Jeremiah

Chapters Twenty-seven, Twenty-eight, & Twenty-nine

Introduction

A yoke was a type of harness which connected a pair of animals, usually oxen, to a plow or similar tool. Yokes were usually made of a wooden beam shaped to fit over the necks of the two animals and were held in place by leather fastening straps.

God punctuated His message to the nation of Judah and her surrounding nations by having Jeremiah wear such a yoke:

The yoke on Jeremiah was a symbol of submission, subjection, and servitude. In this case, God was calling upon Judah to be submissive, subject, and servile to Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon - to wear the yoke of the Babylonian captivity for the next seventy years.

Hananiah tore the yoke off of Jeremiah's neck to dramatize his own prediction that within only two years God would break the yoke of Babylon from off the neck of the nation. To this Jeremiah replied,

Jeremiah 28:14 'For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him. I have given him the beasts of the field also."' "

Jeremiah said, "Bear the yoke"; Hananiah said, "Break the yoke." The people were left to choose.

As it turned out, they only needed to wait two months! Hananiah made his prediction in the fifth month of the year. Jeremiah told Hananiah,

Jeremiah 28:16 "Therefore thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will cast you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have taught rebellion against the LORD.'"

Jeremiah 28:17 So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.

Thus they were to be resigned to bear the yoke of the Babylonian captivity for the seventy years God had appointed.

I think that you and I can relate to the wearing of yokes. In First Timothy 6:1 the Apostle Paul describes a bondservant's relationship to his or her master as being "under the yoke." Since Jesus Christ is your Lord and Master, then you are His bondservant "under the yoke." The course of your life, with all of its sovereign providences, is the yoke the Lord has placed on you.

Haven't there been seasons and circumstances in your life when you would just as soon break the yoke Jesus called you to bear? I know there have been such times in my life - and there will be again!

That's why we can appreciate these three chapters in Jeremiah. In them we learn two important lessons about bearing our Lord's yoke. In chapters twenty-seven and twenty-eight you learn that the world pressures you to break God's yoke; in chapter twenty-nine you learn that the Word powers you to bear God's yoke.

#1 The World Pressures You

To Break God's Yoke

Submission...Subjection...Servitude. These aren't exactly your favorite words! Yet, once you call Jesus "Lord," you are putting yourself under Him - in submission, in subjection, in servitude. Since you are on earth and Jesus is in heaven, you usually submit and are subject to Him by serving someone else on earth "as unto the Lord." Wives, for example, are told to "submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord." Christian citizens are told to "...submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake..." In fact you are told in Colossians 3:23,

Bearing the Lord's yoke by serving others as you would Jesus is powerful stuff. It should come as no surprise to you to realize that the world pressures you to break, rather than bear, God's yoke. As we work through chapters twenty-seven and twenty-eight we want to identify some of the world's pressures to break God's yoke.

Jeremiah 27:2 "Thus says the LORD to me: 'Make for yourselves bonds and yokes, and put them on your neck,

Jeremiah 27:3 'and send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.

These kings had come to Jerusalem to meet with Zedekiah and together plan how to join forces to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. They all wanted to break the yoke of Babylon from off their necks. God was sending Jeremiah as an uninvited delegate to their conference!

Jeremiah 27:5 'I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are on the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it to whom it seemed proper to Me.

Jeremiah 27:6 'And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant; and the beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him.

Jeremiah 27:7 'So all nations shall serve him and his son and his son's son, until the time of his land comes; and then many nations and great kings shall make him serve them.

Jeremiah 27:8 'And it shall be, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish,' says the LORD, 'with the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.

The Bible always assumes you believe that God is absolutely sovereign in the affairs of men and nations and history. Within His absolute sovereignty God limits Himself in three areas: He allows sin to exist in His universe, He allows Himself to be moved by prayer, and He allows mankind free-will. But He rules over all and He overrules all for His glory.

Nebuchadnezzar was God's sovereign yoke upon Judah and these surrounding nations. Jeremiah wore a yoke while he preached God's message to drive home the inevitable truth of God's sovereign decision to put these nations under Babylon for a time He Himself would determine.

