20150920 Sunday, September 20 2015
Jeremiah 27: Who Are The Agents Of The LORD's Wrath?

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"Now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant"

When they truly obeyed Him, rather than merely obeyed themselves, in His Name, with their toy ("A nonfunctional replica of something else") countries and fantasy ("Imagination unrestricted by reality") religions (a lesson for the people of Israel, including the "lost ten tribes," today as those in ancient times), the people of Israel were militarily and politically secure. They were a superpower of safe. They were blessed with a fear of no one, even though there were many people in the "world" to fear.

There were many nations that were militarily stronger (who rose and fell, rose and fell, rose and fell - because their security was based upon the political cults of men - just as Israel and Judah also did later, so they fell too), but the LORD (see The Identity Of The LORD God and The LORD God Our Saviour) defended the Kingdom of Israel, and then the Kingdom of Judah (see Israel In History and Prophecy: Israel and Judah), because it was a living prophecy of the coming Kingdom of God (see When Will The United Kingdom Be Restored?).

But when the people became corrupt, they no longer were, and Who, they were given to represent - so the LORD appointed Israel's enemies, that the LORD had been holding off, as the agents of His wrath upon a people who had rebelled against Him.

In the case of the Kingdom of Israel, after the division, it was the Assyrian Empire that was blocked from conquering Israel. But when the Kingdom of Israel became corrupt, the Assyrians became the agents of the LORD's wrath against Israel (see Israel In History and Prophecy: The Lost Ten Tribes). The Kingdom of Judah (see Israel In History and Prophecy: Kingdom Of Judah) was still faithful to the LORD at that time (the Kingdom of Judah lasted for about 135 years longer than the Kingdom of Israel; they fell in 721 and 586 BC, respectively), so the LORD, while allowing the Assyrians to destroy the Kingdom of Israel at that time, destroyed the Assyrian army when it turned southward toward Judah (see Why Did The Assyrian Army Cross The Line? and The Invasions of Shalmaneser and Sennacherib).

By the time that the Kingdom of Judah had became as morally rotten (very similar to the "free" world today, in which vile and anti-nature perversions are now proclaimed to be "rights") as Israel has been, the Assyrian Empire had fallen to the Babylonian Empire. Again however, the LORD held off the Babylonian "superpower" from the Kingdom of Judah until they became worthless in the LORD's sight. Then, as was done with Assyria, the LORD appointed the Babylonian Empire, under King Nebuchadnezzar, to be the agents of His wrath upon the degenerate kingdom that also arrogantly defied the Word of God.

"27:4 And command them to say unto their masters, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say unto your masters; 27:5 I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. 27:6 And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. 27:7 And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him." (Jeremiah 27:4-7 KJV)

Notice carefully that when they had been obedient, the LORD defended Judah from its enemies, but when they became heretical enemies of the LORD, the LORD used the heathens to take down those who had also made themselves into just another heathen country.

"27:1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

27:2 Thus saith the LORD to me; Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck, 27:3 And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah; 27:4 And command them to say unto their masters, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say unto your masters; 27:5 I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. 27:6 And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. 27:7 And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him.

27:8 And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. 27:9 Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: 27:10 For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish. 27:11 But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the LORD; and they shall till it, and dwell therein.

27:12 I spake also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. 27:13 Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 27:14 Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you. 27:15 For I have not sent them, saith the LORD, yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you.

27:16 Also I spake to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Hearken not to the words of your prophets that prophesy unto you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the LORD'S house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you. 27:17 Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: wherefore should this city be laid waste? 27:18 But if they be prophets, and if the word of the LORD be with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon. 27:19 For thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city, 27:20 Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; 27:21 Yea, thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem; 27:22 They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, saith the LORD; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place." (Jeremiah 27:1-22 KJV)

Fact Finder: What is it that makes people think that they are doing good when they are in fact doing self-destructive evil?
See Iniquity In History And Prophecy and Decadence In History And Prophecy