One thing that struck me all these years I have studied this subject of the Captivity, is the fact God surrounded these years with different men who were known as the mouthpieces of God. They were warning before the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar concerning the main motivation for God to bring about a displacement of God’s people, the disposing of the priesthood of their service, the dethroning of kings and their sons. The fact is from king to people a lifestyle of covenant breaking had become the new normal, where the hearts of the people had turned from their God to other loves, idols and their own flesh.
When we go from 2 Chronicles 7, down the book, we see a steady decline. There were far more evil kings down the monarchy generations. The final King, Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, the very same who put Zedekiah in his throne, because Jehoiakim had been taken captive to Babylon.
Zedekiah persecuted the prophets who exhorted repentance from their ways. Jeremiah was the foremost most vocal of that time period. Yet suffered the most harsh of persecutions. Yet he would not compromise the words God would send him with. God was rapidly losing patience over the stubbornness of leadership who would not listen to God’s correction, and we see the “prophets” of the day prophesying peace and prosperity.
Does this not seem familiar? There should be voices who could warn the Church, God’s people that disaster is coming, in the shape of wholesale deception, and the culmination of taking the Mark of the Antichrist system. God is very faithful to send His voices. He is very ready to warn and show a way of restoration, however the road to restoration in Jeremiah’s time would pass through 70 years of displacement in a foreign land. They would be at the mercy of the foreign king and his subjects. However as we see in this series how God conducted and led His people to their eventual return, would have to go through a process where a heart change was needed.
As there were false gods in the land, so there are specific false gods in the land. The most strongest today is the “political spirit.” Over 4 years ago the “prophets of the day” were prophesying a second consecutive Trump term. I had a “conversation with God” concerning this problem desiring God to expose these “prosperity and blessing prophets” and sure enough as Biden had been confirmed as President, so the so called prophets doubled down in so called secret plots to get Trump in the White House. In many churches prayers and proclamations were made. All in vain.
The tragedy is these same prophets speak today. They prophesied falsely but they : “glory in their shame”.And this “political spirit” has invaded the Church, with a deception that the transformation of nations passes through a political process through a political system. It is this system as Revelation and other Scriptures point to as being the culmination of the greatest deception, the unveiling of the Son of Perdition.
As we see the same tendencies happening as we see in the Scriptures, the heeding of false prophets can only lead to painful processes that take decades for the Church, God’s people to learn.
Jeremiah 29 is not the blessing Scripture many preach and believe it to be. “For I know the plans I have for you, plans for your good…” and we have to wonder what is God’s standard for the “good” He is speaking to? For God His Good is the displacement of all the nation and to go through 2 generation restoration cycle. What will it take for restoration to come to us now?
What will it take for us to stop listening to what is pleasant? When will we listen to the voice of correction? Its amazing after all the persecution from Zedekiah and his prophets, that when Nebuchadnezzar invaded Jerusalem, Jeremiah is lifted out of prison and given property. He lives out the rest of his days in comfort. Yet we read that Jeremiah did not delight in the plight of the Captives who would have wondered what they deserved in this cruelty. Lamentations is a record of his weeping. He did not delight in the prophecies he proclaimed coming to pass, rather he could identify the heart of the Captives and how they were now seeing God.
His letter of Jeremiah 29 does not make easy reading. It spells it out, no return for 70 years. They were to submit to a pagan King and his subjects. They were to build and live for the long term process, they were covenant breakers, and idolaters and now they were to rediscover and seek the God who would become their Sanctuary. Those that made Him their sanctuary would eventually return to their land to build a physical sanctuary to Him. Yet they are confronted in that what had happened, their captivity, their chains, their losses were a reflection to the desperate state they had descended. They adored the gifts but forsook the giver, they loved the notoriety that adore Him who is their Glory. So as we look in wonder at Church scandals, churches disappearing, ministers vacating the pulpit, we should take these as signs of something fundamentally wrong and amiss. That disaster is coming down the line.
I do believe God does send His prophets, but they are different to what we see today. I may be called many things for asserting this, but I believe that once I explain a standard God sets for New Testament prophets you will recognize that God still speaks through His saints.
It was by accident that I came upon this standard, and it was a powerful encounter in the Word. It is found in Revelation 19: “The Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy.” It seems as we meditate on these words, we see an end time model for those who speak for God. They must reveal Jesus. They must not frame Him serving our agendas, our pursuit for comfortable living, fruit of our smooth words. We must reveal Him in His entirety. He is Saviour and King. Psalm 2 says the Father placed His King, Jesus, on His Holy Hill.
What is this “testimony”? It is our personal revelation of Jesus, just like Peter on the Day of Pentecost. He is in a place he has never experienced, the Holy Spirit coming in wind and fire. The sermon he preaches, only reveals Jesus, reveals that the Spirit coming to man in fullness is predicated on Jesus being at the Right Hand as High Priest and King. So if this divine substance that comes to us, must undergird our faith according to Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for” and we must ask what is the substance, if not the Greek “hupostasis” which means something we build our life on, which manifests in every day life.
So if there are prophets to speak today, they must have this prophetic standard. Their only task is to reveal Jesus in this “hupostasis” in that His Kingship and Priesthood must manifest as we proclaim.
In the Captivity it was precisely the Kingship and Priesthood that was taken away from the people. In Jesus they come in fullness. Our road back in RESTORATION is embracing this standard, away from our fleshy wants and aspirations. Any other standard for those who say they are prophets is making them false. Jesus must finally shine through His servants, in the fullness of His Throne, His Kingship, His authority, and through the Father’s confirming work, “May your King, Kingdom come in fullness.” There is no other way.
His standard is Yahweh Nissi, our banner. This covenant is our banner that leads us back to the places, temples in which His Glory rests.
