Jeremiah

Chapters Twenty-four & Twenty-five

Introduction

A frequent question Christian parents ask about spanking is, "What if my child won't hold still for their swat?" The simple answer is that the discipline must increase in severity until they learn to hold still.

God was spanking Judah. The nation of Babylon was the rod of correction in His hand that God was using to spank them. Jeremiah would say, in Lamentations 3:1, "I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of His wrath."

Some of the Jews had learned to "hold still" for their swat:

But most of the Jews had not learned to "hold still" for their swat:

Jeremiah 24:9 'I will deliver them to trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them.

Jeremiah 24:10 'And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.'"

The Jews were likened to two baskets of figs that were brought as an offering before the Lord. Those who received God's rod of correction were fruitful, like ripened figs. Those who refused God's rod of correction were unfruitful, like rotten figs.

In the New Testament, God's discipline is described as producing fruit in your life:

God deals with you as a Father. The writer to the Hebrews puts it like this:

Hebrews 12:6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives."

God is faithful to discipline you throughout your life. You can receive or resist God's discipline. Like the Jew, your decision to receive or resist God's rod of correction puts you in one of two baskets before the Lord. One basket contains ripened figs, the fruitfulness of humbling yourself before God. The other basket contains rotten figs, the unfruitfulness of hardening yourself against God.

Everyday you face troubles, trials, and tragedies - as well as triumphs - that either humble you towards God or harden you against God. If you are a believer, then your life is already a living sacrifice. But what kind of an offering are you making of yourself as God trains you? The Jew offered himself as ripened or rotten fruit by how he responded to God's rod. You offer yourself as ripened or rotten fruit by how you respond to God's rod.

#1 The Jew Offered Himself As Ripened Or Rotten

Fruit By How He Responded To God's Rod

While we make a practical application of Jeremiah twenty-four and twenty-five to our lives, we are not ignorant of its prophetic application. The fig tree is a biblical symbol for the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel was often compared to a fig tree in the Old Testament:

Jeremiah, Amos, Ezekiel, and Isaiah all likened Israel to the fig tree. The fig tree is Israel.

These verses in Jeremiah have their first and primary application towards the nation of Israel in relation to the other nations of the world. These are prophetic verses that describe Israel's Babylonian captivity but that also look far forward, beyond our own day and age, into the future - to the very return of Jesus to set up a kingdom on the earth. In verse thirty-three of chapter twenty-five you read, "And at that day the slain of the LORD shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground." This is a look forward into the future, to the aftermath of the Battle of Armageddon after the return of Jesus to earth in His Second Coming.

Beloved, as we have told you repeatedly, the Jew and the nation of Israel and the city of Jerusalem are the key to Bible prophecy. Author Dave Hunt writes,

Watch Israel; the stage is being set for the return of Jesus to Jerusalem to rule and reign for one thousand years. And, if the Lord's return is near, then the Rapture is nearer still!

In Jeremiah twenty-four, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had come against Jerusalem for the second time, carrying away a large number of captives. King Jeconiah had been carried away and the Babylonians set up Zedekiah as a puppet king over his people in Judah.

Jeremiah had been telling the people all along that Babylon was the rod of God's correction. He had made it clear that they were to receive God's discipline:

Jeremiah 21:9 "He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes out and defects to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be as a prize to him."

In the aftermath of the second Babylonian invasion, the Jews were again resisting Babylon. They trusted in their descent from Abraham and in the Temple to save them from further correction.

God said that the Jews were like two baskets of figs that were brought to Him as an offering. Now He describes the figs in each basket:

Jeremiah 24:3 Then the LORD said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" And I said, "Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad."

Then follows the interpretation of the simile:

Jeremiah 24:6 'For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up.

Jeremiah 24:7 'Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.

Jeremiah 24:8 'And as the bad figs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad'; surely thus says the LORD; 'so will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes, the residue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt.

Jeremiah 24:9 'I will deliver them to trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them.

Jeremiah 24:10 'And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.'"

The Jews who received God's rod of correction offered themselves like ripened figs to the Lord. The Jews who resisted God's rod or correction, by remaining in Jerusalem or by running to Egypt, were like rotten figs.

If you are a parent, and if you discipline your children, you can recognize when your kids are humbled and when they are hardened. When they are humbled, good things can take place. They can be instructed and your fellowship with them can be fully restored.

When they are hardened against your discipline, you must take more severe measures with them before they can be instructed and before your fellowship with them can be fully restored.

