JEREMIAH 39-412010 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Jeremiah 39-41

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2010.

Well, this evening we're in Jeremiah chapter 39. We'll be covering a couple chapters this evening. As we head on forward in the next few chapters, it's really a narrative form. It's telling the story of the fulfillment, really, of all the things that Jeremiah has been prophesying. And so we've been reading and studying and looking ahead at what Jeremiah has been saying and understanding that the nation of Babylon is coming to conquer Jerusalem.

Well, now as we head into chapter 39, we find these things fulfilled. It's really the fulfillment of all of the prophecies that we've been studying up to this point. And so Babylon comes in and conquers Jerusalem. And we pick that up. We find that right at the beginning of chapter 39, starting in verse 1. It says this.

Verse 1.

So what happens here right in the beginning of chapter 39, again it's the fulfillment of what?

Jeremiah has been saying, Babylon conquers Jerusalem. Right there in the ninth year of King Zedekiah, the last king of Judah before this conquering and destruction takes place in Jerusalem, Babylon lays siege to the city. They lay siege to the city. They camp around it. They restrict access to the city so they can't get supplies, so they can't send out word for help.

And as they lay siege, they're working their way towards the wall. They're working their way to break through. And so for 18 months, Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem. From the 9th year of Zedekiah to the 11th year of Zedekiah. Babylon has been camping against Jerusalem. Making war against it. Cutting off their supplies and resources so that they...

Well, they're starving. There's disease that's going on because they're unable to be with the proper nutrition. They're unable to clean up the way that they ought to. There's death. There's all kinds of things going on. And so disease is rampant. There's famine because they're running out of food. They have no more sources of food, income, or nutrition. And finally, in the 11th year,

The fourth month, Babylon breaks through. The city is penetrated. Just like Jeremiah said it was going to happen through all the chapters that we've been reading, this, for the third time, Babylon conquers Jerusalem. Verse 4.

So it was when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them that they fled and went out of the city by night by way of the king's guarded, by the gate between the two walls. And he went out by the way of the plain.

But the Chaldean army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had captured him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on him. Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes in Riblah. The king of Babylon also killed all the nobles of Judah.

Moreover, he put out Zedekiah's eyes and bound him with bronze fetters to carry him off to Babylon. And the Chaldeans burned the king's house and the houses of the people with fire and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. And so now we see even more the fulfillment of what Jeremiah said. Zedekiah is captured by the king of Babylon and the city's walls are broken down. The city is burned down.

The city of Jerusalem at this point is demolished. There's nothing left. Again, the fulfillment of all the things that Jeremiah has been saying over and over again to the people as he called them back to repentance. But to the very end, Zedekiah is trying to escape. We talked about Zedekiah for the past couple of weeks and how he wanted there to be a change. He wanted to get out of the situation, but he didn't want to get right with God. And so,

As they come into the city, as the walls are penetrated, Zedekiah and his men, they see it happening, they see it take place, and they say, uh-oh, and so they take off running. They flee, and they do get a pretty good distance away. It's about 15 miles away that they're caught, that they catch up with them. And Zedekiah, as he's caught, he's taken back to King Nebuchadnezzar for judgment.

Now Zedekiah was placed on the throne of Judah in the city of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. Because Nebuchadnezzar had conquered the city of Jerusalem twice before. He conquered it one time, set up a king, that king rebelled, conquered it again and set up Jerusalem.

Zedekiah as king. And so he was appointed by Nebuchadnezzar and he was supposed to serve the king of Babylon, pay him tribute and so on and so forth. But he rebelled against Babylon and so this is time to face the music. He's brought back to Nebuchadnezzar who put him there on the throne, who gave him the authority in Jerusalem. And Nebuchadnezzar now kills his sons in front of him.

as well as killing the rest of the nobles of Judah. And then he puts out his eyes. You could see it would be very devastating, this judgment that is brought upon Zedekiah. But don't forget, don't forget the way that Zedekiah rebelled against God and the opportunities that he had. It's heavy judgment for sure. Very painful, difficult to imagine Zedekiah

The situation that Zedekiah is in and what he's now experiencing is he's watching his sons be put to death. After he's fled for his life, he's lost everything. The nobles, the rest of his family, they're devastated as a result of this. And then the last thing that he sees is this devastation as they put out his eyes. He will live the rest of his life in misery as a result of his rebellion against God. Then they take him captive.

