asks us to agree with His vision for us, thus He is looking at the Report in heaven, as for us we must have the Witness of the Water, Blood and Spirit. In the case of Jeremiah he must receive the calling, then comes the anointing for the calling. In either case we have to accept the call before we can be trained into it. When we refuse to enter God’s vision, we end calling God a liar. Painting oranges red doesn’t make them apples, Jeremiah didn’t go about saying, “I’m not a child”, rather he stopped saying he was a child, then moved his thoughts to agreed with the vision of God.

The courage had to grow in Jeremiah, but the seeds started with, “you shall go to all that I shall send you” (Jere 1:7). This wasn’t “do you think you can find time to prophesy a little today?”, or “if things go okay in the next couple of years, will you accept the call?”; rather, it was You Shall, if the Shall is there, it’s also coupled with “Be not afraid” (Jere 1:8). Today we think the prophet’s position is all glory and fame, but a true prophet comes with direction and doctrine, usually with a rebuke, or a warning to keep us on the right path.

Later Jeremiah will speak words not comfortable, even to him, but God had a good result in mind. Jeremiah will begin to see many things gone wrong, but they will begin to occupy his mind until all he sees is the vile, God will rebuke him (Jere 15:1-21). Every event will have blessing and cursing, the precious or the vile, whichever we place our minds on becomes what we find. The Precious may be hard to find, but if we’re there, it’s there.

Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, who was of the priests (II Kings 22:4 & 22:8), he was in the city of Anathoth when the Word of the Lord came to him. Anathoth was the same city Abiathar the priest, a close associate of king David was banished to by Solomon, because Abiathar backed the unsuccessful attempt by Adonijah to succeed David (I Kings 2:26). Since Jeremiah’s father was a priest, it stands he was more privy to the education system. It might sound strange in one respect, but right in line with God in another. Jeremiah will speak to princes, priests and the people, thus God picked one of their own to speak to them (Jere 1:1).

The Word came in the 13th year of the reign of Josiah the king of Judah, the number 13 has three metaphoric positions. It can mean one is in rebellion, or one is near rebellion, or rebellion is being broken, in this case, the nation was in rebellion, thus Jeremiah was sent to expose (Gen 14:4, Esther 3:12-13 & Gen 17:25). Jeremiah begins during the reign of Josiah, continuing through the reign of Josiah’s son, Jehoiakim, into the eleventh year of Zedekiah another son of Josiah. One phrase will stand out with Jeremiah; “The Word of the Lord came unto me, saying” (Jere 1:4). Some of us wait and wait for the “the Word of the Lord to come unto us, saying”. Others will tell us, “what are you doing here?”, we respond with, “waiting for the Word of the Lord to come unto me, saying”. “Well don’t you think you should be doing something”, “I am, I’m waiting for the Word of the Lord to come unto me, saying”. Wait on the Word to come, before you move.

Paul told the Corinthians, “lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power the Lord has given me to edification”, with “be of good comfort, be of one mind”, which came after, “examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith; prove your own selves” (II Cor 13:10-11 & 13:5). Paul’s first letter was a mild rebuke, his second a sound rebuke, yet both were directional and doctrinal in content. Jeremiah will bring direction, but he will be mocked; he will bring doctrine, yet be imprisoned, he will bring the Word of the Lord unto exhortation, yet be attacked; therefore, God said, “Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with you to deliver you” (Jere 1:8). In the end Jeremiah will be the only Jew told by the oppressors, “go where you want, do what you want”, but in the interim he faced many stones of theological abuse, rocks of religious conceit, with the pits of despair, thus the result tells the tale, not the event.

Recalling how Isaiah had a coal from the altar touch his lips, we now see how the Lord put His hand on the mouth of Jeremiah (Jere 1:9). Does it mean Isaiah was more sinful than Jeremiah? Hardly, it shows God has many ways, He uses the way which best brings the intended result. In both cases we find it was their mouth, not their hearts, the sin nature wasn’t forgiven, their iniquity regarding speaking was. Jeremiah’s ministry was to Root out, Pull down, Destroy, To throw down, To build and To plant, giving us six points (Jere 1:9). Before the Building or Planting could begin, there had to be a (1) Rooting out, (2) a Pulling down the strongholds, then (3) Destroy the rebellion and religious conceit, then (4) Throw down pride, then would come (5) the Building, and (6) Planting. How does this relate to us? Foundation, with the New Man in residence we have a great deal of renovation taking place. The New Man renews the house, without destroying the house, rather the idea is to save the house (soul). In our case we find periods of uprooting, at first the real hindrances go, but there are other hidden roots, they must go as well. It is a Process, or did we say that?

The idols of man are many, not all are seen with the naked eye, pride is an idol, ego and religious conceit are idols as well, legalism is a massive idol. God views the worship of any idol as an act of adultery against Him, thus one can appear morally clean, yet still have an adulterous affair with legalism, pride, or religious conceit.

The sign of Jeremiah’s ministry was the “rod of an almond tree”, the rod is used for correction, but Almonds refer to Life, thus God’s purpose was to spare the children from death (Jere 1:11). Archaeological evidence found in what is known as the “Lachish Letters”, or pieces of pottery written on by the defenders of Lachish against the Babylonian invasion making reference to, “the prophet” in Jerusalem (Jeremiah), yet they termed him a Defeatist. His message was one of encouragement, but ears who refuse to hear will turn the message into defeat. Jeremiah was telling the people Babylon was coming, the false prophets were saying, God will spare us. The so-called “positive” statement was really the negative, but the assumed negative was the positive.

The Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, saying “What do you see?” (Jere 1:13). Jeremiah saw the seething pot of turmoil coming from the north upon the inhabitants of the land. The pot was facing south, but the trouble was coming from the north, thus the children were not facing the trouble, they were looking to Egypt. An element during Jeremiah’s prophetic ministry was the constant false thinking of the people how the Temple would never be destroyed. Would a Good God allow the Temple to be taken by the heathen? Never, it will stand, as we stand with it, regardless of how evil we are. Sound foolish? It was, and still is. Jeremiah is told the enemy will enter the gates of Jerusalem thereby taking the city. The children were burning incense to other gods, while worshipping the works of their hands (Jere 1:16). Jeremiah needed to move in courage in order to gain it, thus God tells him, “gird up your loins”, to us this would be akin to “Put on the whole armor of God” (Jere 1:17 & Eph 6:13). Jeremiah was going to see “faces” of hate, thus God told him twice, not to be dismayed at their faces (Jere 1:8 & 1:17). Faces can change our mode of preaching in a second, “they’re not liking this”, “they are looking for things to throw at me”, “they are really offended, better back off”; the faces can cause us to leave the anointing as we run to the smooth sayings of compromise. Faces of praise can also be a hindrance, “man they are liking this, better add some more”, we then move from the anointing to the flesh. Don’t allow faces to change our path, we waited for the “Word of the Lord to come unto us, saying”, now deliver it as God desires. If we allow faces to change our path, we will be confounded (Jere 1:17).

Jeremiah’s ministry was one of offense to bring correction, he was told how he would be Against the whole land, Against the kings of Judah, Against the princes thereof, Against the priests thereof, and Against the people of the land (Jere 1:18). Wow, doesn’t sound right. Perhaps it’s our view of the word “against”, or how we tend to use it. Jeremiah was against the evil path the people were taking, not to belittle them, but to bring correction in order to save them. Again this is a nation called of God, being “against” in this case, shows the prophet was against the things against God, thus the man was For God. Even if it meant he wouldn’t have friends, or companions in the battle, he nonetheless would speak for God, it was more important to Jeremiah than the entire nation being his friend.

There are times when we won’t move unless we get a “strong encouraging word” from God, yet this prophet heard, “they shall fight against you”, but he also heard, “they shall not prevail against you” (Jere 1:19). Some of us hear the first part, and we’re gone like the wind, “nope, I’m not going for this, it wasn’t God”, but we forgot the latter part. We at times forget we don’t serve a multiple God, but we do serve a God with multiple methods to accomplish the goal. Regardless of the Fire, He is still able to Deliver us (Jere 1:19).

The people will also have encouragement, but they are told to Remember, whereas Jeremiah is told not to be afraid of what was to come. This division gives us a difference between God telling us to Remember, which is a call to belief, and God telling us what lays ahead as our call for faith. Our faith is seen, but it’s the substance or confidence of things hoped for, but the foundation of faith is not seen, until the faith is applied. Once a person applies their faith we will know the source, if self, their faith will be self-based, if God centered, it will be Spirit based.

We know Jesus was Resurrected, for us it’s past tense as a point of belief, but we also desire to be partakers of His Resurrection, a point of faith. We didn’t see Peter’s shadow heal, or hear Paul preach, but we read about them and believed. Belief is the springboard for faith, but don’t confuse belief as the unseen evidence of Faith. Belief is a matter of knowledge, faith without knowledge doesn’t know what the Hope is. Belief and Faith are connected in the Now, but they are different. When anyone brings unbelief, or doubt to the Bible they are attempting to erode our belief, which in turn will weaken our faith position. Doubters and pouters have a place, they encourage us to believe the more, but they are nonetheless natural, they also tend to listen to the spirit lusting to envy.

Experiences are important, they are belief builders, but if we forget the victories of the past, we will end counting the stripes, weakening our foundation. Belief in the historical records is fine for the worldly, we have to believe in the unbelievable attributes of Christ which are found in the Bible. The requirement to fit “shall be saved” is continual belief (Mark 16:16 & Rom 10:9).

Even God remembers the city’s youth, the kindness and love which it used to possess, if it was then; where is it now? (Jere 2:2). Like the children, if they had faith to cross the sea to enter the wilderness, where was their faith in the wilderness? If we believed to enter, where is our belief now? The nation was the holiness unto the Lord, the firstfruits of His increase, although He will allow the heathen to take the city, woe unto them who do (Jere 2:3). This shows us how God will allow the attacks of the Wicked, but woe unto them, and woe unto us if we don’t receive the correction, or remember the lesson.

Although the inhabitants would have many chances to repent and change paths their religious conceit, and self-deceived ideas of “the temple, the temple”, caused them to remain on the same path of destruction (Jere 1:11-14). Trusting in something of God, is much different than trusting in God. The priests are not asking the people to seek the Lord (Jere 2:8), the pastors have transgressed against the Lord (Jere 2:8). Wait, pastors? Did they have Pastors? The word Pastor is the Hebrew Raah meaning To tend the flock, or To rule, as in a “ruler of Israel”. The Pastor in the New Testament is the person who makes sure the people have all the spiritual material they need (I Pet 5:2-3).

Not only were the priests and pastors going astray, but the prophets were now “prophets of Baal”. The same Jezebel nature was seen in the days of Elijah, is also seen here (Rev 2:20-23). God tells His people to look at the heathen, does the heathen change their gods? Why then would the children of God change theirs? (Jere 2:11). What evil did God do? Perhaps the land wasn’t as nice as they expected, perhaps they are not as happy as they wanted, perhaps they think “those things have passed away”, or perhaps God has changed, or now is speaking to them through idols. God changes not, if He spoke to Abraham, then He speaks to us.

Jeremiah will also see a preview of the end times, as Magog will come from the north comprised of all the families of the earth (Jere 1:15). God will first utter His judgments, not because God desires it, rather it comes because “all their wickedness, who have forsaken Me” (Jere 1:16). God never left them, they left God, thus God is true to His promise, He will remain with them, but as their enemy, because they have made Him their enemy. To the Jew an idol is a devil, doctrines of devils are not what devils teach, it’s teaching unbelief, the biggest unbelief of all is teaching others to engage in idol worship. It’s we who need to examine ourselves to ascertain if we are walking in the promise, or if we have vexed the Holy Spirit with corrupt communication.

Jeremiah is assured of one thing, the people will reject his word, but it doesn’t stop God or Jeremiah from presenting the warning. It’s not our job to believe for others, but is our job to tell them the truth. Jesus knew the Cross was ahead, He knew the religious leaders would reject Him, but it didn’t stop Him from teaching in the temple, or presenting the promise. Simply because God presents the vision, calling, or promise doesn’t mean the people will believe it, we must enter by faith to bring it to pass in our lives. Many events will come to pass, which side of the event we end on, depends on our faith in God to deliver us from evil, as He will from the Hour of Temptation.

Jeremiah would “cry in the ears of Jerusalem”, pointing to the leaders of God’s House who are suppose to have ears to hear (Jere 2:1). However, God refers to Jerusalem as being in the wilderness, how can it be? Jerusalem metaphorically is the place of the Temple, the home for the leaders. Although the children who entered the wilderness followed Moses, they failed to follow God (Jere 2:2). Jerusalem means Teaching of Peace, but it’s known as the City of Peace (Gen 14:18 & Ps 76:2). Historically Jerusalem was in existence well before the Israelites, or David took it from Jebusites, it’s mentioned first in Joshua 10:1, we will also find God saw the city and said, “As is the mother, so is the daughter” (Ezek 16:44). Then God tells us He found the city, at the time the city’s mother was a Hittie, it’s father was an Amorite, yet God adopted it (Ezek 16:45). However, it refers to the city, not the people of God. Israel is the Firstfruits unto God; whereas we are the Firstfruits of the Spirit (Jere 2:3 & Rom 8:23). Here God simply wants to know what wrong He did, or what fault did the fathers find in Him to cause the children to rebel, and seek after other gods (Jere 2:5).

The religious leaders were looking at the wilderness, as well as the Red Sea experience as a “was” or had passed away, they presumed the temple made them more holier than the children in the wilderness (Jere 2:6). They forgot God wanted the Tabernacle, David wanted the Temple; Moses did as God desired, yet God honored David’s request. They also forgot how the children had the Tabernacle, but God destroyed those who believed not (Jude 5). They were about as secure as a twig in a hurricane, yet they didn’t know it.

The nations were gathering all around the city, the people of the city looked to the past victories, but ignored the sins of the present. The priests were not seeking the Lord, they were seeking intellectualism, the pastors were in sin (unbelief), their iniquity was failing to guide the people in truth, the prophets prophesied by Baal, these three pillars stopped the glory of the Lord from operating (Jere 2:8).

These people are being warned, they had been warned for many years, the nation of God was in danger, they were changing from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to the god of religion and intellect. God continues to ask, What idol worshipping nation has changed their god? Why then do the people of God change theirs? (Jere 2:11). God’s people have committed two errors, they have forsaken the Fountain of Living Waters, and made their own cisterns (self) which can’t hold water (mercy – Jere 2:13). Living Waters? The Bible tells us man could not have the Living Water until Jesus was glorified (Jn 7:38-39), what gives? Ahh, they had forsaken the Fountain of Living Water, defining God as the Fountain, the Living Waters as words based in Mercy and Life, thus when we have the Spirit which is of God in us we become a Well, the New Man the producer of Mercy with Life (vs. 2 & I Cor 14:21-22).

Jesus preached, “if any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He who believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of Living Water” , this Jesus spoke of them who would receive the Spirit (Jn 7:37-38). Living Water is Mercy coupled with the Life by the Spirit. The very next morning after Jesus taught on the Living Water, the religious leaders found a woman whom they knew committed adultery and brought her to Jesus. They knew the Law, they knew both the man and woman must be punished or there is no violation, but they wanted to tempt the Lord, not seek justice (Jn 8:2-6). The night prior they held their John 7 meeting, they voted to trap Jesus, but they were about to find no one traps the Lord. Jeremiah says, “they who depart…shall be written in the earth because they have forsaken the Lord, the Fountain of Living Waters” (Jere 17:13), but he also adds, “Heal me, O Lord and I shall be healed; save me and I shall saved: for You are my praise” (Jere 17:14). Whether Jesus wrote their names, or the verse from Jeremiah, the religious leaders knew what He was doing. After Jesus writes in the ground, He says, “I Am the Light of the world: he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the Light of Life” (Jn 8:12). This is the same as “heal me, Oh Lord and I shall be healed, save me and I shall be saved”. The Pharisees had the opportunity to speak repentance, but their ego and religious pride caused them to turn and walk away.

These people are told their own wickedness will correct them, their backsliding will reprove them (Jere 2:19). How can it be? They removed themselves from the protection, leaving the door open for the invaders. God reminds these people and us, how giving opportunity to the devil begins when we ignore God, or venture into idol worship. The people said, “we will not transgress”, or we said, “Yes, Lord I will follow You”, a vow is a vow (Jere 2:20). Each time God delivered us, each time we said we will obey and believe; yet our failure to keep our vows caused our own correction and reproof. At times we blame the devil, but the devil can’t do a thing to us, unless we give him place (opportunity – Eph 4:27).

God gave us the Vine of Life, the Wine of the Spirit, yet we have the ability to turn the Vine into strange wine (the cup of devils – Jere 2:21); strange wine comes from the Strange Woman in high places. God didn’t change the Vine, rather the people took the Vine and twisted the product into evil (Jude 4). God asks them, “How can you say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim?” (Jere 2:23). The word Polluted is a different Hebrew word than the one used in Isaiah in the phrase, “keep the sabbath from polluting it” (Isa 56:2). In Isaiah the word Polluting is the Hebrew Chalal meaning To Defile, here in Jeremiah the word Polluted is the Hebrew Tame meaning To be unclean in a moral or ritual sense. The people mixing with idols was an act of adultery in God’s eye, although they spent time in the Temple, they also spent time with their idols: a little leaven still leavens the whole. They “played the harlot”, from this we see how the Woman in the Book of Revelation changed from the One who brought the Man Child to the Whore based on her idol worship (Jere 3:6, Rev 12:5 & 17:5).

In Jeremiah 3:1 God says, “They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again?”. They say? It was in the Law of Moses. Didn’t God say this? Was Moses a whacko making up his own law? What gives? The Law of Moses was given to Moses by God, but it wasn’t God’s Law. God is Spirit, His Law is Spirit, the Law of Moses was not Spirit, or spiritual, it contains carnal ordinances for carnal people. Therefore, in Matthew Jesus says, “It was said of them of old time”, rather than “God said in the Law”. God saw the Law of Moses as a great separation between God and the people, the Law of the Spirit Unites God to His people. The Law of Moses was given to Moses, who gave it to the people, thus the, “of them” would be correct. The Law of Moses has power and authority, it’s also a principality, thus it can bless or curse, as it was designed. It rewards the doer when the doer does any aspect called for, but it also finds the same doer guilty of sin. The Law of the Spirit is designed to remove the person from sin, not condemn them for it.

In this case the real pollution is what the people did to the land, metaphorically we can see this is akin to polluting the kingdom of heaven (Body). Blessed are those in the Body who seek to walk in the Spirit, but Woe to those who pollute the Body with unbelief, doubt, or the spirit of man. God tells these people how they polluted the land, how they did whoredoms, how they caused a divorce, yet He will take them back if they repent. This pertains to the Day as well, as long as it’s Day the wicked can repent; however, Paul tells us the Spirit speaks of a departing from the faith (I Tim 4:1-4). The wording “Shall Depart” in First Timothy is the Greek Aphistemi meaning to depart, but it was also used to define an action of divorce (if one departs), thus Christ doesn’t divorce the Wicked, they divorce Christ by departing from the Faith.

If a wife was put away, if she remarries, the first husband can’t take her back, but if she didn’t remarry, he could, it’s the point. If they claim a marriage to idols, God wants to see where they divorced Him. If they claim idols, then God will demand a divorce to keep Him from being married to an adulteress.

In Jeremiah 3:3 we find the phrase “whore’s forehead”, this defines the “mark of the Beast” on the forehead, or the manner in which one thinks. They had Thoughts joining them to idols, thus the mark of the Beast on the forehead is a thinking of idols to the point one serves them. The mark of the Beast in the hand is using the ways of the world or the ways of the Wicked as our means of security, associating to “worshipped the works of their own hands” (Jere 1:16). A “whore’s forehead” also entails one being so proud, they refuse to be ashamed for their wicked deeds; rather than repent for their unbelief, they promote it, thus idol worship in any form is considered unbelief by God.

All the prophets will explain the “mark, name and number of the Beast”, it’s not a computer chip, but an attitude conducive to the thinking of the devil. We will find God telling the “children of Judah” how they set their abominations in the house which is called by His name. It would seem as if they placed an abomination in the Temple (Jere 7:30); however, as we will see they didn’t place the actual abominations in the temple, rather they entered the Temple with the thoughts of idols on their minds. These people trusted in how they kept the Temple free of idols, which would appear as if God was mistaken, but God is pointing to the “forehead” or what is in the mind. Gentile rulers have polluted the temple in times past, the destruction in 70 AD was by the hand of a drunken solider of Titus who tossed a torch into the temple causing all the gold to melt between the massive stones. The people torn the stones apart to get the gold, thus the gold meant more to them than the Temple. Although Gentiles have polluted the Temple, the Jews have not thus far, yet in the very end the Woman will not only allow it, she will encourage it.

In order to gain from some of this, let’s back up one chapter where the Strangers are seen. We recall how the Strangers were connected to the Strange Woman, now God says His people loved the Strangers and followed them, rather than follow Him (Jere 2:25). These Strangers are idols, to a Jew an idol is a devil.

When the children would find themselves in trouble, they would call out, “Arise Oh Lord, save us”, but prior they were calling the idols their father (Jere 2:27). This is a type of false repentance, they seek help from God in the face of danger, but they are quick to forget. Judas repented himself, or entered self-repentance; he was remorseful, but only because the plan didn’t turn out the way he wanted. Judas felt by giving back the money he would gain absolution for his sin, showing his concern was based in the love of money. When the religious rulers rejected the money, he hung himself, but he never wept bitterly as did Peter, he never looked on the face of the Lord, as did Peter. Peter wanted to do something for the Lord and failed because he was weak, but didn’t know it; Judas wanted to do something to the Lord, much different. Peter lacked the wherewithal, based on his misconception of who he felt he was. After Pentecost Peter was in the hands of Another Comforter who gave him strength to do all what the Lord desired of him.

The Armor of God has a Sword, Jesus has the Two-edged Sword, but the wicked have a false sword of corruption. The wicked sword of the mouth can destroy the prophets of God, just as easy as the Sword of the Spirit (Rhema) can speak as a prophet (Jere 2:30 & Eph 6:17). When we discourage a prophet with the wicked sword, we will turn the Sword of God against us.

These people were sacrificing their children to Baal, surely the Lord’s anger is turned against them (Jere 2:34). Abortion in the world is bad enough, but the abortion of the Babes in Christ on the altar of natural reasoning is worse.

They were going about saying, “I have not sinned, I have not sinned” yet their Testimony and Witness were much different (Jere 2:35). Jeremiah gives us the classic between what one says, and what their Witness says, as well as explaining why Jesus doesn’t receive the Testimony of men. The Testimony of these people was “the Temple”, and “God will save us”, but their Witness showed they were idol worshipers. It would seem they were “speaking in faith”, but they were speaking from presumption. God said one thing, they said another wanting God to perform to their words.

Babes in Christ move through the pasture gaining, but all of us can pick up “strange wine” along the path. The Word in us is fully able to discern, giving us a lesson in the process. However, our own soulish reactions can discourage the Babe in Christ, causing the abortion of the seed, or death of the innocent (Jere 2:34-35). Encouragement moves the Babe to the Wine of the Spirit, discouragement causes them to reject all wine, strange or good. The people were coming with “new ways” to worship, or “new ways” to find the Lord, yet their ways were an abomination (Jere 2:36-37). Not all “new ways” are Godly ways, thus the false prophets were speaking words not from the Lord, yet the people had the ability to look at their condition to determine the truthfulness of the words spoken.

As we saw, the Law allowed for God to put away His wife; however, the Father didn’t marry another, neither did His wife, rather she was found with Strange lovers. If she would have married, then God could never taken her back, but since she didn’t remarry, thus He says, “Return unto Me” (Jere 3:1). The showers were withheld, the blessing remained in heaven because they refused to be ashamed (Jere 3:3). It didn’t pass away, rather they rejected it by covering themselves in religious conceit. However, these things are written for our admonishment, we can’t view them as “history”. We learn so we can discern, so we won’t burn.

Jeremiah begins to involve the Body; however, this is not the Body in general, rather it’s akin to those who fall away from the faith. Jeremiah identifies this element as “Judah the sister”. The Woman in the Book of Revelation is not Judah, but the City. Judah is a metaphor for the kingdom of heaven; Judah has “good sisters” (Wheat) and treacherous sisters (Tares). Then we find the phrase, “and her treacherous sister Judah saw it”, the word Saw is the Hebrew Raah meaning To view, Inspect, or To learn from. This shows us how Judas was given all the information he needed through the history of these people, there was no reason for him to follow his lust to envy.

