Talk of JESUS .com

Category: Prophets – Warnings for 21st century ‘christians’

stone carving of the prophet Jeremiah reading Bible - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel are major Prophets of the Old Testament
Jeremiah by Michelangelo

Old Testament Prophets WARNED Israel, Judah, and neighboring nations about what GOD has planned IF they did NOT REPENT (and they usually didn’t).

How does this speak to 21 c. ‘christians’ in these last days? Are you bold enough to WARN your SOCIAL ‘Friends’ of what Jesus Christ warns? Does the message of a Prophet apply even more to them and US, now? SHARE your scriptural warnings from the Prophets and WITNESS for our LORD, WHO IS and returning… soon.

  • Behold, the days are coming

    In case you missed the introduction to this post and if impressions of the post image below lead you to current impending events, we are continuing here in Jeremiah’s prophesies about Judah in the 7th c. B.C.

    God’s Nation under No One

    Jeremiah 8:

    Sin and Treachery

    4 “You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord:
    When men fall, do they not rise again?
        If one turns away, does he not return?
    5 Why then has this people turned away
        in perpetual backsliding?
    They hold fast to deceit;
        they refuse to return.

     Jeremiah 9:

    Let everyone beware of his neighbor,
        and put no trust in any brother,
    for every brother is a deceiver,
        and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.
    5 Everyone deceives his neighbor,
        and no one speaks the truth;
    they have taught their tongue to speak lies;
        they weary themselves committing iniquity.
    6 Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit,
        they refuse to know me, declares the Lord.

    7 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts:
    “Behold, I will refine them and test them,
        for what else can I do, because of my people?

    23 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

    25 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh—

    Circumcise your hearts you people without God!

    Who do you trust?

    This message from Jeremiah is written to the political and religious leaders of Judah (the circumcised sworn to obey the Lord). The Lord’s messenger is severe in words given to the prophet by the Lord God.

    What leader will step forward to lead as the Lord would lead?

    No one, says the Lord. The Lord directs Jeremiah to be absolutely clear that it is the Lord speaking to the leaders of Judah; not just a man. The difficulty of Jeremiah’s obedience will reap earthly consequences most unpleasant at the hand of men in power.

    Yet are we not obliged to obey the Lord?

    Our leaders hope God will speak against or act against our enemies. Yet as Jeremiah’s story unfolds the Lord makes clear that Judah’s enemy in another nation is the Lord’s servant completing His will.

    Is it not right that the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth should punish His own for disobedience?

    Judah will fall, as all nations will fall. For the Lord endures while the nations fall and are no more remembered.

    Yet God is gracious. For the Lord makes a way for sinners, even the nations to come to Him in Christ Jesus.

    Righteous jews such as Daniel and others will influence leaders and others of the nations who have not known the Lord. God has purpose in this, while the Lord warns the nations (gentiles) of the futility of the worship of idols. The Lord warns even those who claim His Holy Name.

    Jeremiah 10:

    Idols and the Living God

    10 Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2 Thus says the Lord:

    “Learn not the way of the nations,
        nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens
        because the nations are dismayed at them,
    3 for the customs of the peoples are vanity…

    Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
        and they cannot speak;
    they have to be carried,
        for they cannot walk.
    Do not be afraid of them,
        for they cannot do evil,
        neither is it in them to do good.”

    6 There is none like you, O Lord;
        you are great, and your name is great in might.

    7 Who would not fear you, O King of the nations?
        For this is your due;
    for among all the wise ones of the nations
        and in all their kingdoms
        there is none like you.

    8 They are both stupid and foolish;
        the instruction of idols is but wood!

    Behold, a 21st c. Lesson from a Prophet from 7 centuries Before Christ

    What should we take from the warning of Jeremiah to Judah?

    In these last days the most powerful of nations turn against the Lord. We turn our backs on righteous ways and run to the power of sin in this decaying world.

    The Lord God brought even his own chosen people to destruction, because of their worship of idols.

    Do we not have more idols than the hills of Samaria?

    Vengeance is the Lord’s; he will repay! [Hebrews 10:30]

    • Who will lead your actions in this nation of sin?

    It is the question of Jeremiah. It is the question of these last days.

    What is your answer?

    The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners.  [1 Timothy 1:15]

    Are you and I not two of these?

    Christ Jesus is my Lord. He saved me.

    What is your answer to the hard questions from the LORD? What is your answer, fellow sinner, to a merciful savior of souls like ours?

     

     

     

     

  • God’s Nation under No One

    God’s Nation under No One

    Leadership Crisis Ahead for the Nation

    Although things have been going along well for the past few decades, change is inevitable. As we think back to the differences between past leaders of our nation, we must tremble for the day fast-approaching of a choice between the lesser of two evils.

    A nation cannot long endure divided by strife and torn apart by godless men and godless women.

    We will reap what we sow, as did Rome… as did the Kingdom of David… and as it is with powerful nation after nation throughout mortal history. For it was King Solomon who said: “Nothing is new under the sun.”

    What has been is what will be,
    and what has been done is what will be done,
    and there is nothing new under the sun.

    Ecclesiastes 1:9 

    The Kingdom of Israel, God’s own nation, fell into division after Solomon’s death circa 920 B.C. A divided kingdom left Jerusalem in Judah to the south. Examination of the years following the initial division of God’s own Nation reveals a predictably repetitive theme not unlike an evaluation of these last days of this post-modern kingdom.

    Kings (or Presidents, Premiers, Prime Ministers, Princes, Emperors & other earthly titles)

    Josiah, king of Judah (640–609 B.C.), had nearly rebuilt Judah, with Jerusalem as its central place to worship God, into a kingdom of strategic importance to  The background of our story begins during times of increased Judean influence within a declining Assyrian Empire. But life turns quickly for a powerful nation.