Zedekiah was feeling pressure from the ambassadors of these other nations to join with them against Nebuchadnezzar.

Everyday you face and feel pressure from the "ambassadors" of this world to rebel against God. For example:

1. Advertising can be an ambassador of this world sent to pressure you to rebel against God...
2. Entertainment can be an ambassador of this world sent to pressure you to rebel against God...

There are many such passive ambassadors which can and do promote a worldly message that is in stark and direct contrast to the Gospel of your Lord, Jesus Christ. There are active ambassadors as well. In Second Timothy 2:26 the Bible says that unbelievers are the captives of the devil and often unwittingly do His will. They tempt and try you, seeking to have you break the yoke of obedience to Jesus.

Jeremiah 27:10 'For they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land; and I will drive you out, and you will perish.

Jeremiah 27:11 'But the nations that bring their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let them remain in their own land,' says the LORD, 'and they shall till it and dwell in it.'"

The cabinet advisers of kings in those days were "prophets, diviners, dreamers, soothsayers, [and] sorcerers..." They were men with the world's wisdom.

Worldly wisdom pressures you to break God's yoke. Today there is great debate in the believing church regarding biblical truths like creation, the ordination of women, and the churches position on homosexuality. There is worldly wisdom in each of these areas that says "Throw off and break the yoke of bondage to the literal interpretation of the Bible." For myself, I would rather, as the Apostle Paul said, "let God be true and every man a liar!"

Jeremiah 27:13 "Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

Jeremiah 27:14 "Therefore do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, 'You shall not serve the king of Babylon,' for they prophesy a lie to you;

Jeremiah 27:15 "for I have not sent them," says the LORD, "yet they prophesy a lie in My name, that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you."

The recognized religious leaders were themselves deceived and were deceiving Zedekiah.

Religious deception abounds today. Non-Christian religions and cults are gaining greater stature among evangelical Christians. There is great pressure on you to abandon Bible doctrine in favor of unity - to break the yoke of submission to truth.

Jeremiah 27:17 'Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city be laid waste?

Jeremiah 27:18 'But if they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD, in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, do not go to Babylon.'

Jeremiah 27:19 "For thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the pillars, concerning the Sea, concerning the carts, and concerning the remainder of the vessels that remain in this city,

Jeremiah 27:20 "which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem;

Jeremiah 27:22 'They shall be carried to Babylon, and there they shall be until the day that I visit them,' says the LORD. 'Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.'"

True prophets intercede for God's people before His throne - they don't incite the people against His throne! They call God's people to repentance - not rebellion! These prophets in Judah were overlooking the sin of the people and their need to repent.

There is always pressure to minimize sin in order not to offend anyone. We offer a watered down Gospel which seeks to reform men rather than see them regenerated. The term "alcoholism" is a good example. What the Bible calls the sin of drunkenness we call a disease. Many of the programs to treat drunks minimizes the sin and the need for Jesus as Savior.

In chapter twenty-eight, Jeremiah is confronted by Hananiah and a contrary prediction:

Jeremiah 28:2 "Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: 'I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

Jeremiah 28:3 'Within two full years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the Lord's house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon.

Jeremiah 28:4 'And I will bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah who went to Babylon,' says the LORD, 'for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.'"

Hananiah was the son of a prophet, and was himself recognized as a prophet. He spoke with boldness that God Himself would "break the yoke of the king of Babylon."

Jeremiah was in the audience when Hananiah spoke these words:

Jeremiah 28:6 and the prophet Jeremiah said, "Amen! The LORD do so; the LORD perform your words which you have prophesied, to bring back the vessels of the Lord's house and all who were carried away captive, from Babylon to this place.

Jeremiah's was the first "Amen!" to be shouted in response to Hananiah's message. Jeremiah shared the hope that disaster could yet be averted. But he added a "nevertheless":

Jeremiah 28:8 "The prophets who have been before me and before you of old prophesied against many countries and great kingdoms; of war and disaster and pestilence.

