Call to Commitment

 

Chapter 23, Part II

 

 

  Self-appointed prophets walking in their hearts’ deceit

21.  "I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. 

 22.  But if they had stood in My counsel, And had caused My people to hear My words, Then they would have turned them from their evil way And from the evil of their doings. 

 23.   "Am I a God near at hand," says the LORD, "And not a God afar off? 

 24.    Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?" says the LORD; "Do I not fill heaven and earth?" says the LORD. 

 25.  "I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed!' 

 26.    How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, 

 27.    who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal. 

 28.  "The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; And he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?" says the LORD. 

 29.    "Is not My word like a fire?" says the LORD, "And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? 

 30.  "Therefore behold, I am against the prophets," says the LORD, "who steal My words every one from his neighbor. 

 31.  Behold, I am against the prophets," says the LORD, "who use their tongues and say, 'He says.' 

 32.  Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams," says the LORD, "and tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all," says the LORD.

 Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James and John to be fishers of men (Mk.1:16-20). He spent an entire night in prayer before choosing the twelve as apostles (Lk.6:12-13). Later, he appointed 70 others, whom He sent out two by two (Lk.10:1). Paul often tells that he was called to be an apostle. Every prophet was called of God and kings and priests were anointed. At the beginning of this book, we read of Jeremiah’s calling: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (Jer.1:5). Divine calling is essential to genuine ministry.

 

Chapter 23, Part I

  A King of Righteousness is coming

1.      "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!" says the LORD. 

2.      Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: "You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings," says the LORD. 

       3.      "But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. 

4.      I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking," says the LORD. 

 5.      "Behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. 

 6.      In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

 7.      "Therefore, behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "that they shall no longer say, 'As the LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,' 

 8.      but, 'As the LORD lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.' And they shall dwell in their own land." 

The Lord has always seen Israel as a flock of sheep in need of care and those, who are charged with their wellbeing, are called shepherds. We have the same terminology in the New Testament and they are also called elders and overseers (which is the meaning of bishops) in the church and Peter, himself an elder, urges them to fulfill their office: “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lord over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock” (1 P.5:2-3).