JEREMIAH - CHAPTERS 14-15 IT SHALL BE WELL WITH THE REMNANT
JEREMIAH – Chapters 14-15
“IT SHALL BE WELL WITH THE REMNANT”
Tuesday Morning Bible Study
April 20, 2021
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Today, I am going to start with the good news! Even in the midst of God’s judgment in the time of evil and affliction, it shall be well with the remnant.
Jeremiah 15:11: The Lord said, Verily, it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat you well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.”
Jeremiah is a book of God’s judgment, but even in judgment, God’s love is present because He is there and He is love. Fearing God is not based on being afraid of angering Him. It is based upon understanding that His glorified Presence will consume like a raging fire any unrighteousness that is in us when He comes. Even when the nations are consumed at His presence. He will still love them. He is not actively seeking to destroy them or us. They will be destroyed by the virtue of His holy presence encountering their unrighteousness if they are not protected by the Blood of Jesus.
As I bring forth this word, that the judgment on Israel was because of the evil and wicked reign of King Manasseh (2 Ki. 24: 1-5), I charge Joe Biden and his administration as well as all government leaders who are guilty of the same sins as Manasseh.
Our Jeremiah journey starts today with Chapter 14. This and Chapter 15 reveal Jeremiah’s intercession. This is Jeremiah’s fifth message. He is not a preacher of sermons, but a prophet with a message from the Lord.
14:1: The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the dearth (The droughts – holding back of rain).
Sword, famine and pestilence sum up the early signs of judgment facing the land. The Almighty pictured the scene before Him. Each of the three elements are singled out as the fruit of unrighteousness. They stood as the exact opposite of the blessings of God which are characterized in Corn, Wine and Oil.
We in the United States are under the judgment of having a President who is incapacitated and unable to lead. Our government is being ruled by the Democrat party leaders, not by a man who was duly elected by the people.
This is another reverse for Judah. The cause of the drought was the iniquity of the people and their failure to change their ways. Verses 1-7 describe the conditions of the drought and the mourning of the people.
Jeremiah
14: 2-6: The cry of Jerusalem has gone
up. Their nobles have sent their
lads for water. They went to the cisterns and found no water. They returned with their vessels empty. They
were ashamed and confounded and covered their heads. The ground is parched, for
there was no rain in the land. The
plowmen were ashamed. They covered their
heads. The deer also gave birth in the
field,
But left because there was no grass. The
wild donkeys stood in the desolate heights.
They sniffed at the wind like jackals.
Their eyes failed because there was no grass.
The suffering is so acute, this prompts the prophet to intercede and plead for mercy.
Verses 7-9 are Jeremiah’s prayer of intercession. He identified himself with his people in confession of sin. Godly men/women identify themselves with the sins of the people. This brought an immediate response from the Lord, “Don’t pray for them.”
The following verses are a remarkable controversy between Jeremiah and the Lord.
14: 7-9: O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do it for your name’s sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against you. O’ the hope of Israel, the Savior in times of trouble, why should you be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turns aside to tarry for a night? Why should you be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? Yet you, O Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not leave us.
God refused to accept the prophet’s prayer.
14: 10-13: Thus says the Lord unto this people, they have loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the Lord does not accept them; He will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins. Then said the Lord unto me, Pray not for these people for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not hear their cry; but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine and by the pestilence. Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.’”
Jonathan Edwards preached, “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God.
There were also false prophets who spoke without divine authorization and revelation. “The people being misled by ritualistic priests or false prophets is no excuse. The false prophets are defined for the first time in lacking commission by God and truth in their message, which can be shown to be false by their valueless predictions being overturned. Such false prophets are active before the close of any dispensation (Mt. 24:24). Political disruption has a spiritual cause.” (Donald Wiseman, F.F. Bruce Bible Commentary.) “The conflict between true and false prophets had begun. This manifests more and more as the book unfolds.” (Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible)
The false prophets will die by the sword and famine which they predict will not come.
14:14-16: The LORD said to me, the prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them. They prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart. Therefore, thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, whom I did not send, and who say, “Sword and famine shall not be in this land” ---by sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed! The people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword. They will have no one to bury them, nor their wives, their sons, nor their daughters---for I will pour their wickedness on them.
Prophecy is a very serious matter before the Lord. God said He would pour their wickedness on them. In our day, prophecy flows freely in the church. Many prophecy to be recognized. Lord Jesus give us discernment to know and hear your Words and speak only your words.
Verses 16-18 reveal the consequences of heeding these false prophets:
1. The people to whom they prophesy will be cast out into the streets of Jerusalem, because of the famine and sword.
2. They will have no one to bury them.
3. I will pour out their wickedness upon them –they will reap what they have sown.
4. My people will be broken with a great and grievous blow.
5. The slain will be scattered over the open fields.
6. In the city there will be the sick from the famine.
7. All the prophets and priests will go into captivity; into a land they do not know.
God did not forgive after the confession of sins. Jeremiah did not express the repentance and Godly sorrow of the nation, only his own.
14:17-22: You shalt say this word to them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow. If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not. Have you utterly rejected Judah? Has your soul hated Zion? why have you smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble! We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against you. Do not abhor us, for your name's sake, do not disgrace the throne of your glory. Remember, do not break your covenant with us. (K.J.V.)
In chapter 15, we have the Lord’s reply to Jeremiah. Intercession was rejected and the nation’s fate was sealed. It is said this is “Jeremiah’s Grotto.” It is one of his prayerful retreats and is believed to be at the foot of the knoll where the Cross of Jesus stood!