Jeremiah 28:9 "As for the prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet comes to pass, the prophet will be known as one whom the LORD has truly sent."

Jeremiah told the people to test Hananiah's message. They were to test his words for truth and for accuracy. His words must be like the truth of God's already revealed Word, and his words must accurately come to pass.

Hananiah didn't like Jeremiah's meddling:

Jeremiah 28:11 And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, "Thus says the LORD: 'Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years.' " And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.

Hananiah had an exciting, happening ministry; Jeremiah just walked off.

There is pressure on you in Christian circles to heed the most exciting, happening, fresh ministry that comes along. The so-called "Toronto blessing" was the most recent example. Thousands and tens of thousands of believers from all over the world - some even from Hanford - flocked to the Toronto Airport Vineyard Christian Fellowship to witness this supposed fresh move of God's Spirit. People laughed uncontrollably, barked and howled like wildly excited beasts. It got too weird even for the Vineyard leadership, who recently kicked that church out of their affiliation.

Check it out! Test things by the Word, then be willing to wait; you won't miss any blessing God has for you by being a Berean. Not everything you hear is really from the Lord, as you learn in verses twelve through seventeen:

Jeremiah 28:13 "Go and tell Hananiah, saying, 'Thus says the LORD: "You have broken the yokes of wood, but you have made in their place yokes of iron."

Jeremiah 28:14 'For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him. I have given him the beasts of the field also."' "

Jeremiah 28:15 Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, "Hear now, Hananiah, the LORD has not sent you, but you make this people trust in a lie.

Jeremiah 28:16 "Therefore thus says the LORD: 'Behold, I will cast you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have taught rebellion against the LORD.'"

Jeremiah 28:17 So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.

God allows these weird ministries for His own eternal purposes. One purpose He has is for you to grow in your exercise of discernment. Don't trust a lie. Be discerning of the truth and reject those things that are lies - no matter who the source is.

There was a lot of pressure to break the yoke of Babylon. But it was God's yoke and was not to be broken.

There is a lot of pressure on you to try to break God's yoke. You know what? When you try to break God's yoke, you only find yourself in a greater bondage! Instead of being a bondservant to Jesus, you become a slave to sin.

Rather than break God's yoke, you should bear it. Bearing your yoke is the encouragement of chapter twenty-nine.

#2 The Word Powers You

To Bear God's Yoke

Chapter twenty-nine contains a letter that Jeremiah wrote to the Jews who had already been taken captive into Babylon. They, too, were hearing false predictions that their captivity would soon end. Jeremiah told them to settle in for a seventy year stay.

Jeremiah 29:2 (This happened after Jeconiah the king, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.)

Jeremiah 29:3 The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying,

Jeremiah 29:4 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon:

Jeremiah 29:5 Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit.

Jeremiah 29:6 Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters; that you may be increased there, and not diminished.

Jeremiah 29:7 And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace.

Jeremiah made it clear to the captives that God had caused their captivity, and that He would continue it for His own eternal purposes. They should settle in and bear the yoke God had placed upon them.

Jeremiah 29:9 For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the LORD.

As we've seen earlier, the people were in danger from false prophets. They were also in danger from themselves; notice Jeremiah says, "nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed." The people were pressuring the prophets to have favorable predictions - going to them with preconceived interpretations.

Christians often do this. We speak to each other in ways that make it difficult for someone to disagree with our decisions or determinations. Then, when they don't disagree, we think that they have agreed with us, and we feel all the more confident in what we are doing or are planning to do - when all the while it is our own desires that are driving us.

Skip verses ten through fourteen for a moment, and drop down to verse fifteen, where Jeremiah continues to speak to the people about true and false prophets:

Jeremiah 29:16 therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, concerning all the people who dwell in this city, and concerning your brethren who have not gone out with you into captivity;

Jeremiah 29:17 thus says the LORD of hosts: Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.

Jeremiah 29:18 And I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence; and I will deliver them to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth; to be a curse, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them,

Jeremiah 29:19 because they have not heeded My words, says the LORD, which I sent to them by My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; neither would you heed, says the LORD.

