Jeremiah 38
One day recently I heard a well
know television Pastor talking about Jeremiah being thrown in a pit (some
translations say dungeon). He used a lot of hyperbole and antics to teach his message;
he got the congregation excited about rags coming down from heaven as an
indicator that ELOHIM was going to let down the rope to save them from their calamity.
The congregation was excited and shouting back at the Pastor about the rags,
but they had not been taught why Jeremiah was in the pit or to what he was
rescued.
My issue is that his message left
out why Jeremiah was put in the pit and what happened to Jeremiah after he was
rescued. His message was ELOHIM is going to save you from your pit, whatever
situation you find yourself in, ELOHIM is going to pull you out. That is just
not true! Romans 8:28 says that “All things work for our Good IF we are The
Called According To JEHOVAH’s Purpose” (my loose paraphrase); but it does not
say that JEHOVAH will rescue us from our situation (pit)! ELOHIM has Gifted each
of us with a Call and Gift so that we can fulfill His Plans and Purposes in out
life, our family, our Fellowship, our community, our nation and the earth
(Psalm 139:13-18)!
It is not that ELOHIM does not
care about you or why you are in the situation that you want to be rescued
from. ELOHIM has a Plan for all of our lives and ELOHIM expects us to seek Him
and His Righteousness so that we can find our Purpose and Calling for His
Kingdom in the earth (Matthew 6:33-34; 2 Peter 1:5-11). Many Christians just
want to live a good, happy, healthy, life, go to Church regularly and pay their
tithes while they wait for YESHUA to come rescue them from the Great
Tribulation; that is not going to happen!
What is the story of Jeremiah in
chapter 38 about? Jeremiah, a priest that JEHOVAH calls to be a prophet during
the time leading up to and during the early years of Israel’s exile to Babylon
(Jeremiah 1:1-10). While many prophets are saying that ELOHIM says that He will
save Israel from Nebuchadnezzar’s army; JEHOVAH is actually saying that He has
called Nebuchadnezzar to punish Israel for their sins. Jeremiah is one of the
few prophets that is speaking ELOHIM’s Word to the people. The king is swayed
by the priests and false prophets and allows them to punish Jeremiah for
“causing fear” (38:4). But the king did not want to harm Jeremiah so he allowed
them to put him in prison, which they had already done a couple of times. This
time it was a muddy pit or cistern. ELOHIM had a man of faith who went to the
king on Jeremiah’s behalf, the king gave Ebed-Melech permission to rescue
Jeremiah from the pit so that he would not die, but he remained in prison
(38:28).
So if you read chapters 34-38 you
will see that Jeremiah’s situation went from ok to bad, to worse, to bad again.
Eventually, forced to go to Egypt with those who still rejected JEHOVAH’s Word
he is killed (his death is historical but not in The Bible).
This is why I teach that each of
us is responsible before JEHOVAH to know His Word, The Bible, and to live
according to its teachings. In Acts 11:26 YESHUA’s Disciples were first called
Christians (the commentaries say it is because they acted like YESHUA). If you
study Paul’s teachings you will see that He never talks about being rescued by ELOHIM*.
Like YESHUA and the other apostles Paul teaches us to stand fast, overcome, be
patience and endure to the end (Matthew 20:15-16; Matthew 22:13-14; Romans
8:28-30; Romans 11:29; 1 Corinthians 1:26; 2 Peter 1:5-11). Being a Christian
is not about going to Church and living a moral life, which should be the side
effect of living according to The Bible’s teachings! We are Called to be CHRIST
like in our obedience to The Father’s Will for our life. YESHUA said He came
only to do the Father’s Will, in His prayer in John 17 YESHUA says he has done
that which the Father gave Him to do. Then on the cross He said, “It is
finished!” Paul said he was always striving to finish well (Philippians 3:7-16;
Colossians 1:28-29)!
Are you striving against sin so
that you can live in The Righteousness of ELOHIM that YESHUA gives us (2
Corinthians 5:20-21)? JEHOVAH, our Heavenly Father, wants us to enter into
Eternity as mature, trained servants; but not everyone who enters into Eternity
will be mature or trained. Some will be babies because they gave their life to YESHUA
just before they died, Some will be babies because they did not seek ELOHIM’s
Kingdom and His Righteousness, because they were Christian in name only (1
Corinthians 3:10-15). YESHUA gave us The Great Commission because that is The
Work of every Believer!
Are you doing the Work that JEHOVAH
wrote out for your Life?
Are you fulfilling JEHOVAH’s
Purpose for your Life?
Or are you being good and waiting
for eternity?
1 Corinthians 10:1-14 is a warning
not to follow what the Hebrew people did. They had all the Scriptures telling
them about the coming Savior and what He was going to do; but they missed Him
because what they wanted was a deliver, not from sin and death, but from Roman
rule! Many Christians are doing the same thing; they do not want to do the hard
road of repentance and persecution; they what the Good Life and The Rapture
(Matthew 7:13-14)!
* 1 Corinthians 10:13 “No
temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man; but ELOHIM is
Faithful, Who Will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but
with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be
able to bear it.”
In the KJV and NIV it says, “a
way”, in the NKJV, CJB and The Scriptures it says, “the way”. This can confuse
people the difference between “a way” and “the way” is pretty big. A way can be
anything, the way implies there is only one way; but that difference is negated
because every temptation and the person under the temptation is different and
there is a specific way that ELOHIM makes for them to bear or escape or stand
up under it. That is the key thought in this passage, ELOHIM Will not allow us
to be tempted beyond what we are able to handle so that we can endure to the
end (one of YESHUA’s favorite sayings; “He who has an ear to hear, let him hear
what The SPIRIT is saying!”). It’s not about us escaping the temptation it is
about us overcoming the temptation; that is what the first 12 verses of 1
Corinthians 10 are about!
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