The Old Testament teaches us how the folly of natural man leads to destruction, for us to remain with natural reasoning when Jesus has made it possible for us to be Born Again is not only stupid, it’s dangerous. Natural reasoning laced with natural knowledge leads one to religious conceit and pride (Jere 3:7 & James 3:14-16).

The Holy Ghost used the Old Testament to reveal the mysteries to Paul, thus Paul knew there would be a falling away from the faith. God still calls out, “Return unto Me”, it’s only too late after the Rapture, not before (Jere 3:7). God’s wrath is stayed, His concern is for all come to the saving knowledge of the Gospel so none will be lost, but the day will come when it changes from “saved” to “judgment”. Although God would not leave them or forsake them, it also includes God bringing the punishment and Justice (Jere 3:8).

The metaphoric content extends here, as we discover how idol worship joins one to the house of the wicked, placing them among devils. Judah feared not and went her way with idols as she played the harlot (Jere 3:8). The Wicked have no fear of God, the reference here is to the Wicked who play with mental idols, yet claim the Lord. Judah did turn to the Lord, but not with her whole heart, rather it was “feignedly”, the word Feignedly is the Hebrew Sheqer meaning A falsehood, it was used to show a False prophecy, not a false prophet. It’s akin to false repentance, or having a Name saying we have life, yet we are dead (Jere 3:10, I Cor 11:1-7, Rev 3:1 & 3:16). They proclaimed God as their Maker, but not their Lord. They held the temple as Holy, but ignored their unholy condition. Many people speak of natural man as “created in God’s image”, but natural man is under the hand of the spirit of disobedience, run by the spirit lusting to envy. The Image of God is found in the New Man, not the natural state of man. Although these people could not be Born Again, they could obey God by rejecting idols.

Backsliding Israel justified herself, as she looked at her “good works” as her sign of holiness, but she played the harlot nonetheless (Jere 3:11-12). They were told to prepare their hearts, yet Preparation begins with repentance, coupled with their acknowledgment of their transgressions (Jere 3:13). God tells them, “you have not obeyed My voice”; Jesus told us to become Witnesses by having the Witness of the Spirit (Acts 1:6-8). God has given us Pastors with knowledge and understanding, yet we find there are false ones as well, the Unction over the Body is fully able to detect the false if we hold to the Truth (Jere 3:15).

Jeremiah then gives us a dual prophecy; when Israel is gathered in her land in Peace, then the Door to the House of David will be open, but prior to the time the increase of people into the Kingdom of heaven will take place, thus showing the Division between Salvation and Judgment. Israel has part of her land now, but she is hardly at peace. Instead of saying, “The Ark Of The Covenant”, we seek the Spirit of Christ (Jere 3:16). The Time of Comfort will again bringing the center of the Lord’s knowledge from Jerusalem, then all nations will gather to Jerusalem, but Jerusalem is the Lord’s footstool (Jere 3:17). It’s important to see how God called Israel His wife, not Jerusalem, or Judah. Jesus is the Lion from the Tribe of Judah, He is not the Lion from Israel. Jerusalem is not noted as either Israel or Judah, thus we have several women; Israel, Judah, Jerusalem of the earth as the adopted daughter, then the Church as New Jerusalem as the Bride of Christ.

God divides the Remnant from the city by marking them on Zion, thus we have those who are truly Israel as the Remnant, the Woman as the City, Judah metaphorically as the Body, the tents of Judah as those who walk in the Spirit. We can view Judah as the kingdom of heaven, the “tents of Judah” as the Kingdom of God. Since Judah is a metaphor for the Body, we find the purpose for God’s correction is for us to put away imaginations, as we set our focus on becoming New Jerusalem, in order to ascend as the Bride to receive the Remnant on the last day, with all those who pass the Book of Life, thus Judah will walk with Israel (Jere 3:18). However, God says, “How shall I put you among the children and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations?” (Jere 3:19). The Temple to these people was their protection, they held what we could term a “once templed, always templed” thinking. God was Bound, His will for these people was Bound in heaven. It wasn’t because God didn’t want to bless them, rather Choice was in their hands, thus God was bound by their actions, not by His power (Jere 3:19). The Blessing would still go on its intended path, but the people walked on their own self-based path which ended in captivity.

Jeremiah then shows God will not leave us nor forsake us, it’s we can leave Him (Jere 3:20-21). These people turned their backs on God, yet God didn’t leave them, He sent prophet after prophet. In truth, it will be God who allows them to be placed in bondage, but He still didn’t leave them. The devil didn’t punish them, the world didn’t punish them, God did, but He did it based on their iniquities and rebellious behavior.

The Testimony should be, “The Lord He is God”, but without the Witness those words make us a shame. Shame devoured these people, they sinned against their Lord, not because they refused to do the Law, but because they refused to bow and submit to the Lord (Jere 3:21-25). What God purposed for them, will pass them by: what God desires not to do, must be done. Did God know all this would happen? Yes, from the foundation of the world. So why even begin if it was going to end like this? Opportunity, God presents us opportunity in order to make a choice. These events happened, yet God used them as warnings for us so we can make a choice as well, thus we can see the trap of religious conceit, it can destroy our walk.

Instead of yelling, “The temple”, or “once protected always protected”, God tells them to say the “Lord lives”, then prove it with their Witness of Truth, Judgment and Righteousness (Jere 4:2). Saying something and doing it are different, God looks for those who say and do. In our case we must seek the Father by the Spirit and Truth; we will find Judgment is Mercy; Righteousness is Grace; Peace is Holiness and Joy unspeakable is the Lord’s Correction unto Perfection.

There are steps to produce the fruit of repentance; the Pharisees were not willing to repent, they assumed they had nothing to repent for (Luke 3:8). Two areas of religious conceit, one is thinking there is no way they can sin, the other is thinking they sin all the time. True repentance is the acknowledgment of the error, with the added desire to be improved by coming to God, then trusting in God to repair the damage caused by the error. Repenting to avoid the danger for the moment is not True Repentance. Repenting because things are not going the way we want is not True Repentance. When the danger passes, or things are going our way again, the repentance is soon forgotten. These people were trusting in the Temple, some today trust in fables. Jesus said, the Sower sows the Word, He didn’t say the Sower will till the ground (Mark 4:14). The Ground is our responsibility, it’s up to us to “break up fallow (vacant) ground” (Jere 4:3). The Seed will be Sown, regardless of the Ground condition, thus it’s better to have Soft Teachable Ground, watered with Mercy fit for the Growth of the Seed.

We make many choices, the only decision we had in the world was to either come to the Lord, or reject Him. Things happen, although we were victims of circumstances in the world, those circumstances nonetheless pointed us to God. God has a purpose in all things, as all things have a purpose. The rain falls on the just and unjust, but only the just know why. The call in Jeremiah 4:4 is prophetic in nature, it calls for the “men of Judah” and the “inhabitants of Jerusalem”, but the context points only to those of the Day, thus we find the “men of Judah” pointing to the kingdom of heaven, the “inhabitants of Jerusalem” to those in the Kingdom of God (New Jerusalem). The phrase “circumcise your heart” was defined for us by Paul as a circumcision not made with hands (Rom 2:29 & Col 2:11), it’s a  sign by God regarding the New Covenant. Here we find it means to cut away the fleshly heart which holds us bound to the spirit of man and his religious conceit (Jere 4:4). Abraham was known as the father of the circumcision, meaning the only one whom God granted the right as a sign to enter a Covenant made between God and Abraham. In our case it’s an act by the Holy Ghost giving us right to enter a Covenant made between the Father and Son, evidenced by the Seal of the Holy Spirit (Rom 4:9-25).

Jeremiah 4:4 also shows the division between the Day and Night, in the Day we find the circumcision not made with hands, but in the Night we find the fury of God coming as a fire which no one can quench. Then God tells them to go ahead and attempt to find safety, blow the trumpet, run to the cities of defense, it will do no good, for God will bring an “evil” (Gentile nations) from the north for a great “destruction” (Jere 4:4-5). The word Destruction is the Hebrew Sheber meaning destruction, or breach, as in breach of contract. The context pointing to the North is correct regarding location, but the term also means an element over something. Today the Jew goes “up to Jerusalem” regardless of where they are, thus showing them there is no city higher than Jerusalem. When God sends a people “from the North” it means He has granted them power to overcome those He has sent them to.

Verses 23 through 29 are used by some to support the Gap Theory, but they really point to the end not the beginning. It all has to be connected back to the fire and fury of the Lord coming because of the iniquity and the leaders deceiving the people (vs. 10). Back in Genesis 1:1 God saw the world as void and in darkness, no cities, no man, here we find He beheld the mountains (nations) trembling, then He saw the “fruitful place” was a wilderness (vs. 26). If it was void and in darkness, how then could there be a fruitful place? God said the Night will be as the Garden, sin will be defined yet forgiven as the Night begins based on the repentance (sackclothe). The devil will be bound, yet the Beast of the Earth comes with the working of Satan. In the end the cities will be destroyed in the lake o fire.

In verse 27 God reminds the people they owned the land sabbath time, based on the seven year land sabbath (Lev 25:4). They owed the land 70 years of sabbaths, or 7 times 70, for a total of 490 years, thus God forgave them 70 times 7, allowing them 490 years to repent, but even 70 times 7 reached an end, it was time to pay the 70 years back to the land. God will see the land desolate, but it will not be the end. Verse 28 shows God will not turn back, it is spoken, God is not a man that He should lie. The avoidance of the wrath is to repent and get right with God, but will they?

Jeremiah 4:30-31 goes to the end times again, the “woman in travail” is Jerusalem the city (Rev 12:1-2). The woman brought forth a Man Child, the Man Child was “caught up” (same Greek word Paul used for the catching away – Rev 12:5).

Jeremiah was often termed the Weeping Prophet, but it wasn’t for his condition or position, rather his tears came from the pain the people were causing God. Jeremiah had clarity, he saw the religious conceit, he knew what was going on. The prophet with clarity is often a sad person when religious conceit is ruling the masses. The anguish of God was being felt by the prophet, he was the tool God was using to reach out time and again to a people who were standing in religious conceit (Jere 4:19-21). Jeremiah knows the truth of statement, “the Lord has spoken, what can I do but prophesy”.

Will God destroy the Righteous with the Wicked? No, so He tells the prophet to go into Jerusalem search it out, is there one who executes true judgment, or is seeking Truth? (Jere 5:1). They say the “Lord lives” but then we read “surely they swear falsely” (Jere 5:2). What? The Lord doesn’t live? Wait, they say, but they don’t live up to the words. It’s easy to say, “I am a Christian”, but it takes the Spirit in us to live up to the title. It’s easy to say, “Jesus is Lord”, but no one calls Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost (I Cor 12:3).

The Longsuffering of God is seen in these verses, He sent prophet after prophet, He chastened them, He stricken them, but they have not grieved. The past evidence shows He destroyed those who believed not in the wilderness (Jude 5), but these people reject the warning, as they refuse to receive correction (Jere 5:3).

Jeremiah then goes to the “great men” or the elders, surely they know the way of the Lord (Jere 5:5). However, they have altogether broken the yoke as well. This is not the yoke of bondage, but the yoke of the Covenant. This explains why Jesus tells us to take of His yoke in order to find rest for our souls, His yoke is the New Covenant. God then asks how can He pardon them? They have turned to idols (are no gods), they have done all the things God asked them not to do, yet they have not done what God asked them to do. Their iniquity took them to sin, it always does. When we are unequal, we will attempt to fill the void with some carnal, or natural element. Being Equal means we do the Acts, but we also have the Ways, thus we can do the Acts, but hold the Ways of the old man making us unequal (Matt 7:21-23).

God again says He will not make a full end (Jere 5:10), but the land will be desolate. The people will be in captivity until the land is paid what they owe it, 70 years of sabbaths. This becomes the main issue, their idol worship was bad enough, violating the sabbath for the land, worse.

Jeremiah 5:14 is a preview of the Judgment, defining the double-edged Sword coming out of the mouth of Jesus. The Word in us is sharper than any sword, thus it’s not a sword, but it will produce the Sword of the Spirit (James 1:21 & Eph 6:17). The Sword of the Spirit is the Rhema, the word Sword means a small knife used to bring a sacrifice. The double-edged Sword is much different, it will cut both ways, it judges the Acts and Ways of a person.

The people were enjoying the blessing, but rejected the One who blessed them. They were rich, feeling they were in need of nothing, they trusted in the Temple, a building made of hands. God calls them Foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, but refuse to see, who have ears, but refuse to hear (Jere 5:21). Faith comes by hearing, but the hearing by the Rhema, the Rhema is defined is seeking Life and Spirit (Jn 6:63). Faith can come and go, but without ears to hear, we will not receive.

Wait, I thought we were never to call anyone a fool. True, but Paul called the Galatians foolish for seeking the Abrahamic Covenant (Gal 3:1). Jesus used a word  meaning “void of God”, no one is void of God until they enter the “resurrection of damnation”, here it means they are doing foolish things, making them a foolish people, but they are not void of God, they are ignoring Him.

God’s purpose is to present us with the “appointed weeks of the harvest”, but our iniquities have withheld the good things (Jere 5:25). How can this be? We go to church every Sunday, we pray, we fast, we work to get our hands on as much money as we can, how can this be? Oops. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness. Some read it as, “I am the Kingdom of God based on my self-righteousness, and I will get all the things I can”. Not real wise.

Paul faced Religious conceit in the Romans, thus it was not something just for these “primitive people”, it’s a product of the fallen nature of man. We have the advantage in Grace, we can change natures. Our souls are being changed by the Spirit, thus we are changed from flesh centered carnal thinking people to those who are Spiritual in nature. Paul also warned the Ephesians not to engage in the wiles of the devil. One of the wiles was “spiritual wickedness”, meaning the Iniquity to become spiritual. Religious conceit wants the Spirit, but wants the Spirit to serve the person. Rather than give God the glory, the old man desires the glory, even if he has to us God to get it. There is a vast difference between saying “I’m a child of God” with a humble heart, and saying it from a heart based in pride. In Romans, Paul told us how religious conceit and unbelief are sisters (Rom 11:21-24); the Weapon of “continuing in Goodness” based in Mercy will destroy religious conceit (Rom 11:22 & 9:23). Paul also says nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, then he lists several things, yet the one thing not listed is us (Rom 8:35-39). These people were going into captivity, but they were not separated from the Love of God. Unbelief uses excuses, these people held a statement seemingly based in belief, but it was presumption, making it unbelief. They said, “We believe we will not will be destroyed”, thus they believed God was going to spare them, yet the Word of the Lord told them they were in danger. They failed to seek God diligently, they even said it wasn’t God who was bringing the enemy, yet God said it was (Jere 5:12).

It’s not the sins of the people, but the Iniquities, they failed at hearing, failed at giving the land it’s sabbath, yet they went to temple, but unequal in their ways (Jere 5:25). Iniquity makes one Wicked, as a cage is full of birds, their houses (souls) were full of deceit; they had many things, but lacked many more (Jere 5:27-29). The prophets were once prophets of God, but they turned to pleasing words to appease the people, becoming false prophets (Jere 5:30-31). However, God tells us to flee and come out of her, be not a partaker of the iniquities, in this case the her would be the strange woman (Jere 6:1).

The “daughter of Zion” not the Woman is still considered a delicate woman dwelling at home with her husband, pointing to the 144,000 on Zion of the earth. However, we can also see heavenly Zion with the Church (Jere 6:2). We must meet the potential through faith by the Spirit while it is yet Day, for the Night comes when the destroyer will come out of the woods as Wicked trees causing the temple, city, with the world to burn with fire, a fire which cannot be quenched (Jere 6:3-8).

God is looking for a people who will take the warning, and the “gleaning of the vine”  so they can bring forth fruit (Jere 6:9-10 & Jn 15:1-5). God looks at the teachers, those who gave false interpretation of His prophecies, He wants to know why they didn’t repent when the error was found in their words (Jere 6:13-15). Seeing error is one thing, refusing to repent because of it, or change, adds error to error.

God tells us to open our ears, for the sound of the Last Trump is close, but there are some who refuse to listen, or refuse to put Oil in their lamps (Jere 6:17). God tells the earth, He alone will bring the evil on the rebellious people who use the name of the Lord (Jere 6:18-19). This is important, showing the world doesn’t punish us, and the only way the devil can touch us is when we give him place. Most of the time we are being chastened so we won’t be condemned with the world, but we don’t like the method, the exposure, or the feeling. We then attack God by saying, “get you behind me Satan”; we better be one hundred percent sure it’s Satan before we end calling God “Satan”.

God gives us two groups subject to the punishment, for there are some who hearkened not to the Word, yet faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word. There are some who reject the Law of the Spirit for the self-run life of man (Jere 6:19). To what purpose was social change without Godly change? (Jere 6:20). These people were into witchcraft, but so was Babylon, yet Babylon had been doing it longer, but expected of them. Witchcraft works, that’s why witches us it, but it doesn’t mean we can us it, then claim to be “Godly”. God knows those under the prince of the power of the air are run by the spirit of disobedience, thus they use the ways and wiles of the devil, but we are saved from the old realm, we are not expected to use or enjoy the ways of the old man.

The Lord will lay the stumbling blocks before us as warnings to our unbelief, when we “stumble at the stumblingstone” we have failed to mix the Word with Faith (Rom 9:32-33). If we discern we can see all things are under the feet of Jesus, we are His Body, thus we first determine if God is sending us a warning (Jere 6:19-21). God isn’t calling us to battle, until our repentance is in order (Jere 6:26). Pride says, “I have nothing to repent for”, but those words are from a heart full of religious conceit. We will do something everyday to repent for, we are in the flesh, but we need not walk by it. Repentance before the act is important, repentance during the act is important, repentance after the act is just as important, discernment before the act is far better.

Warnings in the Words of the Prophets tell us God has Suddenlies, not all things are, but there are various Suddenlies, one is when God sends the destroyer suddenly upon us (Jere 6:26). They were warned for years, but when it happened it appeared to them to be a Suddenly, in truth it was. They were waiting until the “last second” to repent, some in the world say, “when I see Jesus coming down, I will get right with God”. Jesus is not coming down in slow motion, we are not leaving in slow motion, the time will come in the twinkling (not the winking) of eye, then the Seasons will change Suddenly.

The rebelliously conceited walk in their own slanders, holding to the corruptness of the flesh (Jere 6:27-29). God will give them their hearts desire, they will have reprobate minds to match their rebellion (Jere 6:30). The enemy will come without Mercy, as the “voice that roars like the Sea” (Jere 6:23). The metaphors show the enemy will be the Gentile World, it has a Voice, in fact, it’s Mouth is the weapon of its warfare. The devil goes about as a roaring lion, thus all he has is a roar. We on the other hand have the Power of Christ, the ability to cast out devils, to speak words of Grace to the hearer. However, these people were told not to walk in the field, or in the way (Jere 6:25). Why? They first had to put on “sackclothe” as a sign of repentance, attempting to walk in the Way without our feet being shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace will get our toes stepped on. This defines the metaphor sackclothe as a sign of true repentance; which is not always being sorry for what we have done, but a sadness regarding to whom we have done the wrong.

The metaphor Brass means Judgment, but in this case it was causing the Judgment; the Iron of bondage was coupled with the Judgment (Jere 6:28). They were “slanderers”, thus slander is a weapon of warfare used by the Wicked: we also see how the “wicked are not plucked away” (Jere 6:28-29). The wording “plucked away” is the Hebrew Nathaq meaning To tear off, or To overthrow, thus they were within the nation, the same is true with those run by the spirit of error, they are in the Body, their time to be plucked away will not be until the division of Seasons (Jude 12).

Libel at times is defined as something in print; Slander something said, but Libel is an outright lie, not based on any fact whatsoever, Slander can be based on a fact, but the intent in using the information to cause harm to someone, or their reputation. We can be saying something factual, yet saying it to harm someone, then turn around and say, “well it’s the truth”, thinking we’re fine, we’re not. If we said it to harm them, we have slandered them, walking in the footsteps of the Wicked is not a wise venture.

Judgment begins in the House of the Lord, Jeremiah is told to stand at the gate of the Lord’s House, rather than enter their congregation (Jere 7:2). There are times when the Lord says, “come out”, rather than “go in”. God is longsuffering, our hope is found in the words of the prophet: these people caused the division, as they produced the rebellion. Although they were the children of whoredoms, they weren’t helping with their continued rebellion. Our freedom is so close we can almost hear it, Faith still comes by hearing, but it must be Received to be effective. God tells the children, “Amend your ways and your doings and I will cause you to dwell in this place” (Jere 7:3). Although they owed the land 70 years, although they were engaged in idol worship, it they truly repented by amending their ways, God would forgive them; how much more security do we have in the Blood of Jesus?

The people are told not to trust in the lying words, “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord” (Jere 7:3-5). Their false concept of “once protected, always protected” was about to fall around their ears. The Bible says we can fall from Grace, yet we tend to come up with little sayings about being Saved not based on clear Scripture. Here their assumption of the protection of the temple had some truth in it; God will protect His temple from unjust attacks, but He will also protect it from the rebellious, religiously conceited children of God. Here the Temple was being defiled from within, it would be destroyed, only because the children caused it. The children held the false concept of the Temple being God’s House, rather than a house for them to worship God. In our case, the one who defiles the temple of God, will be destroyed with their temple; however, we have the added concept of the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was not Destroyed, rather it was, then was not, a point made by Jeremiah (Jere 7:14). The Tabernacle was taken away, the Temple will be destroyed.

James tells us the undefiled religion is honored before the Father, it’s a good thing to be honored before the Father, but a better thing to be honored before the Father, Son and Holy Ghost (James 1:27 & Jere 7:6). Being honored before the Father is a reference to Mercy, it still means one has to face the Judgment, but if one is a partaker of the First Resurrection they avoid the Judgment. James defines religion as a matter of love thy neighbor, yet he adds the proviso of being unspotted from the world, how can we do that? By being Born Again (James 1:27 & Jere 7:6).

There are false prophets today speaking to lusts, or entice through the wantonness of the soul, but everyone is enticed by their own lust (Jere 7:8). God lists six items of sin; first is stealing, in our case it’s stealing the faith of Abraham by standing behind a deed of the Law; next is murder, in our case it’s the murder of the Law of the Spirit through acts of self-righteousness: for the Night it will be the murder of the Two Witnesses; next is adultery which is the act of idolatry; next is swearing falsely which is saying we are Christian without being Christ Like; next is burning incense to Baal while claiming to be a child of God; lastly is walking after other gods, for us it’s desiring the things of darkness (Jere 7:9). These were all products of the iniquity, they failed to hear, failed to respect God, which moved them from iniquity to sin (Jere 7:10).

The Temple of God begins the work unto the Tabernacle in our hearts, we can trust in the Temple or trust in Him who will make us the Tabernacle. If we trust in the Temple we may find ourselves wanton (Jere 7:11). Even after all this, the Lord hasn’t ceased from speaking to His people, it hasn’t passed away, but we must have ears to hear (Jere 7:12-14). God shows Shiloh was destroyed, yet the Tabernacle was not. Since the Tabernacle couldn’t be found, it’s a sign to these people how their Temple won’t be found either, but more important, neither will their city in which the Temple is located be felt standing (Jere 7:12). The reason? The wickedness of the people, not the desire of God. God’s desire is to see them repent, God’s reality sees them in bondage.

God cast out Ephraim as an abominable branch, they are not found among the New Testament list of the Remnant tribes (Jere 7:15 & Rev 7:4-8). God will compare Jacob (His firstborn) to Ephraim, since Ephraim walked into idol worship with open eyes. Offense hits its peak when God compares us to the world. The frustration of Jeremiah is felt by nearly every New Testament prophet; the Truth is there, the freedom is there, the Armor is there, the ability to overcome is there, but the people say, “I’m saved, let’s eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow Jesus will come”. Woe to you who desire the Day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the Day of the Lord is darkness, and not Light (Amos 5:18). Wait aren’t we suppose to be looking for the Lord? Yes, we’re suppose to look for Him in the Air, not on the earth as Judgment. Part of our Fear of the Lord knows the Judgment will come as a “Thief in the Night” (I Thess 5:2 & II Pet 3:10), but it’s still the Night, not the Day. Some don’t take salvation with a serious note until they are up to their eye balls in the alligators of the self, but if they would simply take their Salvation seriously, God wouldn’t have to send them among the alligators. Even if they wake up in the midst of the alligators, God is able to turn it around for Good.