And they carry him off to Babylon. And so he goes to Babylon and it fulfills a prophecy that the prophet Ezekiel gave in Ezekiel chapter 12 verse 13 where it prophesies about King Zedekiah that

He's going to go to Babylon, but he's not going to see it, even though he's going to die there. You could imagine trying to figure out how that's going to work, you know, before this actually is fulfilled. How does he go to Babylon but not see it? Well, it's very clear now. What they did is they put out his eyes. So he never sees Babylon, but he's taken there, captive, and he dies there as a result of his rebellion against God.

And at this time too, in verse 8, we see that Jerusalem is destroyed. All the walls are knocked down. The houses, everything else, the city is burned. There's nothing left. It's just rubble. Again, the fulfillment of what Jeremiah has been saying over and over again through the many chapters that we've studied together in the book of Jeremiah. Verse 9.

Then Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the guard, carried away captive to Babylon the remnants of the people who remained in the city and those who defected to him with the rest of the people who remained. But Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the guard, left in the land of Judah the poor people who had nothing and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time. And so now as the city is conquered, they've won, Babylon has the victory,

They start to make their preparations. They're heading back to Babylon and they're taking with them all the captives of the city of Jerusalem, the nation of Judah. They're taking with them those who defected. Remember Jeremiah's message right towards the end was just go out and surrender. And so apparently some did. Some heeded the word of the Lord through Jeremiah and defected. They surrendered to Babylon and they're going to be going back to Babylon with the Babylonian army as well.

But there was a little bit of people that were left. Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the guard, he leaves the poor people of the land. And he says, hey, there's some vineyards, go help yourself. Plant, you know, reap, sow, work in the land. They get to inherit all of these things that were not theirs. They were the poor people. They didn't own land. But now they do. Nebuchadnezzar then gives them this land.

We need to understand that Babylon's goal was not that there would be a wasteland there in the nation of Judah.

But that there would be people there who were servants of the king of Babylon, who could produce fruit, who could pay tribute, who could contribute to the kingdom and make them rich. That was their plan. That was their purpose. They weren't trying to kill everybody. They just wanted servants who would be obedient to the king of Babylon and pay tribute accordingly. And that's what Zedekiah refused to do. And that's why Babylon is doing this against Jerusalem at this time. Verse 11 says,

Now Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the guard, saying, Take him and look after him and do no harm, but do to him just as he says to you. So Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the guard, sent Nebuchadnezzar, Rabsuris, Nergal, Shazer, Rabmeg, and the king of Babylon, his chief officers,

Then they sent someone to take Jeremiah from the court of the prison and committed him to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should take him home. So he dwelt among the people.

So now as they're cleaning up the mess, Nebuchadnezzar gives some specific instruction regarding Jeremiah. They're gathering up the people, locking them up, taking them captive, preparing them to go. But Nebuchadnezzar says, hey, there's also this guy Jeremiah though. And we don't know exactly how, but Nebuchadnezzar knew about

Jeremiah. He knew about the prophecies. He knew about the message that Jeremiah was giving to the people, perhaps from those who defected, that they shared why they defected. And so he knew of Jeremiah's ministry and the prophecies that he was bringing forth. And

And so Nebuchadnezzar gives this instruction about Jeremiah that he's to be taken care of, that he's not to be held captive like the others, but that he should allow Jeremiah to dwell among the people and he should be free. Verse 15.

Meanwhile, the word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying, Go and speak to Ebed-Melech, the Ethiopian, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for adversity and not for good, and they shall be performed in that day before you. But I will deliver you in that day, says the Lord, and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid.

So there's a couple people who are going to be safe during this time. Jeremiah is going to be safe. Nebuchadnezzar says, make sure that that happens.

But God also gives a message to Ebed-Melech. Now, Ebed-Melech, if you remember from last week, he's the guy who went and rescued Jeremiah. He went on Jeremiah's behalf to the king and said, Hey, king, they've got him in the dungeon there in the mire. He's not going to survive. Let me pull him out. Let me take care of him. And so the king allows him to go and take care of him. And so Ebed-Melech pulls Jeremiah out of the mire and rescues him, really, from death there in the dungeon where he was at.

