Is There any Word from the Lord?
Then Zedekiah the king sent and took him out. The king asked him secretly in his house, and said, "Is there any word from the LORD?" And Jeremiah said, "There is." Then he said, "You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon!" (Jeremiah 37:17 NKJV)
Babylon is going to Win
Ten tribes of Israel were in captivity because of their idolatry. The two tribes of Judah had done as bad or worse than the ten tribes and now they were about to go into captivity. The kings of Judah did not want to give up their prestige and authority so they did not listen as prophets including Jeremiah told them that the captivity was coming. They were told to change their ways starting with the rulers, but they didn’t listen. Now one of the vassal rulers under Nebuchadnezzar, Zedekiah, asks Jeremiah if there is a word from the Lord. Jeremiah knows that there is but also knows that Zedekiah isn’t going to like what he hears. But Jeremiah is faithful and tells Zedekiah the truth. He says that Judah needs to submit to Babylon and the people who submit will live. Resist and you will die. This message weakened the hands of those who wanted to resist the Babylonians and so Jeremiah who told the truth ended up in a dungeon.
Is There any Word from the Lord Today?
Yes there is. But again most people don’t want to hear it because judgment is coming. The apostle John tells us, “ I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand (Revelation 6:12-17 NKJV)?’”
Notice, kings and the rich and the mighty will finally have to acknowledge who is in charge. But it will be too late. This is the earthly judgment that is coming on a Christ-rejecting world. When things are going reasonably well, we think that we can do as we please and get by with it. But God has made it clear, if you reject Him as your divine creator and His Son as your divine Redeemer, you will suffer for it. This, however, is suffering on the earth. The Lord says again through John the Baptist, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him (John 3:36 NKJV).” I believe that since the believer has everlasting life, the contrast dealing with the wrath of God goes beyond what happens on earth to what happens to a person eternally.
What are We To Do?
Christians who have truly acknowledged their sin and have trusted in the blood of Christ to save them, should recognize that while we live in the world we are no longer of the world. We are square pegs trying to fit into round holes. We need to make sure that we keep our own lives pleasing to the Lord and we need to quit assuming that we can reform a Christ-rejecting world through politics. The political systems of the world either have dictator rule or majority rule. There may be a few benevolent dictators but they are few and far between. The representative governments that have majority rule have forgotten that the majority is generally wrong in the Scripture. It is a broad and crowded way that leads to destruction and many travel that road. The few travel the road that leads to life (Matthew 7:13:14). It was a crowd that wanted to crucify the Lord. Since we can’t reform the world, we need to preach a message of regeneration. In order to be believable, we need to come out from among them and be separate (2 Corinthians 6:17). Paul tells us that bad company corrupts good morals (1 Corinthians 15:33). Instead of us changing the world, the world will change us if we get involved with it. The only way we can be salt and light in this world is to be different and sanctified (separated and set apart for the Lord). Then and only then will our word and witness carry weight. Only then will people believe us when we say that we have the truth and we believe the truth.
Unbelievers also should listen to a word from the Lord. John 5:24 says, “"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”
Conclusion
Yes judgment is coming. Believe the “word from the Lord” and live. Reject it and there will not only be judgment in this life but there will be eternal judgment. Really things are just that simple.
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of November 4, 2018