Jeremiah is told to stop his intercession, yet we will find the man interceding, what gives? He can’t help it, he is moved by compassion, yet before he intercedes he must see what the people are doing. In our Season we intercede for those seeking the Lord, or fighting for their place in salvation, but we must know what they are doing in order to intercede correctly. Perhaps they need clarity, or they need the right person to bring a Word, or something else, of course if we know not what to pray, we pray in the Spirit. On the same note intercession is not witchcraft, we can’t force change on a person, nor can we force our will on them. Other than interceding we can also find evidence presented to our condition, if they see and hear, yet refuse the counsel, ignore, rebel and cast off the Lord, they at least make a decision based on presented evidence, which is what Jeremiah is doing, presenting the evidence. The people had a history, they knew who God was, saw His wonders, yet rejected God for idol worship (Jere 7:16-23 & I Jn 5:16). God moves forward not backward, thus backsliding is moving backward (Jere 7:24).

A very interesting verse is found here in Jeremiah 7:21-22, where the Lord said, “For I spoke not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices”. Wow, better check the voice, since they did sacrifice. On the surface it would seen as if Jeremiah was hearing the wrong voice, or Moses did. Something has gone amiss here. Oh wait, Jeremiah 7:23 brings the clarity, “But this thing commanded I them, saying OBEY”. Ahh, the request for Obedience came before the call to sacrifice, thus the sacrifices and dietary laws were to gain obedience from the people. The only way to get them to obey was give them something they could deliver with their own hands, with the added incentive of personal gain. Self-based is still self-based, yet God’s Love is so vast it allowed the self-based acts of these people in order to bless them. Something to think about, since the Blessing would have been much greater if their efforts were Love based.

God seeks Obedience, later Jesus will make it a homework assignment for the Pharisees. The Pharisees worked harder at their religion then most of us, of course they also worked hard at putting Jesus on the Cross. The greatest faith exercise one can offer is obedience unto the Lord. These people were trusting in the temple, but God wanted them to Obey, by putting their trust in Him. If they would only Obey, then the captivity would not happen. Back in Jeremiah 5:1-2 God tells the prophet to search out, if there is One person in the city who seeks truth, one who will execute righteous judgment, then the captivity would be spared. For Sodom it was “ten”, here it’s “one”, but the prophet searched and found none. Could it be discouraging? Yes, but the prophet spoke because God told him to, whether anyone accepted the Word or not. The evidence? Jeremiah speaks, but the people will not hearken or bend their ears to the Lord (Jere 7:25-27). This is another key issue, at times we presume people are rejecting us, not so, if we spoke as an oracle of God the evidence here shows the people rejected the Lord, not the man.

The ministry of the Prophet in a time of rebellion in the Body, or in a time when religious conceit is running wild, or in a time when the people of God are ignoring the call, is humbling for the prophet, it can be frustrating as well (Jere 7:28). Paul tells us a shaven head is a symbol of being void of the Anointing, these people were shaven skin deep, they were void of the protective “green tree” (Jere 7:29-31 & I Cor 11:1-6). Paul shows it’s not God who removes the Anointing, it wasn’t God who removed the protection, rather in both cases it’s the people of God who move from the area of protection into an area of darkness.

It would appear from Jeremiah 7:30 the people placed their abominations in the temple; however, Jewish history, and the evidence of the people claiming the temple could cause this one verse to be a very confusing issue, unless of course we know the prophet is speaking of a time not within the realm of his time. This verse gives us two elements, the people in the time of the prophet were bringing their idols in their minds into the Temple, in the very latter days the false prophet will cause the abomination to be set up in place it should not be. God points to Jerusalem by saying, “the house which is called by My name”, but why not simply say “the temple”, or “My house”. Wait, they people called it God’s house, an interesting element of God taking the people at their word. Jesus will see the religious rulers fleecing the sheep, then call the temple a den of thieves. How can we keep our personal temple clean? The New Man making us into a tabernacle.

Jeremiah 7:31 explains the idols were not in the temple during this time, rather they “built the high places of Tophet”, in the “valley of the son of Hinnom”, what gives? The people held those idols in their minds, then they came into the Temple as if nothing was wrong. They presumed since they didn’t pollute the temple with the actual idol they were going to be protected by God. They had all the “positive faith sayings”, but lacked the confession and witness to back them up. Simply saying something doesn’t make it a Confession, a Confession is the combination of the words and actions. We speak as we believe, we don’t speak to believe. As First John points out, one can Say they are in the Light, but if they hate (slander, or attack) their brother or sister in the Lord, they are in darkness (I Jn 2:10-11). If simply saying something could bring it to pass, surely these people would have Peace; they said it enough. Their Saying was not in line with the Word from the Lord, thus it was not a confession, rather it became a fable. One might think they were making faith confessions, but there was no faith, it was presumptuous. They were attempting to make God obey their words, while they were disobeying God’s words.

This prophecy also shows why the other prophets kept rejecting Jeremiah, they were speaking attempting to make God confirm their words, while Jeremiah was speaking on behalf of the Lord. There are some prophets who give solid words, then one day they think because they said it, it came to pass, then they start saying all sorts of things, presuming God will bring them to pass. A prophet speaks as they hear, they do not speak attempting to make God perform.

God still looks to the end times, seeing how the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride will no longer be in the land (Rev 18:23 & Jere 7:32-34). Clearly this is future, since the Bridegroom didn’t come until Jesus as the Word took on flesh, as John the Baptist points out (Jn 3:29). All these things are not God’s desire (all to be saved, none to be lost), rather this is God’s Reality, yet He is motivated by His desire (Thank God). The Reality is based on man’s sin and iniquity, thereby showing the free choice of man can override the desire of God. It was once asked, “don’t you think God is greater than your unbelief?”. If so, why do we find Jesus could no mighty works because of the unbelief of the people (Matt 13:58)? Unbelief and doubt are two elements keeping us from seeing “mighty works”. Pride and the old man keep us form being partakers in those mighty works. Man’s choice will never override the Will of God, but it can override God’s desire for the person.

God provided the means, motive and opportunity for these people to turn it around to avoid the danger, yet they remained in their self-based ways ending in captivity. God pointed out many paths, but only provided one for their deliverance. They assumed God would honor them, but they forgot they must honor God.

Chapter eight begins with God saying He will bring the bones of many of His people out of their graves; one could assume these are “spirits”, but in reference to the resurrected body Jesus said, “handle Me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see Me have” (Luke 24:39). This is not the First Resurrection, nor is it the last resurrection unto life, rather God shows the resurrection unto damnation, since they worshipped the moon (Zion), sun (the nation), host of heaven (idols), and they made the decision to chose death, rather than life (Jere 8:2-3). This connects to those in the very last days who worship the abomination, thus God points out idol worship will place you into captivity, but in the very end idol worship in the Temple will bring swift destruction.

God shows the people failed to repent of their Wickedness, then He shows how the birds know their appointed times, but the people of God failed to know the time of Judgment (Jere 8:6-7). The Wicked have no fear of God, yet they have many “sayings”, but lack a Confession. Those who choose death, rather than Life will have resurrected bodies, but they won’t be able to leave the earth, thus their flesh will melt and come back time and again forever as a reminder of what could have been (Jere 8:3-7).

These people labored, even the prophets and priests labored, but their labor was  based in dealing falsely (Jere 8:10). They kept saying, “Peace, Peace”, when there was no Peace, thus they were attempting to call it so, but lacked the foundation for it to come to pass. We are told to Agree with God by confessing many things, but in all cases the premise is we believe what God said, thereby we speak, it’s not the other way around.

We are in a Season of Peace, thus Peace would be the proper confession for us, but what about “Judgment”. No, it would not be improper confession since Judgment is set for the Night, we are not children of the Night (I Thess 5:5). These people were so conceited they assumed the Law was with them, but they rejected the purpose of the Law (Jere 8:8-10). They also presumed if they said something, God had to do it, making them the god over God, not real smart.

There own wickedness will cause the Grape to cease on the Vine, the metaphor usage points to the Body: Jesus said He was the Vine, we are the Branches, thus the Grape is the Fruit of the Vine. Wickedness causes the Fruit on the Vine to cease, it hasn’t “passed away”, rather we have failed to Water the Vine to bring forth the Fruit. For these people it was physical, they failed to give the land its sabbath, thus the land would turn against them; however, metaphorically we can see how the Root is holy, the Trunk is holy, but without the application of Water (mercy), we will fail to produce fruit.

The last area in Jeremiah 8:13 is the Leaf fading, the metaphor Leaf means a Covering. Adam attempted to cover himself with the fig leaf; the Tree of Life has healing in it’s leaves. The fig tree has been the symbol of the religious order of Israel, the Tree of Life is on either end of the River of Life, we’re at one end, the Lord at the other. God took away the Grape, the Figs and the Leaves, then gave them “water of gall to drink” (Jere 8:14). Their saying of “peace, peace” turned on them, becoming “trouble and sickness” (Jere 8:15). We confess the Word in us, we have faith in God, but we don’t confess things assuming God must honor our words, it’s we who honor the Word of God.

The phrase, “snorting of horses heard from Dan” is another projection to the end times. Dan is one of the two tribes left out of the New Testament Remnant order. The tribe of Dan was divided in the land, thus showing two phases of the serpent who will bite at the heels of the Rider. Dan will cause the rider to fall backward, he is akin to the serpent in the way, thus Dan becomes a metaphor for the Wicked. He was suppose to be a part of the family, but made the choice to hold to his self-will, as he used the wiles of the devil, rather than defeat them. God will send the Serpents and Cockatrices among the people, again we find it’s not the devil doing the sending, it’s God. Therefore, it’s far better to find out why we are among the snakes, rather than be one.

Jesus said we can drink any deadly thing and it will not hurt us, but this has nothing to do with poison, rather it refers to the words of poison coming from the mouths of the deceitful. For us it also entails eating those things considered deadly under the Law of Moses (Jere 8:14, Mark 16:18 & I Jn 2:1). Here in Jeremiah 8:17 we find God sends the Serpents, yet we have power over Serpents, as well as the works of the enemy (Luke 10:19-20). Could it be, just perhaps, there are times when we are faced with Serpents because God allowed it? Yes, not only does it show the Power of God in our lives, it shows how much God does care as He delivers us again. If God didn’t care He would let us run the wide road of religious conceit right into hell, but He does care, proving it by His correction.

After reading Isaiah and Jeremiah to this point, one has to wonder, How can anyone read this and not see the warning? On the other hand, How can we read about Judas and not see the warning? These things are written for our sakes, they show the danger of self-deception, an element the Wicked refuse to face. These people were convinced their error was truth, yet the Word of the Lord came unto them saying they were in error. A point of our prayer life must include the desire for God to give us clarity, to remove any form of self-deception we may have, any hindering element we may have picked up, as we give Him absolute permission to destroy the idols in our minds.

The people were looking for health, but it didn’t come. They looked for peace, yet there was none. They failed to discern the cause of their problem was based in their own sins and iniquities (Jere 8:15-19). Jeremiah 8:18 and following shows why he was termed the “weeping prophet”; however as we will see, it was not the weeping of the prophet, but the weeping of God through the prophet. The “voice of the cry of the daughter of Zion”, “is not the Lord in Zion? is not her King in her? Why have they provoked God to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?” (Jere 8:18-19). Zion itself wonders about these people, this Zion is the foundation of the city. The Zion we belong to is the Body, yet the Body will be broken, thus we weep and mourn for the Wicked, for their future is not what they think it is.

However, we are of the Rock, when we do the will of the Lord the Rock produces the Balm in Gilead, when we don’t, the Rock weeps for us. The phrase “balm in Gilead” refers to a prophet in the land, coupled with the people receiving the prophet. When they receive the prophet, they gain the prophet’s reward. Of course we know these people didn’t receive the prophet, their land was not healed (Jere 8:22).

In Jeremiah 9:1-3 we find the Weeping is the Lord’s Weeping, as He sees how their tongues lie, they proceed from evil to evil (Jere 9:3). God will tell us not to Trust in our brother, what? Don’t trust in our brothers in the Lord? That’s right, don’t confuse Trust with Love, if we put our trust in a human, yet they fail, we fall twice as hard, we trust them to do as they should, we love them, even if they fail, we are there to restore them. The concept here is trusting in someone for deliverance, which these people were doing. We Trust in God, we love our brothers and sisters in the Lord, much healthier.

Is all this prophecy negative? Not at all, it’s positive, for the time to repent is still at hand, therein lays the Truth. The people didn’t want to turn from idols, yet they wanted God to deliver them. Had He in the past? Yes, will He now? We’ll have to see. God is Spirit, His Word took on flesh, He has a soul, here we find God has a Soul (Jere 9:9).

When we find the cross reference to Jerusalem and Judah it gives us a clue to the end times. We are the Tents of Judah, but when we are caught away, the broken off part of Judah remains, don’t confuse the bad fish into the good or we will get confused. In the end Jerusalem will be a “den of dragons”, the metaphor “dragon” points to a devil, or someone who acts like a devil, to the Jew an idol worshiper is a devil, so is the idol. Jesus called Judas a devil, so devils are not always limited to fallen angles (Jn 6:70).

All this points to the end times, we recall how the voice of bride and bridegroom shall no more be heard in the Woman, but we also find she will become a “habitation of devils” (Rev 18:23 & 18:2). We also see how this fits the outline Isaiah gave us, giving us a roadmap of failure when we worship idols.

Then we find another end time reference, as the prophet asks “Who is the wise man, who understand this?” (Jere 9:12). How does this point to the end times? John tells us “here is wisdom. Let him who has Understanding count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six” (Rev 13:18). The word Count is the Greek Psephizo meaning A small stone or pebble used in calculations, A method to compute or figure out a vote, thus this has nothing to do with taking the number and running around looking for a name, rather it tells us to count the six’s, add them up, this is a number of “a man”, not “men” or “devils”. There are some who use the Greek numbering system to ascertain the exact name of this Wicked one, but it’s not the call, rather the call is to determine the Number, not the Name. The word Number is the Greek Arithmeo from which we get the English word Arithmetic, it simply means A number, or the grouping which one associates to. It becomes a matter of adding one six to the other, which shows the power, seat and authority of the dragon all added together, but it also gives us one Six for the Beast of the Sea, one for the Beast of the Earth, and one for the Woman (city), or the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life.

These people are also our example of being lukewarm, they had victory in hand, they gathered together at the temple, they even talked about God, saying God was their God, yet they also bowed to idols. God called them the assembly of adulterers and treacherous men; James calls those who use the spirit lusting to envy, “adulterers and adulteresses” (Jere 9:1 & James 4:4). James shows how a double-mind will bless God, yet curse man with the same mouth. These people kept saying, “the temple, the temple”, but refused to change to walk with God. The Wicked say they are of the Body, and they are, but they use the wrong spirit as their guide, thus they are headed to become the Broken Abominable Branch who will be left behind. Our goal is to become a Partaker in the First Resurrection, not a busted off piece of the rock “accounted” among the Wicked.

These people were so full of religious conceit they refused to look at their own words. They slandered the man of God, refused to hear Truth, wanted the Pleasantness of God, wanted God to serve and protect them, yet they wanted their idols as well (Jere 9:3). They were trusting in the flesh of man, rather than God (Jere 9:4). The world being the world is expected to act like the world, the world is Natural, they do what comes Naturally. The Natural mind seeks pleasure, thus sin has a pleasure for the flesh, if it didn’t no one would sin. The flesh is the real problem it was never created, it was formed from the darkness and void. When we impute the flesh dead, it loses it’s effectiveness in our lives.

We never elevate the things of God higher than God has, which means we keep them in order. These people made the House of God their god, demanding for God to honor the House above God’s own integrity, while the people remained corrupt. They were attempting to control God through the Temple, they produced other strongholds as well as faulty traditions (Jere 9:14). The anointing is required, but we don’t worship it. All things are under the feet of Jesus, when we keep Jesus in our sight, we will do just fine.

These people in the time of Jeremiah were not involved in mentor worship, but they were involved in religious conceit, which is based in a false thinking of one’s adequacy. When we reach the Truth of how we are inadequate, then we allow the Spirit of Christ to complete the work in us. As long as we assume we can do the work of faith, we will hinder the Spirit of Truth, producing our own problems. The soul of man was never designed to Govern, it was designed as Helps for the Spirit, thus when we were Born Again a Greater He gave us the ability to bind the strongman, so we could honestly be in subjection to the Spirit. Wherein we could finally walk in the Spirit, by walking by the Spirit (Jere 9:13).

The fruit of the prophet is still truth, the fruit of the exposed heart is still envy and strife. However, if the person is a true prophet, they will not only point out our iniquities, but they will point out the path to God as our means of escape. Pointing out the condition and position, while failing to point to the path of God is the sign of a false prophet, pointing to the lacking condition, then pointing to some way of the world as a means of victory is a sign of the Wicked. Jeremiah was pointing out the iniquities and sins of these people, but he presented the path of God’s escape as well. The false prophets were saying there was no problem, yet God said there was. Being positive is seeing the problem, then following the commands of God to correct it.

There are times when the prophet of God speaks to the world, but since the world is under the curse we find the words relate to the Curse; however, when the prophet speaks to the people of God it’s in the form of Correction. We tend to take the prophecies of today pointed at us, yet not turn them against the world, the world is the world, it’s the Body being corrected. God told His own people to repent and turn toward Him, He didn’t expect the world to. One must be unspotted by the world in order to gain a grasp on any of this, the world looks at this as God bringing destruction on His own. We see it as God saving His own from their own iniquity and sin.

The prophet makes it clear, when God gave them the Promised Land it was with certain conditions, one of which was to give the land its rest every seven years, a condition they rejected for 490 years, thus they owned the land 70 years of rest. The 490 years happens to be 7 times 70, giving us the 70 years in captivity (Jere 9:19). Jesus would use this lesson in His teaching on Forgiveness, when asked how many times should we forgive, Jesus responded with “Until seventy times seven” or 490, which is the same length of time God forgave these people for violating the sabbath of the land (Matt 18:22). Jesus wasn’t asking Peter or any of us not to do something God hasn’t done, but how can we? By the same Mercy we received at the Cross when God forgave our sins. Of course we are expected to grant the same mercy on others, after all the difference between a vessel of honor and one of dishonor is mercy (Rom 9:21-23).

These people rejected the verbal correction, thus they would face the physical correction of Captivity. They were not going back to the wilderness, they were going under the hand of the ungodly, because they acted ungodly. Although they are going into captivity, the Lord warns them to refrain from learning the ways of the heathen (world – Jere 10:1-2). The world’s idols, can do no evil or good, it’s the people who use the idols who do the evil (Jere 10:5). The idol, regardless of the idol is nothing, it’s the honor man gives it making it something in the person’s life. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil didn’t do evil or good, the misuse of the fruit of the tree caused the evil. Things are things, they have no breath, nor do they have a lust, the misuse of them becomes the problem, not the thing.

Jeremiah begins to praise the Lord as he looks at the people of God on one hand, and the longsuffering of God on the other, the longsuffering is far better (Jere 10:6-16). The physical land for these people is akin to the kingdom of heaven, the Lord says He will sling them out: the pastors have become brutish (stupid), as they seek gain without considering the flock (Jere 10:18-22). Jeremiah sees how close any of us can come to falling into religious conceit, he seeks the correction of the Lord, by seeking the exposure of his own heart; we can do no less (Jere 10:23-25).

The Lord proclaims the Covenant hasn’t changed, but once one enters the Covenant they are expected to remain there, thus God shows He didn’t break the Covenant, the people did (Jere 11:1-7). God presented the Covenant, the people agreed to it, just as God presented us the road to Salvation, then we agreed to do it His way. Of course, when we found His way was one of exposure unto healing, we went into panic, but thank God, the Spirit of Lord gives us Light in the darkness, courage in the face of fear, ability when we lack ability. Our Covenant was cut nearly two thousand years ago, it hasn’t changed either, the Power of His Christ is still found in the New Man, just as the New Man is still able today, as He was on the Day of Pentecost.

The old man is a tricky rascal, he will use all sorts of things to point the finger of correction in another direction. These people did the same, they sought support for their corrupt condition, thereby becoming self-deceived into saying, “we’re holy”, when in fact they were wicked. If they fail to keep the Covenant, the Lord will bring the evil upon them (Jere 11:9-11). In one sense they were right, God was dealing with them, thus they had a type of holiness, but they themselves twisted the holiness into wickedness by their idol worship. In order for them to be holy they had to submit, and allow God to deal with them as children.

The Lord called them a “green olive tree”, wait, these people were the Fig Tree, not the Olive Tree, what gives? We have to back up to verse 8, where we read, “Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart; therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do: but they did them not”. As bad as it seems, it was still God’s Mercy reaching out to them as the Olive Tree: the fig tree wouldn’t help them, but God was still showing them how much He cares, thus as a people they are still around. Therefore, we find the Olive Tree refers to the anointing of Mercy. This helps us see how Jesus referred to the “least commandments” of Mercy, as the least we can do. Here we find God is calling them a Green Olive Tree (anointing of mercy), but He didn’t call them the branches. Paul will equate the Olive Tree with branches to the Gospel, as he shows there were some unbelieving Jews who were broke from the Olive Tree, making room for the Gentile (Rom 11:19-20, Jere 11:19 & Mark 11:22).

Success has many different definitions, some think money is success, others think possessions are, but Jeremiah saw the wicked prosper, while the righteous suffered (Jere 12:1-3). The old saying, “God loves the sinner” is true to a degree, God does love the repentant sinner, but He hates the ways of the wicked (Jere 12:5-8). Then the context changes, we find one can plant “Wheat” in the field, yet they shall reap thorns, they are the spoilers, for every bit of Wheat they bring in, they trample seven more (Jere 12:12-13). Even with that, the Lord will return and have compassion on the repentant (Jere 12:16). God loved us long before we found Him, the conclusion of God loving us is never the issue, it’s whether or not our love for God is able to stand the test. All this shows Iniquity will be around until the end of time, thus Jesus judges the “workers of iniquity”. However, the escape is presented, those of the Day have victory in hand.

Jeremiah is then told to take a garment then defile it to show the people they are walking in their own imagination, their garments have become defiled and worthless (Jere 13:1-10). The metaphor Garment refers to a covering, although these people assumed they were covered by the Green Tree, they were not. The defiled garment not only shames us, it shames the Lord, defiling the Lord brings the anger of God quickly (Jere 13:11-15 & I Cor 11:1-15). Religious conceit is the fruit, pride the tree, we destroy those evils by being humble under the Hand of God (Jere 13:15-17).

God sent a drought in the land giving the people a sign they could feel (Jere 14:1-4). The plagues in the latter days are not to punish the people, but to cause them to repent. Carnal minds equate the event to the event, spiritually minded people discern the event. Jeremiah saw the drought as an act of God, but  he also knew it came based on the iniquities of the people (Jere 14:7-11). The devil wasn’t attacking them, they caused God to turn against them. God then tells Jeremiah to stop praying for the good of the people (Jere 14:11). Stop praying? Could this really be God? Yes, Paul termed this as turning them over to Satan for the destruction of their flesh (I Cor 5:5). It had reached the point where God had purposed evil to come upon the people, if Jeremiah prayed for good, he would be opposing the purpose of God. In this case, God told the prophet “No”, thus there will be times when God will tell us not to do something. Someone once said God never told them No, but God telling them No, and them hearing it are different. In reference to turning someone over to Satan, it wasn’t a matter of telling the devil to take them, it was a matter of taking the person off the throne of God, or removing the leadership covering from the person for their own good.

Hebrews 1:1-2 tells us God did speak through these prophets, but now speaks through the Son. Does it mean God is not speaking now? No, it can’t be right, since the Spirit teaches and guides, so does the Holy Ghost. It means God now speaks through the Seed of God, there is no other way to hear God in this Season. If one is not in the Body, the voice they hear is not God, since God only speaks through His Son (Heb 1:2). Why do you think in the last 2,000 years Israel hasn’t had a prophet? Many religions speak of God, but only the Body hears from God, a precious people indeed (I Pet 1:18-25).