Jeremiah 29:20 Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Jeremiah 29:21 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in My name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall slay them before your eyes.

Jeremiah 29:22 And because of them a curse shall be taken up by all the captivity of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, "The LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire";

Jeremiah 29:23 because they have done disgraceful things in Israel, have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and have spoken lying words in My name, which I have not commanded them. Indeed I know, and am a witness, says the LORD.

Jeremiah reiterates many of the things he had been telling the people for years. Bible teaching is often repetitive, but blessedly so. The Apostle Peter wrote,

2 Peter 1:13 Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you,

2 Peter 1:14 knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me.

2 Peter 1:15 Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.

Beloved, never fall into the pride of thinking that you have "heard it before!" The Bible contains treasures both old and new. The old treasures only increase in their value as you reexamine them.

In Jerusalem Hananiah came against Jeremiah; in Babylon, it was Shemaiah who came against him:

Jeremiah 29:25 Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,

Jeremiah 29:26 "The LORD has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, so that there should be officers in the house of the LORD over every man who is demented and considers himself a prophet, that you should put him in prison and in the stocks.

Jeremiah 29:27 Now therefore, why have you not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth who makes himself a prophet to you?

Jeremiah 29:28 For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, 'This captivity is long; build houses and dwell in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit.'"

Shemaiah wants the temple guard in Jerusalem to arrest Jeremiah for being "demented." Jeremiah replies:

Jeremiah 29:30 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying:

Jeremiah 29:31 Send to all those in captivity, saying, Thus says the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I have not sent him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie;

Jeremiah 29:32 therefore thus says the LORD: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his family: he shall not have anyone to dwell among this people, nor shall he see the good that I will do for My people, says the LORD, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD.

God's truth is not diminished if no one heeds it. Jeremiah is a majority of one because he is one with God.

Jeremiah's message throughout these three chapters was to bear God's yoke. He himself was bearing God's yoke - not just symbolically, but personally, as he submitted himself to the Lord by faithfully delivering these difficult messages over a span of many years time.

What would give the people power to bear God's yoke? God's Word would power them. Return to verses ten through fourteen:

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

Jeremiah 29:13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:14 I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.

God's Word powered them to bear God's yoke by its promises, its perspective, and its perseverance. Those same properties are what power you to bear God's yoke. Let's look briefly at them.

The promises in God's Word power you to bear God's yoke:

Verses ten and fourteen are specific promises to the Jews. Their captivity would last seventy years, then they would be restored to their land. What a great empowering these promises could bring to those who would receive them!

There are specific promises in God's Word to you! There are too many to even list here today. Let me give you just one example. There is a sense in which you are sojourning in "Babylon..." You know that the Lord is coming soon to receive you home - not to Jerusalem, but to the New Jerusalem that comes out of heaven!

The perspective of God's Word powers you to bear God's yoke:

We should all have verse eleven memorized:

No matter what your yoke is to bear, this is God's perspective on your life. No matter how difficult or dangerous your circumstances, God is for you. He's not only for you because He has to be; His very thoughts towards you are pure and lovely.

The perseverance of God's Word powers you to bear God's yoke:

Jeremiah 29:13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

The perseverance of the saints is a large topic and can be controversial. Let me just say this today: If you are a believer, God preserves you to the end, and you will persevere to the end. Your perseverance is not a work; it is a fruit, a fruit produced by abiding in Jesus through His Word.

Beloved, you are under the yoke. God has custom sized your yoke. The seasons and circumstances of your life are His custom sizing. As you submit to Him, the yoke only becomes smoother and easier to bear.

Conclusion

One thing about yokes: They were made to fit a team of two. God doesn't just put you under the yoke and drive you along. He puts you under the yoke and then joins you as your yokefellow. By His Spirit, He comes alongside you to power you to bear whatever yoke you are under.

Jesus said,

You and Jesus are yokefellows. Don't succumb to the world's pressures to break His yoke! Instead, bear it and enjoy the fellowship along the way.