APOSTASY OF KINGS AND THE CHURCH CHAPTER 1
# 1 > First Kings 16 describes a twelve-year period of prosperity, palace intrigue, and ever-increasing apostasy in the northern kingdom of Israel. Judah also experienced decay and corruption at this time but to a lesser degree. In this type of environment, power, opportunity, and prosperity accelerated the effects of corruption like yeast in a lump of dough. In some ways, this parallels the history of the church as well as the trajectory of the United States with God's many attempts throughout human history to have a "clean" people. Those who founded the United States sought freedom to follow the Lord according to conscience.
# 1 > We are getting into the account of Jeremiah's prophetic ministry. > Jeremiah ministry covered a period of about 40 years. He began his ministry during the reign of King Josiah. He continued during the reign of King Josiah and all the way down until the final invasion of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar. From Judah, Jeremiah went into Egypt with the Jews who fled into Egypt. From Egypt, he proceeded by way of Spain all the way into Ireland. Some of that is gone into in the booklet, What's Ahead for America and Britain?
# 2 > A major part Of Jeremiah's commission involved the transferring of the throne of David from ruling over the house of Judah to ruling over the house of Israel. There would be a continuation of his throne and dynasty. A lot of that culminates in the book of Jeremiah. It was during the time of Jeremiah's ministry that there was what appeared to be an apparent end to that promise because the Babylonians came in and conquered Judah. They took the Jews into captivity. They conquered Jerusalem and burned the temple. They sacked Jerusalem and killed the sons of King Zedekiah. They put out the eyes of Zedekiah Babylon.
# 3 > And transported him in chains to He came to a very gruesome and horrible end. In fact, the very last sight that he saw was the murder of his sons. The Babylonians murdered his sons before his eyes and then they blinded him. His sons being murdered was the last sight that he saw. Then they led him in chains to Babylon__a very horrible end. Was that the conclusion of the story of David's dynasty? No, it wasn't. Zedekiah's sons were killed, but other scriptures show that his daughters were not. Jeremiah was responsible for safeguarding the daughters. There was one, in particular, who traveled with Jeremiah to Ireland who had a major part in the transferring to the throne of David from ruling over Judah to ruling over Israel.
# 4 > One of the interesting things that we come upon in the story of Jeremiah is the relationship that Jeremiah had with King Josiah. It king of sets the stage for the story. King Josiah was the king when Jeremiah first began to prophesy. There is something rather unusual about this. Generally when we picture a prophet, the picture that comes to our mind is of an elderly man with a long white beard and kind of leaning on his staff. Some of God's prophets were elderly. But Jeremiah was, from all indications, about 17 years old when he started as a prophet.
# 5 > You don't generally think of a teenage prophet. Jeremiah was 17 and Josiah, who was the king, had just turned 20. They were a couple of young men, one a teenager and one just barely out of his teens. In fact, in a lot of ways, Jeremiah and Josiah kind of grew up together. Remember the story of Josiah? He was proclaimed king when he was eight years of age ( 2 KINGS 22:1 ).
# 6 > He did not actually have authority and power as king. He was under the oversight of the high priest, Hilkiah ( 2 KINGS 22:4, 8 ). When we read Jeremiah's father. Josiah was about three years older than young Jeremiah. The father of Jeremiah, Hilkiah the priest, was the guardian of the young king. Hilkiah was responsible not only for the training and teaching of his own children, but serving as guardian of the king while he was a minor.
# 7 > Hilkiah was what would be termed the "Chairman of the Counsel of Regency"__in other words, the group that oversaw the affairs of state until the king became of age. In 2 Chronicles 34:3, we're told that when Josiah became 16, he began to really, very seriously seek to learn more of God's way. He took a very serious interest in God's truth as a teenager.
# 8 > When he became 20 years of age, he assumed the full authority of kingship. He launched the most vigorous reform movement in the history of the nation. It is interesting to note that a 20-year-old king and a teenager prophet spurred the most vigorous, intense and complete reform movement in the history of the nation. I think that is a picture that is not often grasped or realized.
# 9 > God can and has worked, through the years, with young people as well as middle-aged people and old people. It is certainly possible for young men to respond to God. It is possible for young people to respond to God working in their lives. It's important to realize that it was a time when all of the zeal, drive and intensity of youth was channeled in a very positive way. Even though Jeremiah was quite young, he was dealing with a king who was only about three years older then he was. That relationship continued on through the years of Josiah's active kingship.
