Call to Commitment

 

 

God’s word to Zedekiah

      1.      The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem and all its cities, saying, 

 2.      "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, "Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. 

 3.      And you shall not escape from his hand, but shall surely be taken and delivered into his hand; your eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, he shall speak with you face to face, and you shall go to Babylon.' " ' 

 4.      Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus says the LORD concerning you: 'You shall not die by the sword. 

 5.      You shall die in peace; as in the ceremonies of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they shall burn incense for you and lament for you, saying, "Alas, lord!" For I have pronounced the word, says the LORD.' " 

 6.      Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, 

 7.      when the king of Babylon's army fought against Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and Azekah; for only these fortified cities remained of the cities of Judah.

 In the ninth year of the reign of Zedekiah, the last king over Judah, Nebuchadnezzar came to besiege Jerusalem. Zedekiah reigned eleven years and his kingship ended with the Babylonian conquest. In this chapter, the narration advances rapidly towards the fatal fourth month of the 11^th year of the king, when the enemy army will penetrate the city. In chapter 32, Jeremiah was imprisoned, because he dared to speak, not only of the judgment coming to Judah, but he also declared that the king would not escape out of the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. At the beginning of this chapter, we have an amplification of the judgment of Zedekiah, given in chapter 32. However, God speaks with compassion and shows that mercy will accompany the judgment.

 The mighty emperor came, along with the armies of defeated nations, to conquer Jerusalem (1). The Lord sent Jeremiah to speak directly to his king that He was about to turn the city over to Babylon and the result would be that they would totally set it on fire (2). As in chapter 32, this word again pronounced the capture of Zedekiah, that he would come face to face with the emperor, and then be carried into Babylon (3).  

Herman, late in life, still living Jeremiah 33:3*.

 

The Word of God is not bound

      1.      Moreover the word of the LORD came to     Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the prison, saying, 

      2.     "Thus says the LORD who made it, the LORD who formed it to establish it (the LORD is His name): 

 3.      'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.' 

 4.      "For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah, which have been Pulled down to fortify against the siege mounds and the sword: 

 5.      'They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but only to fill their places with the dead bodies of men whom I will slay in My anger and My fury, all for whose wickedness I have hidden My face from this city. 

 Satan and his forces have no greater nemesis than the word of God. It reminds them of the purposes of God from before the foundation of the world. It tells how man can be freed from demonic bondage through the victory at Calvary. It shows Christ conquering death, coming out of the tomb and manifesting Himself alive to over 500 believers. It declares the defeat and eternal condemnation of the fallen angels. This is nothing to comfort them from Genesis to Revelation, so they fight desperately in a vain attempt to silence the word. But Paul wrote Timothy from prison: “The word of God is not bound” (2 T.2:9).

 Paul still had his pen and wrote letters from his cell more precious for the church than “silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times” (Ps.12:6). The Romanian songwriter, Nicolae Moldoveanu, had his pen and paper taken away, when he entered a Communist prison, but he still had his mind. He composed several hundred hymns, while being tortured by the devil’s agents, and stored them in his memory until he was released. He went on to write over 6,000 more, during the rest of his life. Testimonies still come continuously from the battlefront of victory through Christ.