Jeremiah: Week 5 (Good Morning Girls Resources)
This is it! Our Final week in the Book of Jeremiah! We are about to zoom through quite a few chapters – so buckle up. Let’s finish strong! 👊
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Then on Monday, March 24th, we’ll begin something ALL NEW to prepare our hearts for Easter and Resurrection Sunday!
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This Week’s Bible Reading Plan:
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This week’s Reflection & Discussion Questions
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Week 5
Jeremiah 39 & 40
All that Jeremiah prophesied came true. What God had warned, finally happened. Babylon invaded Jerusalem, captured the people, and burned the city to the ground. Although Jeremiah warned King Zedekiah that if he refused to surrender, he would not escape and the city would be burned with fire, Zedekiah fled. In the end, he was captured, his sons were slaughtered before his eyes, and then his eyes were gouged out.
God had warned him repeatedly about what would happen if he disobeyed God’s command; and he continued in his disobedience until the very moment he was captured.
In Jeremiah 40, during the third and final siege, Nebuchadnezzar appointed Nebuzaradan, his official, to begin leading the Israelites out of Judah and into Babylon, leaving the poorest of the people to stay in the land. Nebuzaradan gave Jeremiah a choice to either go with him to Babylon where he would be taken care of and provided for, or to stay behind in Judah with those who Babylon chose not to take captive. Living in Babylon would have been the easier and more desirable choice. He would have lived a more comfortable life, but instead he chose to stay behind in Judah.
Disobedience is so costly; we cannot afford the price. It may seem like a small matter to us, but it is a great matter to God. In this chapter, we see a stark contrast between King Zedekiah who was disobedient to God and Jeremiah who was obedient. Zedekiah experienced the horror of Babylonian captivity while Jeremiah was set free. There is freedom and reward when we obey God.
Last week we reflected on the cost of obedience but today I want us to consider the greater cost of disobedience. Is there an area of your life you have failed to surrender to God? What steps do you need to take today to begin walking in obedience to God in that area?
Jeremiah 41 & 42
Following the massacre of Gedaliah and his men, the remnant left in Judah was small and they were frightened. They came to Jeremiah asking him to go to the Lord and seek direction for them. They promised to do everything the Lord said whether good or bad. The problem is that deep in their heart they’d already decided what they wanted to do and were hoping that God would sanction their plans.
Jeremiah went to the Lord, and finally heard from him 10 days later. The word was not what the remnant wanted to hear. He directed them to stay in the land where they were destitute, afraid, and unprotected. The Lord would be their protection. However, if they followed through with what they really wanted, which was to flee to Egypt where they thought they’d have an easier life, trouble would follow them.
The Lord knew they had already set their heart to flee to Egypt, and that is why at the end of this chapter he reveals the secrets of their heart; that they came to him hypocritically.
Has there been a time when you sought God for an answer secretly hoping that he would sanction the plan you’d already made in your heart? Did you follow your plan or God’s? What was the outcome of that? It is not easy to sincerely pray what Jesus prayed, “Not my will, but yours be done.” In what way can you follow Christ in greater surrender today?
Jeremiah 43 & 44
Just as God had said, the remnant set their hearts on fleeing to Egypt for protection. They had promised Jeremiah they would obey the voice of the Lord, whether good or bad. Rather than following through on that promise, they accused him of lying to them; then they fled to Egypt, forcing all those left in Judah to go with them – including Jeremiah.
Once in Egypt, God spoke to Jeremiah to bury stones in the clay in front of Pharaoh’s court. He was to declare to the remnant that it was only a matter of time before Nebuchadnezzar would invade and conquer Egypt and set up his throne above the very place where the stones were buried.
As Jeremiah delivered this final warning to his people in Jeremiah 44, their response is astonishing. They said to him, “We will not listen to you”. Instead, they stubbornly intended to do everything they had vowed to do, and that was to follow their evil ways and idolatry. They had chosen their path, and they would not consider Jeremiah’s words at all.
The consequence for their actions was that they would die in Egypt and the very thing they were fleeing from — would come upon them. This is why it is so important that God’s people cultivate a love for the truth and God’s word, even when that truth goes against everything our current culture stands for and it seems that we are standing alone.
God’s will all along was for the remnant to look to him for their protection and provision. Instead of trusting him, they turned to ungodly and pagan Egypt to give what only God could truly give.
Has there been a time in your life when you knew you needed to trust God for something big, but out of fear you turned to someone else? Is there an area of your life right now that you need to trust God more in? Pray and ask the Lord to help you trust him more today.
Jeremiah 45-50
Today’s reading assignment in Jeremiah is a bit different. As we come to the end of this book of the Bible, I encourage you to simply skim the next 5 chapters. I will leave a brief summary here below for each chapter. Since we are reading so much scripture, we will not use the SOAK method for our study today.
Chapter 45
As we get nearer to the end of this book, we will read various prophesies given to nations surrounding the land of Israel.
