Have you witnessed, or heard of, a scenario where a prophecy given to a person or group of persons was not well received? The speaker claimed he was sent by God; the words came from God, but the people did not believe it was God who sent him. They rather believed it was a lie. They believed it was not a prophecy, but a self-concocted delusion. If you were such a prophet, how would you handle the situation? Such was the experience of Prophet Jeremiah. One of those encounters is recorded in Jeremiah 42 and 43.
The leaders of Judah came to Jeremiah, and requested him to seek God because they wanted to know what God would have them do.
Then all the guerrilla leaders, including Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniaha son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, approached Jeremiah the prophet. They said, “Please pray to the LORD your God for us. As you can see, we are only a tiny remnant compared to what we were before. Pray that the LORD your God will show us what to do and where to go.”
“All right,” Jeremiah replied. “I will pray to the LORD your God, as you have asked, and I will tell you everything he says. I will hide nothing from you.”
Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD your God be a faithful witness against us if we refuse to obey whatever he tells us to do! Whether we like it or not, we will obey the LORD our God to whom we are sending you with our plea. For if we obey him, everything will turn out well for us.” (Jer.42:1-5).
With their mouths, they confessed commitment to do whatever God told them to do; but in their hearts, they had reservations. They were expecting a certain kind of answer. When what God said did not match their expectation, they believed it was not God who spoke, to excuse their conscience for disobedience.
The messenger returned
Ten days later the LORD gave his reply to Jeremiah. So he called for Johanan son of Kareah and the other guerrilla leaders, and for all the people, from the least to the greatest. He said to them, “You sent me to the LORD, the God of Israel, with your request, and this is his reply: ‘Stay here in this land. If you do, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you. For I am sorry about all the punishment I have had to bring upon you. Do not fear the king of Babylon anymore,’ says the LORD. ‘For I am with you and will save you and rescue you from his power. I will be merciful to you by making him kind, so he will let you stay here in your land.’
“But if you refuse to obey the LORD your God, and if you say, ‘We will not stay here; instead, we will go to Egypt where we will be free from war, the call to arms, and hunger,’ then hear the LORD’s message to the remnant of Judah. This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you are determined to go to Egypt and live there, the very war and famine you fear will catch up to you, and you will die there. That is the fate awaiting every one of you who insists on going to live in Egypt. Yes, you will die from war, famine, and disease. None of you will escape the disaster I will bring upon you there.’ (Jer.42:7-17).
In their hearts, they insisted on escaping to Egypt, but in their lips they sought to know what God had to say. Even though God was gracious not to give them over to delusion, they chose their delusion by themselves. In other words, when their inclination clashed with God’s will, they chose their inclinations. They trusted themselves much more than they trusted God’s Word. Jeremiah warned them and said:
“Listen, you remnant of Judah; the LORD has told you: ‘Do not go to Egypt!’ Don’t forget this warning I have given you today. For you were not being honest when you sent me to pray to the LORD your God for you. You said, ‘Just tell us what the LORD our God says, and we will do it!’ And today I have told you exactly what he said, but you will not obey the LORD your God any better now than you have in the past. So, you can be sure that you will die from war, famine, and disease in Egypt, where you insist on going.” (Jer. 42:19-22).
If they would admit that God indeed spoke through Jeremiah, that would have been a confirmation of their guilt; a confirmation of their disobedience to God, but no; they needed to feel guiltless in disobedience, so, their attitude was denial.
Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the other proud men said to Jeremiah, “You lie! The LORD our God hasn’t forbidden us to go to Egypt! Baruch son of Neriah has convinced you to say this, because he wants us to stay here and be killed by the Babylonians or be carried off into exile.” (Jer.43:2-3).
The prophet said God told him, but the people said, God did not send you; you made it yourself. This is a dangerous situation for the people of God, when they cannot recognize what God is saying any more.
But, how did they judge the prophecy?
How did the leaders of Judah judge the prophecy of Jeremiah? Their judgment sounds like this:
i) Jeremiah, your prophecy did not confirm our desires, expectations, ambitions, inclinations, and every other good thing we would like to hear, so it could not have been God who spoke.
ii) Jeremiah, we know you are a friend of Baruch, our enemy. He has put words in your mouth and you claim it was God. We do not believe that trash; we are wiser than that.
iii) Jeremiah, how on earth do you expect us to lose the obvious (freedom in Egypt) in anticipation of the improbable (the hope that the king of Babylon would be gracious to us and leave us here)? Suppose we lose the obvious but the improbable did not happen? We would be fools. No, we are wiser than that. You must have made up these words, Jeremiah.
Does that sound like how some of us judge prophecies today? Most Christians today have conditioned their hearts to reject every prophecy that conveys rebuke, chastisement, judgment, correction, etc. They would quickly dismiss it as not coming from God, or not meant for them. Anybody with this mindset is a candidate for delusion.
You would then begin to wonder, how do Christians judge prophecies? In part three we will survey what prophecy really is, and then, continue with how to judge prophecies in part 4. In the meantime, let us ponder over the following:
a) When you say that you want to hear from God, do you really mean to hear and obey?
b) Have you really made up your mind to obey God’s Word irrespective of how it affects you, or would you believe it only if it speaks of blessings, encouragement, and comfort?
c) Can you lose the obvious in anticipation of the promise? Which one is more real to you – your immediate reality or the promises of God?
d) Do you consider God’s promise an improbability, or a certainty?
e) Do you accuse people of making up prophecies when you do not agree with their prophecies?
Let’s search ourselves so that we will not be guilty of the same sins as the leaders of Israel.