And so God sends him a message saying, look, all of this is going to take place. Just as I've said, Babylon is conquering Jerusalem, but you don't need to fear, Ebed-Melech. God is going to take care of you. Your life will be as a prize to you. You will be safe. And God explains why there at the end of verse 18. He says, because you have put your trust in me, says the Lord.

The reason why Abed-Melech is safe is because he put his trust in God. And we could say the same of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is safe because he was faithful to God. He trusted God. And as we consider these things this evening, as we look at chapter 39 and we'll be going on into chapter 40 as well,

Keep this in mind and consider who is it that you are putting your trust in. As we read these things, this account here that's taking place right before our eyes is the fulfillment of the things that we've been studying and reading about for the past several months. And everything is taking place exactly the way that God said it would.

But the people refused to hear. They refused to obey him. They refused to respond to his message. But there was a couple. A few defected, as we saw. Jeremiah, he was safe. He was faithful to the Lord. This guy, Ebed-Melech, he put his trust in God. And so God says, I'm going to preserve you.

You know, we look around the uncertainty of our day and the economic situation and the wars that are rumored and all of the things that might be going on and may be happening. And there's lots of cause for us to be stressed out and worried if we were to focus on those things. But I want to encourage you this evening to consider where are you putting your trust? What is it that you are really hoping in? Who is it that you are trusting in?

What is it that's going to get you through the difficulties that may lay ahead of us? Who's going to take care of you? Our trust needs to be in the Lord. Everything happens exactly the way that He says it's going to happen because He is the one who is in control. He is the one who is on the throne. He is the one whose will will be accomplished. And so our best hope, what's best for us is to trust in the Lord and respond accordingly.

Let's go on in chapter 40, verse 1. It says,

Now the Lord has brought it and has done just as he said, because you people have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed his voice. Therefore, this thing has come upon you. Now check this out. All the things that I just finished sharing with you is pretty much what the captain of the Babylonian army says to Jeremiah. He tells Jeremiah, listen, God has finished the doom that he pronounced on this place.

What he said he was going to do to Jerusalem because of the people's rebellion, he accomplished it. This is Babylon speaking, the captain of the guard telling Jeremiah, God did what he said he was going to do. He brought it, he says, just as he said. God's word will be fulfilled. He really does do the things that he promises to do.

And he says, you guys have sinned against the Lord and you've not obeyed the voice of God. And that's why this has happened. That's why God has brought this destruction upon the city. The captain of the guard understood that they were God's instruments of judgment for the people of Jerusalem. The enemy knew what God had said. And the enemy testified. Babylon testified.

That it happened just exactly as God said it would happen. We need to know. As we've studied the prophecies for many weeks now, repeating over and over again the scripture in Galatians, chapter 6, verse 7 and 8, to not be deceived, that God cannot be mocked. We need to know that God's word will be fulfilled. We need to know that exactly as God has laid it out, it is going to be accomplished.

We cannot outrun God. Zedekiah tries to. He sees the fulfillment about to take place. He sees it happening. He runs. He's always making his plans, trying to escape, trying to get around the judgment that God promises without responding to God's message. We need to know that God's word is fulfilled exactly the way he says it will be fulfilled.

We can't outrun God. We can't outsmart God. The best thing for us, the only option really, is to be fully surrendered to Him. To put our hope and our trust in Him. To be faithful to Him. To seek to please Him instead of others around us or our own selves. And so the enemy here, Babylon, testifies, just as God said it was going to happen, it happened. Because you have sinned against the Lord. Because you're in rebellion against God. God has fulfilled His word.

And allowed this thing to come upon you. Verse 4. And now look, this is still Nebuchadnezzar speaking. He says,

Now while Jeremiah had not yet gone back, Nebuchadnezzar then said, Go back to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people, or go wherever it seems convenient for you to go. So the captain of the guard gave him rations and a gift and let him go.

So again, we're seeing a little bit more detail about how Jeremiah was set free. The captain of the guard says to Jeremiah, Jeremiah...

