Jeremiah Chapter 21 "Defeat and Captivity Proclaimed." This Bible
Study is written by Roger Christopherson, and it's
transcription/ location is provided by http://www.theseason.org Jeremiah 21:1 "The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying," Remember that Babylon is coming to Jerusalem, and God placed His guarantee on that. What we read now is from God Himself, given to Jeremiah to tell to the people. King Zedekiah sent Pashur, the son of Melchiah, [a different Pashur then we read about in the last chapter], and Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah [not the prophet who was the son of Cushi] to Jeremiah to hear what God had to say. Names are meaningful, and we will see the ground work as to how it was in Jerusalem and Judaea just before the captivity. There is nothing new under the sun, as we read in Ecclesiastes, and as it was, so shall it be again. This captivity shall be again, as it is written in the book of Revelation. It is God's way of warning you, and you can count on it. We are in the generation that live in the season that this will happen, so it is time to listen and become mentally and spiritually prepared for it. That is what is referred to as having "the seal of God in your forehead" in Revelation 9:4. Friend, you need the order of chronological events that consummate the captivity of the Babylon of the end times. God has ordered it, just as He ordered it in Jeremiah's day. We can become immune from it in Christ, by being armed with His Word. Jeremiah 21:2 "Inquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us." Though this king Nebuchadrezzar, [the same Nebuchadnezzar spoken of here] was converted and trusted and believed in God in Daniel's day, the king of Babylon of the end times spoken of in Revelation 17-19, will not. King Zedekiah is sending these two men to find out if God is going to give Judah the victory over Nebuchadrezzar, because He does know how God has protected His people in the past. Evidently Zedekiah does have enough faith in Jeremiah to know that Jeremiah is a prophet of God. The king is asking Jeremiah, "Is God going to do this for us now?" Jeremiah 21:3 "Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah:" Jeremiah 21:4 "Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city." The Chaldeans are the Babylonians. Jeremiah is telling king Zedekiah that God has said that He is going to work against you and strip the weapons from your hand when the Babylonian army comes against you. Remember how Jeremiah warned the people, the religious leaders of the king of the death and captivity that would come upon them if they continued in their idolatry, traditions, and evil religious practices. Jeremiah was mocked, slapped, spit upon and stuck in the stockade for telling them the warnings from God. All of the House of Judah turned their backs on God, and God is not going to allow it to happen. What happened to the House of Judah was a form of testing to see who they would chose, God or the king of Babylon. That is why also there will be a time of testing for our generation, who also has turned their backs to God, and allowed their traditions to take priority over God's Word. They have allowed strange religious forms to enter into Christ's teaching and the entire Word, and called it of God. The false Messiah will come as a type of the King of Babylon to do the testing, and that king of our generation will be Satan the Antichrist, with his fallen angels. Revelation 12:9 "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." The purpose of this time of testing is to see who you will choose for your salvation, the true Messiah, or the fake who looks like the true Messiah. The test is that if you chose the true Messiah then you will read and study God's Word to protect yourself from the false. You will show your love for Christ enough to at least protect yourself as the bride of Christ, that you will keep yourself ready for Christ the bridegroom, at His return. That is what this type is all about. Never work against God, or you will lose. The warning from God to us, is that if you will not listen and follow my Word then you will be deceived. In the end times this battle is supernatural, and not with guns and bullets. It is a spiritual battle, and the battlefield is in your mind. That battle is fought with words and ideas, and the enemies weapons are in the miracles and wonders that he uses to deceive those who are not prepared for Him. Jeremiah 21:5 "And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath." My friend, this is what makes the rapture doctrine very dangerous. God is giving His warning directly to you, just as He warned the People of Judaea of the captivity coming upon them. God is going to fight against anyone that gets in the way of His overall plan, and He laid that plan out to the prophets from the beginning. From the king to the religious leaders, they all mocked God's Word, and played around with strange religious practices and many forms of idolatry, instead of studying God's Word and doing what it taught. For us today, that plan is written in the book of Revelation, as well as throughout the entire Bible. Christ detailed what is going to happen in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, and He warned us to take heed that we not be deceived. Deception is what the war is all about, and receiving one who is not the Christ, and worshipping that Antichrist as the true Christ. Paul warned us of this in II Thessalonians 2:1-4, "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him," [1] "That ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, " [2] "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perditions," [3] "Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." [4] Paul stated, don't let any letter or word from any man take priority over what the Word of God states. The coming of Christ will not be, until after "the man of sin [Satan] be revealed. Satan is the son of perdition. Satan is the king of Babylon of the end times. Jeremiah 21:6 "And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence." God is telling king Zedekiah, if you stick around here and go against My Word, and fight against the things that I have stated which shall come to pass, then you shall die of great pestilence." In our day, that is also how it shall be. When you fool around with religious practices that go against God's Word, and take on traditions that disarm you against the coming king of Babylon, Satan the Antichrist, to be deceived by Him. That death is a spiritual death, and your very soul is at stake. Jeremiah 21:7 "And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy." God is saying that there is no quarter for those that go against My Word. Friend this is absolutely what shall take place to those who have played church, and not listened to what God said. If the pestilence and the starvation doesn't kill them, then the sword shall, and if by chance that doesn't then you shall find no mercy in the hand of Nebuchadrezzar's army. That is why it is important for you personally to study His Word, and prepare yourself so that you will not be deceived. If you allow yourself to be caught up in a misinterpretation of His Word, you will be taken in. Jeremiah 21:8 "And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death." God is giving king