Be Decisive (Jeremiah) by Warren W. Wiersbe

Author:Warren W. Wiersbe [Wiersbe, Warren W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion, Biblical Commentary, Old Testament
ISBN: 9781564764898
Publisher: David C Cook
Published: 1985-08-31T22:00:00+00:00

A worldly church puts an emphasis on fun and entertainment and forgets about tears. We now have Christian comedians who generate laughter for thirty minutes and then tack on the gospel and give an invitation. While there’s a proper place for humor in the Christian life, the church today needs to hear the words of James: “Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up” (James 4:9–10 NKJV). The church isn’t taking God’s Word seriously at an hour when the world is in serious trouble.

4. GOD DISPOSES OF HIS REBELLIOUS PEOPLE (24:1–10)

In 597 BC, the Babylonians deported King Jehoiachin (also called Jeconiah or Coniah) along with many of the nobles and key citizens, leaving only the poorer people to work the land (2 Kings 24:14–16). It was the beginning of the end for Judah, and no doubt Jeremiah was greatly distressed.

Knowing that His servant needed encouragement, the Lord gave him a vision of two baskets of figs sitting before the temple of the Lord. One basket held very good figs, the kind that ripened early in the season, and the other basket contained rotten figs, which nobody could eat. Then the Lord explained that the good figs represented the exiles who had just been taken to Babylon, while the bad figs represented King Zedekiah and his officials as well as the survivors who remained in the land or who had fled to Egypt.

What do you do with rotten figs? You reject them and throw them away! What do you do with tasty, good figs? You preserve them and enjoy them! God promised to care for the exiles, work in their hearts, and one day bring them back to their land. Jeremiah even wrote a letter to the exiles, telling them to live peaceably in the land and seek the Lord with all their hearts (Jer. 29:1–14). There was no future for King Zedekiah, who had succeeded Jehoiachin, or for the nobles that gave him such foolish counsel, but there was a future for a godly remnant that would seek the Lord with all their hearts.

In times of national catastrophe, no matter how discouraging the circumstances may be, God doesn’t desert His faithful remnant. Rebels are scattered and destroyed, but true believers find God faithful to meet their needs and accomplish His great plans. The people who returned to the land after the captivity were by no means perfect, but they had learned to trust the true and living God and not to worship idols. If the captivity did nothing else, it purged the Jewish people of idolatry.

The destruction of Jerusalem and the fall of Judah were not accidents; they were appointments, for God was in control. Now the land would enjoy its Sabbaths (2 Chron. 36:21; Lev. 25:1–4), and the people exiled in Babylon would have time to repent and seek the Lord. In far-off Babylon, God the Potter would remake His people (Jer.

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