You can choose whatever you want to do. If you want to come back with us to Babylon, we'll take care of you. You're free to come with us. We'll get you set up over there in Babylon. You'll have no worries. If you want to stay here, you're welcome to stay here. If you want to go somewhere else, you're welcome to go somewhere else. Basically, he's saying, Jeremiah, you are free and the option is yours. Wherever you want to go, you get to go. But he encourages him to go to Gedaliah. Now,

Gedaliah is the new authority for the nation of Judah. Just as Babylon has done in times past, they conquered the nation, and now they've set someone else up in authority. This person is Gedaliah. He's not a king because, well, there's not really enough people left for him to be called a king. So they call him the governor. He's the governor now of this region, of this area, of the nation of Judah.

And he's governor over those who are left, the few that are left, the small amount of people, the inhabitants that were poor, that had nothing. He's the governor there for those people.

And so the captain of the guard gives him some supplies. He gives him a gift and he lets him go free. And so Jeremiah goes to Gedaliah, there where he was at in Mizpah. Mizpah is just a little bit north of the city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem at this point is rubble. It's all in ruins. And so he goes, Gedaliah sets up camp a little bit north.

at another stronghold for the nation of Judah, which was the city of Mizpah. And so Jeremiah goes to Mizpah and stays with him. Verse 7, And when all the captains of the armies who were in the fields, they and their men heard that the king of Babylon made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, governor in the land, and had committed to him men, women, children, and the poorest of the land who had not been carried away captive to Babylon, then they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah.

Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Korea, Syria the son of Tanumeth, the sons of Nephithite, and Jezaniah the son of Amakathite, they and their men. Verse 9.

And Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, took an oath before them and their men, saying, Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. As for me, I will indeed dwell at Mizpah and serve the Chaldeans who come to us. But you gather wine and summer fruit and oil, put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken. And so...

As Babylon takes away its captives and kind of leaves the territory, Gedaliah is left in charge. He's left as governor of the region.

And as the armies of Babylon fade away, now out from the woodworks and the grassy areas, these people start to come out. They hear, oh, there's someone that's left in charge. He's one of us. And so they start to congregate to him. They understand that people have been committed to him by the king of Babylon.

And so it talks about these different guys, Ishmael, Johanan, Jonathan, these guys who are leaders of some types of groups. They come and they gather together with Gedolai there at Mizpah. And Gedolai gives them kind of a speech. He shares with them, this is what's happening. I'm left here.

I'm going to serve Babylon. I'm going to be faithful and I'm going to pay the tribute and the taxes that are put upon us. And I encourage you, don't be afraid to serve Babylon. Just, you know, you've got the whole land ahead of you now. Everybody else is gone. So whatever cities you're taking over, go ahead, take care of them.

You got some vineyards that you've had your eyes on? You know, the people are gone, so go ahead, take them. Just go enjoy the land and don't be afraid. Just continue to be faithful to serve Babylon and pay the tribute that they are requiring. And God Elias says, that's what I'm going to do and that's what I encourage you to do. Verse 11. Likewise, when all the Jews who were in Moab among the Ammonites in Edom

And so now as the word continues to spread...

The surrounding regions where people had fled to when the Babylonian army was coming, they hear that the army is gone, they hear that Gedaliah is now governor, and so they start to come back. They start to enjoy the fruit that is left there on the vine that wasn't harvested. They come back and begin to gather together in the region of Judah once again. And so we find a little bit of a gathering, a small remnant that is left in the land, and

But unfortunately, as we will see as we go on, they are not left in the land very much longer. Verse 13. Moreover, Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were in the fields, came to Gedaliah at Mizpah and said to him, Do you certainly know that Baalis, the king of the Ammonites, has sent Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, to murder you? But Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, did not believe them.

Then Johanan, the son of Kareah, spoke secretly to Gedaliah and Mishpah, saying, Let me go, please, and I will kill Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he murder you, so that all the Jews who are gathered to you would be scattered, and the remnant in Judah perish? But Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, said to Johanan, the son of Kareah, You shall not do this thing, for you speak falsely concerning Ishmael.

