Jeremiah 35:1-19

God always has a faithful remnant of people who fear Him.  No matter how unfaithful a society may become; God always seems to have a small group of people who stand out in the midst of these people and live in obedience to Him.  The Rechabites were an example of this in the land of Judah.  God sent Jeremiah to them as He wanted to use them as an example to the nation and as an encouragement to Jeremiah.  God had given Jeremiah a very difficult ministry and there must have been times when he felt as if he were the only one who was following the Lord.  It must have been a blessing for him to discover a family so dedicated to obeying the Lord.

THE RECHABITES WERE EXAMPLES OF CONVICTION: God calls Jeremiah to invite the Rechabites into the house of the Lord and offer them wine.  When he does so, they all refuse to drink it because they have been instructed by their father to never drink wine, to not plant fields and to live in tents.  Their father had apparently been instructed by God to maintain these standards so he passed them on to his family members and they were firm in their conviction to obey the Word of the Lord.  Their fear of invasion had caused them to move their tents to Jerusalem but they did not compromise their standards and would not compromise them even at the request of Jeremiah.  This kind of conviction is rare and we would all do well to emulate it.  God is looking for men and women of conviction who will stand against the flow of an eroding culture and obey the Lord no matter what others are doing.  It is easy for us to be influenced by the people around us instead of becoming an influential minority.


THE RECHABITES WERE ILLUSTRATIONS OF CONTRAST: When Jeremiah saw the level of conviction demonstrated by the Rechabites, God told him to use their example to illustrate the contrast between them and the majority of the nation.  God has sent numerous prophets to instruct and warn Judah for many generations but they would not listen to these warnings.  The Rechabites had received one word of instruction from their father and they obeyed this instruction fully.  They provide a stark contrast between the expectations of God for His people and the reality the nation of Judah was demonstrating.  God rewards the Rechabites with a promise that they will always have a descendant to stand before Him.  However, the nation of Judah is promised the disaster about which they had repeatedly been warned.  It is possible to stand firm in the midst of a perverse generation and God is faithful to reward to who do.  No matter how evil our society may become we must be ready to stand firm on the Word of God and provide a contrast of convictions God can use to illustrate His expectations. 

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