However, in the days of Jeremiah we find an interesting situation, many of the false prophets who faced Jeremiah used to be confirmed prophets. God called them “My prophets” (Jere 7:25 et al), but they changed positions, rather than speak for God, they were speaking attempting to make God conform to their words. Once they reversed roles they no longer heard from God, but from their own fearful hearts. Yet they were convinced the “voice” they heard was the Lord’s, based on their own self-deception. They said, “Peace, Peace”, yet the time and Season of Peace was not upon them; however, when Jesus said “Peace, Peace”, the Gospel of Peace was presented. It then stands a false prophet today would say “judgment, judgment”, when it’s not the Season of Judgment. The Everlasting Gospel is for the Night as it reads, “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His Judgment is come; and worship Him who made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” (Rev 14:6-7). If it’s the Gospel where is Salvation? Where is the Cross? Where is the Name of Jesus? Ahh, we have the Gospel of Peace, the Everlasting Gospel points to Judgment. Why then is it called Everlasting? Because one of the tenets of the Doctrine of Christ is our knowledge of Eternal (Everlasting) Judgment (Heb 6:1-2). The Seasons are divided, we are children of the day, not children of the night, we are assigned Salvation, not Judgment.

Fasting is a sign of the afflicted soul; however, there comes a time when fasting alone isn’t enough (Jere 14:12). We can fast and still prophesy lies, thus causing our wickedness to be poured back on us (Jere 14:13-16). Jeremiah intercedes for the people in the same manner as we will find Daniel interceding, thus by the use of “us” and “we”, the prophet is standing for the people. God told Jeremiah not to pray for the people, but Jeremiah’s heart was still reaching out on behalf of his nation, thus he prayed as if he was the people.

With all this we wonder if we have to be perfect in order to serve the Lord. Absolutely not, if we think we’re perfect, we’re of no use to the Lord. The entire premise of all this is to show us we’re not perfect, yet we must understand the perfection in the New Man, bringing us into perfection (Spirit).

God takes, breaks, blesses, then puts into service. The Wicked presume they are perfect, they think they are so perfect they never have to ask forgiveness. There is a vast difference between one who knows the perfection of God is in them, and someone who thinks they are the perfection of God.

God would send three things on these people, the Sword (war and rumors of war), Famine, and Pestilence (Jere 14:12). Doesn’t this sound familiar? Ahh, the last three of the four horsemen in the Book of Revelation (Rev 6:4-8). Here God sends these three elements on His own people, but in the Book of Revelation they are sent into the world. Jesus said we would have tribulation in the world, but He has overcome the world. We are Sanctified, the word Sanctified means Set Apart, or Separated, thus we are Separated from the world by being in His Body, then placed in a position where we can remain in the “Oil and Wine” (Mercy and Blood of Jesus – Rev 6:6).

The land suffered the drought, but the eyes of God were heavy with many tears (Jere 14:14-17). The drought was a physical sign showing the people how they rejected the Water (Mercy) of God. God finds no pleasure in bringing hard correction, although the result of the correction is for our own good. The chastening of God is produced by our actions bringing us to a place to produce the fruit of righteousness. Standing about cursing the darkness for some event God is using to expose us, is hardly Faith. A wise man receives correction and responds, a fool gets mad, or attempts to have the last word. If we assume the devil is hitting us with two by fours, we’re to close to Egypt. The devil uses Darts, they must travel a distance, thus the darts are words from the natural. Our face to face combat is with the wiles of the devil, not the devil (Eph 6:11). The first element to sound faith is the Belief of God Is, if we venture off into the devil is, our faith will not have a Godly foundation (Heb 11:6).

God tells Jeremiah, “Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword and such as are for the famine, to the famine and such as are for captivity, to the captivity” (Jere 15:2). It would appear there wasn’t one person to escape all this, but God already said if they submit to the king of Babylon, God would bring them back. Therefore, Captivity was the escape from the Sword, Famine and Pestilence. This was based on “My mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of My sight and let them go forth” (Jere 15:1). God didn’t say, “those to salvation as to salvation”, nor did the prophet hear, “as for you, I will save you”, making it appear as if Jeremiah was among the people being spoken of. There are those among the people today who don’t know their end, yet God does, some are taken early because God knows what lays ahead. God already promised to spare Jeremiah, but here it appears as if none will be spared. When God told Jeremiah, You Shall, God knew Jeremiah’s choice before Jeremiah made the choice. Although Jeremiah was promised to be spared, it now appears as if the entire nation will suffer, did God change? No, the escape was still repentance, something Jeremiah just did. The day we recognize the correction is exposure of our condition, the day we toss away the idols of the self and false theology, is the day we seek the Lord with a repentant heart. God moves forward, adding line to line, not removing line from line, whereas backsliding is taking line from line, precept away from precept, rebellion adds lines of self, or precepts of conceit, thus adding to or taking away from the Word still leaves us in a wanton condition (Jere 15:6-7).

Jeremiah hears how the Woman will bring Seven, but she will also give up the Ghost (Jere 15:9). From the Woman came Jesus, yet we see Jesus standing in the midst of the Seven Golden Candlesticks, but the Woman is as good as dead. God created many stars, the moon and the sun, defined for us in the dreams of Joseph. The prophecy tells us the city will remain through the Day, regardless, for she will see the Sun go down while it is yet Day, but then she is seen in the Wilderness, but how can this be? The City isn’t in the wilderness, it’s in the Promised Land: ahh, the people cause the city to be in a state as if they were in the wilderness, with all the attitude of the wilderness people. Therefore, the Woman has a purpose, but she is as good as dead (Jere 15:9). The Woman is clearly defined as a City, her coverings all point to Joseph’s dream defining her location. Some of us confuse the Church with the Body, there is no “broken Church”, but the Body will be broken. We understand there are Wicked Tares within the field, but they were suppose to be there (Rom 9:21-23). Don’t dismay, the Church is intact, Spiritual, and ready to go when He who not lets, lets.

Jeremiah hears this prophecy then equates it to his time causing him to enter serious intercession for himself and Jacob. Jeremiah is part of the people who are going to be subject to the great woes, why would he not feel the woe? He begins with “woe is me”, then “my mother who have born me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth” (Jere 15:10). Jeremiah isn’t a man sent to the whole earth, nor did he bring strife to the whole earth. This anguish is the “man” from whom the Woman came, but this is not the Man Child (Jesus), rather this is Jacob. There is a difference and discernible, the Woman came from the man Jacob, but the Woman produced the Man Child, the Man Child gave us the Church. This division shows why Jesus wept over Jerusalem, rather than the nation. This is not to say Jesus was Created, rather it shows a type and shadow of natural Jerusalem rejecting her Son, which gave place to the spiritual city of New Jerusalem of which we are. Paul tells us Jerusalem of the earth is in bondage, but Jerusalem of heaven is free (Gal 4:25-26).

The “man” indicated here is defined as the House of Jacob, who brought strife and contention. James says, for where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work (James 3:16). The woman from whom the man came was Rebekah, yet the man (Jacob) would bring another Woman, known as Israel, whose center is the adopted daughter known as the City, thus it’s the City clothed with the Sun, having the crown of 12 stars, with Zion as her foundation (metaphor Moon – Gen 25:21-26:1 & Rev 12:1). Although the city is built on the Moon (Zion), in the very latter days she will twist her foundation as she is seen riding the Beast, making Zion her footstool, causing her downfall. The same error the Wicked make, making them the footstool of Jesus. Jude says they twist the Grace of our God into Lasciviousness (Jude 4), thus they came to the Rock, but twisted the position to fit their self-desire, as they used their position for self-importance, ending as broken pieces of the Rock left behind.

Instead of holding the faith until the Man Child (Jesus) came, the mother borne a son of manipulation, the nation of strife and contention, a shame to the whole earth. Paul equates this to Hagar, showing Hagar and Ishmael must be cast out, before we can walk with Jesus (Gal 4:24-25). This also makes the division between the House of David and the House of Jacob. The very last days are known as “Jacob’s Trouble”, not “David’s Trouble”. In the latter days the City forgets her Maker, assuming she is the maker. She allows the Wicked to convince her, she is “I AM”, and there is none like her. The Wicked convince her, she is God, the nation is her Christ,  then comes the Image of a Man. Here is the preview of the future, these people are making a mockery of the purpose of the Woman and her Maker. Jeremiah is a victim of their religious conceit, just as many of us are victims of religious conceit. Frustration is the result of assuming we must make people believe, especially those who have become the personification of religious conceit. We present the Truth in Love, but the choice to believe is still in the hands of the person hearing, not the person speaking.

Jeremiah is not only speaking for himself, this is another area where he intercedes for Jacob (the nation), of which he is a part. His intercession comes after God told him not to pray for the good of the people, but as noted, Jeremiah’s love for his people, plus his own concerns motivated him. Let’s face it we can pray in earnest for a brother or sister going through it, but when we’re going through it, the motivation becomes much greater. As a basis of the intercession the Lord said, “If you return, then will I bring you again”, and “I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked” (Jere 15:11-21). This is conditional based on “if you return”; surely Jeremiah doesn’t have to return, thus this is given to the people based on Jeremiah’s intercession.

God is equal, He tells the people to listen to the prophet, thus He also listens, even if the people don’t. God didn’t change His mind, as history shows, rather He heard the prophet and provided another “If” in the contract. However, He also knew the people would reject the “If”, as they did the many others. God was giving the prophet the evidence of the Reality of God, yet showing the prophet the Faith and Love of God at the same time.

As it was with Moses, there will be those from within who stand with the Korahs, or stand in the middle refusing to stand with either side. Later during the end of the captivity it would be the prophets in captivity who hear the desire of the Lord, then bring the people into the land again. However, during this time there were also false prophets in captivity as well: they dreamed their own dreams, as they kept saying God would bring them out, God would deliver them soon, yet the prophecy was for them to remain the full 70 years. Jeremiah knew his God, but all of us know the mind can be split between two opinions, “is this God, or what?”. Some were saying the captivity wouldn’t come at all, they were proven false when the king of Babylon took the first group into captivity. There were others saying the captivity would be short, God would again restore His people shortly. They would be proven wrong in the long run; however, as we find here, even false prophecy can “heal slightly”, yet produce a false sense of peace and security. The false prophet speaks smooth words, yet by the time we get to the parking lot, it’s all falling apart. This is not to be confused with exposure, rather it points to the smooth sayings sounding good at first, but produce very little or nothing in the end. The dilemma is how false prophecy can heal slightly by bringing a false hope, but false hope is destructive in nature.

Jeremiah and the other Godly prophets spoke many things, some they knew, some they didn’t, but they spoke them anyway. A true prophet need not know all the details before speaking, they simply speak, letting the other prophets judge. Here is an example of a holy man of Old moved by the Holy Ghost to speak, but it doesn’t mean the holy man understood all he spoke in the Name of the Lord. The Holy Ghost is mainly a New Testament revelation, thus these men of Old didn’t understand they were speaking by the Teacher, thus the same Teacher teaches us the Interpretation of these words.

God tells Jeremiah, “it shall be well with your Remnant”; for us we know this is the Remnant yet to come, but to Jeremiah it pointed to his family (Jere 15:11). Then God says, “your substance and your treasures will I give to the spoil without price” (Jere 15:13). We see this as the nation losing her treasures to Babylon, not only receiving captivity in return, but to Jeremiah’s mind it means he was going into captivity, yet he also had a promise to be spared, what gives? Did the prophet miss it? Jeremiah then intercedes for himself and reminds the Lord how he spoke only what he was given, how he didn’t mingle with the evil doers, now why is it this wound and perpetual pain is being put on him? (Jere 15:18). God gives Jeremiah a choice, thus “to return” in this case has nothing to do with the captivity, but has to do with Jeremiah returning to his position with the Lord. Jeremiah faced the religious conceit of these people day in and day out, he forgot the Precious, thus he had to separate the Precious from the Vile (Jere 15:19). We can get caught up in looking at the Vile, forgetting the Precious. Many things happen in the world, some in the Body which appear evil in nature, but many more things are happening which are Good in nature, thus we seek the Precious by separating it from the Vile.

This one verse shows how any of us can interpret events as completely evil, then end tending the vile, yet we find God says if we’re in it, there is a Precious, thus we must tend the Precious to find God. God affirms His promise by telling Jeremiah “I am with you to save you and deliver you” (Jere 15:20). God will also redeem the Remnant out of the hand of the wicked, or out of the hand of the terrible (Jere 15:21). The prophet was standing for the nation, thus God spoke to him as if he was the nation. The prophet simply confused positions, thinking God was speaking about him personally.

God also told Jeremiah, “shall the iron break the northern iron and the steel?” (Jere 15:12). The First Beast is iron, the Second clay (Adam like), they shouldn’t mix, but do. Therefore, can the clay of the Beast overcome the correction Rod of God? Never, if we follow the Lord we will receive His correction unto perfection. The Beast has horns, a false covering, yet it has no power over the Born Again child of God.

Discerning the darts keeps us from using them as carnal weapons of our warfare; the false prophets were tossing darts left and right, a few of them hit Jeremiah right between the eyes, the Vile became more evident than the Precious. Some of us have fifty darts sticking out of our minds, we end tending the Vile, rather than tending the Precious. Every event we face will have some Lesson or Good in it, it will contain some Precious, whether it’s obvious or not, but if we seek the Precious, we shall find it. The event doesn’t tell us a thing, it may seem terrible, horrid, upside down, inside out, but if we’re in it, there is a Precious to be found.

In reference to the Remnant, God tells Jeremiah, “don’t take a wife in this place”; therefore, God knows Jeremiah didn’t understand the phrase “thy Remnant” (Jere 16:1-4). God also knows mass destruction will fall on the people; yet would a Good God kill all these people? God didn’t do it, the people brought it on their own heads, they had the choice to hear and obey the prophet to be spared, or reject the words and face the result of their folly. God’s Judgment is always a matter of division, the wheat separated from the tares, the good fish from the bad, the vessels of honor from the dishonor, the righteous from the wicked, in each case there is a result, heaven, or the “furnace”. Those who use natural reasoning blame God for destruction, but fail to blame themselves for causing it.

These people were ready to fight Babylon, ready to protect the land, but failed to stand with God. This doesn’t say fighting to protect God’s property is wrong, it says fighting without God on your side is failure. Either they fought with God, or fought against Him with their idol worship. They had the saying”, they had their Temple, it would appear they were Positive, yet Jeremiah the Negative, but their false thinking was really the Negative,  God’s warnings the Positive, they failed to seek the Precious. Discernment and humbleness will detect if we are fighting the good fight of Faith, or fighting God. These people were still in the hand of God, but they were being corrected for their iniquity and religious conceit. They assumed God would never take away a gift, they assumed the Temple was so holy, God would never allow it to be in the hands of the heathen. Some of us use the same religious conceit in the area of Grace, presuming, “once I have Grace, I can never lose it”, yet the Scriptures warn us how we can fall from Grace (Gal 5:4 & Heb 12:15). God won’t take it from us, but we can toss it away (Jude 4). The Latin meaning of the word Perdition means “To toss away”, thus Jude shows how some, few as they be, separate themselves from God, ending incapable of holding to the Spirit when the catching away happens (Jude 5 & 17-19).

The world isn’t our problem, our soulish reaction to the event produces the problem. Instead of fighting flesh and blood, the government, the secular press or some other element, we seek the Spirit to discern our position and condition. Whether we use “once protected, always protected”, or “God will never take away the gift”, the soulish intent is always religious conceit, building a false confidence. It sounds so positive, yet it’s over confidence in the Gift, while lacking spiritual reasoning for why we have the Gift. Over confidence is based in pride, it  produces fable thinking as a High Thing, assuming the Gift is Salvation, rather than Grace to reach salvation. Why? There is no verse saying you can Lose your Salvation, of course there is no verse saying Salvation is the Gift either. Before one can determine if they can “lose their salvation”, they must determine if Salvation is the Gift, or if Salvation actually belongs to them. When we find out Salvation belongs to the Lord, it removes the first false leg to the fable (Ex 15:2, I Sam 2:1 & Psalm 3:8 et al). Then we have to determine if Salvation is a Gift in any sense, we have determined there is no verse determining Salvation is the Gift, rather we find Grace is the Gift, Salvation the goal. These people made the same mistake, what support did they have wherein they could consider God would never allow the Temple or the grounds upon which the Temple sits to fall into the hands of the heathen? If there was support, then God would not have allowed it, thus we find they may have had a Positive saying, but they lacked Scripture to back it up, making it a Negative fable. Jeremiah was saying what God wanted said, the false prophets and people were saying things attempting to get God to confirm their word. Therefore in view of the events it would appear as if Jeremiah was Negative, but in truth he was very Positive.

Jeremiah 16:9 gives us the division between the Woman Jeremiah is speaking to, and the Woman in the Book of Revelation. The first obvious premise is “in your days”, God will remove the voice of mirth, gladness, the bridegroom, and the bride, meaning the people will be removed. However, in the Book of Revelation we find the lesser light of the candle (Remnant as the lesser light) shall no more shine in the Woman, as well as her losing the voice of the bridegroom and the bride (Rev 18:23). Then we find “in her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints” (Rev 18:24), going back to Revelation 17:6 we find the Woman was drunken with the blood of the saints and martyrs, thus this Woman begins many years prior to Jacob’s Trouble. The prophetic message is directed to the time of Jeremiah, but we find it’s also projected into the future. The connection is the idol worship, in the time of Jeremiah it was under the “green trees”, but in the latter days it will be in the Temple proper.

Religious conceit is a self-blinding element, holding iniquity, but asking, “why has God done this?” (Jere 16:10). The heart is deceitful above “all things”, it is desperately wicked, it doesn’t need to be demon possessed (Jere 17:9). Even the slightest element of deception is dangerous, Peter felt the protection of Jesus was paramount, but when Jesus talked about the Cross and Resurrection, Peter rebuked the Lord by saying, “Be it far from You, Lord, this shall not be unto You” (Matt 16:22). Peter used a Jewish idiom, meaning “have pity on Yourself, make God stop it”. At the time Peter felt the Cross was a senseless act, but it was the very purpose for the Word becoming flesh. Peter wanted to change what God had ordained, yet Jesus responded by saying, “Get you behind Me Satan, you are an offense unto Me: for you savor not the things of God, but those of man” (Matt 16:23). In the saying we see the nature of man never understands spiritual matters, rather the natural mind views them as foolishness (I Cor 2:14). This shows the heart of man forms the intent, the mind of man speaks the intent without knowing it, to Peter it seemed like the right thing to say at the time. We must have a New Heart, the circumcision not made with hands, the induction of the Holy Spirit in our lives not only to know spiritual matters, but discern events as well.

The hearts of the people were so hard, God writes their sins with a diamond cutting tool (Jere 17:1). In our case we have a New Heart, one wherein all the Commandments of Mercy and Grace are retained. However, we can allow our souls to become hard, or unteachable. The Ground upon which the Seed is sown is us, we can make the Ground soft, or hard, it’s a matter of choice, Unbelief, doubt, unforgiveness are all stones in the Ground hindering the growth of the Seed. Here we find the Mountain of the Lord was given many blessings, now the same Mountain will lose what little it had (Jere 17:3). Jeremiah speaks to the people in the city, yet in speaking to the city, he is also speaking to the head (authority, or capitol) of the nation.

The curse never comes without cause, it falls on anyone who trusts in man, or those who make the flesh their power and might. Without exception, cursed is anyone who departs from the Lord (Prov 26:2 & Jere 17:5). God identifies the three elements of natural man, John referred to them as, the lust of the eye (envy desiring what the eye sees), the lust of the flesh (trusting in the flesh of man), and the pride of life (self-confidence). These are the motivations of the world, the incentives of darkness, the basis of all deception.

However, blessed is the man who trusts in God, while putting his hope in the Lord (Jere 17:7). The Lord knows the hearts and minds of all men, thus for us He began by giving us a New Heart, one circumcised without hands, one fully able to Believe Jesus is raised from the dead, one based on a Precious Nature. God searches the hearts, giving to every one according to their ways; therefore, the New Birth produces the New Heart, giving us the Ways of God within, our reward is being partakers in the First Resurrection (Jere 17:10 & Rev 20:6).

The prophet then speaks of something not in his earthly realm, yet a place as “our sanctuary” in heaven, the Glorious High Throne above all thrones. The Lamb of God was slain from the foundation of the world, the Word was with God, the Word was God, and His throne was from before the beginning in the place of our purposed Sanctuary (Jere 17:12, Rev 13:8 & Jn 1:1). All those who forsake the Lord (Jehovah), Who is the Hope of Israel shall be ashamed, they shall be written in the earth, rather than written in the Book of Life (Jere 17:13). The Pharisees faced Jehovah the Hope of Israel, they tempted Him with a question of the Law in reference to a woman caught in the very act of adultery, yet the Pharisees were from the Woman (City) who was caught in the very act of adultery: they were continuing the same evil acts of religious conceit. They rejected the Living Water the night before, tempted Him with the Law, but Jesus answered them with the words of the prophet (Jn 7:38-8:9). The Pharisees had the same opportunity to say, “Heal me, O Lord and I shall be healed; save me and I shall be saved, for You are my praise”, as they did to tempt the Lord (Jere 17:14). However the Pharisees turned and walked away; they lost the reward of the prophet, yet the woman who was accused of the Pharisees found the Mercy of the Lord as she sought the Lord for her protection. In the time of Jeremiah they were using the Temple, something of God, rather than God to find their protection. They were rejecting the Fountain of Living Water, for the fables of the false prophets. They didn’t have the Living Water, rather they rejected the Fountain (Jehovah).

The people challenged Jeremiah, demanding a sign. It’s the same temptation of “show me”. When the prophecy comes, or some other manifestation of the Spirit the Wicked will challenge it, the unlearned will use natural means to discredit it, but the child of God accepts it. These people ran to the prophet’s meetings, but rejected the Word. They also ran to the false prophets, accepting their smooth sayings. Rather than deal with the event before them, they were attempting to avoid it. The evidence in hand proved the words of the false were indeed false. As for Jeremiah, he didn’t fail at being a pastor to Israel (Jere 17:15-16). Jeremiah was an example of one who hears and follows. Like any Godly prophet, he received the words he spoke as an example of his confidence in the Lord. We can give all sorts of prophecy, yet fail to receive our own words. Does it mean God won’t use us anymore? Not at all, God used Balaam after the fact, thus we find being used of God, and being a servant unto God are different. It’s far better to be a faithful servant, rather than among the group of the “Lord, Lord haven’t we” people (Matt 7:21-23).

God reminded these people of the sabbath, as the token to the Covenant they were now claiming protected them. They kept the day, but they failed to keep the seven year sabbath for the land, thus they were unequal. Their iniquity, or failure to keep the seven year sabbath is really a warning to us, they kept part, not all of the Token. We can have many acts taking place, but fail to walk in mercy, thus we can’t claim the Covenant as our protection based on Acts alone, we must be Equal, by having the Ways join the Acts. How? By the Spirit, the New Man, learning the truth of “that Born of the Spirit is Spirit”, our souls were natural, the New Man is Spirit, He will not become Spirit, thus He is bringing our souls into a spiritual realm, making us heavenly citizens by our souls becoming Spirit.

The sabbath came just before the Law of Moses, but it was also became the token regarding the Law, it was required if one was to claim the Law of Moses (Jere 17:21). They were limiting the sabbath to the day only, but they failed at the entire sabbath law. Although they failed at the sabbath for the land, God was still doing all He could to save them, thus if they kept the sabbath holy, it would have been enough to stop the pending doom (Jere 17:23-27). He wasn’t asking for them to give the land 70 years, just start by now giving the land it’s sabbath, it would save them.

Keeping the sabbath didn’t make them holy, they were to keep the sabbath holy, by separating it unto the Lord. The other six days they could do as they pleased, which shows they had to be told to keep a day, whereas we keep the Lord in our heart; we are renewed daily in the Lord (II Cor 4:16).

If they would just keep the Sabbath holy and separated, then God would spare them, this type and shadow is a hope for us. Although the years of failure had passed, God was still looking for something they could do within the confines of the Covenant so He could spare them. How much more will the Blood of Jesus accomplish for us? Yes we miss it from time to time, but the Blood of Jesus is our New Covenant, the Lord is faithful to forgive us the second we ask Him. If the heart of the ministry is Reconciliation, then the Holy Ghost is centered on reconciliation, thus He is more than willing to Reconcile us unto the Lord (II Cor 5:17-21). Simply, if we keep our Sabbath (Jesus) in the face of adversity, we will be spared.

