Jeremiah 28:1-17

Wishful thinking is a very dangerous thing for a prophet to do.  Hananiah was a prophet who claimed to speak the Word of the Lord, but in reality he only shared wishful thinking.  Our desires and God’s will are not always the same thing.  In fact, they can often be in direct opposition to one another.  By nature, we will always want that which is most comfortable for us. God, on the other hand, desires that which is best for us in light of eternity.  God knows that we will experience the greatest joy through conformity to the image of Christ.  However, the path to conformity with Christ is one of suffering.  Hananiah, like many of us, was far more concerned with his own comfort than he was with being made to be like the Lord.

A FALSE PROPHECY OF RESTORATION: Jeremiah has been carrying a yoke on his back to illustrate the yoke of bondage under which Judah would serve Nebuchadnezzar.  Jeremiah had clearly stated the captivity would last for seventy years.  Hananiah comes into the house of the Lord where Jeremiah has spoken and gives a message that completely contradicts what Jeremiah had said.  He takes Jeremiah’s yoke and breaks it and in the name of the Lord says that within two years the yoke of Babylon will be broken, the treasure from the temple be returned and the people in exile be restored.  This is just the kind of message the people wanted to hear but popularity does not make a thing right.  Jeremiah responds by saying AMEN!  This is the content he wish were true but was not the content he had been given.  He did not immediately refute the message because God had not told him to do so at this point.  Instead, he sends out a word of caution and simply said “time will tell” if this is true or not.  The test of a prophet is always if his word is fulfilled.   

A TRUE PROPHECY OF RETRIBUTION: When the Word of the Lord did come to Jeremiah again, it was in direct contradiction to the word of Hananiah.  God’s message was simply that Hananiah had broken a yoke of sticks used in Jeremiah’s illustration but God had placed a yoke of iron on the nation in the nation of Babylon.  Wishful thinking had not changed the plan and purpose of God.  However, because of Hananiah’s false prophecy God had a special message for him; and Jeremiah delivered it clearly.  The message was simply that he would die within a year.  He had predicted restoration in two years but God condemned him to death within one year.  It is a dangerous thing to mishandle the Word of God.  God calls us to give His message and not our own wishful thinking.