In this short chapter, God speaks directly to Baruch who is discouraged and grieved at the state of Judah and all that God has warned is going to come. God begins by encouraging him not to seek great things for himself because even greater ruin is coming to Judah. Soon Nebuchadnezzar will carry off the remaining people of Judah and burn the land. There is no point in chasing after material things. But lest Baruch be completely overcome in his grief, God promises to care for him wherever he would go.
Baruch had been a faithful servant to Jeremiah, and God would reward his faithfulness.
Chapter 46
In this chapter of Jeremiah, we read a series of prophesies given to the nations surrounding Israel. God begins these prophesies by addressing Egypt and will end with Babylon. In this stunning prophesy, we learn about the upcoming Babylonian attack on Egypt and that the Egyptian army would flee before the Babylonian army. Her end would be in humiliation and defeat.
God ends this prophesy with yet another word of comfort to his people. While he would utterly humble the land of Egypt, he assures the Israelites that he will restore them once again and bring them back to their homeland. He is correcting them for a time. Because of their rebellion toward him, he cannot leave them unpunished, but after a season they will return and rebuild.
Chapter 47
Jeremiah continues his prophesies against the enemies of God’s people, and now turns to the Philistines. He warns them that Pharaoh will come and attack them, but a flood of armies would come from the north – Babylonians armies – and bring such terror that the courage of the fathers would cause them to forget their own children as they fled from the attack.
The difference between these prophesies against the enemies of God and the earlier prophesy against the Israelites is that while God warned the Israelites of destruction and captivity, he always ended by promising their deliverance and restoration. We don’t see that promise in these prophecies against his enemies.
Chapter 48
God turns to Moab with a solemn warning of judgment for their pride and arrogance. Moab was a more isolated people, not on the usual trade routes, so they had largely been left alone in relative peace and ease. God used the illustration of wine that had never been purified to describe Moab.
God was about to use the Babylonian army to tip over the proverbial vessels of wine in Moab. His purpose, though, would not be to cleanse and purify Moab but to destroy. He said he would crush the vessels and bring shame to them for their pride and arrogance. While in the final verse, God promises to bring back a remnant of Moab in the latter days, he promises in verse 42 that they will be destroyed as a people. Their life of isolation, ease, and comfort is coming to an end.
Chapter 49
God now proclaims judgement on six more Gentile nations surrounding Judah: Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar, Hazor, and Elam. These nations had trusted in their own wit and gods to save them, but God proved himself to be almighty and brought judgement and destruction on each of them. While God promised Edom, Ammon, and Elam that he would bring back their captives, there isn’t the same love and assurance that we see in his words to the children of Israel.
Chapter 50
God now turns to the final nation for judgement – Babylon. Over these next two chapters, he will declare harsh judgement on the nation he had used to discipline his chosen people. Babylon, in her arrogance, had supposed she was greater than God because she had defeated God’s chosen people. She had rejoiced in the destruction of Judah. Yet now God will defeat the greatest nation on earth at that time.
Surely it must have seemed inconceivable that such a powerful nation would be destroyed in such a dramatic way. Jeremiah prophesied Babylon’s destruction 65 years before Cyrus and the army of the Medes and Persians defeated Babylon. It is out of the Persian empire that first Ezra, will return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and then Nehemiah, will return to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
A remnant will remain in Persia and be threatened with utter destruction, but God will raise up a young woman who will become queen and risk her life to save her people – Esther. God’s promise to protect and restore his people will play out just as he said. His promises are sure.
Jeremiah 51 & 52
While God used Babylon as his instrument to bring about the judgement he had ordained on the children of Israel, Babylon did not acknowledge him as God, nor did she reverence him, but instead assumed that her gods had defeated Yahweh. Now God is going to judge her for her pride and covetousness.
In all the prophesies that Jeremiah proclaimed to the children of Israel, Jeremiah urged them to surrender to Babylon and not flee or fight. Because of this Nebuchadnezzar gave him special favor. Yet, Jeremiah could not be bought, and his allegiance was not to man, but to God. He wrote this judgement and coming destruction against Babylon and gave the book to Seriah to read to Nebuchadnezzar.
The final chapter of Jeremiah is a review of the fall of Jerusalem. What is most disturbing is that the Babylonian army raided and burned the house of the Lord, the temple built by Solomon. It is clear they had no reverence for God and his house. Why would they? The Israelites themselves had ceased revering God. He had sent prophet after prophet to warn them of their wickedness, calling them to repentance, and not only had they rejected God’s voice, but they also even killed some of their prophets.
Had the Israelites honored and reverenced God alone, obeying his commands, and following his ways, the nations around them would have seen his power and might and feared him. But their unfaithfulness to him caused the nations around them to despise God and burn his house.
David said in Psalm 30 that God’s anger is only for a moment, but his favor is for a lifetime. Has there been a time in your life when God had to discipline you? Looking back, are you able to see his hand, like a loving father, using a momentary trial to help restore your relationship with him?
This Week’s Verses of the Day:
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Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
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Keep walking with the King,
COURTNEY
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