God was reaching out, He was willing to bend much further than these people. Which is often the case, if we just think about it we would see how many times God bent further in order to keep us in the Covenant, than we do to remain in the Covenant. However, all God was doing still didn’t penetrate their hard hearts, they kept demanding for God to save them according to their agendas. They wanted God to hear them, but they refused to hear or obey God’s voice. God was willing to bend within the confines of the Covenant, but He wasn’t going to bow to their carnal demands by allowing them to still engage in idol worship. What kind of a Witness would it be for God? “Oh their God allows them to worship idols, so we can as well”, “Oh their God knew they worshipped idols, and saved them anyway”. They were giving God a terrible reputation, yet they couldn’t see it. They were engaged in what pleased them, yet some of us confuse the purpose of faith in the same manner. Rather than see faith is to please God, we presume faith is to please us, we figure if we’re pleased then God must be. Faith doesn’t mean we will be miserable, but it does mean our concern is diligently seeking God in order to please Him. Why do we think we must ask for God’s Wisdom by faith? Wisdom misused is dangerous, thus we ask with the motivation of using the Gift in the manner God desires, thus it’s by faith. These people had their gift in hand, yet failed to see God was not pleased with many of them.

The Lord sends Jeremiah to the “potter’s house” where Jeremiah watches how the potter makes a vessel. The potter began with one lump of clay, in the process he found the Vessel was unworthy, but he didn’t cast away the clay, rather he took the same lump and made another product (Jere 18:1-10). Paul used this allegory in the opposite mode, displaying how God forms the vessel, but the forming is dependent on the Mercy (water) generated by the vessel. If there is Mercy, it’s a vessel unto Mercy, if not, it’s a vessel of dishonor fit for destruction (perdition – Rom 9:20-23). God isn’t asking for “clean fish”, just willing fish, He will do the forming.

There came a point during Jeremiah’s time when the people assumed there was no hope, but God continued to reach out to them. The vision of their hope could only be found in their repentance, but rebellion and pride refuse to bend. The Ten Commandments were a written conscience, we have the inner Word as ours. Listen, know when the warning comes, then obey the voice of the Lord. However, the nature of man seeks excuses as a means to avoid the call. Using the excuse “it has passed away” is a statement of no hope, yet without Hope we have nothing in which to put our faith (Jere 18:12). Whether it’s passed away or not isn’t the question; whether we are seeking it or not is. Rebellion produces vanity of heart, and vanity of heart produces its own idols (Jere 18:13-16).

Jeremiah faced his “John 7 meeting” as well, the one sign we don’t want, yet it’s a sign we are standing in Truth. When we find ourselves victim to the Wicked minds in some John 7 meeting, we can be assured we’re spoke as an oracle of God; the final test is to remain speaking the Truth in Love during the meeting. When the false accusations, the slanders, the use of unrelated documents, or words we spoke taken out of context, lies, or attacks for the Word’s sake come, Rejoice, be exceedingly glad, for you spoke the Truth,  you did your job, the Wicked are exposed and offended (Jere 18:18). They will devise their devises to stop the Truth, they don’t want exposure, they don’t want clarity, they want smooth words, or to be healed slightly. What to do? Go to the Lord, Grace is sufficient, it always is. Therefore, we find the prayer of Jeremiah would appear to be one of hate, vengeance and judgment, but the man is only repeating what God told him (Jere 18:21-23). We also find he is placing it in the hand of God, rather than entering self-justification (Jere 18:23). When we attempt to justify ourselves, we fall into the hands of the Wicked, ending as bait for their mind games.

Jeremiah takes a vessel to the valley of Hinnom, the very location where the people sacrificed their children. God speaks to the end times showing the valley will be one flowing with blood (Jere 19:1-6). God knew the end before there was a beginning, He knows who will reject Him, or who won’t, but it doesn’t stop Him from reaching out (Jere 19:7-15). It’s clear from the words of the prophets and history, these people went into captivity, many of them died, yet we find God raising men like Daniel and others in the captivity, thus God had the Precious in sight, although the event looked evil in nature.

Even a man like Pashur who was a wicked son of a priest had the opportunity to repent, but he smote Jeremiah, thus he also struck a fatal blow against himself (Jere 20:1-2). The name Pashur means Tare in pieces, or Broken in pieces. The name Immer means Talkative, relating to words of rambling without a Godly intent, thus putting the two together we find how the Body will be Broken, the Wicked come with words lacking Godly intent, they are still self-based, run by the spirit of the world, they have agendas, but all them are motivated by darkness, they are the bad fish, tares, spotted garments, yet they feast with us. The type and shadow is given us as Jeremiah the man of God as the good fish, who will survive in the end, but Pashur as the bad fish, although it appears as if the bad fish won this battle, the war is far from over (Jere 20:1-2). This Pashur is not to be confused with Pashur the son of Malchijah (Chron 9:12), Ezra speaks of the sons or children of Pashur (Ezra 2:38 & 10:32). Nonetheless this Pashur was a prophet of God at one time, now he has allowed the position to go to his head, thinking if he says something God has to bring it to pass, a very bad mistake. God sends the prophets to warn, give us direction, or bring doctrine; therefore, to strike, mock to reject the warning of God, is the same as striking, mocking, or rejecting God (Jere 20:3-6). Pashur had the power to strike and imprison Jeremiah, yet God told Jeremiah, “Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with you to deliver you” (Jere 1:8). When Jeremiah looked at the event, he assumed God had deceived him, he is faced with mocking and accusations (Jere 20:7-8, 1:8 & 1:19). The Wicked were in warfare, but it was against the man of God, their prayers were envy based (Jere 20:10 & James 4:1-4). When Jeremiah looked beyond the event, he saw the Mighty Lord on his side (Jere 20:11). The event, sickness or predicament isn’t our problem, it’s our soulish reaction to the event, with our failure to discern it becoming the problem.

Jeremiah begins to pray and intercede, at first glance it would appear he was sorry God called him, but if we look at the wording we find he is giving a prophecy and speaking on behalf of the land (Jere 20:14 & Gen 25:20-23). Instead of producing this rebellious nation, it would have been better if Rebekah died giving birth, and both Jacob and Esau would have died as well (Jere 20:14-18). If we assume this is Jeremiah talking about himself alone, it simply wouldn’t fit with, “sing unto the Lord, praise you the Lord; for He has delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers” (Jere 20:13). This Weeping was the voice of Rachel, as the sorrow of the land for the ways of the people (Jere 20:15-18). The Weeping of the prophet is still the Weeping of God.

Pashur the “son of Immer” smote Jeremiah, now we find Pashur the “son of Melchian” coming to Jeremiah (Jere 21:1-2). We find two different men by the name of Pashur, recalling how the name means To tear or break, we also find the allegory of the two actions to the Broken Body of Jesus. On one hand the Bad Fish (Pashur the son of Immer) smites the prophets, on the other the Good Fish (Pashur the son of Melchian) who desires to know the Mind of the Lord. Two men of the same name, but with different intents and purposes.

From here until Jeremiah 25:38 we have one prophetic message concerning the activities of Babylon and the people of God. God speaks through Jeremiah to Pashur and Maaseiah: God will turn the weapons of king Zedekiah to nothing, then God will fight on the side of Nebuchadnezzar (Jere 21:4-5). In the latter days “God’s army” is seen as the world as they come against the city (Woman), thus God will turn on His own, when His own turn on Him. Many years prior God set before the people Death and Life, here He it’s the “way of life”, and the “way of death” (Jere 21:8). The only hope these people have is to submit to the king of Babylon by allowing the captivity to run its intended course (70 years – Jere 21:9-10).

Then we read “and touching the house of the king of Judah”, but then it’s “O house of David” (Jere 21:11-12). Which is it? House of the king of Judah? Or House of David? Or both? Or neither? Or what? This gives us a clue to the “church of Philadelphia”, who have a “little strength” (Rev 3:7-12). The “house of David” has a key, the key is in the hand of Jesus, not man (Rev 3:7). No man can open or close the Time of Comfort, but we have the “keys to the kingdom”. Jesus also has the “keys of hell and of death”, thus there are “keys” many, but each fits a precise lock, or door. We can’t mix keys and assume we have the key to David, or presume we can open the Time of Comfort. Our concern is loosing heaven within us so we can find the truth of being Born Again.

The next warning is dual in purpose, we find this in the phrase “king of Judah, who sits upon the throne of David” (Jere 22:2). The king of Judah is being told to judge righteously and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, but didn’t God just say He was going to fight against them? Telling someone to do something, and having them to do it are different. This is another request from God with the full knowledge of it being rejected. This is clear in Jeremiah 22:5 where we find, “but if you will not hear these words”, which is what happened. Then one of the more interesting statements by God, as He says “I will prepare destroyers against you” (Jere 22:7). What? God did create the waster to destroy, here we find out why. Not because God desires it, but because the people of God caused it. The word Destroyers is the Hebrew Shachath meaning To decay, To destroy, or To ruin, it’s the same word seen in Jeremiah 2:30; showing how the people rejected the correction, their sword devoured the prophets, like a “destroying” lion, thus the destroyers coming against them are merely the result of their destroying acts against the prophets of God. This is the same context as God raising Pharaoh, thus God allowed for a purpose based on His knowledge. Pharaoh was allowed to live and reign in Egypt, so God could show His delivering power to the children.

Jeremiah speaks of the undefiled religion showing how it protects our house, yet the children won’t do it; the destroyers invade our house when we neglect the undefiled religion (Jere 22:7-19). The prophecy continues, the son of Josiah who was named Shallum was taken captive, he will not return. His brother, Jehoiakim was sitting in the stead of Shallum will also fall (Jere 22:11-18). Then we see the “weeping” of the prophet is the Weeping of the Lord (Jere 23:9). God then tells all He has seen, they are naked and opened, exposed, and known, their folly of wickedness (Jere 23:11-14). This helps us define the position of Wickedness as one based in iniquity, we were sinners, we moved to the kingdom, but those who work iniquity are unequal, thus they may not “sin”, but they do work at iniquity, which will lead to sin in the Night. Therefore, Paul says the iniquity is at work now, but in the Night we find the “man of sin” (II Thess 2:3-7).

The prophet moves to the latter days showing how God will give the Wicked “wormwood” and “the water of gall” (Jere 23:15). False prophets speak from a vision of their own hearts (spirits), they walk in the imagination of their minds, saying smooth sayings, but not from God. They hold strongholds, refusing to cast down evil imaginations (Jere 23:16-17). We know this is moving to the latter days when we read, “it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked”, and “in the latter days you shall consider it perfectly” (Jere 23:19-20). What is the “head of the wicked”? The false prophet in the latter days uses the Power (Authority, or Head) of the Beast of the Sea (Rev 13:14). The Beast is not some guy, but defined as “peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues”; however, not all people in the world are associated with the Beast (Rev 17:15, 17:1-2 & 13:1). God wounded the head of the house of the wicked (Hab 3:13). Psalm 94:23 reads, “And He shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the Lord God shall cut them off”. In the Textus Receptus, and in J.P. Green’s Interlinear we find two different Hebrew words for the phase “cut them off”. In the first usage in the phrase “shall cut them off in their own wickedness” it’s the Hebrew Karath, which we saw prior, meaning To cut away a part of the Body, but in the phrase “the Lord God shall cut them off” we find the Hebrew Tsamath meaning To consume, or To make to vanish. The difference shows us the Rapture taught in the Old Testament; the first usage shows the Broken Body of Jesus, the second points to the last resurrection, thus at the Rapture the Wicked will be left behind. At the very end they will enter the resurrection of damnation then they will be completely cut off from any attribute of God. Man being a creation always has some attribute of God, whether it be Agapao, or the measure of faith, or being around the people of God, or around the beauty of creation, but remove all the attributes of God, add the lake of fire, we would then define the term Eternal Judgment.

The prophesy lies in the Name of the Lord, yet in the latter days they will believe a lie (Jere 23:25). If the prophet has a dream, let them say it’s a dream, if they have a Word, let them speak it faithfully, but the false dream their own dreams, then turn around saying it’s a Word from the Lord, when the Lord has “saith” nothing to them. They prophesy from their self-desires, not by the mouth of God. How do we fight this battle? The Truth is a hammer breaking the false rocks of the strongholds (Jere 23:29). When the Wicked dream their dreams, or come up with their fables, the Truth preached in Love is the weapon of our warfare. The sadness is how they think the words they are saying are from the Lord, yet they fail the test. God is against the prophets who have false dreams, He will repay. Jesus is able to protect His own, thus we speak as the oracles of God, speaking the Truth in Love, something the Wicked lack the ability to do (Jere 23:29-32).

Did you ever have someone come up to you and say, “what’s your burden brother?”, yet we really didn’t know what to say? A Burden is something laid on us, there are some with a drive to save the lost, but is it a “burden”? Or a desire? A burden is often considered a weight, or hardship, not merely a desire. If our call has become a burden, we better get face to face with the Lord to find the Precious. In Jeremiah’s time the people considered the Law a “Burden”, a chore, an obligation they had to do, they went around saying, “the burden of the Lord, the burden of the Lord” (Jere 23:33). God, the God of all the universe picked these people, yet they said it was a Burden. The Wicked presume they did Jesus a big favor by receiving Him, they think Jesus owes them.

Going back a few verses, we find Jeremiah speaking to the lovers of Israel as he  prophesies against them (Jere 22:20-30). Then to the pastors, the guides and leaders of the sheep, with Woe to the pastor who causes the sheep to wander out of the pasture (Word – Jere 23:1-2). God will set shepherds who will feed the flock (Jere 23:4). Although he doesn’t know it, Jeremiah still shows the Godly Shepherds will be appointed by Jesus (Jere 23:5). The metaphor Judah often refers to the Field, later we will see the Tents of Judah will be saved, yet the Wicked from Judah who will go into the Night as the drunken. This is evidenced when we read, in “His days” Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell safely, thus giving us Two Seasons divided by the Rapture (Jere 23:6). Although the Remnant don’t know it, Jesus is Jehovah, but to them it’s still Jehovah, but it doesn’t mean He doesn’t know them. The times and seasons for the Remnant are in the Father’s power, since the making of the enemies of Jesus into the footstool was promised by the Father. Therefore, the Night pertains to Mercy, not Grace. It would be a sin for the Remnant to know Jesus, yet hold to the Two Witnesses of the Law and Prophets, thus God has blinded them (Rev 3:7-22 & Acts 1:6-8). However, there are various types of blindness, one is seen with these people, they entered self-blindness, but there are times when God blinds for a purpose. The Law of Moses itself blinds some, although it was not the purpose of the Law (II Cor 3:14).

The Mount of Transfiguration held the Two Seasons, Jesus as the Head and Body of Christ, then Moses representing the Law, with Elijah representing the Prophets, as the two Witnesses for the last two churches. For us we are told specially, “hear ye Him”, not “them”; however, for the Remnant they will hear “them”, not Him. Therefore, the undefiled religion is honored before the Father, Grace is honored before the Father, Word and Holy Ghost. When we reach the end of our salvation, we will be standing with Jesus as the “great Sea of Glass” before the Throne, yet when that happens we find the Remnant as the Little Flock, or the 144,000, whichever, on the earth. This is made clear in the Book of Revelation where we find the 144,000 marked on the earth, but at the same time we see a “great multitude” before the Throne (Rev 7:1-9). Later after the judgment we find another Great Multitude, but wouldn’t you know it, two different Greek words. The first usage in Revelation 7:9 means a number not able to be counted, but one can see the end thereof. The second usage in Revelation 19:6 means it’s not able to be counted, with the added element of the end not being seen.

Our faith and hope are future tense, yet we must believe in our heart Jesus is raised from the dead. Why raised from the dead? Why not the Cross? Why not as the Son of man? The Resurrection of Jesus is the First Resurrection, one taking something in the person before the fact, the last resurrection is much different. At the last resurrection it’s “unto life”, or “unto damnation”, but in the First is for those who have Life in them by the Spirit before the fact, thus we associate to the Resurrection of Jesus. The same Spirit who raised Jesus, will raise us, the Rapture is the finish of the First Resurrection. Paul doesn’t equate the “catching away” to a separate resurrection, but as the conclusion to the First Resurrection, as does John. If we truly believe Jesus is raised from the dead, then our desire is be partakers of His Resurrection before the 1,000 years (Rev 20:5-6).

We know Jesus personally, but the Remnant will know Jesus as THE LORD (JEHOVAH) OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, not as Jesus our Lord and Savior, but as Jehovah (Jere 23:6). The time will come when they will say, “The LORD (Jehovah) lives who brought Israel out of the north country” (Babylonia – Jere 23:8). John says, the Woman went into the wilderness at the time of the Cross, then she is seen in the wilderness at the Time of Comfort (Jere 23:7-8, Rev 12:6 & 17:1). At the end of those days the Eighth, who made the decision to remain with the he in the world will invade the Woman with idol worship (Jere 23:8-15).

God compares the evil prophets of Jeremiah’s time to the evil prophets of our time, and the time yet to come (Jere 23:9-24). The false prophets dream their own dreams, hold their own prophecy, speaking vanity and boasting vain words (Jere 23:25-32). God is also against those who take the words of another, claiming they are their own (Jere 23:30). Whoa, wait a minute, does it mean we can’t teach anything unless we get it directly from the Holy Ghost? Not at all, it means we don’t regurgitate a teaching, or revelation, then claim it as our own “private revelation”. The knowledge always comes from God, thus the revelation may be new to us, or we may have heard it from another, but we never claim it as a work of our own intellect.

Jeremiah 24:1 relates to the time when Daniel was taken captive around 605 BC, Daniel is a type and shadow of a “good fig”, not a “good fish”. The Fish come from the Sea, the Wheat from the Field, the Figs from the Fig Tree, the Anointing of Mercy from the Olive Tree. The Lord showed Jeremiah two baskets of figs, one held good figs, the other naughty figs, yet they came from a Fig Tree, thereby showing not all in the land were bad figs (Jere 24:1-3). The two baskets represent the Jewish religious order, we are Olives, not Figs. Later in Jeremiah 29:17 the bad figs are defined as those who rejected the words of the prophet, thus God looks at them as vile figs, helping us understand why God told Jeremiah to seek the Precious, not the Vile. At times it may appear as if more are rejecting than receiving, but if we put our eyes on the Precious, rather than the Vile, the Vile won’t overcome us. Jeremiah now sees there are Good Figs, his work is not in vain, some will hear, they may not speak out, but they heard and obeyed.

Jeremiah began with the premise of “See, I have this day set you over the nations, and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant” (Jere 1:10). Up to this point in his ministry he heard and saw the uprooting, the destruction, the throwing down, but there was no building or planting. Ahh, God gave him hope, displaying the Good Figs as a sign. When the Good Figs return they will do the Building and Planting (Jere 24:6). It seems like God would plant then build, rather than build than plant. However, this refers to the building of the Temple, then planting the land. In our case we find the Holy Ghost plants the Seed of God (Word), the Word begins to grow in us until we are Born Again then the building begins to form us into the Image of God’s Son

The other side seems strange, those who surrender to Babylon will be considered the good figs (Jere 24:4-7). It would seem strange for the Lord to tell any of us, “submit to Babylon”; however, a weapon of our warfare is Submission. Submission has a power, when applied in Love it will overcome the attacks of the Wicked. At times God will have us submit to Babylon, but in so doing we will see the Power of God’s deliverance.

The Temple will be rebuilt as God said, but keeping it the Temple will remain in the hands of the religious order. Jesus cleaned out the Temple, some of us assume we can do the same; however, the disciples never cleaned out the temple, they submitted to the religious rulers, thus overcoming the attacks. Assuming we can go about and clean out churches by using the Principle and Example of Jesus, is error. We could say, “Jesus did it, and the servant is not above the Master”, but we must find the example in the lives of the disciples, or we have become the Master. There is none, they submitted, and by their submission they overcame. “Oh yea, Stephen submitted, and was killed, James submitted and was killed, some overcoming”. Both Stephen and James, as well as the others all knew their Lord and Savior, they knew they were in the hand of Jesus. Some of us would use every trick in the book of man to avoid submitting, others know the power of submission. Of course one has to know the principle of submission is not the same as being a slave, rather it entails the avoidance of debate, strife and conflict.

By this time the people had rebelled to the point where repentance was out of the question, they had to enter captivity, thus their survival was in submitting to the king of Babylon. The heathen king was placed in authority over the people of God, by God, thus fighting against the king, was the same as fighting against God. God will even call this heathen, idol worshipping king His servant, what gives? A heathen as a servant of God? Oh my, what has it come to? The king of Babylon was raised for a purpose, just as Pharaoh was raised for a purpose. Both were evil, both outside the promise, yet both used by God to be over God’s people. However, there is something else to consider, when these heathen kings did take the people of God, they were nonetheless responsible. If they failed to care for the people of God, then God would come against them.

On the same note, we don’t run around looking for some heathen to submit to, rather it’s dependent on hearing from God. The children who entered the wilderness failed to learn the lesson; ending dead in the wilderness. When we do learn the lesson, the old man dies in the wilderness, the New Man forms the Kingdom. We learn of oppression by being oppressed, but we also learn not to become the oppressor when we are no longer oppressed. The natural mind of man turns from being oppressed to being the oppressor when freedom is in hand. The Holy Ghost teaches us by experience, one with an experience far out weighs one with an opinion. The wilderness experience may put us in some hard places, but the purpose brings our trust in the Lord to the surface.

The evil figs are subject to the sword, pestilence and famine (Jere 24:8-10). The figs are the representations of vessels, the good figs hear and obey, whether they understand or not. The evil figs seek the self-pleasure by using the principles of God in reverse to promote their self-interests.

God didn’t waste time, the Quickly was upon them in the first year of king Nebuchadnezzar’s reign (Jere 25:1-2). God will send His prophets to warn us of the Quickly, but not all the Quicklies contain the path of peace. The false seem to get things backward, they call Peace when God is telling us we’re in Danger, or they call Danger when God tells us it’s a time of Rest. We discern by the Spirit, yet if we remain carnal we are not the Elect or Very Elect, thus the carnal are fooled by the false (Jere 25:3).

The call to repentance is never wrong, neither is asking God to keep us from being deceived, even if we think we’re not. We still prepare by repentance, as we affirm our position by the Spirit (Jere 25:5). The “fear of God” is never a bad way to go, as long as we know the Fear of God is the Fear of missing God.

Rebellion worships idols, whether those idols are the idols of pride in the heart or an idol made of stone. Pride refuses to bow in the presence of God, there are some who humble themselves in the presence of others to exalt themselves by using false humility as a tool to exalt themselves. They will confess sins to gain the advantage over the people, not to repent before God (Jere 25:6-7). False humility is the byproduct of pride, the sister of self-exaltation. The people owed the land seventy years of rest, their time in captivity was based on the failure to give the land its sabbath, but an extended stay in the wilderness is based on idol worship (Jere 25:12-14).

Daniel will have a copy of Jeremiah’s writings, he will see how Jeremiah says it will be “seventy years”; however, the place where Daniel sees the wording is not here in Jeremiah 25:11, rather it will be later in Jeremiah 29:10. Of course we know, before the King James Version there were no verse numbers or chapter numbers, thus Daniel didn’t look up “Jeremiah 29:10”, but searched the writing until he saw the revelation. He then knew God had placed a set time on the captivity, thus showing Daniel knew Jeremiah was a prophet of God by believing the words of the prophet. This area does show the length of time as seventy years, but in Jeremiah 29:10-12 we have the addition of a prayer by the captives, explaining what Daniel read, causing him to immediately began to pray. Daniel knew there was a requirement for the people of God, thus he stood as the intercessor. We also find Babylon will have a finish at the end of the seventy years, God will wound the head of the house of the Wicked. In the latter days the Wicked will again use the methods of the Wicked idol worshipping house to take the Woman captive. Nonetheless, Jeremiah now sees the building and planting will be after the seventy years, all is not lost, or in vain, God has a plan and purpose.

