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The Beginning of the End – A Burden of the Prophets
Prophets – Predictions of Destruction, Redemption and the Messiah

How many Prophets can you name?

Why do some prophets have a book and others do not? Is every prophet of God? Why all the predictions of destruction? These are but a few of the unanswered questions about the prophets.

Major prophets, minor prophets, false prophets, seers, and more… No wonder we seldom hear preaching from their harsh messages of doom.

Yet more important than the messenger would be the message of the LORD.

Burden of the Prophets

What is the God trying to tell these people to whom the LORD sent prophets? What is the LORD telling us through the warnings of the prophets?

Is He speaking to me? What messenger can we believe?

What must I do now that we have heard the burden of the prophets?

In this year’s Advent series we will explore an even more important prediction of the prophets: the burden of the end times and coming of the Messiah King.

The Righteous Branch

Jeremiah 23

“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people:

“You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord.

3 Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.

5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely.

And this is the name by which he will be called:

‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

The short answer

Returning to our initial memory test of Names:

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel… Let’s see: Ezekiel and then Elisha, but they don’t have books. (Why not, we wondered?)

Then there are a whole bunch with shorter books… Let’s see: Zechariah (or was he a priest?), Micah… Malachi (I remember it, the last one). We are hard-pressed to remember them all, let alone know or understand what they wrote and why they wrote it.

In fact, most books or the minor prophets are short and their message of the LORD directed to specific lands of their day. Yet I caution that the message of the LORD remains applicable in these last days.

Timeline of the Prophets
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Here's a quick look at the 12 minor and 4 major prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and (oops, I forgot briefly) Ezekiel.
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We find references to Elijah, Elisha and many others in several books of the Bible, largely the historical books of Kings and Chronicles. The Old and New Testaments also list those who are false, guiding God’s faithful to discernment of the agendas of evil lying men of every age.

A brief overview of Jeremiah 23

Jeremiah lived in the 7th century B.C. He is called the weeping prophet for good reason. Lamentations looks back to the destruction of Israel (the northern kingdom).

Jeremiah and Zephaniah both prophesy the beginning of the end for Judah as well. King Josiah, who was the last king to do good in the sight of the Lord, would die (as do all earthly kings). A succession of evil kings would bring about the end of Judah as well. The Assyrian empire fell, but the ten banished tribes would not return to the land the Lord had promised.
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The imagery of the shepherds and the sheep is common to leaders and their followers. 
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“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!”

Kings, religious leaders, even military or political leaders of families or tribes. Shepherds. We could apply it to a governor or bishop, a president or leader of false religion.

“You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord.

Pretty harsh condemnation of powerless leadership leading their followers like sheep to the slaughter. Has so much changed in these last days?

I will repay, says the Lord, the God of Israel.

To be continued…

Next: Jeremiah’s Hope
December 3, 2017
Times of Difficulty – 4

Who will you believe?

“Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.

The Lord commissions the prophet Jeremiah, who must warn nations of their sins against God. Like any true prophet, Jeremiah has nothing to gain by the Lord’s choice to make him a messenger. Who will believe the Lord’s message and messenger?

Jeremiah 1:

And the Lord said to me,

“Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

Generations Earlier

The Lord saved Noah and his family from a great flood.

Ark Encounter

Do you suppose Noah’s neighbors had questions of why this crazy old man was building a huge ark? Yet did any return to the Lord rather than embrace their sins?

Even today man refuses to believe God would condemn the whole earth, saving only a righteous man. We deny judgment, refuse the warnings of the Lord’s true messengers and dismiss scripture.

In Times Long Ago

Egyptians worshiped Pharaoh as a god. The Lord worked mighty miracles by the hand of Moses allowing an enslaved Hebrew people to migrate to Canaan. Powerful middle east princes practiced ritual evil worshiping idols which are no god.

Why would such self-serving men as Pharaoh or a middle east prince believe that Moses spoke for the Lord? For that matter, why would this self-serving generation believe that the Lord has spoken to any?

9th c. B.C.

1 Kings 18:

21 And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word.

We prefer to worship gods of our making rather than Almighty God. Mortal man revolts against any authority other than our own.

7th-6th c. B.C.

Jeremiah 2:

5 Thus says the Lord:

“What wrong did your fathers find in me
that they went far from me,
and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?

6 They did not say,

‘Where is the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that none passes through, where no man dwells?’

7 And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things.

But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination.

8 The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’

Those who handle the law did not know me; the shepherds transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit.

The rule of righteousness set by the Lord means nothing to men who define their own sin. False prophets and war-like men lead multitudes to lives of destruction and evil. Is anything new under the sun?

People will believe or disbelieve whatever they want.

Jesus Messiah

1st c. A.D.

Into an era dominated by Rome, a nominal jewish leadership asks their Messiah Jesus to perform more miracles.

Show us a sign.

Did first century jews want to bow down to a king any more than we do? Even if Almighty God appears to us in the flesh, will we believe and obey?

Instead, the Son of Man warns believers to be on guard.

Jesus is not a King who would conquer land. Neither is He a conquering mortal prince whose claim of the sword comes from God’s angels.