We're talking about these characters that had gathered together. Ishmael was a leader of some types. He had a following of men. Johanan was a leader of some type. He had a following of men. When they heard about Gedaliah, they gathered together to him. We saw that back in verse 7. And now as Johanan comes to Gedaliah, he tries to give him a warning. He says, the king of the Ammonites, our next door neighbors over there,

has hired Ishmael. This guy who came, he's hanging out with us, and you think he's your brother, but he's a hired thug of the Ammonites, and he's paid to put you to death. He's going to try to take your life. And so, Johanan offers his services. Let me go and take care of him. I'll go and kill him. I'll do it secretly. Nobody will know what happened. He'll just be dead, and then that way, we'll be secure.

Because he was kind of the security for the nation, the Jewish people. They heard he was there. They're gathering back to him. Johanan's worried about the remnant that has left. And so he says, well, let me go do this. But Gedaliah, the governor, he doesn't believe the message. He doesn't believe that Ishmael is going to do this. And so he says, no, don't go. You speak falsely. It's not the truth. Chapter 41, verse 1.

Now it came to pass in the seventh month that Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishamah, of the royal family and of the officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. And there they each bred together in Mizpah. Then Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men who were with him, arose and struck Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.

Ishmael also struck down all the Jews who were with him, that is, with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war. And so now we find the fulfillment of the warning that Johanan had just given to Gedaliah. Ishmael comes, he comes as a friend, Gedaliah welcomes him, they feast together, they're having a good time together,

And then Ishmael stands up and fulfills his plot. He goes forward with his plans. He puts Gedaliah to death. He strikes down all those who would oppose him, the Jews and the Chaldeans who were left over, that stayed around, all of those who would oppose him. He puts them to death there in the city of Jerusalem. Verse 4, And it happened on the second day after he had killed Gedaliah, when as yet no one knew it,

That certain men came from Shechem, from Shiloh and from Samaria, 80 men with their beards shaved and their clothes torn, having cut themselves with offerings and incense in their hands to bring them to the house of the Lord. Now Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went along. And it happened as he met them that he said to them, Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikim.

So it was when they came into the midst of the city that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah killed them and cast them into the midst of a pit, he and the men who were with him. So just when you thought Judah was finally over the drama, over the violence, over the devastation as a result of their rebellion, we see that it just continues. So Ishmael comes, he kills the governor. Then there's a group of men coming from the north and

They've made vows to the Lord. It's why they're described in the way that they're described. And Ishmael goes out to them, deceives them. Oh, come on in to get a lion. As he gets them inside the city, he says, okay, now, boys. And they jump out and then they wipe out all 80 men. Well, almost all 80. They wipe out 70 men, actually. And they put them to death. The destruction continues, verse 8. But 10 men were found among them who said to Ishmael, do not kill us.

For we have treasures of wheat, barley, oil, and honey in the field. So he desisted and did not kill them among their brethren. Now the pit into which Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had slain because of Gedaliah was the same one Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel.

And

I think if they took out some of the descriptions of the names, it would be about half as long, these chapters, because every time they mention their name, they mention their father and grandfather, and I kind of get lost in that sometimes. But here's Ishmael. He's putting to death these 80 men. He finds 10 who say, Oh, don't kill us. We've got hidden treasure.

And so he doesn't kill those ten, but he takes them and he takes the rest of those who were there at Mizpah who had been gathered to get Eliah. And now he's taking them away captive. All of the slain he piles into this big ditch that had been dug many years earlier in preparation for a war that Israel was going to come down and attack Judah,

We're not going to get into that this evening. But he just puts them in this big pit that had been dug a long time back, fills it up with those that he killed, and now he takes away everybody else that's captive. He's leading them off to the Ammonites. Again, taking away those who were left in the land, taking them out of the land to another country. Verse 11...

But when Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were with him heard of the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done, they took all the men and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and they found him by the great pool that is in Gibeon. So it was when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces who were with him that they were glad.

And so Ishmael is carrying away these people captive. And it's not a big force. Remember at the beginning it says that he went in with ten men.

