20151008 Thursday, October 8 2015
Jeremiah 42: The He Will Teach Us Of His Ways Prophecy

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"All the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near ... And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee ... That the LORD thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do"

The Kingdoms of Israel and Judah (see Israel In History and Prophecy: Israel and Judah) were destroyed by the LORD (see The Identity Of The LORD God and The LORD God Our Saviour) because they stubbornly and arrogantly refused to repent (they were modern-day humans in that regard - no different). The LORD sent His prophets, one after another, to them - but they mocked and abused, not just the prophet, but the LORD whose Word that they spoke (see Why Were The Prophets Of Truth Hated?).

The Kingdom of Israel (see Israel In History and Prophecy: The Lost Ten Tribes):

"5:25 And they transgressed against the God of their fathers, and went a whoring after the gods of the people of the land, whom God destroyed before them. 5:26 And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day." (1 Chronicles 5:25-26 KJV)

17:5 Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. 17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes." (2 Kings 17:5-6 KJV)

The Kingdom of Judah (see Israel In History and Prophecy: Kingdom Of Judah):

"36:15 And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: 36:16 But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy. 36:17 Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand. 36:18 And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. 36:19 And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.

36:20 And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: 36:21 To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years." (2 Chronicles 36:15-21 KJV)

As stated in the verses above, the prophet Jeremiah was given to deliver the Word of the LORD to the Kingdom of Judah (the Kingdom of Israel fell and were taken away into exile about 80 years before Jeremiah was born; see Why Didn't Jeremiah Live In The Kingdom Of Israel?). Jeremiah's ministry of warning lasted for about forty years - during which time he was mocked and abused by the fools who were too full of themselves to hear anything but their own delusions and dead-end politics.

Jeremiah witnessed the fall of Judah to Babylon. Only then did some of the people, a small remnant, heed Jeremiah's warning to repent. Those wrath-corrected people voiced the very same declaration of repentance ("That the LORD thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do" verse 3 in the quote of Jeremiah chapter 42 below; see also The Declaration Of Repentance) that the end-time world will plead in the days after the Messiah's return.

"4:1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. 4:2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4:3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." (Micah 4:1-3 KJV)

The remnant found it much easier to repent when all of their self-worshipping religions and man-worshipping politics had been obliterated. They came to see the world and themselves for exactly what they really were. They were an example, a prophecy, of the same prophecy from Micah that is quoted above.

"42:1 Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near, 42:2 And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the LORD thy God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:) 42:3 That the LORD thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do.

42:4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the LORD your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you.

42:5 Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us. 42:6 Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.

42:7 And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah. 42:8 Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, 42:9 And said unto them, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him; 42:10 If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you. 42:11 Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand. 42:12 And I will shew mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land.

42:13 But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the LORD your God, 42:14 Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell: 42:15 And now therefore hear the word of the LORD, ye remnant of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there; 42:16 Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die. 42:17 So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them. 42:18 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more.

42:19 The LORD hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah; Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you this day. 42:20 For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the LORD your God, saying, Pray for us unto the LORD our God; and according unto all that the LORD our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it. 42:21 And now I have this day declared it to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, nor any thing for the which he hath sent me unto you. 42:22 Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go and to sojourn." (Jeremiah 42:1-22 KJV)

Fact Finder: For the purpose of the coming Messiah, the people of the Kingdom of Judah returned, exactly as prophesied, seventy years after their exile. When will the Kingdom of Israel ("the lost ten tribes") return?
See The Return Of The Lost Ten Tribes Prophecies