Jeremiah 22:1-30

Many things about our lives in obedience to the Word of God do not make sense from the human perspective.  Men like to be able to evaluate a situation, decide a course of action and then feel like the outcome depends on their effort.  We like to think that we are the masters of our own destinies.  God’s perspective is much different than this.  He has established rules He wants us to follow and He determines the success or failure of men’s efforts based on His sovereign will.  In reality, God is the Master of our destiny.  When we understand this truth it will be great motivation to walk in accordance with His Word.

JEREMIAH POINTS TO THE WAY UP: Jeremiah is told to go to the king of Judah.  This instruction is easy for us to simply read over and consider this to be a normal function for Jeremiah.  It is important to remember that Jeremiah was not a priest or a political officer; he was simply a prophet appointed by God but unrecognized by the people and leaders of the nation.  It was not an easy thing to walk up to the king and deliver a message from God.  Jeremiah’s message is a simple one and yet still very contrary to our normal way of thinking.  God told the king through Jeremiah that he would be blessed and established as king if he would simply avoid violence, not exploit the poor, defend the orphans and widows and walk in obedience to the Law of the Lord.  Rulers who depend on their own strength do not see any benefit to defending the defenseless because they think they have nothing to offer.  Men who depend upon themselves will practice self-promotion by trading favors with the powerful at the expense of the powerless.  God is all-powerful and promises to bless those who defend the powerless.  Truly the way up is be serving those who are down.

JEREMIAH POINTS TO THE WAY OUT: Since Jeremiah knows the king will not listen to or obey his instructions he begins to pronounce the judgments on the king’s descendants.  One will be killed is just dishonor that his burial is compared to that of a donkey that is simply drug outside of the city and left to rot and be consumed by wild animals.  The other son will be dragged  away into captivity by the king of Babylon and will never come back home to see his nation.  The grandson will never have the opportunity to reign and he descendants will never reign again instead he will be taken captive and never heard from again.  The price of rebellion is great and God is not afraid to call men to a reckoning.  The city and the nation that was so precious to God and so greatly blessed by God will become a barren wasteland and a source of embarrassment to all who see it.  The Lord will make the price of idolatry and rebellion very obvious and all who see this judgment will stand in awe of God’s power.  Generations of disobedience have taken their toll and now the leaders of the nation are on their way out.  It will not be pleasant or glorious way out; rather it will be a shameful and harmful path into destruction.