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Therefore
thus says the LORD of hosts, “Because you have not obeyed
My words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the
north . . . and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,
My servant, and will bring them against this land, and against
its inhabitants, and against all these nations round about;
and I will utterly destroy them, and make them a horror, and
a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. Moreover, I will take
from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice
of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the
millstones and the light of the lamp. And this whole land shall
be a desolation and a horror, and these nations shall serve
the king of Babylon seventy years. Then it will be when seventy
years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that
nation,” declares the LORD, “for their iniquity, and
the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting
desolation.” (NASB) Jer. 25:8-12 |
God’s message was clear. They had disobeyed Him and so they were
going into captivity. Suffering was coming and not gladness. What
a sad message! People often question God’s love and kindness.
They wonder why He causes or allows pain and suffering. The answer
is simple. He had warned them over and over again and they refused
to change. They were disobeying God. Later in Jeremiah God repeats
His promise that He would end their suffering after seventy years.
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For
thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Do not
let your prophets who are in your midst . . . they prophesy
falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,” declares
the LORD. For thus says the LORD, “When seventy years have
been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My
good word to you, to bring you back to this place.” (NASB)
Jer. 29:8-10 |
Their
prophets were liars and were preaching what felt good. They were dynamic,
inspired, empowered, and anointed prophets but with their own inspiration
and not that of God.
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. . prophesy against the prophets of Israel . . . who prophesy
from their own inspiration, “Listen to the word of the
LORD! Thus says the Lord GOD, “Woe to the foolish prophets
who are following their own spirit and have seen nothing.”
(NASB) Ezekiel 13:2-3 |
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