Jeremiah then travels by prophecy to the Garden of Gethsemane, the place where one finds Jesus taking the fourth cup of the Passover. The Father took the first cup of the Passover when He desired to be among His people, Jesus gave us the second cup of separation, which we know as our water baptism, then we all take the third cup of remission, as the cup of Communion representing the Blood of Jesus (Luke 22:17-20). Luke is the only account showing the “cup of separation”, it came before the Bread, the Bread before the Cup of Remission. Also, we know the Last Supper came first, then the Garden. Judas was at the table, but he didn’t partake of the Bread or the Third Cup. When Jesus was in the Garden, Judas was in the temple making his plans with the religious leaders. The word Gethsemane tells us more about the condition, than the location, the word means “Wine Press”, or “A place of pressure”. Jesus was offered the Fourth Cup, but He also prayed for all those who would be subject to it before He took it. The fourth cup of the Passover is the cup of the wrath of God; Jesus was sorrowful unto the death of all those who will become subject to the fourth cup; however, we also find in the taking of the cup the enemies of Jesus would be made His footstool (Jere 25:15-17). When Jesus said, “let it pass” it was not in rebellion to the Will of the Father, rather the Mercy, Love and Longsuffering of Jesus was displayed. The Wicked are the enemies of Jesus, they will cause many to fall, they will be the cause to make it all end in the lake of fire; yet Jesus was praying for them, as He prayed for those who would persecute Him; still willing for all be saved and none lost. Not only did Jesus take the cup, but we find the “cup of Babylon” is also in the Lord’s hand. Jeremiah is told the cup will be unto “all the kingdoms of the world”, yet we know Jeremiah didn’t go to all the kingdoms of the world, thus this is prophetic in nature pointing to very last days (Jere 25:15 & 25:26). This gives us two cups, both are seen in the Book of Revelation. The “cup of Babylon” is seen in the hand of the Woman, it’s filled with the abominations and filthiness of her fornication (Rev 17:4 & 18:3). The Cup of God’s wrath is poured out by an angel (Rev 16:19). However, we are not appointed to God’s Wrath.

We all have to know the truth, everyone of us who were under the spirit of disobedience had the potential to become among the Wicked, but God’s Mercy coupled with being Born Again removed us from the evil potential. Therefore, the difference between a Saint in the Kingdom, and the Wicked in the Body is the Spirit of Truth in residence. God’s Mercy divides the vessels of honor from dishonor, but we also find Living Waters from the Spirit within adds life to the Mercy (Jn 7:38-39). Mercy and Grace are joined in the Born Again Believer, allowing us to come boldly to the throne of Grace to obtain Mercy and find Grace (Heb 4:16). The more we learn about being Born Again, the more we appreciate Jesus who made it all possible. We take the Third Cup to avoid the Fourth, Jesus gave us the Third, but He took the Fourth.

The first great earthquake was at the Resurrection of Jesus, the next will be when the Fifth and Sixth Seals are broken at the Rapture, but the Angels don’t go forth until after the Seventh Seal is broken, thus it’s stupid to fear the last earthquake while there remains the Fifth and Sixth Seals yet to be opened. Part of the Doctrine of Christ is understanding eternal judgment, but in order to understand eternal judgment one has to also know when the Judgment takes place. The only ones subject to the Fourth Cup are those who fail to appreciate the Third Cup. This is the Day the Lord has made, let’s rejoice and be glad in it.

Jesus is seen in the very end Treading the Winepress (Rev 19:15), the sixth angel calls to the fifth, saying, “Thrust in your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe” (Rev 14:17-18). This is the gathering, which is akin to the gathering of the tares: then comes the “Winepress of the wrath of God” (Rev 14:19). The Book of Revelation is combination of the sayings of the prophets, with the vision of John, it’s not something which may happen, it will happen, but we are not assigned to those times. Whether we like what the world is doing or not, doesn’t change the purpose of the event; whether the events going on in the world look evil, destructive, wicked, out of control, or moot, they still have a purpose in God’s plan (Jere 25:18-33). The world is still under the prince of the power of the air, so how do we think they will react? Godly? Hardly, they are still using the power, seat and authority of the dragon. However, God is God, all things are subject to Him, He still has the Plan in hand.

Religious conceit is the “holier than thou” thought process, yet faith says we are holy, go figure? Faith is not pride based, religious conceit is, thus we can have two people saying the same thing, yet with two different intents. One can say, “I’m a child of God” from a position of faith, or from a position of pride, discernment of their fruit tells us the difference. We can learn of these events, or chalk them up to history and go about thinking we are something we’re not (Jere 25:34-37).

These people could have recalled the “battle of Jericho”, some of us need to recall the Weapon of the battle. “Oh yes, amen, it was the shout”, wrong, it was a battle of silence, for six days they marched around the city on the seventh day they remained silent, until the seventh trip, then they only shouted once, thus one Weapon of our warfare at times is silence. There are times to speak, times to listen, and times to remain silent. It would have been better for these people to remain silent and hear, rather than speak while refusing to hear.

These people are looking at Babylon as the great evil, but only God can place His people in captivity. The devil can never defeat God’s people, unless God’s people give the devil place (opportunity), yet God still has to allow it. God is still in control, thus even a short time in captivity helps us appreciate our Freedom the more. Job had a “hole in the hedge”, thus Job is a perfect type and shadow of the Christian Experience. We face events, but God is still able to deliver us. In the end He delivered Job, thus Job went from “God will take it all”, to “God is God of all”. Adverse circumstances are merely another opportunity to build our belief and faith. If faith pleases God, then strong faith must please Him the more.

When these people are taken captive, they finally admit it Was God, not the devil, nor the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon couldn’t take a tare out of the kingdom, unless it was granted from on high, much less take the wheat . When its all said and done, they will know God placed a prophet among them, but their religious conceit and rebellion blinded them to the Truth. It would have been much better if they would have received the prophet before the captivity, rather than admit the man was a prophet after the fact. This same failure is seen in the opposite as well, it’s far better to discern the false before the fact, than after.

The Truth will set us free if we continue in it, but it will place us in bondage if we reject it (Jere 25:35). They failed to believe God, finding God was against them, it’s better to believe in God Is, then think the devil is. They took the side of the enemy by using the ways of the enemy, thereby becoming God’s enemy.

The “peaceable habitations are cut down”, but wait, are not we the ones with the Gospel of Peace? This shows the Habitations, not the peaceable ones are “cut down”. The wording “cut down” is the Hebrew Damam meaning To be astonished, To stop, or To be silent. What were those “habitations” of peace? Were they peace? Or did they go about saying “peace, peace”? Ahh, the truth was known, the false were “cut down”, astonished, God didn’t honor their words of Peace, Peace when there was no Peace. These prophets made the mistake of assuming if they spoke words based on their position God would honor them. Some of us make the same mistake, we assume if we “speak in faith” God will honor our words. However, in order to be faith we must first Hear, if we haven’t heard it’s not faith, but presumption.

Jeremiah was sent to the House of the Lord, to those who worship therein, but the purpose was to rebuke them, since they would worship God in the temple, but idols outside of the temple (Jere 26:1-2). This connects to the prior verses showing the false were cut down, Jeremiah was not to hold back one word, nor was he to add his emotions to make the word more than it was, rather he was to deliver the word as intended (Jere 26:2). A prophet can use their emotions to make a warning seem like a blessing, or a blessing seem like a rebuke, or a warning sound like destruction. Here it was clearly a rebuke, but we also find God didn’t send just Jeremiah alone, rather there were “prophets”, thus it wasn’t one prophecy, or one chance, rather it was over a long period of time (Jere 26:5).

God continued to reach to His own, telling them to repent (Jere 26:3). Some of us think repentance is turning and walking in a different direction, but we can repent, turn and walk in a different direction, yet fail to walk toward the Lord. Repenting to avoid the danger lacks genuine sincerity, yet these people failed to repent in the face of danger. They ignored the exposure, if we ignore the exposure, we force God to bring the evil from the world to place us in captivity until we gain our senses (Jere 26:3-7).

After Jeremiah made an end to the prophecy, the priests, false prophets, and the people took him, saying, “You shall surely die” (Jere 26:8). Needless to say, they rejected the prophet’s reward, it appears as if they were highly angered (Jere 26:5). The people held the Temple above God, there are times when we hold the things of God above Jesus. Jesus is the Head of the Body, not the tail, all things are subject to Him, not the other way around. The things God has given us are important, but we don’t worship the anointing, we don’t worship the power, they are Godly, but it doesn’t make them God (Jere 26:9).

The people said Jeremiah was worthy unto death for prophesying against the city and temple, but it was God not Jeremiah who purposed the evil against the city (Jere 26:10-12). When we get mad because a prophet testifies against us or our local body, it’s a sign they are right, we just don’t like it. If he spoke falsely, it would be joke, hardly making us mad. Uncontrolled anger is a defensive weapon of the old man to cover the exposure. Jeremiah continues with the message, telling the people to repent (Jere 26:13). The deliverance was at hand, but the failure to truly repent closed the gate of deliverance, but opened the gates of hell.

Jeremiah reminds them how he spoke only what God gave him, if they put him to death, surely they would bring innocent blood on themselves (Jere 26:15). Then said the “princes” to the priests and people, “This man is not worthy to die: for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God” (Jere 26:16). However, then rose up certain elders, telling the people about Micah the Morasthite who prophesied in the days of Hezekiah, who said Zion would be plowed, and Jerusalem would be a heap, yet Hezekiah didn’t kill the prophet, he repented. Then there was Urijah the son of Shemiaiah, who prophesied against Jerusalem in the same manner as Jeremiah, yet Jehoiakim sought to kill Urijah, but when Urijah heard it, he fled and went into Egypt. However, Jehoiakim sent men into Egypt, and brought Urijah back and killed him (Jere 26:18-23). Two examples, one prophet lived, the other died, so why not kill Jeremiah? After all he and Micah were saying about the same things, yet Micah was killed! Reasoning of fools, leads to destruction. However, Jeremiah did have a friend, Ahikam the son of Shaphan who stood for Jeremiah (Jere 26:24). Now comes the command to serve Nebuchadnezzar, it was bad enough to be told about the captivity, now the prophet is saying to “serve” the heathen king. Jeremiah made yokes, putting some on his neck first, then sent some to various kings. God reminds these kings how He made man, whether king or not, they are nonetheless the products of God’s hand (Jere 27:1-6). Three kings from Babylon will reign over the people, until a few years ago the “error seekers” assumed the use of the “three kings” was error. Nebuchadnezzar was the one who would take the people captive, then in Daniel we read of Belshazzar, which would make it appear as if there were only two kings; however, history shows Nebuchadnezzar I had a son by the name of Nebuchadnezzar II, then Nebuchadnezzar II went off to war, leaving his son Belshazzar in charge of the land, thus the prophecy in Jeremiah 27:7 is proven true. It also stands Daniel read and believed the words of this prophet, if there was no third generation king, surely Daniel would have seen the error and told us, but there is no error.

The false prophets told the kings and people, “you won’t serve”, yet the prophets of God were saying, “you will serve”. Again to natural reasoning it would appear the false prophets were more positive, than the true prophets (Jere 27:9). It’s clear on both sides the issue was Direction, one of the prophet’s duties. Direction in and of itself really doesn’t say a thing, there is a direction unto the Lord, and one to hell. The evidence had to show these people something, Jeremiah’s words were being proven by the moment, the false were being exposed by the moment; however, when the people are so set on hearing words fitting their wanton desires and lusts they will seek the smooth sayings, false or not, proven false or not; discernment is vital, following it more so.

Those who refused to serve would die, the proof of the pudding, the false prophets spoke words seemingly to be positive at the moment, but the result of the words would be very negative (death). On the other hand, Jeremiah spoke words seemingly negative at the moment, but if followed they would have a very positive result. Among other things the word Negative means Denial, Refusal, Less than zero, or Proven to be false, thus the words of the false prophets were Negative, regardless of how positive they may have sounded at the moment. Among other things the word Positive means Expressing an attitude of joy regardless of the event, Not engaging in doubt; however, in both cases it’s not the words, but the result determining the difference.

The people had itching ears, they sought prophets with good tidings, rather than prophets with the Truth (Jere 27:9-10 & II Tim 4:3). God tells the false prophets to go ahead and prophesy Peace, when the yoke of Babylon is on their neck, see if their lies ring true or false (Jere 27:12-18).

Jeremiah then gives a prophecy by telling the people how they will be carried to Babylon, if his words are from God, wait and see, but waiting to see if Jeremiah was speaking the truth, also means the people will be in bondage by the time they know “It Was God” (Jere 27:22). We seek Truth, it may or may not be pleasant to the ear, but it will still set us free. The fruit of the people should have told them which was right, they had idols in their minds when they went to temple. Their testimony and their Witness didn’t match, repentance was the call, it’s always a good thing to repent. The fear of God isn’t a bad way to go when we’re not sure.

Of course, God will give other signs, if we are willing to receive them. Hananiah was a “son of a prophet”, assuming he had right standing based on his father’s position (Jere 28:1-2). Hananiah used the “name of the Lord”, saying the yoke of the king of Babylon had been broken, the captives would return (Jere 28:2-4). Jeremiah didn’t shout “false prophet”, rather he said, “Amen: the Lord do so” (Jere 28:6). Shouldn’t Jeremiah defend the faith? Shouldn’t he say something about this false prophet? Jeremiah did say things about other false prophets, is this different? To a degree, we know after seventy years of captivity the Lord would break the yoke of Babylon, many of the captives would return, thus it was close, but not close enough. Jeremiah could have said, “it’s false”, then heard, “Oh God isn’t going to break the yoke of Babylon like you said?”. It was a trap, but the words of Jeremiah defused the trap, yet they didn’t sit well with Hananiah (Jere 28:7-8). Hananiah took the yoke from Jeremiah’s neck and broke it, then said in the Name of the Lord, “Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years” (Jere 28:11). This changed things by putting a specific time element on the prophecy, yet history shows Nebuchadnezzar didn’t live to see the captives go free. Nonetheless it was bait for debate, Jeremiah simply left. There are times to say, times to stay, times to remain silent, and times to leave, this was one of those times to leave.

After Jeremiah left the scene the Word of the Lord came unto him saying, “Go and tell Hananiah” (Jere 28:13). The message from the Lord was to bring upon Hananiah his own false prophecy, although Hananiah broke the yoke in his hands, his own words would place a yoke of iron on him (Jere 28:13). False prophecy causes the victims to trust in a lie, Hananiah said in the space of two full years the yoke of Babylon would be broken, but God said within the same year Hananiah would die. Hananiah spoke in fifth month of the fourth hear, then died in the same year in the seventh month, some two months later (Jere 28:1 & 28:17).

The clues to Hananiah’s false prophecy are found in his words; prior he prophesied Peace, then it changed to a little bondage. Jeremiah exposed Hananiah by taking him back to the original prophecy, then showing there was no Peace, why then should anyone believe him now? (Jere 28:9). Hananiah is also a type of those who change the prophecy, or becomes a re-thinker of the end time events, yet the evidence shows he was a false prophet. Mixing seasons and events leads to false thinking, it’s true the four quarters of the world will come against the City. It’s true there will be the Judgment, it’s just as true Jesus as the Son of man will judge, but this is still the Day, many events must take place before the End of the Night comes. It’s for this reason we are Commanded by Jesus not to mix the Night into the Day, the Night is in the power of the Father, the Day in the hands of the Son, thus we of the Day are to Receive Power from on high to become Witnesses for Jesus, rather than make His enemies His footstool (Acts 1:7-8).

Jeremiah then put his words in pen and ink, then sent them throughout the land of captivity (Jere 29:1). The key to the captives remaining in Peace, was to pray for the Peace of the land they were in (Jere 29:7). This is a type of “give and it shall be given unto you”, connecting to what we pray for others, will come back to us, thus pray for Peace on our enemies, and Peace will come to us, but pray for destruction, and destruction will come.

The captives had false prophets among them, but they also had God’s prophets as well. Ezekiel was a prophet in the captivity, we know he was God’s man in the midst of captivity; therefore, even in captivity God made sure Truth was at hand. The false prophets prophesy from their own dreams and fables (Jere 29:8). God does give dreams, but so does a bad dinner, as does a wanton soul, thus it’s not the Dream, but the source. Instead of two years as Hananiah said, the Lord tells them to build houses, their stay in captivity will be much longer than the false prophesied (Jere 29:2-9). The Lord then gives the time as seventy years; although it’s captivity, it’s still a good work (Jere 29:10). Here we find the motivation Daniel will use, however, adding to the Seventy Years is the condition of “then shall you call upon Me, and you shall go and pray unto Me” (Jere 29:12); Daniel saw this then entered intercession for the people before he packed his bags.

Captivity shows us our condition and position, allowing us the time to repent to prepare for the Kingdom to be established in our souls (Jere 29:12-13). God will use the cup of separation to separate us from evil figs, then He will graft us onto the Olive Tree of Mercy so it can be by Grace through faith. He will also Engraft the Word in us, but it still takes our cooperation, belief and faith to partake of the Cup of the New Testament (Luke 22:15-20 & Jere 29:14-23).

Jeremiah 29:15 shows there were prophets of God even in Babylon, the people in captivity heard the false prophets say “no captivity”, then “oh well, maybe a little”, it should have been enough to cast away the false sayings (Jere 29:25-32). God had Jeremiah name the names of the false prophets, if God says Name them, do so, but don’t make a self-determination. Shemaiah the Nehelamite was one of those named, his prophecy would go against him and his seed, since he “taught rebellion” against the Lord (Jere 29:32). Shemaiah wrote letters (Jere 29:25), in the letters he was saying how the Lord had made him priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest. Then Shemaiah accuses Jeremiah of being self-appointed, then says the words of Jeremiah were the cause of the captivity, which is saying Jeremiah is a witch (Jere 29:26-28). The letter of Shemaiah caused God to speak through Jeremiah to show Shemaiah was the self-appointed one, this act of Shemaiah is still the method of the false (Jere 29:31-32). It can get confusing, the false say the true are false, yet as the self-appointed, they say they are appointed by God, what to do? What to do? Judge the fruit, listen for the Anointing, don’t be moved by Acts, seek the Ways.

Jeremiah was told to write down all the words in a book as a reminder to those in captivity (Jere 30:1-3). Jeremiah was not written for Jeremiah’s sake but for our sake, and for the Remnant. The words are set for Israel and Judah, a word of trembling and of fear, thus we work out our salvation by fear and trembling (Jere 30:5 & Ph’l 2:12). The thin line between faith in Jesus, and religious conceit stands before us all. We are a special people, but not because of our specialness, rather it’s because of Jesus. The day when we think it’s based on our goodness, we have entered religious conceit. The pride of religious conceit sits at the temple door waiting for the moment it can run in and proclaim itself. The Faith of Jesus has already accomplished the task, it’s not something we can claim by our efforts, but it’s the proof of Jesus destroying the devil then providing us the means to obtain the New Birth. Our faith in Jesus, and His Faith joined to make this a win, win event.

God then talks to the Woman asking if the “man” (Jacob) gave birth to the nation? (Jere 30:6). God brought Israel out of Jacob, although Jacob had the human sons from which the nation came, the existence of the nation was nonetheless in the hand of God. We know this goes to the End Times since the phrase “Jacob’s Trouble” is seen, but don’t confuse Jacob’s Trouble with the entire Tribulation period (Jere 30:7). Jacob’s Trouble is at the very end of the Night, the time when Peace and Safety turn into Trouble, as it becomes Sudden Destruction.

When we go through the Door to heaven at the catching away, then Jesus will open the Door to the House of David to begin the Time of Comfort. The people will serve the Lord for the 1,000 years; they shall be at rest in the land, as the devil will be bound to bring quietness to the land (Jere 30:9-10). Then comes the Seventh church, joining to false prophet who has the house which suffered the head wound causing a wound in Jacob which can’t be healed (Jere 30:12-14). God will heal the old wound of Israel, she won’t seek idols, but the Eighth (False Prophet) will come with the idol worshipping practices of the horn (power of Assyria). The false prophet is the house of the wicked, the house will again bring forth idol worship capturing the Woman. She will become Babylon, capturing her own children, she will be found holding the cup full of the blood of the saints and prophets (Jere 30:7 & Hab 3:13).

The promise for the Time of Comfort is firm, God will bring peace to Jacob. The mountain of the Lord will sit on the mountains of the world, but the purpose is to make the enemies of Jesus His footstool, while saving the Remnant (Jere 30:15-24). The clue to the Time of Comfort is found in verse 10, Jacob will return, and shall be “in rest, and be quiet” (Jere 30:10). This has not yet to happen, the word Rest is the Hebrew Shaqat meaning Unmolested, referring to a position wherein no one causes war, or as Paul put it “Peace”. The word Quiet is the Hebrew Shaan meaning To be tranquil, it refers to Comfort, or as Paul put it “Safety”. Verse 16 shows those who Devour shall be devoured, this connects to the “patience of the saints”. Those who lead into captivity, shall go into captivity, and those who kill with the sword, must be killed with the sword. Our faith must couple with Patience, as we resist the temptation to get even (Rev 13:10). Those who fail at Patience and Faith enter the position of seeking vengeance, or validation (Rev 13:11 & 17:11).

In the latter days they shall consider it, at the same time all the families of Israel will recognize God is the God of all. The knowledge of God will flow into all the earth and the Remnant will be the gladness of Jacob, or cause Jacob to be glad (Jere 31:1-7). A key to these verses is found in verse 7 in the phrase “remnant of Israel”, which connects to Isaiah 10:21 and 11:11. Isaiah also shows “the remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob”, then he shows how the Lord will set His hand a Second Time to recover the Remnant. At the time there will be Seven listed nations, with Three nations falling at the hand of the Woman (Rev 11:11-14). The people in this captivity did return, but there are some important aspects missing, thus the return of these people is merely a preview, not the event. When they return they won’t take Edom, Moab or the children of Ammon, nor did God deliver them as He did the children from Egypt (Isa 11:16), thus we find the some of words of the prophets projected to the future, giving us a view of the End Times.

The Lord will redeem Jacob, then Comfort will be in the midst of Jacob (Jere 31:8-14). When does it come? When there is “weeping with supplications”, which is repentance. We know the Jewish idiom for this is “sackclothe”, when the Sixth Seal is opened we find the Sun (Jacob) clothed in sackcloth (Rev 6:12). The House of David refers to the Temple, the House of Jacob the nation, Jesus will open the House of David at the Sixth Seal, as the House of David will be known for it’s brotherly love (Philadelphia).

The first coming of Jesus presented Peace and Comfort in the Kingdom, but it was separated from the world unto Salvation, thus Jesus told us “Peace unto you”. If we are Born Again our Time of Comfort is found within. It’s really a matter of receiving it, like God’s love we don’t earn it, we receive it. There is a vast difference between Peace within, and Peace without. In our Season we have the Spirit of Truth, yet there are wars and rumors of wars in the world; in the Time of Comfort the devil will be bound, there will Peace on the earth, but the Spirit which is of God will be gone from the earth as well. Our Season is much better, we are born in a time when one can be Born Again.

God again uses the word “Comfort” in verse 13, then talks about the “weeping of Rachel” (Jere 31:13 & 31:15). The two don’t seem to fit here, yet they do. How many children did Rachel have? Joseph and Benjamin, Joseph means Adding and Benjamin means Son of the right hand; therefore, the “slaughter of the innocents” was an attempt to remove the Son of the Right Hand, a type and shadow of the world’s envy, yet it failed, and continues to fail. God heard the innocents through the crying of Rachel weeping for her children in Bethlehem when Herod, who was a Jew, attempted to stop the prophecy, by killing all the children under two years of old in Bethlehem, yet Jesus was not harmed. Why didn’t God stop this mass murder, why didn’t He intervene? God saw this massacre from the foundation of the world, the innocents always have a place with God (Isa 57:1).

The Net is then seen in Verse 27, with the “house of Judah” coupled with the “seed of man”, then we see the “seed of the beast”. The metaphor “seed of man” points to the Remnant, the seed of the beast to the Wicked. The house of Judah is not the “tents of Judah”, rather this is the house. The house of Israel as the nation, with the phrase, “it shall come to pass” making it all prophetic to the end times (Jere 31:27).

Verse 28 goes back to the call of Jeremiah as it relates to the breaking down, the throwing down, the destroying, with the affliction all had to come before the building and planting (Jere 31:28). This was hope for Jeremiah, he now knows the building will not come until the captivity is ended, but it also projects much further to the Time of Comfort showing God will build and plant when the Sixth church brings the knowledge of God.