Everyday, as you face the trials, troubles, and tragedies of your life - as well as the triumphs - you decide to humble yourself or harden yourself against God's plan for you. Humility brings fruitfulness; hardness brings unfruitfulness.

When you humble yourself, God looks at you and says, "This is for your good. I have set My eyes upon you for good. I am working in and through your circumstances to capture your whole heart for Myself."

When you harden yourself, God looks at you and says, "I love you too much to overlook your attitude. Your way will get harder and harder, more and more difficult, until you yield to your Father's rod."

As we begin chapter twenty-five, God reviews His efforts with His people to avoid disciplining them:

Jeremiah 25:2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:

Jeremiah 25:3 "From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the word of the LORD has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened.

Jeremiah 25:4 "And the LORD has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear.

Jeremiah 25:5 "They said, 'Repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD has given to you and your fathers forever and ever.

Jeremiah 25:6 'Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands; and I will not harm you.'

Jeremiah 25:7 "Yet you have not listened to Me," says the LORD, "that you might provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.

Like any good parent, God gave His children clear commands to obey, as well as spelling out the consequences for their disobedience. They refused to listen.

By the way, that is a key to understanding why you sometimes resist God's discipline: You refuse to listen! Many times we say to ourselves and to others, "I know what I should be doing, but...", or, "I know how I should respond, but...", or, "I know it's not right to feel this way, but..." A counselor once said that you shouldn't listen to anything someone says until after they say "but..."! When you say "but" to God, you are refusing to listen to His Word.

God's Word is God's enabling. Often you encounter something in the Word that tells you how to think, or feel, or respond. Sometimes there are no clear steps given you, only the Word itself. The Word itself is your enabling!

Those who resist God's rod, who harden themselves against God by refusing to listen, must be dealt with more severely:

Jeremiah 25:9 'behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,' says the LORD, 'and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations.

Jeremiah 25:10 'Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

"The voice of mirth and the voice of gladness" will be taken away. You may go on enjoying the pleasures of life, but God's "voice" within you will be muffled. There is no real joy in your heart when you refuse to listen to God. Joy is a fruit of God's Spirit! You can't be offering God rotten fruit and expect His ripened fruit of joy in return.

"The voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride" will be taken away. That is, your marriages will lack the first love they once had when you were engaged. Most marriage problems are the result of one or both partners unable to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit because they are refusing to listen to God.

"The sounds of the millstones" involves the daily grind of your business or employment. The will be taken away, meaning simply that God is sovereign over your secular affairs and can use them to discipline you.

"The light of the lamp" will be taken away. The Psalmist said in Psalm 119:105, "Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path." When you refuse to obey God's Word you frequently don't want to hear anymore of it. You cut yourself off from church, from study, and find that you are without real insight for living.

In verses eleven through fourteen God discusses a specific commandment that the Jews had disobeyed, and the exact consequences He would bring upon them:

Jeremiah 25:12 'Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,' says the LORD; 'and I will make it a perpetual desolation.

Jeremiah 25:13 'So I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations.

Jeremiah 25:14 '(For many nations and great kings shall be served by them also; and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.)'"

God had commanded the Jews to let their land enjoy a sabbath year - a year of rest every seventh year:

Leviticus 25:3 'Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit;

Leviticus 25:4 'but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the LORD. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard.

Leviticus 25:5 'What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land.

Leviticus 25:6 'And the sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you,

Leviticus 25:7 'for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land; all its produce shall be for food.

He had spelled out the consequences for disobeying the sabbath year commandment:

Leviticus 26:33 I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.

Leviticus 26:34 Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies' land; then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths.

Leviticus 26:35 As long as it lies desolate it shall rest; for the time it did not rest on your sabbaths when you dwelt in it.

For four hundred and ninety years, the Jews had disobeyed God's commandment to observe a sabbath year. Thus, seventy sabbath years had passed. God would leave the Jews in Babylon for seventy years while the land enjoyed her sabbaths!

Second Chronicles 36:21 confirms this:

Years later, Daniel, who had been taken captive by Babylon during this second invasion, would be reading Jeremiah. Coming across this very passage, he would be encouraged to know that the captivity of his people was nearing its end. God then gave Daniel an even more glorious prophecy: The vision of the seventy weeks of years that describe His dealings with Israel throughout history, right up to the return of Jesus Christ!

The study of prophecy is like that: Always building on itself. Today there is a renewed effort to undermine the prophetic truths we have been building upon for years, especially the pretribulation rapture of the church. Don't be troubled by those who seek to convince you that you will enter or endure the Great Tribulation!