15: 1-4: “Then said the Lord unto me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people; cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth. And it shall come to pass, if they say unto you, where shall we go forth? You shall tell them, thus says the Lord; Such as for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity. I will appoint over them four kinds, says the LORD: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy. I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.
If Moses or Samuel, men of prayer and intercession, joined Jeremiah in his prayers for Judah, the Lord’s intention was settled. Judgment was inevitable! These men had been influential intercessors with God on account of their Godliness. Moses and Samuel were renowned for their power and position in God. This also shows the gravity of Judah’s guilt and the futility of any hope for a real change.
2 Kings 24: 1-5: In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him. The LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servants the prophets. Surely at the commandment of the LORD this came upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did; and also, for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the LORD would not pardon. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
The Lord was weary with repenting with no change of heart. John the Baptist preached this same message in Luke 3:7-9: The he said to the multitude who came forth to be baptized of him, “O generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham for our father; for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees; every tree which does not bring forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Jeremiah 15:.5-7: Who shall have pity upon you, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan you? or who shall go aside to ask how you are doing?
You have forsaken me, says the Lord, you have gone backwards; therefore, I will stretch out my hand against you, and destroy you, I am weary with repenting. I will fan them with a fan to the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy my people, since they return not from their ways.
Justice demanded that the sentence of punishment be carried out, otherwise Yahweh himself would be no better than a corrupt, spineless judge. When the children continue to commit the sins of the fathers, as in the case with the present generation, (under King Jehoiachim) their fate was utterly sealed. Thus, going into exile, a horrible prospect for the people is the best thing any can expect, for the rest it was simply death.
In verses 10-21, Jeremiah expresses his discouragement to the Lord. God encourages Jeremiah in verse 11. We have this encouragement for us today.
We believe we are part of the Remnant and receive this though the earth be shaken around us.
15:10: Alas, my mother that you gave me birth, a man with whom the whole land strives and contends! I have neither lent nor borrowed yet, everyone curses me. (N.I.V.)
Delivering the preceding oracle is too much for the grief-stricken prophet. The Lord’s reply is reassuring, yet unrelenting.
15:11: The Lord said, “Verily it shall be well with the remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat you well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.” (K.J.V.)
The prophet is required now to release another oracle of judgment.
15:12-14: Can a man break iron? Iron from the north, or bronze? Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder, without charge because of all your sins throughout your country. I will enslave you to your enemies in a land you do not know, for my anger will kindle a fire that will burn against you.
The fire of the Lord. 14b: A fire is kindled in my anger, which shall burn upon you.
This is a quote from The Morning Star Journal from a message I preached on The Throne of the Lord dated April 27, 2000. I do not have the date of the Journal or the author. It is an eloquent exhortation on the fire and wind of the Lord. I believe this describes the visitation of judgment on Israel as well as all who are not bearing fruit worthy of repentance.
“When the Lord comes in glory, those who believe in His Son will be glorified. Those who do not believe will be consumed by His presence. The only thing left standing in that day will be that which is of the nature of His Son—all else will be consumed.
The fear of the Lord is not based on God’s heart or attitude towards us. His thoughts toward us have always been and will always be born of love. However, sin and unrighteousness cannot stand in His presence.
Romans 1:18: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God has shown it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.”
The fear of the Lord is not based on God’s attitude or emotions; it is based on his sense of an all-consuming fire. Everything that is not born of the nature of His Son will be consumed. This is the basis of fearing the Lord. This causes us to depart from evil and to continually turn to Him so that mercy and truth can transform us.
TWO WINDS: (written in 2008 teaching on Jeremiah)
Approximately fifteen years ago (1993) a significant prophetic word emerged for the church for this generation. The essence of this word was that there were two winds coming upon the church. The first wind, called Holiness unto the Lord was a wind of sanctification for the church. The second called The Kingdom of God, was a wind of empowerment for demonstrating the Kingdom of God with power. The encouragement was for the church to turn and face these winds---to be changed by the first and then empowered by the second.
The warning was that some would try to turn to the second wind, which empowers, without turning to the first that would bring sanctification and Holiness. This would result in their destruction by the second wind. This is an encouragement we need and a warning we must heed. We must turn toward both of these winds.
If we will turn toward the Lord and grow in the knowledge of His love and the truth of Christ in us, God will progressively purge iniquity from our lives. We will be transformed into the image of His Son and grow into the mature sons and daughters that He desires. Then we will find the revelation, power, and spiritual authority we need to manifest God’s Kingdom and destroy the works of the devil.
But as this process continues, we must not leave off the Fear of the Lord Until we are completely transformed by love and truth, we must continue to depart from evil by maintaining God’s fear. He is a consuming fire and His love for us will not protect us if we do begin to play with sin and evil. God is coming in His Presence and only the holy will be able to remain in that day.
I speak without boasting that we are blessed in this church with “His Presence”. The First Day church is Sacrifice. The Second Day is Ordinances and the Third Day is His Presence. This is our calling and the Lord has graced us to be able to stand in His Presence Sunday after Sunday.
One day soon, I will preach again the message on The Throne of the Lord. Although like most of my messages, it was for the time it was written.
Next Tuesday I will continue with Jeremiah starting with 15:15.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries, Inc. www.eastgateminsitries.com. Scripture from KJV quotes from the Morning Star Journal, Dake’s annotated Reference Bible, F. F. Bruce Commentary, and Principles of Present Truth by: Kelly Varner; Jeremiah Commentary by Michael L. Brown; Sermon Notes by: Carolyn Sissom 10/26/2008.