Here is a teaching of chapter 22 of the book of Jeremiah. If you want to check out Bible studies of the previous chapters, join our group here. Once you get added into that Facebook group, you can go to the "units" tab and you'll see all of the previous chapters. So if you haven't studied them already, you can print out the study guides that are available for you.
Chapter 23: The Righteous Branch
1 "Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!" declares the Lord. 2 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: "Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done," declares the Lord. 3 "I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. 4 I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing," declares the Lord.
So a few things I wanted to address about these verses here: first, where it says "the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture," in those times the leaders and Kings were often referred to as shepherds. So the shepherds that he's referring to here is the evil Kings that we read about in chapter 22 of Jeremiah. So he's saying here because the Kings and leaders had done evil things, caused their people to be scattered out, and they didn't bestow any care on them, (which I think here it's more in spiritual terms cause they had no spiritual concern for these people) the Lord said that he's going to bestow punishment on them because of the evil that they've done.
Then he goes on to say in verses 3-4, that he's gonna gather back all his people that he has driven out to different countries and bring them back to their land, where they're going to be fruitful and increase in number. He's going to have shepherds or leaders over them to tend to them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified nor will any of them be missing from that land.
5 "The days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness. 7 "So then the days are coming" declares the Lord, "when people will no longer say, 'As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt, 8 but they will say, 'As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.' Then they will live in their own land."
I'm just going to stop here real quick and discuss a couple of things with you guys. So here in verse 5, where it says "the days are coming when I will raise up to David a righteous branch" and then he also says in verse 6 that, "the name in which the King will be called is "The Lord Our Righteousness," this righteous branch that he's talking about here is Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ was a branch from David's Royal line. If you want to check out the genealogy of Jesus Christ and his birth and all of that, you can check out Matthew chapters 1 and 2.
If you haven't read the book of John already, I highly recommend reading that too. It's an incredible book and it goes over how Jesus Christ is a light of the world, how he was God's word and he became flesh, he was just and right, and he died on the cross for our sins so that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. But as we know from the book of John and other books of the Bible that talk about Jesus Christ, we know that he was just and right. So where it says here, "a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land and in his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety," he's talking about Jesus Christ. He was just and right and he literally died on the cross to forgive us of our sins, so that whoever believes in him shall have eternal life and not perish.
Lying Prophets
9 "Concerning the profits: My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble. I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of the Lord and his Holy words. 10 The land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land lies parched and the pastures in the desert are withered. The profits follow an evil course and use their power unjustly. 11 "Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness," declares the Lord. 12 Therefore their path will become slippery; they will be banished to darkness and there they will fall. I will bring disaster on them in the year they are punished," declares the Lord.
So here in verse 9, Jeremiah is upset because of the work of the other prophets in his day, and his heart is broken because of the damage that they've done. They're not honoring God or the people of God. These false prophets are prophesying lies in God's name and saying things that aren't true, so his heart is broken. He says that the profits follow an evil course and use their power unjustly because they're speaking of peace and all of this stuff in the land when it's not the time for peace or to just relax, it's a time for them to repent. Jeremiah has said over and over again in these chapters that they need to acknowledge their guilt, repent, and truly change their ways, and these other false prophets are just saying, "there's peace in this world. you can relax. Everything's going to be okay," which is not true.
In verses 11-12, the Lord is saying here that "both prophet and priest are godless," they don't have God in them. They're prophesying these lies. Even in the church, God is seeing this wickedness and them prophesizing these lies. God says because of that, "their paths will become slippery, they will be banished to darkness, they're going to fall and he's going to bring disaster on them in the year that they're punished.
13 "Among the prophets of Samaria I saw this repulsive thing" they prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray. 14 And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible: They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah." 15 Therefore, this is what the Lord Almighty says concerning the prophets: "I will make them eat bitter food and drink poisoned water, because from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land." 16 This is what the Lord Almighty says: "Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. 17 They keep saying to those who despise me, 'The Lord says: You will have peace.' And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, 'No harm will come to you.' 18 But which of them has stood in the council of the Lord to see or hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word? 19 See, the storm of the Lord will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked. 20 The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart. In days to come you will understand it clearly. 21 I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. 22 But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds. 23 "Am I only a God nearby," declares the Lord, "and not a God far away? 24 Can anyone hide in secret places so I can not see him?" declares the Lord. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the Lord.
So here in verse 13, the Lord compared the prophets of Judah and Jerusalem to the prophets of Samaria; about 150 years before this had happened the prophets of Samaria led the Northern kingdom to ruins. In verse 14 where it says "they are all like Sodom to me, the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah," Sodom and Gomorrah (which we see in Genesis) were sinning against the Lord and they took their shame out of sin. They had no shame for the sins that they were committing and that's how the people of Judah and Jerusalem are like to the Lord at this time here in chapter 23 of Jeremiah.
In verses 16-17, the Lord is saying not to listen to the prophets, that are prophesying to these people because they're filling them with false hopes. They're only speaking of visions in their own mind, in their own heart, and not things that God is telling them. They keep saying to people that despise God, that the Lord says that they're going to have peace and people that are following the stubbornness of their own hearts, that no harm is going to come to them and that's just not true. If they were actually listening to the council of the Lord, they would know the true message, which is what Jeremiah has been saying this whole time, which is to repent, to acknowledge their guilt, repent, and truly change their ways and they will be the Lord's people and he will choose them.