The Jew offered himself as ripened or rotten fruit by his response to God's rod. Even in this simile God was still reaching out to His wayward people, encouraging them to receive His rod of correction rather than face more severe punishment. Whom the Lord loves, He chastens.

#2 You Offer Yourself As Ripened Or Rotten

Fruit By Your Response To God's Rod

Beginning with verse fifteen, we look forward, beyond our own day, to God's discipline of Israel and other nations of the world in the end times. God's discipline is described as a cup of wrath that the nations are forced to drink for their disobedience:

Jeremiah 25:16 "And they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them."

Jeremiah 25:17 Then I took the cup from the Lord's hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the LORD had sent me:

Jeremiah 25:18 Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day;

Jeremiah 25:19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes, and all his people;

Jeremiah 25:20 all the mixed multitude, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines (namely, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod);

Jeremiah 25:21 Edom, Moab, and the people of Ammon;

Jeremiah 25:22 all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands which are across the sea;

Jeremiah 25:23 Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who are in the farthest corners;

Jeremiah 25:24 all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed multitude who dwell in the desert;

Jeremiah 25:25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes;

Jeremiah 25:26 all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world which are on the face of the earth. Also the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.

Jeremiah 25:27 "Therefore you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Drink, be drunk, and vomit! Fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you."'

Jeremiah 25:28 "And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts: "You shall certainly drink!

Jeremiah 25:29 "For behold, I begin to bring calamity on the city which is called by My name, and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished, for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth," says the LORD of hosts.'

After being scattered for twenty-five hundred years to every nation on earth, hated, hounded, persecuted, and perpetually made the object of history's most systematic attempts at genocide, the Jewish people have astonishingly survived as an identifiable ethnic, national group of people and have returned to their ancient promised land! Zechariah 12:3 foretold that Jerusalem would become a burdensome weight upon all the nations of the world. Who could have imagined when the Old Testament was written that all the nations of the world would be involved in deciding the fate of Israel? That would have been impossible until the formation of the League of Nations after World War I, and then its successor, the United Nations, after World War II. This involvement of all nations in dividing Israel has occurred exactly as prophesied and is still in the process of being implemented.

Many of the biblical prophecies seemed ludicrous when they were made. Certainly the prophecies of Jerusalem's ultimate importance seemed insane as Jerusalem was repeatedly destroyed and then lay in ruins and all but abandoned. Yet today the eyes of the world are on Jerusalem and on Israel.

God reveals what is in store for Israel and the other nations of the earth at the return of Jesus:

Jeremiah 25:31 A noise will come to the ends of the earth; For the LORD has a controversy with the nations; He will plead His case with all flesh. He will give those who are wicked to the sword,' says the LORD."

Jeremiah 25:32 Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Behold, disaster shall go forth From nation to nation, And a great whirlwind shall be raised up From the farthest parts of the earth.

Jeremiah 25:33 "And at that day the slain of the LORD shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried; they shall become refuse on the ground.

Jeremiah 25:34 "Wail, shepherds, and cry! Roll about in the ashes, You leaders of the flock! For the days of your slaughter and your dispersions are fulfilled; You shall fall like a precious vessel.

Jeremiah 25:35 And the shepherds will have no way to flee, Nor the leaders of the flock to escape.

Jeremiah 25:36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds, And a wailing of the leaders to the flock will be heard. For the LORD has plundered their pasture,

Jeremiah 25:37 And the peaceful dwellings are cut down Because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

Jeremiah 25:38 He has left His lair like the lion; For their land is desolate Because of the fierceness of the Oppressor, And because of His fierce anger."

The Lion is coming! Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah, and He is coming to judge the world. There will be a Great Tribulation, centering on Israel and Jerusalem, culminating in the Battle of Armageddon as nation rises against nation. These world leaders will be like shepherds who cannot defend themselves or their flocks from the Lion when He comes.

You live just on the verge of these prophecies being literally fulfilled. The Bible tells you that your life is already a living sacrifice to God. As you humble or harden yourself by your responses to God each day, you offer yourself as ripened or rotten!

Humble yourself and hear God! His Word is His enabling! Get rid of the "but's" in your spiritual vocabulary.

Conclusion

In your trials, troubles, and tragedies; in your triumphs; God is looking on you for good. He is building character and virtue into your life. He is capturing more of your heart for Himself.

God is the Father you always wanted! Let Him disciple you, and let Him discipline you, as He sees fit, as He fits you for the kingdom of God.