When Pagans Rebuke God’s Peo..

Hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we are going to enter into a new section in Jeremiah chapters 40 through 45. What happens after the fall of Jerusalem? What happens when the Babylonians burn the ground, break down the wall, take away King Zedekiah? What's the aftermath? What happened? Do the Jews keep living there? What goes on?
So, that's where we're going to be going in the next five chapters. So, this morning we're going to be at Jeremiah chapter 40. Let's have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into who becomes governor in Jerusalem. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your word. We thank you, God, that you are a God who has given us history. Lord, we pray that your spirit would be with us, that even as we read this historical account, that you would let us understand what is going on, but also how it applies to us. Please, Lord, help us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Here we go, Jeremiah chapter 40, really chapter 40 and 41 go together, but you'll have to find out next time what happens in 41. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after Nebuchadnezzar then, the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him and bound him in chains among all who were carried away captive from Jerusalem and Judah, who were carried away captive to Babylon. And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, The Lord your God has pronounced this doom in this place. Now the Lord has brought it and has done just as he said, because you people have sinned against Jehovah and not obeyed his voice. Therefore, this thing has come upon you. Now, and now look, I free you this day from the chains that were on your hand.
If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you. But if it seems wrong for you to come with me to Babylon, remain here. You see, all the land is before you. Wherever it seems good and convenient for you to go, go there.
He's offering him a choice here. Jeremiah hasn't had much choice in his life and now he's got a choice. He can go to Babylon or he can stay. He's a free man. Nebuchadnezzar then has let him go. Now, while Jeremiah had not yet gone back, Nebuchadnezzar said, Go back to Gedaliah the son of Ahiakim, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among all the people. Or go wherever it seems convenient for you to go. So the captain of the guard gave him rations and a gift and let him go. Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahiakim, to Mizpah, and dwelt with him among the people who were left in the land."
So, Nebuchadnezzar then says, okay, go wherever you want to go, here's some money, here's a gift, if you're going to stay here, you can go to Gedaliah, right? He's the governor, that's who's in charge of the remnant, the people who are left that haven't gotten killed. These are the few Jewish people remaining, so you can go underneath him or do whatever you want. Oh, verse 7.
And when all the captains of the armies who were in the fields, they and their men heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Achaikim, a governor in the land, and had committed to him men, women, children, and the poorest of the land, who had not been carried away captive to Babylon.
Then they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the son of Keria, Saraiah, the son of Tamuth-tam-tan-humeth, the sons of Ephi, the Netophethite, and Jezaniah, the son of Makathite, they and their men. And Gedaliah, that's the governor, the son of Ahiakim, the son of Cephan, took an oath before them and their men, saying, Do not be afraid of the Chaldeans. dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you. As for me, I will dwell at Mizpah, and serve the Chadians who come to us.
But you, gather wine and summer fruit and oil, put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken. Likewise, when all the Jews who were in Moab among the Ammonites in Edom and who were in all the countries heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahiakim, the son of Sapphan. Then all the Jews returned out of all the places where they had been driven, and came to the land of Judah to Gedaliah as Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruit in abundance."
Okay, so what's this section about? This is about all these people, the remnant, right? They're coming out of Ammon, they're coming out of other places where they had driven out, right? Where they were afraid when the armies had come and they had been the poorest people and the land had fled. Now they're coming back.
Here the king has put Get Eliah in charge, and he's going to rule from Mizpah. That's going to be his new capital. Jerusalem is burned to the ground, right? He's not going to rule there. He's not like Zedekiah. He's not going to run a rebellion or something. And so he's going to be at Mizpah. And so he says, go ahead, don't be afraid of the Chaldeans. It's the summertime. Get the olives, get the grapes, enjoy the harvest. Don't be afraid. And then something turns in verse 13.
Moreover, Johanan the son of Korea, and all the captains of the forces that were in the fields, came to Gedaliah at Mizpah and said to him, Do you certainly know that Baelus, the king of the Ammonites, has sent Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, to murder you? But Gedaliah, the son of Hyakim, did not believe them. So, he tells him of this assassination plot. There's a whole bunch of fighting men. They've come to get Eliah. Ishmael was named amongst them. He was named in verse 8 there, amongst all these guys who come to him.