The Lord is angry with these false prophets because they're prophesying lies to these people and he didn't send them. He didn't tell them these words to speak to these people. He says here in verses 23-24, "Am I only a God nearby, and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so I can not see them? Do I not fill heaven and earth?" So basically he's saying here, like, "why do you think that you could prophesy these things or do these things and I'm not going to see it? I'm not only close to you, but I'm also far away, and I can see everything. No one can hide in these secret places because I fill heaven and the earth, I'm the Almighty."
25 "I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say 'I had a dream! I had a dream!' 26 How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds? 27 They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their fathers forgot my name through Baal worship. 28 Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?" declares the Lord. 29 Is not my word like fire," declares the Lord, "and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? 30 "Therefore," declares the Lord, "I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me. 31 "Yes," declares the Lord, "I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, 'The Lord declares.' 32 Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams," declares the Lord. "They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least," declares the Lord.
So in these verses here, the Lord is asking how long these prophets are going to continue to prophesy these lies and their delusions in their own mind. These prophets love saying that they had a dream and visions of their own mind and heart to try to get people to forget the Lord's name and the Lord's words. The Lord says to let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has his word speak it faithfully. For is his word not as powerful as a "hammer that breaks a rock into pieces?" In verses 30-32, he says he's against these prophets that speak their own words and say that "The Lord declares" and he's against these prophets that are prophesying these false dreams and leading people astray with these reckless lies.
False Oracles and False Prophets
33 "When these people, or prophet or priest, ask you, 'What is the Oracle of the Lord?' say to them, 'What oracle? I will forsake you, declares the Lord.' 34 If a prophet or a priest or anyone else claims, 'This is the Oracle of the Lord,' I will punish that man and his household. 35 This is what each of you keeps on saying to his friend or relative: 'What is the Lord's answer?' or 'What has the Lord spoken?' 36 But you must not mention 'the Oracle of the Lord' again, because every man's own word becomes his oracle and so you distort the words of the living God, the Lord Almighty, our God. 37 This is what you keep saying to a prophet: 'What is the Lord's answer to you?' or 'What has the Lord spoken?' 38 Although you claim, 'This is the Oracle of the Lord,' this is what the Lord says: You used the words, 'This is the Oracle of the Lord,' even though I told you that you must not claim, 'This is the oracle of the Lord.' 39 Therefore, I will surely forget you and cast you out of my presence along with the city I gave to you and your fathers. 40 I will bring upon you everlasting disgrace- everlasting shame that will not be forgotten."
So when it says "the Oracle of the Lord," Oracle means "burden or heavy." So when these people and the prophets are asking Jeremiah, "what's the Oracle of the Lord," they're basically mocking him because he's always talking about repenting and the disaster that's going to be on the land. So basically they're asking, "what's another heavy message for today," mocking him. That's why he should say "what Oracle?" And if a prophet or a priest or anyone claims, "this is the Oracle of the Lord," or "this is the heavy burden of the Lord" or "the heavy message of the Lord" that he's going to punish them and their household. These people keep saying, "what's the Lord's answer?" "What's the Lord spoken?" But you can't mention that because every man's word becomes his burden or his heavy message, so that's going to distort the words of the living God by doing that. They just keep saying it over and over so the Lord says that he will surely forget them and cast them out of this presence along with the city he gave them and their fathers, and bring an everlasting shame.
So that is chapter 23 of Jeremiah. In this chapter, we can see comparisons between the people of Israel and Judah back then, and the people in the world today. Today, we have a lot of false prophets and a lot of people saying "peace," and "there's not going to be any harm" to these people that are doing wicked and to "just follow your own heart, your own desires, what makes you happy, what makes you feel good" instead of what the Lord wants us to do, obeying him, worshipping him, and doing what's commanded of us. There's a lot of these false prophets out there today and that's why it's so important for us to read, study, and really understand the truth of God's word and live by it and spread the gospel to others and let them open up their eyes to the truth of God's word.
We have to faithfully speak the words that we know are true to others so that they may believe, and they may know the truth. Also, we've got to spread some love and light in this evil corrupt world, but we have to do it in a just and right way. We can't just go out there promoting peace and positivity and for everyone to just practice self-love and do whatever they want and to follow their selfish desires. We have to let people know the truth about God's word, what God says in the Bible, and what we know in our hearts to be true.
I'm going to say a quick prayer for you guys before I let you go... Lord, I pray that you are with each and every single person reading this right now. Lord, I pray that you open up their mind, their ears, their eyes, their heart, and their spirit to you Lord. That they know the truth of your word and that they spread the truth of your word and the gospel to every single person that they know that they may also know the truth. I pray that they lean on you for wisdom, knowledge, guidance, and support and in every single thing they do, they acknowledge you and let you guide their steps through every single aspect of their life. I love you so much, Lord. In Jesus's name, Amen.
Never forget to choose faith over fear.
-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)
p.s. If you'd rather listen to Faith-based, business, mindset, and mental health tips, then check out my podcast. There I will share my personal experiences, stories I've never told before, and bring you along with this hot mess life of mine. New episodes every week.
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Holy Bible. New International Version (NIV)
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