Jesus IS! He is a King above all kings, Creator of men from dust. And to dust we will return!

The Lord commands the sea, sun and stars. He IS Creator of men and women who will return to dust, Creator of these souls which live in the bounds of flesh and will be judged in the court of the Almighty King of all creation.

God is a righteous judge,
and a God who feels indignation every day. – Psalm 7:11

Grace for Sinful Man

The Lord came to man in the flesh and became a willing sacrifice for our sins. In light of the love of God our heavenly Father, in light of the sacrifice of Christ Jesus and in light of the eternal life breathed into the dust of your soul by the Holy Spirit; what is your response to these times of difficulty?

Who do you believe?

And what must you do in these last days, hastening times which began on a Cross?

To be continued…

September 4, 2017
for it was not the season for figs – 6
When I would gather them, declares the LORD,
there are no grapes on the vine,
nor figs on the fig tree;
even the leaves are withered,
and what I gave them has passed away from them.”

Jeremiah 8:13

Jesus’ Lament over Jerusalem’s crowds
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Recall the fig tree and all the symbols of Jerusalem. You can almost hear Jesus lamenting:
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“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!

How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

See, your house is left to you desolate. – Matthew 23:37-38

Even as Babylon had devoured Israel from the Euphrates to the Jordan, Rome ruled with an iron hand. Even as Jeremiah prophesied against Judah (now Judea), the crowds knew Jesus could save them from Rome.
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Not just Jesus but the crowds of Jerusalem as well ALL knew scripture (so much better than 21st c. christians.
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Deuteronomy 9:5

It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
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Perhaps you can hear Jesus preach this to the crowds who wanted a King to defeat the Rome who ruled Galilee, Samaria and Judea.
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The Lord says: I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the Lord your God..

“Break up your fallow ground,
and sow not among thorns.
Circumcise yourselves to the Lord;
remove the foreskin of your hearts,
O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
lest my wrath go forth like fire,
and burn with none to quench it,
because of the evil of your deeds.”

Again, thorns and the fire, not the fig tree bearing fruit.

You may have guessed it:

This is not Jesus preaching about Rome prior to cursing a fig tree. It well could have been Jesus’ commentary on preaching of the Prophets from scripture.

Repentance of scripture — from six hundred years earlier — from the Prophet Jeremiah who was ignored and then rejected in Judea — and dismissed in this day of first century Judea as warnings of Scripture are frequently rejected and dismissed in these last days of the 23rd century.

Jeremiah’s warning to Jerusalem

6:9 Thus says the Lord of hosts:
“They shall glean thoroughly as a vine
the remnant of Israel;
like a grape gatherer pass your hand again
over its branches.”
10 To whom shall I speak and give warning,
that they may hear?

Again, the vine. The fruit of Israel taken by its enemies.
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And that is exactly what happened as Babylon defeated Jeremiah's Judah.

Powerful Rome ruled over Jerusalem, not the Jews. The Temple was symbol of political power, not actual rule.
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“Certainly worship of the Lord had become symbolic lost hope for Israel.”
Roger@TalkofJesus.com

“A great prophet has arisen among us!”

The crowds following Jesus to Jerusalem knew of the recent resurrection of Lazarus in Judea!

They knew of Jesus’ miracle of raising a boy from his coffin in Nain of Galilee.

Scripture is witness of the great prophet Elijah raising a child from the dead.

Jesus Resurrecting the Son of the Widow of Nain (oil on canvas) by Pierre Bouillon

A King and Prophet rides into Jerusalem, then later curses a fig tree.

These hopeful jews captive in their own land most likely ignored Jesus when the Lord had preached from Jeremiah and many other prophets.

DYK: John the Baptist also quoted Jeremiah?
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We can almost hear Jesus or John the Baptizer preaching these words of repentance to a people without ears to hear from Jeremiah 7:11 and in the Prophet's context understand Jerusalem even more.
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Jeremiah 7:

Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’

11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord.

16 “As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you.

17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

27 “So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you.

You shall call to them, but they will not answer you.

28 And you shall say to them,

‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God,

and did not accept discipline;

truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.

Jeremiah 8:

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.

6 I have paid attention and listened,
but they have not spoken rightly;
no man relents of his evil,
saying, ‘What have I done?’

… but my people know not the rules of the Lord.
8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise,
and the law of the Lord is with us’?

But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
has made it into a lie.
9 The wise men shall be put to shame;
they shall be dismayed and taken;
behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord,

so what wisdom is in them?

… from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.

… saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.

When I would gather them, declares the Lord,
there are no grapes on the vine,
nor figs on the fig tree;
even the leaves are withered,
and what I gave them has passed away from them.”

Jeremiah 8:13

14 Why do we sit still?
Gather together; let us go into the fortified cities
and perish there,
for the Lord our God has doomed us to perish
and has given us poisoned water to drink,
because we have sinned against the Lord.
15 We looked for peace, but no good came;
for a time of healing, but behold, terror.

Recalling Jesus’ words from the fields of Galilee

I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.

A greater than Elijah, greater than Moses, Messiah incarnate has come to the gates of Jerusalem, cleared out the temple and cursed a fig tree.

To be continued..
July 6, 2017