SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/29/2014
8:15 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
God Exposes the Sins of the False
Prophets PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah
23:16-32
Message of the
verses: We want to look at the
second sub-point under this third main point from Dr. Wiersbe commentary on the
book of Jeremiah.
Their Dishonest Message (Jeremiah 23:16-32): “16 Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Do not listen to the words of
the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into
futility; They speak a vision of their own imagination, Not from the mouth of
the LORD. 17 “They keep saying to those who despise Me, ’The LORD has said,
"You will have peace"’; And as for everyone who walks in the
stubbornness of his own heart, They say, ’Calamity will not come upon you.’ 18
“But who has stood
in the council of the LORD, That he should see and hear His word? Who has given
heed to His word and listened? 19 “Behold, the storm of the LORD has gone forth in wrath, Even a
whirling tempest; It will swirl down on the head of the wicked. 20 "The anger of the LORD will not turn
back Until He has performed and carried out the purposes of His heart; In the last days you will clearly
understand it. 21 “I did not send these prophets, But they ran. I did not speak
to them, But they prophesied. 22 “But if they had stood in My council, Then
they would have announced My words to My people, And would have turned them
back from their evil way And from the evil of their deeds. 23 “Am I a God who
is near," declares the LORD, "And not a God far off? 24 “Can a man hide himself in hiding
places So I do not see him?" declares the LORD. "Do I not fill the heavens and
the earth?" declares the LORD. 25 “I have heard what the prophets
have said who prophesy falsely in My name, saying, ’I had a dream, I had a
dream!’ 26 “How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy
falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, 27 who intend to make My people forget My name
by their dreams which they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot
My name because of Baal? 28 “The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream,
but let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw have in
common with grain?" declares the LORD. 29 “Is not My word like fire?" declares the LORD,
"and like a hammer which shatters a rock? 30 “Therefore behold, I am against the prophets," declares
the LORD, "who steal My words from each other. 31 “Behold, I am against the prophets,"
declares the LORD, "who use their tongues and declare, ’The Lord
declares.’ 32 "Behold, I am against
those who have prophesied false dreams," declares the LORD, "and
related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless
boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest
benefit," declares the LORD.”
As I begin to look at these verses I see a number of
things that I want to first of all write about.
I see God’s contempt for the false prophets in this section, false
prophets who prophecy on their own, and sometimes do it because of the dreams
that they have. In verse twenty I see
the doctrine of the last days, and also I see the attribute of God’s sovereignty. I have mentioned a few times as we study the
prophets that as we read through them we can see things prophesied that have to
do with the time that the prophet is writing, and then there are some things
that will happen in the future and there are times when the writings affect
both the time written and the future. Now in verse twenty-four we see the
attribute of the omnipresence of the Lord showing that He is everywhere.
In verses sixteen through twenty we see that these false
prophets offered false hope for the people.
God had warned the people that He was going to use the Babylonians to
destroy the city of Jerusalem and the temple and then take some of the people
to Babylon as captives, but many of the people believed the lies of the false
prophets. We have mentioned the covenant
that God made with Israel in the 28th chapter of the book of
Deuteronomy on several different occasions.
We have mentioned that this covenant was a conditional covenant between
God and the children of Israel, unlike other covenants that we unconditional,
like the covenant God made with Abraham in the fifteenth chapter of Genesis. The false prophets taught that God would not
destroy the city of Jerusalem or the temple because of the covenant that God
made with David, but they were wrong because God was going to do this because
of the sins of the people, and because of His covenant He made with them. God is a jealous God who wants all true
worship to be directed to Him, and He is worthy of all worship, but Israel
worshiped Idols thus breaking the first of the Ten Commandments and because of
His being jealous He had to punish them.
God was also long-suffering with them as He did not do this right away,
but gave them plenty of time to repent, but they would not repent so He had to
keep His Word and punish them. Now did
the covenant that God made with David become null and void when God used the
Babylonians to destroy the temple and the city?
No for God’s fulfillment of that covenant with David was the birth of
the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. This
happened even though God sent Judah into exile.
As we look at verses 21-24 we see also that the false
prophets ministered under a false authority, for God had not spoken to
them. The people should have stoned
these false prophets for the lies that they were telling them for a prophet had
to be 100% correct in their prophesying in order to prove that they were a true
prophet of God. Another proof that they
were not a true prophet was that their lives were lived in an ungodly way, and
the people should have noticed this also.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “Jehovah wasn’t a local deity like the
pagan idols, but a transcendent God who reigns above all things and fills
heaven and earth (vv. 23-24). Nor was He
blind like the idols (Ps. 115:5), unable to see the sins of the people. ‘Can any hide himself in secret places that I
shall not see him?’ (Jer. 23:24) Because they listened to the false prophets,
the people believed lies about God, and what we believe about God determines how we live.”
As we look at verses 25-32 we see that these false
prophets were speaking under a false inspiration, for they were depending upon
dreams and also delusions of their minds.
They were also plagiarizing messages from one another. As we compare the message of the “wheat” of
the Word their messages were only straw.
Dr. Wiersbe writes:
“The message of the true prophet is like a hammer that can tear down and
build up (see 1:10) and even break the hardest rocks (23:29). The Word is like fire that consumes waste and
purifies whatever it touches. Jeremiah
had the Word burning in his heart (20:9; see Luke 24:32) and on his lips (Jer.
5:14). He was God’s assayer, using the
fire of the Word to test the lives of the people (6:27).”
Wiersbe concludes this portion by talking about what is
going on in our world today: “There are
false prophets and teachers in our world today (2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 4:1-6),
people who claim to know God’s will because of their dreams, their study of
astrology, or their special ‘spiritual’ gifts.
Some of them have invaded the church (Jude 3-4). Whatever anyone says who claims to be
speaking for the Lord must be tested by the Word of God. ‘To the Law and to the testimony; if they
speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them’ (Isa.
8:20).”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: One of the things
that bother me today is that many believers believe the lie that there is a gap
between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2.
They believe that the theory of evolution is a fact. This lie comes right from the pit of hell,
from Satan himself. The “theory of
evolution” is impossible, as it has been proved in many ways. DNA has proved that it is impossible. This
false teaching has made its way into the Church today, and this both saddens
and angers me. It does make a difference
what we as believers believe about God created this earth and the
universe. If they are totally successful
in tearing this doctrine down then what will be next. Yes we still have false prophets in the Church
today!
My Steps of Faith for Today: Always teach the truth of the Word of God.
Memory verses for the
week: Philippians 2:5-7.
5 Have this attitude in
yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form
of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 8 but emptied
Himself taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of
men.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “The quick (living) and the dead”
(Acts 10:42).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said ‘Here am I, send me’?”
Answer in our next SD.
5/29/2014 9:10 AM
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