Maranatha.
I agree that there is a parallel between the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar and the captivity of Israel people with nowadays political and religious systems! There is the profanity of what is sacred and holy. In Jeremiah days there were the corruption of kings, priesthood and the “prosperity” of false prophets. They had converted to the idols and rituals of pagan and foreign people. They rejected the law of God and adopted the idolatry and the witchcraft of Baal gods. In nowadays the political corruption has invaded our churches. Our spiritual leaders and preachers are using coaches strategies, and neuroscience theories for multiplying the growth of theirs churches. The number of members became more important than the essence of the Word of God in their lives. We are living in an Era where the separation between the House of God and the political and economic interests of our leaders it’s very tenuous, or even doesn’t exist. The pulpits are beginning to be a platforms of political campaigns. The fear of the Lord is vanishing due the lack of conviction of God’s the calling of the priesthood. Christians go to the Bible School not because they have a conviction of God’s calling, or have a vocation, but because they just couldn’t enter in the university and couldn’t pursue a professional career. We are confusing the prophetic ministry with astrology. In nowadays we are earing about so many scandals in ministries and in the churches because God is exposing the falsity, the lies and the promiscuity of the ministries and the spiritual leaders. The Church of nowadays is inserted in babylonic system like in Nebuchadnezzar time. The universal Church lost the integrity, relevance and the truth of the priesthood. Prophet Jeremiah payed the price of his calling. He was persecuted and imprisoned because of his faithfulness to God and to God’s message against the corrupted kings and the priesthood. He never gave pleasant prophesies for please the king or the priesthood but he gave prophesies full of God’s conmdenation. The priesthood of nowadays is identical of the priesthood in Nebuchadnezzar kingdom and his invasion and captivity of the Israel people. I believe that the judgment of the Lord is upon the Church and His people. The false prophets, pastors, evangelists, apostles and teachers are preaching about the permissive Love of Jesus that accept all types of sins and gender orientation. They should preach about God’s holiness and the fear of the Lord. I believe that God’s restoration is a process of His judgment. We have the tendency of put the gravity of our sins in an human scale. Therefore we forget that for God there is not small sin or a big sin. The only difference is the consequences of our sins. God’s sees the hidden hypocrisy of our relationship with God and the chaos that reigns in our personal life, or our family. God desires that we are obedient, faithful and holy in the small things and in the daily routine of our lives. God’s is seeking for Jeremiahs that are willing to be a prophetic voice in the pulpits of their churches, bringing the revelation of the Word of God. Fervent intercession meetings where we can ear the cry of Jesus and we can weap for the sins of the nation. Conferences where we call for the rain and fire of the Revival. Anointed worship meetings that bring the Presence and the Glory of God. Amen.
Paula Durose
I agree that there is a parallel between the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar and the captivity of Israel people with nowadays political and religious systems! There is the profanity of what is sacred and holy. In Jeremiah days there were the corruption of kings, priesthood and the “prosperity” of false prophets. They had converted to the idols and rituals of pagan and foreign people. They rejected the law of God and adopted the idolatry and the witchcraft of Baal gods. In nowadays the political corruption has invaded our churches. Our spiritual leaders and preachers are using coaches strategies, and neuroscience theories for multiplying the growth of theirs churches. The number of members became more important than the essence of the Word of God in their lives. We are living in an Era where the separation between the House of God and the political and economic interests of our leaders it’s very tenuous, or even doesn’t exist. The pulpits are beginning to be a platforms of political campaigns. The fear of the Lord is vanishing due the lack of conviction of God’s the calling of the priesthood. Christians go to the Bible School not because they have a conviction of God’s calling, or have a vocation, but because they just couldn’t enter in the university and couldn’t pursue a professional career. We are confusing the prophetic ministry with astrology. In nowadays we are earing about so many scandals in ministries and in the churches because God is exposing the falsity, the lies and the promiscuity of the ministries and the spiritual leaders. The Church of nowadays is inserted in babylonic system like in Nebuchadnezzar time. The universal Church lost the integrity, relevance and the truth of the priesthood. Prophet Jeremiah payed the price of his calling. He was persecuted and imprisoned because of his faithfulness to God and to God’s message against the corrupted kings and the priesthood. He never gave pleasant prophesies for please the king or the priesthood but he gave prophesies full of God’s conmdenation. The priesthood of nowadays is identical of the priesthood in Nebuchadnezzar kingdom and his invasion and captivity of the Israel people. I believe that the judgment of the Lord is upon the Church and His people. The false prophets, pastors, evangelists, apostles and teachers are preaching about the permissive Love of Jesus that accept all types of sins and gender orientation. They should preach about God’s holiness and the fear of the Lord. I believe that God’s restoration is a process of His judgment. We have the tendency of put the gravity of our sins in an human scale. Therefore we forget that for God there is not small sin or a big sin. The only difference is the consequences of our sins. God’s sees the hidden hypocrisy of our relationship with God and the chaos that reigns in our personal life, or our family. God desires that we are obedient, faithful and holy in the small things and in the daily routine of our lives. God’s is seeking for Jeremiahs that are willing to be a prophetic voice in the pulpits of their churches, bringing the revelation of the Word of God. Fervent intercession meetings where we can ear the cry of Jesus and we can weap for the sins of the nation. Conferences where we call for the rain and fire of the Revival. Anointed worship meetings that bring the Presence and the Glory of God. Amen.
Paula Durose
Paula
I believe you have caught the essence of this series. The post above that you sent to me was fruit of 2 hours you took to construct, meditate, reflect back to me. It is very touching as I verify that many read but they do not reflect back as you do. It is rewarding this investment to the work of God. Be blessed 🙌