And so he's got all these captives with just ten guys who were just threatening them. They're not outnumbered, but they're held captive regardless. And so they're being led away. Well, Johanan, one of the other leaders that had come to Gedaliah, in fact, the one that warned him about Ishmael, here's what happens. He pursues after Ishmael.

comes upon him and it says when all the people see Johanan, they turn back to him because now they know all safety is here. Our rescuers are here. So they just stop walking. You know, Ishmael's going. They just say, oh, we're done. And they start walking back to Johanan who has a bigger force than Ishmael. And so Ishmael's afraid and he takes off. Now, there was some type of conflicts because Ishmael,

It points out in verse 15 that he escapes, Ishmael escapes with eight men. He originally came with ten men. He escapes now with eight men. So there was some type of conflict, some type of battle, but he gets away and eight of his guys get away as well. So their plan to take everybody captive did not succeed, but their plan to assassinate the governor did succeed and they head off to the Ammonites at that point. Verse 16.

Then Johanan the son of Korea and all the captains of the forces that were with him took from Mizpah all the rest of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah after he had murdered Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the mighty men of war, and the women and the children and the eunuchs whom he had brought back from Gibeon. And they departed and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham, which is near Bethlehem, as they went on their way to Egypt."

And so now the situation is, Johanan, as he rescues these people, he begins to lead them to Egypt. He's afraid. Babylon has already had so much trouble with this region. Now, he's left Gedaliah in charge, and he's been put to death. Now, if you're Babylon, you're going to be put to death.

This is the fourth time you've had to come and deal with this same region that's not really profitable, that's not really worth much. You can imagine their fears where he's just going to come and wipe us all out. He's not going to hear our story. He's not going to hear out the explanation. No, it wasn't us. It was Ishmael. He's not going to wait and listen to and investigate our story. He's just going to come and put us all to death.

And so freaked out, they now head out towards Egypt. Their plan is, Egypt will protect us. We'll be safe there. We're just going to abandon this place. And so now we find the fulfillment as they head down towards Egypt of, well, the other things that Jeremiah had prophesied, that there will be no more inhabitants in the land. The rest of the inhabitants, they were going to stay there. They were looking pretty good there in Mizpah. But now that leadership is gone, they're fleeing away again.

All of the inhabitants are running towards Egypt for the protection there. Here in chapters 39, 40, and 41, we find, well, it's the unfortunate account of a people who refused to listen to God. It's the account of a people, the end of a people who were firm in their rebellion against God. They had plenty of opportunities, many years of opportunities.

But the time of opportunity where God was giving them a chance to get right and to turn back, it's now over. Babylon has conquered, just as God said that they would. They had opportunity to save the city. We saw that in the last couple of weeks that God told Zedekiah, look, turn and I'll save the city. But he refused to turn. And so everything was fulfilled exactly the way that God said it would happen. The nation is judged. We need to know.

We need to have this confidence. We need to understand God's Word is fulfilled. You can't play around with the Word of God. You can't think that you're going to get around God's Word. You can't think that, well, you're the exception and you've got it figured out. We all deceive ourselves that way. I think Zedekiah is a good picture of us in many ways. Hoping that God's message will change but not willing to

to what God had said in the first place, hoping to outrun the judgment of God, hoping to outrun what God said is going to take place, hoping to escape, trying to hold on to what we want to hold on to, all the while refusing to respond to what God has said. And you see very clearly the result of that type of attitude and those types of choices. It's pictured for us.

Paul tells us in his writings to the Corinthians that these things are recorded for us as examples to us. Now there's some that are good examples. For example, like Jeremiah. Great example for us. Ebed-Melech. Great example for us. The nation of Judah. Well, that's an example of what not to do and how not to live. And so as we look at these things and we see the fulfillment, I want to encourage you this evening to let it sink in.

Realize and understand this is actually what happened. God sent His messengers for hundreds of years to the nation of Judah to call them back to Him, but they refused. They continued on. And God hadn't judged them yet, and so they thought, "Hey, we've gotten out of it. It hasn't come to pass. We're getting away with it." But there comes a point where that time is no more and now is the consequences.

Now is the reaping of what was sown. We need to be obedient to God. We need to pay attention to His Word. We must respond to what He is speaking to us. And that might be regarding some sinful situation in your life, or it might be some activity that God wants you to do, or some work that He wants you to pursue. Whatever the case may be, we must respond to the message of God. We must respond to what He is speaking to our hearts.

Because God's Word is fulfilled exactly the way that He says it will be.