God looks to our time and sees the Day of Salvation, as He forgives Iniquity and remembers our sin no more (Jere 31:34). However, we also find if they keep not the “ordinances” they will cease to be a nation, which makes it appear as if God did remember their iniquities (Jere 31:36). What gives? Won’t remember, will remember? This is another example of God speaking from His love and faith, while not ignoring the Reality. For some reason we think Faith must ignore the reality, not so. Faith doesn’t ignore the reality, it’s simply not motivated by it, rather it deals with it in a Godly manner. This speaks of two Seasons, one is our day, then the Night.

This division also opens the metaphor Sun to us, we know the Sun connected to the Moon refers to Israel and Zion, but there we find the metaphor Sun as it relates to the Day, thus we find Jesus referred to as a “bright Sun” (Matt 17:2). Ahh, a mystery, since the metaphor Sun refers to the nation, Jesus as the Bright Sun must refer to a another nation (Kingdom) not of this world. Remission of sin is a position where sin cannot be defined, a promise for the Greater Light of the Day, thus the Lord as the Bright Sun gave us the Greater Light of Day (Jere 31:35), but here we find Ordinances for the Moon as well (Jere 31:35). The word Ordinances is the Hebrew Choq it is not the same as the Hebrew Mitsvah which is commonly used for the word Commandments. Ordinances can be termed commandments, but they also have the element of desire, or better something one should do, or something one should desire to do. We are not required to take Communion everyday, but Jesus did say, “Take” which would be a command. The division is found in the phrase “moon and the stars for the light at Night” referring to the Lesser Light (vs. 35). The Remnant will keep the Commandments of God, but they will also keep the Choq of God, not the Mitsvah, meaning they walk in mercy. Which also means they keep the “Name” (Authority of the Son of man) of Jesus, until the Seventh church takes over. The 144,000 are marked on the Moon (Zion), not in the city. Zion of heaven also has Ordinances of Mercy as the Least Commandments we should keep, if we want to be a vessel of honor.

Jeremiah moved from the first year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar (Jere 25:1) to the eighteenth year (Jere 32:1). At this time Jeremiah was shut up in prison; Zedekiah the king of Judah put Jeremiah in prison for prophesying about the city being taken by the king of Babylon (Jere 32:1-4). Jeremiah will spend several chapters leading up to this point. While Jeremiah was still in prison he purchased some land under the redemption policy (Jere 32:6-14). The purchase was the hope of the people, showing the prophet knew there would be an end to the captivity (Jere 32:15). However, Jeremiah purchased the land at the command of God, not out of his own desire (Jere 32:6). This sign of the Building and Planting should have been a hope to the people, but they wanted to remain with their idols, yet have God deliver them.

The Lord again points to the Time of Comfort as the hope of the Remnant, it is our hope as well, we will not face the wrath of God (Jere 32:36-37). The Time of Comfort will not begin until the Sixth Seal is broken, the Fifth Seal marks the Rapture, thus both Seals are opened at the same time. Strange? No, the first four are opened at the same time as well. The progression of the seal openings shows the first four opened at the same time, then the fifth and sixth at the same time, then comes the seventh seal, after all the seals are opened, then the seven angels are released.

The Lord shows two steps in the restoration of Israel, the first step will be to bring them into the land, but the Time of Comfort will not begin until they dwell safely (Jere 32:37). Simply because Israel has her land, doesn’t mean she is in the Time of Comfort, nor does it mean she is Restored. She must dwell safely in the land, it doesn’t take a genius to see it’s hardly the case today. There is another aspect bringing the Night, a great and powerful earthquake yet to happen. It will bring the land masses back in a like position as they were in the Days of Noah. One land mass, as it was in the days of Peleg, but the earthquake will kill millions. They will bury bodies for seven years, yet Jerusalem will be the center of the earth. The only place where the knowledge of God will be found, yet the Night still relates to Judgment, not Salvation. Thank God, this is still the Day, let us rejoice and be glad in it, for the Night comes when no man can work.

Jeremiah 33:1 begins with the Word of the Lord coming a Second Time, what? The prior was one time? Nay, this is prophetic to the future, the Lord is the Maker, the Lord has formed “it”, to establish “it”, the Lord is His Name (vs. 1): Call on the Lord and He will answer, He will Show great and mighty things, which we know not (vs. 2). Jesus said, “when He, the Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide you into all Truth: for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, shall He speak, and He will show you things to come” (Jn 16:13). First John 4:1-4 says the Spirit of Truth is the Greater He in us, thus the Second time refers to the Kingdom of God.

Jeremiah 33:4 then changes back to “this city”, which will be thrown down, pointing to the “the houses of the kings of Judah”. Jeremiah may be in prison, but the king who put him there will be thrown down. Jeremiah 33:5 makes it appear as if God murdered many, but we find He hid His face from the City, thus removing the protection, opening the city for the armies of Babylon to enter, yet it was still the acts of the people causing it.

Then the prophecy again moves forward to the earthly ministry, the time when Jesus will present “peace and truth”. Verse 8 points to a cleaning from iniquity, which was accomplished by the Cross, Resurrection and Sacrifice of Jesus. Then God speaks of the “it” again, the It will be a Name of Joy and Praise. The Praise question was answered by Jesus, “The Father seeks those who can worship Him in Spirit and Truth” (Jn 4:23), we know the Spirit of Truth is the answer to being able to worship God. We were born of the flesh to be flesh, but now we have the Spirit, thus we are Born of the Spirit to be Spirit.

Jeremiah 33:10-13 points to a time when the voice of the bridegroom shall be heard in the city, referring to Jesus (Jn 3:29). The Shepherd will come, the flocks will lay down in green pastures (Jere 33:12). The flocks will hear Him who tells them “Saith the Lord” as the Lord Himself will say, “you have heard it said of old time”. Jeremiah 33:14 then tells us “Behold, the days come” when the Lord will perform a “Good Thing” unto the house of Israel and unto the house of Judah, in those days God will cause the Branch of Righteousness to grow (Jesus of the Day), He shall execute Judgment (Jesus of the Night). Jesus said the Father has committed Judgment unto the Son (Jn 5:22 & 5:27).

Things then change, we find Judah is “saved”, but Jerusalem shall dwell safely (Jere 33:16). The word Saved is the Hebrew Yasha meaning delivered, or saved, thus this points to the Rapture when the reality of Salvation will be evidenced by our white robes, yet the Remnant will be marked on Zion of the earth. This can’t be the entire nation, since God divided the city from Judah. The wording Shall Dwell is the Hebrew Shakan meaning to remain, or continue, or dwell. The word Safely is the Hebrew Betach meaning secure, but then we find this is the name which she shall be called, wait she? Didn’t we read where Jesus would be called “The Lord Our Righteousness” or Jehovah-Tsidkenu, (Jere 23:6). Yet, it says here this is the name “she shall be called”, is it a clue? The wording “shall be called” is the Hebrew Qara meaning to cry, or call, it usually refers to someone making the statement, thus this doesn’t say she is, it says this is what they call her.

The confusion is lifted in Jeremiah 33:20 as God points to breaking Covenant, but not Covenant as one, but two, one for the Day and one for the Night. Then the violation of making the Day the Night, or the Night the Day, for they each had their Season. In our Season Jesus is the Lord our Righteousness, the basis for the truth of the statement is found in the New Man; however, when Jacob’s Trouble begins we find the Wicked twisting the phrase by calling the Woman (City) the Lord their Righteousness. Then the Covenant with David will be broken as the Woman says she is a Queen, she then attempts to sit on the throne causing the Law and Prophets to be cast down. God then shows as long as the Covenant remains, then the people are protected. He shows the captivity is a product of His hand, yet it’s a from of Mercy, thus correction is a form of Mercy, but cruelty is not.

Jeremiah then has a message for king Zedekiah (Jere 34:1), on one hand the message is the same, the city will fall into the hands of Babylon, but on the other, it said Zedekiah would not die by the sword (Jere 34:4-5). Zedekiah then attempted to secure his position by proclaiming Liberty in the land, this holds two lessons. First the king attempted to secure his position by speaking, but in order for God to forgive it would have to include  the people obeying (Jere 34:8-14). We can make all the rules and regulations we want, we can even change the laws of the land to conform to Christian thinking, but if the people do not have a heart to obey, they will rebel. The people in this case obeyed the proclamation for a time, but then recaptured their servants, rejecting the Liberty. Self-repentance is quick to avoid the danger, but as soon as the danger passes, so does the repentance. This was truly give and it shall given, release your captives, so you can be released. This goes directly to “forgive, so your Father in heaven can forgive you”, we forgive as God for Christ’s sake has forgive us, give and it shall be given.

There were the Rechabites, a sect of people from Jonadab the son of Rechab, who were taught from their youth not to drink strong wine. Jeremiah is told to take the Rechabites then bring them to the chamber of the princes, there he told them to drink strong wine in the presence of the princes. Although this was a command from the prophet, the Rechabites refused, stating how they were raised not to drink strong wine. God uses this to show how the Rechabites who were taught of their fathers kept their instructions, but the people in Jerusalem refused to (Jere 35:1-13). This is another example of a people willing to obey, as opposed to those who refuse to obey. God looks for a soul willing to serve based on Love. These people voiced their alliance to God, but refused to serve Him. This is an example of how some jump for joy when God does something they enjoy, then when God asks us to do something they don’t want to, they rebel. Faith obeys, whether it understands, likes or agrees with the command. There is a reward in obedience, in the case of the Rechabites, it was being spared (Jere 35:18-19).

Jeremiah then writes all the words the Lord gave him in a book, his scribe was a man by the name of Baruch. This would be approximately twenty years from the time Jeremiah began to prophesy, thus we find the man’s life is written for us. There are four Major Prophets, their entire lives were spent in the service of the office. Daniel didn’t begin until he was taken captive, but he was taken captive at a very young age, spending his life in the role of a prophet. We can read the Book of Jeremiah in a few days, yet it contains the man’s entire life. Our time on this earth is but a breath of smoke, a dot in the process of time, but it’s still the training ground for eternity.

Baruch took the book to Gemariah the son of Shaphan another scribe (Jere 36:10), where Baruch read the book (roll) in the ears of the princes (Jere 36:14). In the Book of Revelation John is given a “little book”, one short in nature, but holds the truth of the End Times (Rev 10:10). The book of prophecy was sealed in the Old, but opened in the New. The people in the Old didn’t have the Holy Ghost or Spirit to explain the things to come, but they nonetheless wrote them for us. They may not have understood them, but they were obedient in writing them.

After the princes heard the words, they told Baruch to take Jeremiah and hide (Jere 36:19). The Word of Truth will offend some, the princes knew the words of this prophet were words of offense. When king Jehoiakim heard the words, he took the roll and tossed it into the fire (Jere 36:23). Self-repentance is one thing, here there was no repentance whatsoever. Jehoiakim rejected the word of the prophet, then gave orders for Jerahmeel, Seraiah and Shelemiah to capture (take) both Jeremiah and Baruch, but the Lord moved in, hiding the prophet and his scribe (Jere 36:26).

Jeremiah writes a second scroll, only this time the Lord has him add some words. What add to the Word? Heaven forbid, but wait, God is making the command, the addition is not after the event, but during it. This wasn’t a change in intent, only additional words along the same lines. This time the Lord makes it very clear, He will do “all the evil” He has pronounced against the city (Jere 36:31). Clearly God is against His own people, is He against them, or against the state they were in? Okay, if there is no evil in God, how then can He bring evil? By lifting His hand, the evil is really the evil of the people coming upon them. All God did was turn them over to Babylon to bring about a clarity regarding what His people were doing. If God wanted to destroy them, He would have used fire, like Sodom, but He is pointing to correction to save them. By lifting His hand the protection is also lifted, allowing Babylon to invade. The purpose is Good, not Evil, yet the event will seem evil. Therefore, we find God is Good, our interpretation of Good seems to miss the point from time to time. Here God is against their condition, only because it was destroying the people, yet He is also for them, by sending them into captivity to save them. However, Babylon is still an evil nation, thus the evil did invade.

Then king Zedekiah the other son of Josiah was reigning in the stead of Coniah. Wait, what happened here, we went from Jehoiakim to his brother Zedekiah. The evidence to these people is fact, Jehoiakim was now gone, his son Coniah was gone, now Zedekiah the brother of Jehoiakim is king. He should have known Babylon was coming. In the Book of Revelation it’s “Babylon has fallen”, but here it’s “Babylon is coming”. Nonetheless Zedekiah puts Jeremiah in prison, but it didn’t stop the prophet from giving the Word of the Lord (Jere 37:15-38:2). Zedekiah was a man of pride, yet he had a fear of being mocked, but he allowed the prophet to be mocked time and again (Jere 38:14-28). Zedekiah had three years to watch and see the Truth, in order to repent, but he refused to see the Truth, he lost his eyes making him a shame (Jere 39:3-9).

After Jeremiah had been in prison many days, the king sent for him, asking him secretly “Is there any word from the Lord?” (Jere 37:17). There has been a “word from the Lord” for nearly twenty years, they didn’t listen then, now the king wants a Word? Jeremiah was in prison, but the false prophets who said, “Babylon shall not come” are gone, some dead, some in captivity. Jeremiah wants to know, If truth was spoken and confirmed, why did the king put him in prison (Jere 37:18)? Jeremiah made a deal with the king, he was promised to have bread as long as it lasted (Jere 37:21). This type and shadow goes to the Body, as long as He who now lets remains, it will not Pass away, the Bread is still the Body of Christ. Fighting the words of a prophet causes failures in many ways, the princes assumed the people were failing because of the words of Jeremiah, but the words of Jeremiah weren’t causing the failure, they exposed it (Jere 38:1-4). Killing the prophet, isn’t going to kill the prophecy, even casting the prophet in the dungeon isn’t going to stop the prophecy (Jere 38:4-6).

There was an Ethiopian by the name of Ebedmelech who went to the king, saying  how evil it was to put Jeremiah in the dungeon. The king agreed, and Ebedmelech saved Jeremiah from the mire of the pit. The king presumed he did Jeremiah a favor, now he seeks the prophet’s counsel (Jere 38:14). If the king really wanted to do Jeremiah a favor, he should have heard and obeyed the words of the prophet.

Jeremiah was becoming a little paranoid by this time, after all he did tell the Word of the Lord, and landed in the dungeon (Jere 38:15). Then king Zedekiah assures him, he will not be put to death, nor given to into the hands of his foes (Jere 38:16). The Word came, if Zedekiah submits by going willingly with the king of Babylon he will live, and the city will not be burned (Jere 38:17). Zedekiah was not afraid of the king of Babylon, but was afraid of the Jews who were taken captive (Jere 38:19). Interesting, the king allowed the false prophets to “heal slightly”, now he is concerned those who found the false to be false will retaliate against him. However, Jeremiah tells him, the Jews will not hurt the king, simply Obey and be protected, even in captivity. A lesson we all need, Hear and Obey, God will protect us, even if we’re in captivity (Jere 38:20). Now the king puts his “if” on the contract, if Jeremiah keeps the conversation secret, he will live, but if the princes find out, he will die (Jere 38:24-25). Then the test, the princes come to Jeremiah asking him what was said. However, God confounded the words, assuring the princes didn’t perceive the matter, leaving Jeremiah alone. Jeremiah didn’t lie, rather God moved so they didn’t understand a thing Jeremiah was saying (Jere 38:27-28).

Jerusalem falls in the ninth year of the reign of king Zedekiah, going back to Jeremiah 37:1 we find a period of nine years have passed since Jeremiah 37:1 to this point in time, yet it’s all contained in a few verses (Jere 37:1 & 39:1-2). This battle to take the city took more than one day, it began in the ninth year, then in the eleventh year in the fourth month, on the ninth day the city was broken up. These times give us a hint, it would take nearly three and one half years, thus pointing to the three and one-half of the last seven, showing the City is the Woman in the Book of Revelation.

Zedekiah had the Word of the Lord to submit, but he ran, causing his sons to die in Riblah (Jere 38:20 & 39:6). Zedekiah had his eyes taken out, then he was carried in chains to Babylon (Jere 39:7). If only the man would have obeyed, but God knew he would reject the Word, but God gave it anyway. God did nothing but give the man a route of escape, the man took his own route causing his own failure.

This entire siege was also prophesied by Ezekiel before it happened (Ezek 12:8-16). Jeremiah wasn’t the only prophet God had during this time, there were others to confirm the word.

Nebuzaradan was a captain in the army of Babylon, he saw the Poor in the land, and left them the vineyards and fields, thus this man of Babylon had more mercy, than the kings of Judah (Jere 39:10-11). Concerning Jeremiah, Nebuzaradan had more respect for the prophet, than the people did, he allowed Jeremiah to remain in the land. Remember Ebedmelech? The man who interceded for Jeremiah (Jere 38:9), well he was also spared, receiving the “prophet’s reward” (Jere 39:7-8). Not only did Nebuzaradan have respect for the prophet, but this heathen knew the evil upon the city was at the hand of God, not at the hand of man (Jere 40:1-2). Nebuzaradan gave Jeremiah freedom, telling Jeremiah, he could go wherever he wanted, or stay with whomever he wanted (Jere 40:3-6). The oppressor was kinder to the prophet, than the prophet’s own people.

Then comes the death of Gedaliah, a prince appointed by Babylon. Then the power struggles ensued, thus some of the Remnant in the land came to Jeremiah for direction (Jere 41:1-42:1). The people again fall to fear, wanting to run to Egypt for protection. However, they also wanted God to confirm their desires, their confession of “whatever the Lord says, we will do” was merely a mask. Their Witness and their Testimony didn’t match, they wanted the prophet to speak, but only to confirm their desires. Jeremiah remained with the Lord for ten days, then came with the choice of direction (Jere 42:2-7). The choice was simple, stay and submit to the oppressor and live, or run to Egypt (the world) and die; however, the people already made up their minds to flee to Egypt, all they wanted was the Lord’s blessing, not the Lord’s direction. As soon as they heard the Lord’s direction was against their desires, they rebelled and told Jeremiah, “you speak falsely” (Jere 43:1-2). The people refused to obey the voice of the Lord, rather they ran to temporary safety, but died at the hands of the oppressor (Jere 43:3-13). The same desire to hear those smooth words in order to confirm a lust was still there, but Jeremiah didn’t prophesy to please man, he gave the Word of the Lord, yet they called him a false prophet.

The people even made up their excuse by saying, “Baruch the son of Neriah set you against us” (Jere 43:3). The people failed to obey the word of the Lord, thus they went to Egypt. In all this Jeremiah went with them, then they came to Tahpanhes where the Word of the Lord came again to Jeremiah (Jere 43:7). Pharaoh’s house was located in Tahpanhes, Jeremiah took stones then hid them in the clay at the entrance to the house of Pharaoh, as a sign of the king of Babylon setting his throne on those stones (Jere 43:8-10). At the time Babylon avoided Egypt, it would appear Jeremiah was just an old pessimist, but the people kept failing to obey, claiming the Pessimist Prophet was against them, but it was the Loyal Prophet speaking to a rebellious people.

The Lord had a Word for the Jews who ran to Egypt, when they were living at Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Noph in the area of Pathros, which was located in upper Egypt (Jere 44:1). They assumed the Lord was against the land, and not the people, now they find the Lord was against the ways of the people because of the way they treated the land (Jere 44:2-3). God explains why He is angry with them, it was their evil against their own souls, plus their abominations forcing the result (Jere 44:7). They allowed the lure of idol worship to overtake them, yet they knew how God felt about it, thus they rebelled against the Lord (Jere 44:8). They ran to Egypt for their protection, seeking the hand of the heathen kings and governments for security, rather than being humble before the Lord, thus He will set His face against them in Egypt as well (Jere 44:11). These people were told to surrender to Babylon, we are told to stand, the Remnant are told to run to the mountains when they see the abomination in the place it should not be; three different commands regarding three different groups. Mixing one with the other always produces a false sense of security, which leads to rebellion.

The Lord is longsuffering, but without repentance His memory is greater than the oldest elephant (Jere 44:21). From their mouths came the abundance of their hearts, by their words they were condemned (Jere 44:29). Their testimony was “the Lord is great, He will save”, but their Witness was, “what’s the big deal, a little idol worship isn’t all bad”. They ran to Egypt, but they were still playing with idols, since Egypt had many idols, they felt comfortable (Jere 44:8). Instead of getting rid of the idols in the land God gave them, they ran to another land where there were more idols.

The people hear Jeremiah, then they said, “we will certainly do whatsoever thing coming forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven” (Jere 44:17). The “queen of heaven” was a prominent goddess in Egypt, the people were now playing “the Egyptian” to their presumed protector Egypt (Jere 44:17). They failed to see how their own land became desolate because of their iniquities (Jere 44:22). “Well, it looks like we just didn’t have it right, look around Egypt isn’t invaded by Babylon, they know how to worship idols”. Reasonings of a fool, produce destruction.

If we made a vow, God expects us to do as we say, if we accepted the Cross of Jesus we are expected to follow the conditions attached thereto (Jere 44:25); however, vows unto devils are not honored before God (Jere 44:29).

Chapter 45 is only 5 verses long, it’s not a message to Baruch the scribe, but a message for Baruch to write down (Jere 45:1). the key to these verses is found in verse 4 where we read “what I have built will I break down, and what I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land”. This is opposite from the call of Jeremiah, which ended in building and planting, thus we find this is projected to the very end times, the time after the building and planting.

The prophet then speaks against the “Gentiles”, which is defined as “against Egypt” (Jere 46:1-2). Could all these prophecies from this point on relate to the end times? A good portion do, as we will see. The “army of Pharaoh” is by the “river Euphrates” in Carhemish, located on the border between Assyria and Babylon right on the upper part of the Euphrates. The Euphrates is important since it was one of the borders to the Promised Land, until all the land is in the hand of Israel, the Night is not on us.

The “battle of Carchemish” is merely a preview of the Great Battle yet to come, the one wherein the aftermath will end in forgetting the ways of war. However, toward the end they will make weapons of a crude nature, then formulate their own ways of war. At the Rapture they will beat their weapons into plows, forgetting the ways of war as we know them, thus in the end when they beat those plows into weapons, they will be crude at best, but brutal, so vicious in nature it will cause hell to be opened making their end seven times worse (Jere 46:3-6).

God sees “the flood”, John defined the Flood as people (Jere 46:7, Rev 12:15 & 17:15). Egypt being a metaphor for the world is seen here as the flood in prophecy, defined as “peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues” defined in the Book of Revelation (Jere 46:8 & Rev 17:15). The “day of vengeance” for the Lord is the Last Day, the end of the time of the Night, the time when Jesus returns to judge mankind (Jere 46:10). It will be the time when the “adversaries” of Jesus are made His Footstool.

The phrase “O virgin, the daughter of Egypt” points to the people of God who ran to Egypt for protection, but the metaphor points to any of the called of God who run to the world for protection (Jere 46:11 & 46:19).         Jeremiah 46:20 says, “Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction comes”. Doesn’t it sound like “Peace and safety, then comes sudden destruction”? Yes, it’s the point, the “hired man” is a metaphor for the Wicked, their “calamity” will come on them in the “time of their visitation” (Jere 46:21). Some of us have said, “You know, I would like the Lord to come and visit me”, no you don’t, we want the Lord to sup with us. We want to Meet Jesus in the Air, we don’t what Him to come here to Visit us, since the metaphor means He will Visit us with our Iniquities.

The “daughter of Egypt” will be confounded, then delivered into the hands of the “people of the north”. In the latter days we know an army from the North will come, but does it mean North as in direction? Or North as a force greater than Israel? When one travels to Jerusalem, they always travel “up to” Jerusalem regardless of where they are at, thus the phrase “up to” to the Jew means Jerusalem is the highest point of authority on the earth. When another nation is noted as North of Jerusalem it points to a nation given more authority by God, in order to invade, thus the kings are nonetheless carrying out the will of God (Rev 17:17). The preview is seen here, the king of Babylon is doing what God knew he would, thus God lifted His hand allowing it. Next the children run to Egypt, then God will allow the king of Babylon to chase after them.

