otjeremiah42

Caution to students of God's Word - Please remember two things when using our studies: #1. Our commentary is not God's Word. It is only our interpretation or understanding of "His Word" and even though we try our best to be accurate we may or may not be correct. #2. The King James translation, or any other translation, of the original Hebrew text has some words which were given different translations at different places probably because of the interpreters preconceived ideas of what they think God meant to say. For example: According to the notes in the "Dake's Annotated Reference Bible" the Hebrew word hayah in the KJV is Trans. (became) 67 times, (becamest or came to pass) 505 times, (become) 66 times, and (come to pass) 131 times, but for some reason in Genesis 1:2 it is translated (was)! That sure changes the way a person perceives the original creation of the earth, doesn't it? Gen. 1:2 And the earth was (became) without form, ... Having said that, let us continue with our "studies". These studies contain knowledge, we believe, you must have to fully and accurately unlock and understand the Word of God.

Revelation 2:17 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

John 15:26
But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

John 16:13-14
[13] Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. [14] He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

This Bible Study was originally written by Roger Christopherson,
published at http://www.theseason.org/

Without the leading by the Holy Spirit, there is no understanding of the truths, for all the truth of the Scriptures are revealed to us by God's Spirit.

Jeremiah 42:1 "Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshiah, and all the People from the least even to the greatest, came near,"

It is time to call a church council, a prayer meeting for the direction of the People.

Jeremiah 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 they God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:)"

These people never listened to Jeremiah before the fall of Jerusalem, but now up to the top leaders of the people, after the death of Gedaliah, they are calling on Jeremiah to seek God for a message from Him.

The thing to remember about this place of Mizpah comes from I Samuel 7:6-16. The Children of a united Israel, all the twelve tribes came to the Prophet Samuel at Mizpah, to also make a petition to the Lord their God. However, before Samuel would make that prayer to the Father, and the type was that Samuel would slay a lamb, and make an offering to Almighty God, then make a petition to God for their protection against the Philistines. This happened about seven hundred years prior to this time of Jeremiah's petition.

Because the Israelites that approached Samuel were genuine and honest in their hearts, God accepted the petition, and caused a thunder storm so great that the Philistines became disoriented that they were smitten before the eyes of the Israelites.

I Samuel 7:10 "And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: But the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomforted them; and they were smitten before Israel."

The Philistines ran from the battle and the Israel caught them and killed the enemy forces. The point here is that these two petitions of two separate groups of Israelites, whereby Samuels group was honest with God, and the men that stood before Jeremiah were not, will have two different results.

Jeremiah 42:3 "That the Lord thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do."

The people are telling Jeremiah that they want God to tell them what they should do. They wanted direction for their lives and their families.

Jeremiah 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 into you; I will keep nothing back from you."

Notice the wording that Jeremiah uses here. He stresses "your God" according to "your words". We can see here that Jeremiah is a little suspicious of these people and the honesty of their petition to God. That is why he states I am going to pray to your God according to your words.

Remember from verse two, they asked Jeremiah to pray to his God, like there was a difference between Jeremiah's God, the True God, and the God of this rag tag bunch of stragglers. Jeremiah could see the doubt in their minds by the way they asked the petition.

Jeremiah 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."

This group of Israelites from Judah are telling Jeremiah that they understand that they are in trouble, and they are swearing by God's holy Word that they will do whatever God tells them to do. They wanted an accurate report from Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 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."

They are telling Jeremiah that they will follow the instructions from God, whether the report is according to our liking or not, we will follow that word. So we see this group, a family fighting amongst itself, and now they are reaching out to seek a message from God. We will see if they are sincere in their petition.

Jeremiah 42:7 "And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah."

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,"

Johanan is the champion of the people, the one that set the captives free from Ishmael, in the previous chapter. So we see that all the people came to hear the words of the Lord that were given to Jeremiah for their instruction. Even the daughter of Zedekiah and all the children were present for this meeting.

Jeremiah 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;"

Keep in mind that not only did Jeremiah have the love and respect of the heavenly Father, but he also had the love, respect and authority of Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar would believe Jeremiah in anything he would say, because he knew that Jeremiah was real and true to God. He was a man of good strong character.

Jeremiah 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."