# 10 > There was about a 15-year period of Josiah's life that remained. Josiah died fairly young. He was cut off in his prime. The book of Lamentations was written by Jeremiah to lament the death of Josiah ( 2 CHRONICLES 35:25 ). Josiah was not only his friend but also his king. Lamentations served as a lament for what was going to happen to the nation.
# 11 > God was impressed by the zeal Josiah evidenced. God had said the nation was going to be punished, but God also promised that He would not do it during the lifetime of King Josiah. God had promised that as long as Josiah lived, He would protect the nation, but when Josiah died, it was all over with __and that is basically what happened. Lamentations was a lament at the death of King Josiah and for the events that would transpire to the nation of Judah and of It's important to realize that it was a time when all of the zeal, drive and intensity of youth was channeled in a very positive way. Even though Jeremiah was quite young, he was dealing with a king who was only about three years older then he was. That relationship continued on through the years of Josiah's active kingship.
# 12 > There was about a 15-year period of Josiah's life that remained. Josiah died fairly young. He was cut off in his prime. The book of Lamentations was written by Jeremiah to lament the death of Josiah ( 2 CHRONICLES 35:25 ). Josiah was not only his friend but also his king. Lamentations served as a lament for what was going to happen to the nation. God was impressed by the zeal Josiah evidenced. God had said that nation was going to be punished, but God also promised that He would not do it during the lifetime of King Josiah.
# 13 > God had promised that as long as Josiah lived, He would protect the nation, but when Josiah died, it was all over with__and that is basically what happened. Lamentations was a lament at the death of King Josiah and for the events that would transpire to the nation of Judah and of Jerusalem in the aftermath of his death. And in that sense, it was prophetic of the events of the Great Tribulation ahead of us. Later, when we go through the book of Lamentations, we will notice the extent that it is a prophecy of the Great Tribulation.
# 14 > The events and captivity that befell ancient Judah prefigured the events of the Great Tribulation, which will be the same thing but in a much grander scale. This evening we'll cover the beginning of Jeremiah's prophetic ministry. His ministry stretched over a period of over 40 years. It began when he was quite young and continued on up into his latter years. Actually, it continued past 40 years but it is at that point that we lose sight of it because the story drops in the book of Jeremiah after Jeremiah's departure to Egypt. We don't have the continuation of the story of his ministry in Egypt, and then on the areas of Tarsus and Spain and then on up to Ireland, but we do have accounts of it in secular history.
# 15 > The first 15 chapters of the book of Jeremiah, which we will cover this evening, focus primarily on God's indictment of the sins of Israel__the forsaking of Him as the true God. > God lists the indictment. He starts out by setting the stage. One of the themes that runs through so many of the prophets is first a formal indictment of their sins. This formal indictment of their sins sets the stage for the punishment that is to come. The punishment, in turn, sets the stage for the repentance that will result. The repentance, in turn, sets the stage for God's deliverance and then God's ultimate blessing, which is what God wanted to give all along.
# 16 > But for God to continue blessing in the midst of disobedience is to be detrimental to the overall long-term welfare of the person. If God continues to just indefinitely bless us in the midst of disobedience, it serves to harden us in the way of disobedience. God wants us to be a part of His Family. God desires to give the nation His blessing, but the nation has to come to an attitude of obedience. They had to come to repentance, and God was going to deal with them to bring them to that repentance.
# 17 > God starts out by indicting them. He showed why He was going to have to deal with them severely__why He was going to have to punish them. Then He explained what the punishment was, what the result of the punishment would be in terms of repentance, and then what the final deliverance would be. The indictment against Israel focuses in on their forsaking of the true God. They forsook the true God. They went after false religion in place of the true God; added to that are the sins of violence, sexual immorality and a total lack of seeking for real truth and justice. There's also a condemnation of Israel learning the way of the heathen. We'll notice in Jeremiah 10 a reference to the Christmas tree. God shows the punishment and the captivity that He is going to bring on the nation. In these chapters, He also alludes to Israel's final repentance, deliverance and restoration.