Well, he doesn't believe it, right? Gedaliah doesn't believe this. So, verse 15, Johanan, the son of Korea, spoke secretly to Gedaliah in Mizpah. So, this is Johanan, he comes to the governor, Gedaliah, in his new capital, in the city of Mizpah, and he says, let me go, please, and I will kill Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he murder you, so that all the Jews who are gathered to you would be scattered, and the remnant in Judah perish? But Gedaliah the son of Ahicham said to Johanan the son of Korea, You shall not do this thing, for you speak falsely concerning Ishmael. Johanan comes and he says, let me go kill him secretly, nobody will know it was me, because you shouldn't be murdered. And Gadolias, no, I don't believe you. It's not going to happen. Will it happen? We'll find out in chapter 41 next time. So, it's kind of a cliffhanger.
What's the best verse to summarize this? Well, I have, interestingly, in verse 2, I have underlined, the Lord your God has pronounced this doom on this place. Nebuchadnezzar uses God's covenant name, Jehovah, multiple times. Verse 2, Jehovah your God hath pronounced this doom on this place. Verse 3, now Jehovah has brought it. And then further on in verse 3, because you people have sinned against Jehovah and not obeyed his voice. Again and again he's talking to Jeremiah and he's saying, I know why this is happening, it's because you guys haven't been faithful to your God.
So, I have verse 2 underlined for that reason. I also have verse 5 underlined because everything that's kind of going around here is about Gedaliah, the new governor, and what's going to happen with the remnant, the people, the rest of the Jews who are coming out of their hiding places and coming back into the land. So, that's what I have underlined in my Bible. Seek calling. What are we called to do? Even the pagans are looking and they're able to say to Jeremiah, because of your own sense that this has happened. The same thing that Jeremiah had been telling the people for years beforehand, and they wouldn't listen to him.
Sometimes even unbelievers are able to look at Christians' lives and say, you're not living it. And by Christians, I mean those who are talking the talk, but not walking the walk, by those who are just saying that they're God's people, but not actually living it out. And here, even the pagans, even the Babylonians are looking and going, you guys don't actually worship Jehovah. They've had Jewish people there in Babylon by this point, and they know, y'all don't even obey your own God.
Of course, this is going to happen. Maybe we should stop a little bit. Now Satan is the accuser, right? So he's going to accuse even the church and Christians today of hypocrisy and stuff like that. Absolutely, that's true. But when we hear it time and time again from people who actually believe the Scriptures, and then even non-Christians start speaking to the church, that doesn't look like what the Scriptures say.
It should at least give us pause. And again, I'm not saying we just bow to every whim because, of course, we don't just buy wholesale what people who don't even believe the Scriptures say we should be believing about the Scriptures, right? I'm not talking about that type of manipulation. I'm saying when what they're saying lines up with what is said, but our lives don't line up with what is said, we probably should listen. Maybe God's even using non-believers to rebuke us.
I think this happens from time to time. It's not always easy. We may want to get defensive, but I think the Christian's heart is to be humble, to be willing to examine ourselves, not to be filled with self-righteousness, nor to just receive whatever slanderous accusation might come against those people who hate God, but maybe Maybe we should look at the scriptures and where we see ourselves failing, repent, have a grief and a hatred for our sin, turn away from it from death into life. I think there's a lot we can learn from repentance, from being convicted by God's word, even when the ungodly say God's word and we fail to live up to it.
May we be those who aren't so proud that we resist God, because God resists the proud. May we be humble. May we truly listen to his word. May he care for us, his people. Let's pray. God, we pray that indeed your Holy Spirit would give us both wisdom when to be convicted biblically about things that we fail in our lives, but also, Lord, make us know when it's just an attack of our own consciences, for you are greater than our consciences that often condemn us, and when it's just our adversary trying to convince us of something that's wrong, when the accuser comes, or the world tries to Get us to twist our morals and twist the Word, Lord. We pray that we would know and be able to distinguish that. But Lord, when we are confronted with sin, wherever it would come from, as it aligns with Your Word, please give us Your Spirit. Give us soft hearts to turn to You, to turn away from our sin.
Lord, thank You. Thank You that You even still left a remnant. You had not forsaken Your covenant. You had not turned away from Your promises. But even, Lord, out of those taken to captivity and those left as a remnant, Father, You would indeed bring Your Son, Jesus Christ. Thank You that You had not yet left abandoned or forsaken Your promises or Your people. In Jesus's name we pray. Amen. May God bless you. May you have a tender heart to love the Lord, to hate sin. And may you rest in Jesus Christ. I'll see you next time. Bye.