God is saying through Jeremiah that He it will come to pass that you will grow strong and be firmly planted in the land if you will abide in the land, and go back to My Word [be built up].

Jeremiah 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."

God knows when you are afraid of someone or something, and he is telling these people of Judah not to be afraid of the king of Babylon. They had every reason to be afraid, because they had broken every law established both by God and Babylon, and even the king's governor had been slain.

Jeremiah 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."

God now gives them promises of mercy if they they will but follow Him, and keep the oath that they took on God's holy Word, back in verse five.

Follow the morals of the events that are transpiring here, because these are the events that happen after the king of Babylon of the Book of Revelation [Satan the Antichrist] appears, and it gives us a rule of thumb as to how we are to react when that time comes.

The lesson we have here is that we are not to start fighting and squabbling within our families. Everything is going to happen exactly as God has said it, and you can completely ruin everything for your family and yourself if you begin fighting with each other, and having doubt caused by extreme pressures brought about by family members. Some will believe, and some will simply be blinded and incapable of handling the truth, to those dear souls, leave them alone for that is what the Millennium age is for. The pressures that will come will be spiritual pressures, so we will see from here on how these people handled the pressures within their families.

Jeremiah is telling these people of Judah that if they follow His Word, and stay in the land and keep on working, God will return their land to them. My fellow Christian, as long as you have that knowledge and the wisdom to know and understand what is happening in the entire book of Jeremiah during the reign of the king of Babylon, you don't have anything to worry about. Remember that God Himself is the one that instructs the "instead of Christ", Satan, as recorded in Revelation 9 exactly what he can and can not do.

Revelation 9:4 "And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads."

Revelation 9:5 "And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man."

Those that are turned over to Satan are those that do not have the truth of God in their forehead, but when you are an elect of God, you do have the truth of God 's Word in your mind and heart. In a spiritual sense, we have the victory.

Jeremiah 42:13 "But if ye say, `We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the Lord your God,'"

Jeremiah 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:' "

God is telling us to stay put, where ever we are, in the futuristic sense, for where ever we are that is where God will protect us, and have need of you.

Jeremiah 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;"

We have the full title of our Heavenly Father here; "the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel". God is giving a warning that if they go against God's instruction that He is giving here, curses will follow them.

Jeremiah 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."

This "sword", that is spoken of here, is the sword of Satan, or the king of Babylon of the book of Revelation, the thing that you feared most will get you. In other words, if you go against God's Word, when you are running to what you think is safety, you are going to meet death. That death is a spiritual death, and God is promising it to you.

So after the Antichrist, who is Satan returns, you can take it from this as a type, let the Holy Spirit guide you and lead you to where He wants you to be. God hates disobedience to his word.

Jeremiah 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.' "

The "evil" in the Hebrew text is the "adversity" that God will bring upon you. This is God speaking and giving the promise under His full title. Christian, you can count on this. God will use the enemy to bring the adversity upon those of the elect that are disobedient to the orders that He has given us in His Word. God will seek you out and you simply cannot hide from him. If God can read your mind, how in the world do you think that you can make any plans or do any task without God knowing it before hand.

If you are one of those people that are afraid of what the future is bringing, it is a lot better to fear what God can do to you when you are disobedient, then what the enemy can do to you. In a physical sense, the enemy cannot harm you, when the battle is against spiritual powers and principles. The battle is not against the flesh world beings, except we must use common sense in protecting our family, but if you are afraid of the supernatural, don't worry about it. God has given His elect complete power over the supernatural, as far as protection is concerned, when the "instead of Christ", the Antichrist comes with his supernatural forces.

Jeremiah 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.' "

There were three sieges that led to the final destruction of Jerusalem, and all of these people lived through them, and God is telling them that just as sure as Jerusalem was destroyed, so shall they be for failure to obey His directions.

In the first siege all the gold and silver were taken, and in the second siege, the rest of the valuables of the kingdom. Then in the third siege, even the toilets were taken, and everything of value was destroyed or carried away, including the people. God is saying to them, if you go to Egypt, your very presence will be a curse to them, and you will be considered little more than dung. Christian, that is a curse that God will place on your head for disobeying His direction also.

Though God is speaking in a physical sense to these people through Jeremiah, he is speaking in the spiritual sense to His Elect of this generation today. God hates disobedience.