Pharaoh as a leader is seen in 46:25, this verse has a prophetic meaning relating to Gog and Magog. Those who Trust in Gog will be destroyed with him, this is seen in the Book of Revelation as well. Before the Judgment takes place, we find the beast, false prophet and the devil in the lake of fire (Rev 20:10). Jeremiah 46:27 is another prophecy to the Time of Comfort, the time of “Peace” in the land has not come to pass yet, but it will.

Jeremiah 46:28 shows God will deliver the nation, but the correction is only in Measure. God will not leave them until they are “wholly unpunished”, the Hebrew word for Unpunished is Naqah, meaning Innocent, it points to those who find their names in the Book of Life at the Judgment. This refers to Jacob, not Judah, thus not all those who are called Israel are of Israel.

The prophet begins to speak against certain nations, each of these gives us clues to the end times. He begins with the Philistines as the “overflowing flood”, which we already defined, but this goes further than the Philistines alone (47:1). In Isaiah we found the City (Woman) will fly on the shoulders (government) of the Philistines and spoil Edom, Moab and the children of Ammon (Isa 11:14). All these nations will be seen in the prophecies of Jeremiah. The metaphor “shoulder” points to government, thus the method will not be “war” as we know it, rather it will come to pass by using “soothsayers” (Isa 2:6). Daniel will call it the “table” of counsel, but nonetheless it shows the false prophet will use deceptive words. The Woman will join with the false prophet to take the three nations standing between the Woman and the river Euphrates, then she will have all the land.

When Peter decided he could save the Lord, he pulled his sword from it’s scabbard, but Jesus said, “Put up again your sword into his place” (Matt 26:52). Jesus didn’t say, “into its place”; rather the sword was a “he”, the Sword from the mouth of Jesus relates to Judgment, the Sword of the Spirit to Salvation. The Word (Logos) of God in us, sharper than any Two Edged Sword, even the one coming from the mouth of Jesus, yet the Sword of the Spirit is the Word (Rhema) speaking Grace unto the hearer, not Judgment. The Sword of the Spirit comes from us, not to us.

Here we find when the Sword comes from the mouth of Jesus as a He in the scabbard then it’s the time of Judgment. Far better to speak by the Sword of the Spirit, than face the Sword from the mouth of Jesus. However, the Sword cannot remain quiet, it has been ordained to be against Ashkelon (thoroughly weighed), and against the “sea shore”. The Sea Shore is a metaphor pointing to both the Sea, and the Sand of the Sea, or the place where the two meet. The Woman is seen riding the Beast of the Sea, as we see here.

Jeremiah then prophesies against Moab for devising evil against the land (Jere 48:1-2). However, we find Moab is seen as a “daughter” and a “he” (Jere 48:18 & 48:26). This Moab has five elements against it, Exceeding proudness, loftiness, arrogance, pride and haughtiness of heart, all of which point to the “five I wills” of Lucifer. This is a type and shadow of the Wicked, God will cause “joy and gladness” to be taken from the “field”, the metaphor Field points to the kingdom of heaven (Jere 48:33). What? This will come when the Rapture takes place, the Wicked misused the covering on the Body, forcing it to work to their advantage, they will be left behind (Jude 4). God will cause the “wine to fail from the winepress”, this relates to the Judgment, thus first the Rapture, then the Time of Comfort, then the Judgment, not the other way around. The phrase “bald head” doesn’t mean the men of Moab won’t have hair, rather it shows no covering, which will be the case  for the Wicked after the Rapture.

Then the prophet speaks of the time when the Woman will take Moab (Jere 48:4),  but it’s because this “he” has magnified himself against the Lord, indicating the “he” is the false prophet. In the latter days Moab will be taken captive by the Woman, but the suggested prophetic message also shows us the Wicked standing behind her as the voice of the nation.

Next comes the Ammonites, they stood by idle when Israel was taken captive, thus they are just as responsible for the captivity. They are a type and shadow of those who stand by watching the people fall into the pit, as did Adam male at the tree. Then the metaphor “daughter” is used again, relating to the Woman in the Book of Revelation who is seen riding the Beast (Jere 49:4 & Rev 17:1-2). Moab is typed to pride, the Ammonites to being sluggards, then comes Edom who is typed to greed. Edom has some areas showing us the prophetic message points to the Seventh church: Edom is rich, thinking its in need of nothing (Jere 49:4). The Woman has to remove the Remnant in order to remove the conviction of the Law and Prophets, thus the removal of the three nations also points to the beginning of the false prophet presenting the mark, name and number of the beast to open idol worship ending with the abomination making desolate.

Damascus is also seen as a “Her”, as a city in “travail” as a woman, this prophetic message points to the Woman in the Book of Revelation. Then we find “the palaces of Ben-hadad” (Jere 49:27). The Hebrew Ben means Son of someone, the word Hadad is a title of an idol, thus this refers to the “sons of idols”. Hazor is next, it will become a “dwelling for dragons, and a desolation forever”, it also becomes a type of the Woman in the Book of Revelation when she is overrun by demons (Jere 49:33 & Rev 18:2).

The use of the title “Bar” will be important when we find Jesus calling Peter, “Simon Bar-Jona”, especially when Peter’s natural father wasn’t named Jona. What could Jesus be referring to? How about, “thinking you are a son of a prophet”? Or, a son of a prophet, who thinks he is a prophet? Yes, Peter missed it and knew it, but he was also allowing the failure to hold him back. Jesus talked about the Restoration of Israel, yet if  He will Restore Israel, surely He can restore us when we miss it (Jn 21:7-22).

Then comes Elam connected to the phrase “four winds”, in the Book of Revelation we find “the four angels” holding back the wind, The metaphor “four winds” will also be seen in Ezekiel, the meaning of the metaphor shows the earth as it was in the Days of Noah. We know these four winds as the jet streams, thus the weather in the Night will not be as we know it. The metaphor also points to the last resurrection and judgment combined; the four winds from heaven refer to a resurrection, the four winds of earth to weather patterns. Here God will bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven (not the earth – Jere 49:36). This is interesting since in the latter days the “army of the Lord” will be the heathen from the four quarters of the earth coming against the City (Woman – Rev 20:8). In the latter days the Woman will be called Babylon, thus in Jeremiah 50 we find the prophetic message pointing to her (Jere 50:1). This reference is found in many of the “Her” pronouns used (Jere 50:2). Babylon in Jeremiah’s day was not a “her”, but in the latter days it will be the Woman who is known as Babylon. In the days of Jeremiah Babylon was a city, not a country, yet in the latter days the city of this county will be known as Babylon. The Woman is not known as “the whore of Babylon”, rather she is a Whore and Babylon (Rev 17:5). The title “whore of Babylon” is not found in the Bible showing it’s a misnomer, presuming the Woman is of Babylon, rather than being Babylon. Babylon’s end shall be a day and time yet to come, after the Rapture (Jere 50:4). Part of the House of Judah shall “go” to meet their God, which we term the Rapture, the other part left behind will meet their God at the Judgment (Jere 50:4). Then comes the Time of Comfort when the Woman will send forth the Word and Knowledge of the Lord, but then she changes, thinking she is rich and in need of nothing, then she calls the false prophet to her Bed Chamber, making the false prophet the prophet in the land. When it’s all done the children of Judah and the children of Israel (not House) will appoint themselves One Head in heaven, but until then there are many events to take place (Hosea 1:11).

The Remnant will meet their God on earth, we Go to meet our God in the air. When New Jerusalem descends we will hear and see the lost for the last time, but then we will know what the Lord felt like in the Garden, who can help but weep when they see the lost reach their end. However, there is no remembrance of the dead in heaven, when we again Ascend for the last time we will have no memory of the dead.

Out of the North comes a nation against “her”, they shall remove and depart, both “man” (Adam) and “beast” (Jere 50:3). The desire to be “Adam Like” leaves one in a very dangerous place in the end. Prior they will ask the way to Zion as they have Comfort and Peace; however, it ends when the Woman turns away to join to the mountains, as she joins to the Beast, forgetting her “resting place” (Jere 50:6). The call will come, “Come out of Her My children, be not partakers of Her sins” (Jere 50:8 & Rev 18:4). The nations shall be against her, they shall take her, then there will be another earthquake, one so great it will turn the earth inside out, as it becomes as Sodom (Jere 50:12-15). It will be the time of the Sickle, the Great Winepress, the Great Trump, the Day of the Vengeance of the Lord (Jere 50:15). The world is judged in one manner, the Wicked in another, the Woman in another, thus the seven churches are warned of the various judgments.

From the her as Babylon to Israel, who will Again reach his habitation. In those days the iniquity of Israel will be sought, but not found (Jere 50:20). The sins of Judah will be not be found either, God will “pardon” them whom He has reserved as the Time of Comfort opens, explaining the sackcloth on Jacob (sun) in Revelation 5:12 (Jere 50:20). The word Reserve is the Hebrew Shaar meaning To be redundant, or To survive, it was used by Ezekiel in reference to the Remnant (Ezek 6:12). It refers to a portion left, or a part taken, in this case we find both uses fit. The iniquity of Israel will be forgiven causing the devil to be bound, but first we as the tents of Judah enter the Remission of sin during the Day (Jere 50:20).

God will wound the head of the wicked house, metaphorically we find it points to the  authority of idol worshipping, thus making connection to why the Woman is called Babylon (Jere 50:18 & Hab 3:13). In the latter days the house who suffered the head wound will surface again as Assyria, with the ways of idol worship being introduced by the Wicked (Isa 11:11-14, Jere 50:18, Rev 13:11-18 & Hab 3:13). God will overthrow Babylon as He did Sodom and Gomorrah, we know this as the earth melting and becoming the lake of fire (Jere 50:40). The Abomination and Babylon will bring the last great earthquake making a New earth, one with a New purpose, the lake of fire (Jere 50:46).

The Lord will raise up against Babylon, as well as any who dwell therein, with a destroying wind. Our hope is again found in the words of the prophet, as we are told Judah is not forsaken, nor forgotten, rather God is still reaching out to those who reach toward Him (Jere 51:5). Suddenly the day will come when Babylon will fall, the people will howl over her, but these same people didn’t have time for God (Jere 51:8). John shows they mourn over the “great city”, but they still didn’t repent when the plagues came (Rev 18:16). God will continue to Reach to the Woman in the latter days, but in a different method than He uses during the Day. During the Day the goal is Salvation, in the Night it’s Judgment, thus we find different methods used by God, yet it’s still One God all in all. Although the plagues come to bring repentance, the people will blaspheme God, as Babylon (the Woman) refuses to be healed (Jere 51:9). Again we find the call, “Come out of Her” (Jere 51:6), for the Time of the Lord’s vengeance will come as a thief in the Night.

In Jeremiah 51:25 God says He will destroy the “destroying mountain”, but isn’t the context Babylon of the future? Yes, Lucifer is the “abominable branch” who was cut off, but the Destroying Mountain refers to a nation, thus the Woman as the City is the head of the nation. When the Woman joins to the Abominable Branch, she becomes the Destroying Mountain.

What has this to do with us? Didn’t we tell the Mountain, “Go back to the Sea”? If so, what were we doing? Going about talking to mountains? Not hardly, a Mountain of the Sea is something of the world, yet we didn’t say, “I destroy you mountain”, rather we cast it off by sending it back to the world where it belongs. The Woman in Revelation chapter 17 joins to Lucifer, allowing the mountains of the world to join her in the bed of adultery. God never left her, the plagues in the end come from heaven in an effort to gain restoration, thus the Woman left God by chasing her lovers. The Destroying Mountain is one of oppression, one of control, or thinking, “I Am, and there is none like me”.

The clue to this being the Woman is found in many places, in Jeremiah 51:13 we find Babylon dwelling on “many waters”, which is a direct reference to the Woman in Revelation 17 riding the Beast (Rev 17:3-5 & 17:15). The purpose of Israel in the latter days is to bring the Judgment, the purpose of the Remnant is to divide those who truly love the Lord from those who play mind games with religion (Jere 51:15-19). Israel will be God’s tool of judgment, as strange as it seems, the Woman who is the City, the Sun who is the nation, and the people of the world will all cause the judgment by their own actions (Jere 51:20-35).

The Woman doesn’t begin as Babylon, she ends that way. She moved herself from the blessed daughter of God to the adulteress, to the Whore, to the Great City Babylon, yet the Remnant will be saved. We speak to the mountain, so did God (Jere 51:25). The mountain has a fleshly pleasure, it holds many idols, it’s the fall nature, the old man, the spirit of man waiting to be the spirit of the world opposed to the Spirit which is of God (I Cor 2:11-12).

The Sea is come up upon Babylon, she is Covered with a multitude of Waves (Jere 51:42). There are more metaphors than we can “shake a stick at”, but we see the Woman as Babylon, the Sea as the Beast of the Sea, the Waves as the Wicked. The Woman is overcome by the Wicked, yet it was she who was prepared herself to receive the false prophet. Once she allows the Waves to enter, they become her Waves (Jere 51:55). She will sink and shall not rise from the evil which God will bring upon her (Jere 51:64). This has to point to the End Times, since the land will be rebuilt after the captivity.

Jeremiah then talks about the captivity, giving us the accounting. We also find Nebuzaradan who gave land to the poor, but he also took some of the poor away captive. Why? Who knows, it doesn’t say.

There were three sieges by Babylon, the first was in the 7th year, the second in 8th year, then the third in 23rd year of Nebuchadnezzar. The total taken captive comes to 4,600, with 3,023 in the first taking, 832 in the second, and 745 in the third, thus there were few taken captive, the majority were killed in the land. This shows a “few” who obey the Lord were saved, but few is only relative to the number from which it’s taken. All of them could have been spared, if they would have obeyed.

LAMENTATIONS

(Written around 580 BC)

Lamentations tells us God takes no joy in the death of the wicked, regardless of how wicked they are. God repents, not because of sin, but because of what He must do, He must do. In the end it’s the Wicked who cause the destruction of the world, causing hell to widen her boarders to include the entire world; therefore, we find God has absolutely no joy in the death of a sinner. “Oh yeah, why then doesn’t He stop it?”. God has given us free moral choice, He will honor our choice regardless of how stupid, or deadly the choice becomes. Some things didn’t change with the fall of Adam, we still name the animals, showing we still have choice.

God is a good God to those who love Him and to those called according to His purpose. He is a merciful God to any who seek Him, but He is also a God of justice and righteousness to those who love evil. Lamentations corresponds to Jeremiah 9:10, telling us not to be alarmed at the condition of the land (Body), rather mourn for it. Lamentations begins with Jerusalem mourning for herself, at one time she had people, joy, peace, and blessing, now she is solitary, desolate and naked (Lam 1:1). This would be God viewing the land after the sieges, but it also points to the Seventh church who thinks its rich and in need of nothing, yet it’s naked and a shame.

The city weeps in the Night wondering where her children are, yet all her so-called friends dealt treacherously with her (Lam 1:2). Her enemies prospered because of her treasure, yet she found it was the only reason they courted her. The wealth of the righteous turned to the wealth of the wicked, she lost her treasure and her kingdom (Lam 1:4-7). She looked, yet found the Time of Comfort was gone, she had no Comforter, her Comforter turned to be her enemy and came against her. The Spirit is our Comforter, yet if we rebel, or grieve Him, He will turn and become our enemy. Israel will have her Time of Comfort, we have the Comforter, the Comforter is better (Jn 14:26).

Jerusalem allowed the heathen (Wicked) to enter and run her sanctuary, they became her congregation (Lam 1:10). Instead of changing and allowing their minds to be conformed by God, they kept their minds conformed to the world; the heathen remained a heathen, ending polluting the sanctuary.

The Body of Christ takes in all outcasts, whether they are murderers, thieves, rapists, or whatever, they’re still sinners; however, we don’t leave them in the same condition. The purpose of the Body is to produce a change in natures, not to enhance the old nature. Using the “ways of the world” to make change, never produces change, it merely conforms us to the world.

We can enter the fire of affliction to burn away the old man, or live a lie holding to the spirit of man, yet demanding for everyone to accept us as we are (Lam 1:12). The fire of God is when we fall on the rock, the wrath of God is when the Rock falls on us (Lam 1:13-14). Judah has a daughter, but her daughter is found among the sons of perdition, those who blasphemed the ways of the Holy Ghost (Comforter) in this world, who can’t find repentance in the Time of Comfort; therefore, the daughter of Judah will end in the great Winepress (Gethsemane – Lam 1:15-16). The Woman finds none to comfort her, none to help her in her rebellion (Lam 1:18-22). If she can’t find the Comforter, then the Holy Ghost isn’t around, thus showing the Holy Ghost, the Spirit with Salvation go in the Rapture.

The Lord’s enemies are His footstool, here we find His footstool are all those called by His name, but remained in rebellion (Lam 2:1-2). Jacob will be burned with fire, showing the earth turning into something “New”, not New and Good, simply New as it becomes the Lake of Fire, thus it will no longer be the testing place, but hell with her borders widened (Lam 2:5-6). The time of Joy will be gone from Zion, they will mourn and weep for the abominations done in the City.

The Lord will destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion, this is not Zion, but the wall of the daughter, or the Stronghold built around Zion, which Stronghold is the Woman. Zion is the mount upon which the city is built, thus this isn’t the Wall of Jerusalem, but a Barrier dividing Zion from Jerusalem. The Wall around earthly Jerusalem is not the same wall around New Jerusalem. There are two walls, one built with unsound mortar holding the bricks of pride and religious conceit. The other wall is around New Jerusalem established in faith, hope and love.

God looks at the city of the earth wondering how she can be healed, again showing this is the city, not the nation (Lam 2:13). She loved the false prophets, but killed the prophets of God. The day of the Lord’s anger will come, and none shall escape (Lam 2:22).

Lamentations now moves to the mourning of Jacob as the “man” who has seen the affliction of God’s anger (Lam 3:1). God leads us by the Staff of Guidance, and His Rod of Correction; it’s only when we reject the Rod of Correction we force Him to use the Rod of Affliction. We pray, “Lord lead me not into temptation but deliver me from evil”, these people rejected the attempt for God to lead them, thus we find we must have a willing heart desiring to be led of God (Lam 3:2). Instead of straight paths, God made Jacob’s paths crooked, but only because the House of Jacob rejected God’s path (Lam 3:9). The word Wormwood means Bitterness, instead of the “joy of the Lord” Jacob was given bitter water (Lam 3:15). Instead of peace and prosperity, Jacob faced desolation, yet the Time of Comfort begins as Peace, Safety and Prosperity (Lam 3:11 & 3:17). The purpose was to remember, here the Lord placed Jacob in a place to be humbled, but the Lord didn’t humble him (Lam 3:20). What? The Lord won’t humble us, but He will put us in places to bring us to a point of being humble before the Lord, usually called a Wilderness.

When we are chastised by the Lord, we are not consumed, rather we are brought to a place to know our own souls. The Lord’s mercies are great, renewed every morning, the true Morning began with Jesus (Lam 3:22). When the wall of pride is exposed our souls seek out the Lord, desiring for Him to restore us (Lam 3:22-24). The “battle of Jericho” was one of silence, there is a time to bind the strongman, a time to remain silent before the Lord.

There are family curses which seem to go from generation to generation, they are tares, or natures picked up by association. There is also the fallen nature, then there is the wickedness of man, all of which can be removed, as we are healed, saved and brought into newness of life by the Spirit in us. First comes the Truth of exposure, often bringing things to the surface where we can say unto the destroying mountain “Be gone back to the sea (world)”. There are times when faith speaks, times when faith is silent, but there are times when faith speaks, then remains silent while the Lord removes the mountain (Lam 3:25).

Turning the other cheek is our act of refusing to retaliate in the face of adversity, but it doesn’t mean to be the punching bag of the world. Mercy is a weapon of our warfare, when we give Mercy, we receive mercy, shaken down, pressed together and running over (Lam 3:30).

Lamentations gives us the truth of the Lord working with His people; like Job it’s a manual to the Christian walk. If we are in the hand of the Lord, then all events have a Precious for us. Getting mad at God, or blaming the devil for events isn’t an act of Faith. Going about saying the devil is beating our brains out is hardly “God Is” thinking. Faith recognizes correction is for our own good, bringing us into a place of clarity. Our anger, self-pity, self-justification, religious conceit are all mind games and foolishness in the face of God. Self-justification seeks excuses for our own failures, religious conceit exalts the self, assuming it’s the glory. Self-pity is a natural act to get someone, anyone to condone our condition, while we refuse to change. Whether it’s self-pity or self-justification, or simply refusing to receive correction, it’s still the foundation of pride producing our problem.

Humbleness is a weapon of our warfare to defeat pride. Who is he who said, it has come to pass, and the Lord commanded it not? (Lam 3:37). Who is it who blames the devil for the affliction on God’s children? Out of the mouth of the Most High proceeds all good, even though it may seem evil to us at the time. The Lord searches our hearts to remove the potential for failure, sin, iniquity or the seed of rebellion based in pride (Lam 3:40-41). The yoke of the flesh has hindered us, the veil of pride has separated us, thus our prayers cannot pass through (Lam 3:44): therefore, God exposes the elements of the yoke and veil, which includes pride, religious conceit, rebellion and the other elements of the self hindering us. The purpose is not to shame us, the self already did that, the purpose is to save our souls. Unless we see and admit our souls need saving, we will never enter the saving of the soul.

Lamentations looks at Jeremiah’s time in the dungeon, but metaphorically it also points to the times we are placed in the dungeon. Jeremiah did nothing wrong, nor was he being punished by God when he was in the dungeon, rather God allowed it as a testimony against the people. Turning the other cheek in the face of debate is a testimony against the other person, but it also produces a Witness for us (Lam 3:55-66).

Lamentations then gives us a preview of the Woman, the Seventh church who was rich and thought it was in need of nothing. The gold of the world wasn’t the same as the gold of God, the riches of the world mean nothing without the power of Zion (Lam 4:1-2). What good does it do a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his soul? The riches caused the Woman to be cruel, she turned into the oppressor (Lam 4:3). The punishment of the Woman is greater than the punishment of Sodom, both taste of the brimstone (Lam 4:6).

The Early church was known as The Way, the disciples were known as Nazarites, not because they kept the order of the Nazarites, but because they displayed the Witness of the Grace of God, obviously they were Consecrated by the Spirit, thus they fit the meaning of the word Nazarite, which is the Consecrated One (Lam 4:7).

In the latter days they will want to die, but can’t, God won’t allow it, they will face their iniquities and transgressions (Lam 4:9-12). When we follow the false prophets and false teachers to preach in our place we will suffer the guilt of the blood of the just who were slain by the false (Lam 4:13-14). The anger of the Lord produced a separation between the daughter and mother, daughter-in-law and mother-in-law. We are separated from the old mother known as the world, as sons we turned from idol worship to a one on one relationship with Jesus. At times the event may seem evil, but the event doesn’t tell us a thing, the result does. Therefore, what may appear to be an apparent evil, may not be, God has a good result for us (Lam 4:16).

There cups many, there is the cup of the Lord, the cup of devils, and the cup full of the blood of the saints in the Whore’s hand; it’s not the cup in and of itself, but what’s in the cup making the difference. The cup of the Lord has the Blood of Jesus, the cup of devils has the wiles of the devil, the cup in the hand of the Whore has the blood of the saints and prophets. When the Women comes out of the wilderness she is seen with the wrong cup in her hand (Rev 17:1).

Lamentations than shows how the people rejected the undefiled religion, finding themselves as orphans, or fatherless, or widows (Lam 5:1-3). They had the inheritance in hand, but allowed religious conceit to rule their minds; what little they did have was taken from them, then given to strangers (Lam 5:2). Instead of the “bread of life” they will eat the bread of affliction; instead of the “water of mercy” then will drink the water of bitterness (Lam 5:4-5). This warning is toward those who exist in religious conceit, assuming their self-based thinking is honored before God, yet their ways show they use manipulation to control people and events, they honor man over God, trust in fables, rather than seek God’s Wisdom. They will either join to the Mountains of Egypt, or come as the Beast of the Earth after the Rapture. Our goal is to be among the few, the Remnant of Christ who walk with Jesus in white. Our preparation to the Kingdom is repentance, coupled with the constant awareness of God’s exposure. We pray for the Lord to expose any religious conceit, pride, ego centered theology; we seek to maintain our Crown of Life, not lose it (Lam 5:16).

This ends this lesson, now we move on to Ezekiel and Daniel, two men taken in the captivity.

By Rev. G. E. Newyer, s.b.i. les7 Rev 10/©2003