# 18 > Jeremiah 1:1, we pick it up, "The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin..." As I mentioned earlier, Jeremiah's father was Hilkiah the priest. Anathoth was a small village on the outskirts of Jerusalem. It was one of the priestly locations; it was one of the cities of the priests. Actually, it was more of a village. Verse 2, we are told that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in the days of Josiah, in the 13th year of his reign. Josiah became king when he was eight years old; that would be when Josiah was 21 years of age. Verse 5, God told Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; and I ordained you a prophet to the nations.''' God said, I had you picked out for a job before you were ever born. Some of these scriptures are quoted in the New Testament by the Apostle Paul to explain what her termed "the election of grace."
# 19 > "Election" is simply another way of saying "selection." The point is that you and I were selected. God chose us in accordance with His plan and purpose. It was an act of God's grace, of God's mercy. We were not chosen because some particular thing about ourselves. We didn't earn or deserve it. It was not because God was so impressed with us that He said, 'Boy, I certainly need him. I can't make it without him.' God does the choosing and God chooses on the basis that He chooses. God has the right to make decisions. He has the right to decide. God chose to deal with Jeremiah and He chose to deal with Jeremiah before Jeremiah was ever born. He had done nothing good or bad, one way or the other, to deserve this calling. God had made up His mind about the job that He had for Jeremiah before he was ever born. God began to deal with him and said, 'I have you in mind; I have set you aside as a prophet to the nations.'
# 20 > Jeremiah's response was that he couldn't do it. Verse 6, "Then said I: 'Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth." He said, 'I'm just a kid; how can I go out and go to the nations? How can I do those things? I'm just a kid.' Verse 7, God said, 'Don't say that because I'm the One who's sending you. You're going to go wherever I send you; whatever I tell you, that's what you're going to say. I'm with you and I'll take care of you and inspire you. I will give you the words you need to speak.' Then Jeremiah's commission was laid out. He had a specific commission. Verse 5, he was ordained a prophet to the nations. He had a specific commission to go to nations ( plural ), not simply to ancient Judah. Verse 10, "See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.'"
# 21 > He was to preside over the trasfer of the throne to the house of Israel because God had made a promise to David that He would establish his dynasty and his throne forever. He would not deal with David's family as He had dealt with Saul's. The family of Saul was absolutely removed from the kingship. 2 Samuel 7:13__16, God told David, ...If he [ your seed ] commits iniquity, I will chasten him.... But My mercy shall not depart from him, .... And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever. If your descendants sin, I will punish them, but I will not remove them. I will not take My mercy away from them; I will not remove them. God continued His explanation to Jeremiah of the job that He had for him. Jeremiah 2:2, "Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, .... What did God say to Israel? Verse 3, "Israel was holiness to the Lord, the firstfruit of His increase. All that devour him will offend; disaster will come upon them, says the Lord." God has never intended to confine His dealings to Israel or to never move beyond Israel in His dealings. Rather, God started with Israel; Israel was the firstfruits presupposes there was an increase that was to come__an increase that would include all of mankind. Israel was simply God's starting point.
# 22 > If you remember the law of the offerings, the firstfruits were holy to God. God told Israel that when they began to harvest their crop, the firstfuits ( the first part ) was holy to Him. They gathered in the whole crop, but the firstfruits were holy to God. In the same way, God has begun His harvest of mankind. He chose Israel to be His firstfruits. That's where He started. Israel was chosen as the firstfruits and was to be holy to God. Exodus 19:5__6, God offered them a covenant and an opportunity to be a holy nation. They were to be holy in the same sense that they would be set apart by having God's law. If they followed God's law, God would dwell in their midst. God would be the source of their holiness. God promised them protection and deliverance. "All the devour him will offend; disaster will come upon them, says the Lord." God said He would bless, defend and protect them. But we're going to see that there was a problem. He said, 'Look what I did for you. This is My message. This is the calling I gave you. This is what I chose you to have a part in. This is what I've done.
# 23 > Jeremiah 2:7, "I bought you into a bountiful country, to eat its fruit and its goodness. But when you entered, you defiled My land and made My heritage an abomination." This is what God has to say about the land that He's granted our forebearers. He brought them into a bountiful country. But the land has been defiled. God's heritage has been made an abomination. We have defiled it. We have polluted it physically, morally and spiritually. We've made God's heritage an abomination. We look at some of the things have been done, the things man has done with what God has given us.