God has made a more severe judgment on those in the land after the king of Babylon had made his appearance then before the downfall came. It is important to make a mental note of that. The reason for the stern warning is that if you disobey the Holy Spirit when this particular time comes forth, and if you are one of God's elect, it is unforgivable. My fellow Christian, you are not only going to see a physical death, but you will never see the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the "UNFORGIVABLE SIN". DON'T EVER FORGET IT.

I don't think any of God's elect will ever go against the Holy Spirit, once they know the consequences of refusing the work of the Holy Spirit at that time. This is said only to let you understand the severity of the punishment placed on those that would disobey God, simply by the direction that they went. Every detail of what happened to "The House of Judah" is very important, since it has to do with what we will face when Satan, the false messiah, the "king of Babylon", as recorded in the Book of Revelation, comes to earth in person after being tossed out of heaven.

Jeremiah 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."

After God warned him, Jeremiah admonished or warned them also in this footnote to God's warning. This is because there is no turning back from what you do, once the Antichrist, Satan and his one world rule starts. You just simply will be under it, so while you are under it, the only way out for the elect of God, is to follow instructions completely.

Jeremiah 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."

Jeremiah let it be know that when they swore by God's holy name that they would keep the words that God spoke to them, that they lied before God to him. When you asked me to go and confront the Lord about this, it was one thing, but now that you have, this is the sentence that God has placed upon you. God gave His promise that He will protect you if you stay here where He has placed you, and see that no harm will come to you. He will even extend His mercies to each of you while you live where and according to His instruction. God will even intercede with the king of Babylon for you, to make things right for you, if you stay in this location of Judaea. But if you leave, God promised that you will surely die, and will never see the "New Jerusalem". This is equal to the unforgivable sin.

Jeremiah knew that the people from top to the bottom were telling him a lie. Remember that it was the same man Johanan that warned Gedaliah and the people in the first place that Ishmael was going to kill him, and he was the hero that saved those that were taken into captivity. When Johanan got back after taking care of the mess, he turns around and seeks to do something very religious. He asked Jeremiah to consider asking God for direction on their plans.

The point to this lesson is that even after the coming of the Antichrist, you had better make certain of who that person is that is your flesh hero. He may be the one causing a spiritual deception to come across your path. Christian, today you had better get used to studying God's Word, and listening to the leading of the Holy Spirit, rather then following the voice of any man. That is the point to this chapter.

It is time to evaluate whether every man you listen is truely quoting from the Word of God, because Johanan was set up to be a real hero, but in his heart was contempt, that only Jeremiah could discern.

Jeremiah 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."

After Jeremiah told them that he knew that they had lied to him, he told them that from the first days of his warnings to them of the fall of Jerusalem, there has never been a time that they have believed in what he had said.

Jeremiah 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 didn't wait for a reply from them, and he gave them the final warning now that they had the directions from God, they were bound by them. They wouldn't listen to Jeremiah when he told them the king of Babylon was coming, but now that Nebucadnezzar has come and done his damage, there can be no excuse for not heeding to God's Warning.

This is just like the people that make up their minds to what they want and pray about it, and expect because they prayed God is supposed to be their servant, when they haven't lived up to their side of the agreement. My fellow Christian if your request is against God's plan, which is His will, you are going to get shut down from the beginning. When you learn the truth don't try to run away from anything, when you know that the false Jesus is upon this earth. That is the time to stand with the gospel armor on and in place, and get ready for the spiritual war that shall come. That is the time to obey the directions that God has given you from His Holy Word an allow the Holy Spirit to speak through you..

Your very soul and it's existence depends on that, because there is no forgiveness for one of God's elect who is expected to make their stand, and turns from it. God's elect are the only ones that are sealed, and are able to stand against the Antichrist and his spiritual forces. That is why it is called the unpardonable sin, and that time can not come until Satan is on earth.

doctrine of many of our Christian churches, (The Man on a White Horse)
political direction of our country, (The Man on a Red Horse)
economic direction our country has taken, (The Man on a Black Horse)
and teaching of our schools and media, (The Man on a Pale Horse)

The Four Hidden Dynasties of the New World Order Revelation 6:1-8
"The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse"
Did you know all four are being ridden by Satan?