    Judah under King Josiah & Assyria c. 650 BC
    Judah under King Josiah & Assyria c. 650 BC

    The Bible documents the problem of a nation (or king or president, etc.) who does not follow God. This includes the next king, son of Josiah.

    And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.

    2 Kings 23:32

    Think how many now would fit this description of godlessness in their leadership style and substance. Nothing is new under the sun and evil in the sight of the LORD is a common theme preceding God’s wrath allowing the fall and defeat of God’s own nation.

    {See just a few references of evil leaders in the history behind the link above.}

    Therefore I ask US: When did we no longer acknowledge that we are ‘one nation, under God, indivisible?

    Judah would eventually fall in 586 B.C.

    Jeremiah

    The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, 2 to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.

    God speaks to His nation, under no one (except evil leaders). God speaks of their evil through the words and actions of the prophet, Jeremiah.

    14 Then the Lord said to me, “Out of the north disaster shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land. 15 For behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the Lord, and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah.

    16 And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me.

    They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands. 17 But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you…

    The defeat of a nation under no one begins

    Jeremiah 2:

    11 Has a nation changed its gods,
    even though they are no gods?
    But my people have changed their glory
    for that which does not profit.
    12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
    be shocked, be utterly desolate,
    declares the Lord,

    … Or what do you gain by going to Assyria
    to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
    19 Your evil will chastise you,
    and your apostasy will reprove you.
    Know and see that it is evil and bitter
    for you to forsake the Lord your God;
    the fear of me is not in you,
    declares the Lord God of hosts.

    … But in the time of their trouble they say,
    ‘Arise and save us!’
    28 But where are your gods
    that you made for yourself?
    Let them arise, if they can save you,
    in your time of trouble;
    for as many as your cities
    are your gods, O Judah.

    What was will be.

    Jeremiah 5:

    12 They have spoken falsely of the Lordbabylonian empire 606-536BC
    and have said, ‘He will do nothing;
    no disaster will come upon us,
    nor shall we see sword or famine.
    13 The prophets will become wind;
    the word is not in them.
    Thus shall it be done to them!’”

     …

    21 “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people,
    who have eyes, but see not,
    who have ears, but hear not.

    22 Do you not fear me? declares the Lord.
    Do you not tremble before me?

    I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea,
    a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;
    though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
    though they roar, they cannot pass over it.

    23 But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
    they have turned aside and gone away.

    To be continued: 

    “Behold, the days are coming…

  • Follow After Me 9 – Exhortation from an Evangelist

    Follow After Me 9 – Exhortation from an Evangelist

    John 20:27b  “Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”

    REPENT! Isn’t that your first impression of exhortation from an evangelist?

    What is the mission of the evangelist? Is it not to get all of those sinners to come to Christ?

    Yes. It is.

    For if any man love another, is it not the duty of every Christian to seek the lost and to show all the true and lasting love of Christ Jesus, who won our own hearts to eternity?

    Matthew 12: 30 “Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.  31a “So I tell you, every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven—

    The evangelist has a passion for it – a passion to win new souls to the Lord. Yet there is more to it – much more – even for you and for me, my fellow believer, dear follower of Christ.

    Exhortation the world may think is a loaded gun of scripture pointed squarely at the non-believer, but nothing could be further from the truth of the Lord’s teaching.

    Exhortation is for the Christian – for the wavering believer, at times certainly for you and for me, dearly beloved brother and blessed sister in the Lord.

    Hebrews 12: 25 Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven!

    [ctt title=”‘Exhortation is the trumpet of the church to every faithful Christian.” tweet=”‘Exhortation is the trumpet of the church to every faithful Christian.” coverup=”9FReL”]

    The church stands as watchman of the faith and sentry of scripture awake to the word of the Lord.

    Ezekiel 33:

    The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, speak to your people…

    7 “So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 8 If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 9 But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul…

    13 Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die.

    +

    Believer, do you trust in your own righteousness over your faltering faith in the Cross of Christ – the resurrection and return on the clouds of Jesus?

    Should the church not call out to our wayward to repent?

    Therefore return, o wayward christian, to the truth of scripture and the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. For I am a watchman looking near to the clouds of heaven and here to the embrace of your soul beloved by our Lord.

    +

     17 “Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just,’ when it is their own way that is not just.

    18 When the righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it.

    19 And when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he shall live by this. 20 Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his ways.”

    +

    Are you, fellow believer or confessor of your own wickedness, prepared that the Lord would judge YOU according to your ways?

    Jesus confronted those who held onto their own righteousness, the fine leaders of the religious community, the preachers with not one regard for the Living God:

    Matthew 23:28 Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. 29 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites!”

    These false preachers are always seeking to lead the faithful away from the Cross of Christ! How unlikely are these worldly wise men and leading women to admit to the existence of God and the authority of the Lord.

    Galatians 6:12b They don’t want to be persecuted for teaching that the cross of Christ alone can save.

    The Evangelist of Bunyan describes these worldly hypocrites well:

    The man that met thee is one Worldly Wiseman, and rightly is he so called; partly because he savoreth only the doctrine of this world, (therefore he always goes to the town of Morality to church;) and partly because he loveth that doctrine best, for it saveth him best from the cross: and because he is of this carnal temper, therefore he seeketh to pervert my ways, though right.

    Are you convinced by false christians to keep Christ silent? Are you told to be tolerant of false gods by preachers of darkness cloaked as whitewashed tombs? Is your faith rooted in scripture and grounded in the truth of Christ’s death, resurrection and return?

    Sound the trumpet, says the Lord; for the Day of the Lord will come unexpectedly!

    Repent, christian in name only, to the only One by whom your soul may be saved: Christ Jesus!