Zedekiah a choice, and God also gives you and I a choice today. It is important that you understand the things that bring together the end of this earth age. We are there my friend. We have a choice but we have to have the knowledge to make that choice, or we will make the wrong choice. Jeremiah 21:9 "He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey." This is the choice that king Zedekiah of Judah and all the people have to make. God is telling them that the only way they will escape with their life, is by giving themselves over to the Chaldeans [Babylonians] when they come. The sins have been committed, and the punishments shall come just as God promised. God made the promise that it shall happen, and it will. If you fight against the coming to pass, you shall die, however if you accept the Word as it was spoken then you shall live. It is well documented in all the Scriptures that the false messiah, the Antichrist will come before the Messiah comes at the seventh and last trump. If you desire to be taken by a false religious tradition, and caught up in the deception that will cover the earth, then you will be taken by the Antichrist, Satan. God will give you over to him, in fact, because it will have been of your choosing. Christ Himself gave the order of events that would come to pass, seal after seal, and trump after trump, and after all the trumps have sounded and the events come to pass, then He shall come; and not one day before. The seals of Revelation, and the trumps are spelled out in detail. The Minor Prophets give us the details leading up to the coming of the Antichrist. There is a purpose that He has for delivering up His very elect before the synagogues of Satan, which is the false Messiah's church. That purpose is that they should witness, and allow the Holy Spirit to speak through them. Mark 13:11 "But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Spirit." This is the tongue that was spoken on Pentecost day that was so powerful because it comes out in every language on the face of the earth. that tongue of the Holy Sprit needs no interpreter, and no man can fake it. The tongues are spoken at that time because the true Word of God must go out to the world. Just like the Word of God came through Jeremiah's mouth in this chapter, it must go through the mouth of God's elect in the end times. It is done as a warning to the people, if they will listen and believe. They did not believe Jeremiah, and they will not believe the elect when the Spirit speaks through them. God is warning them just don't get in my way, it shall come to pass. Jeremiah 21:10 "For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire." Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon will not have to take the city, because it shall be given to Him. When he take the city, he shall burn it with fire and destroy the city and the entire land of Judaea. In Revelation 12:15-17 we see how the king of Babylon of the end times will come. Revelation 12:15 "And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood." Revelation 12:16 "And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth." Revelation 12:17 "And the dragon was wroth with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." The flood that comes from the Antichrist's mouth is a flood of lies, and deceptions, he will claim to be Jesus and claim to come and save the whole world. He comes in peacefully and prosperously. Jeremiah 21:11 "And touching the house of the king of Judah, say, Hear ye the word of the LORD;" Jeremiah 21:12 "O house of David, thus saith the LORD; Execute judgment in the morning, and deliver him that is spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go out like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings." Some of the kings that ruled over Judah did will in the eyes of the Lord, and they remembered the poor, and the keeping of those things of God. However the others changed the Word of God into worshipping images and all sorts of idolatry. Zedekiah was one of those that did not respect the poor, nor the things of God, and He was angry about that. Jeremiah 21:13 "Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain, saith the LORD; which say, Who shall come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?" The "rock of the plain" is Jerusalem and the land that surrounds the city. God is angry with those that have come to believe that there is no danger coming, that God will not keep His Word. They have chosen to believe the words of their false prophets, and disregard the Words of warning from Jeremiah. Today we hear in from most churches, and the lips of their pastors that there is no reason or cause to fear the time of tribulation, because "we will be gone". They have disregarded the words of God, and even the warnings that Jesus gave while here on earth. This is the same as the false teachers were teaching at the time of Jeremiah, that the king of Babylon would not come, that God would prevent it, when God's own words taught that Babylon would come. Just like in Jeremiah's day, the people like to follow the words of the false prophets, rather then listen to the words of warning from God. Friend, this was written for you today. Can you take a warning from the Father? Jeremiah 21:14 "But I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith the LORD: and I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things round about it." In other words, everything that gets in the path of my Word, and against those things which are going to come against those events will be removed. It doesn't matter what your power or position is, God's Word is going to come to pass exactly as it is written. This is the warning that Jeremiah gave to the king of that day, and it is also a word to the leaders of our day. Today is definitely not a time to be playing church, and fooling around with traditions that go against God's Word. You can thumb your nose up at God, and run-around seeking after fairy-tales such as the rapture theory, but you will be burned [deceived] by them. By not knowing God's Word will cause you to do things that you think are in God's Will, and by taking sides that you think are honorable, you go against His Word. By doing this, you take a position against God, and that position will cause you to be deceived and play into the hands of Satan. When Peter fought against Jesus being taken and being crucified, he thought he was doing God's Work, yet God's Will was that Jesus would be crucified at the hands of Pilate, by the Romans. The crucifixion took place exactly as God's Word stated it would a thousand years before, as we read in Psalm 22. Christ being crucified is the very foundation of our Christian faith, and God's plan required that it would come to pass. That was the stated purpose in the first place of Jesus birth in the body of flesh man, that he live, suffer and die, that through His resurrection we might have eternal life. The king of Babylon, Satan the Antichrist will appear on earth before the coming of Christ, he will be performing miracles, and this generation will witness it come to pass. Nobody is going any place to avoid this time, in their flesh bodies, before that comes to pass. God's Word shall come to pass exactly as it is written, and you can count on it.
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