December 1st, 2019
Jeremiah 39:1-18
“A Tale of Two Ways”
Aux. Text: Mark 1:1-8
Call to Worship: Psalm 25:1-15
Service Orientation: Trust God to lead the way into life. To trust in our own way will lead to death.
Bible Memory Verse for the Week: We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. — Isaiah 53:6
Background Information:
· From the first verse of the first chapter, his prophecies have marched relentlessly toward the day of Jerusalem’s destruction. Although in this passage he writes with the detachment of a historian, every word strikes like a hammer. The dreaded day has finally come. (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 593)
· (v. 3) Nergal-Sharezer was Nebuchadnezzar’s son-in-law and succeeded him under the name Neriglissar. The “chief officer” (rab-sārîs) was head of the eunuchs who served as chamberlains. “A high official” is literally “chief magi” (rab-māg). (Frank E. Gæbelein, Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 621)
· (v. 3) The Babylonian officers formed a military government and tribunal. The two by the name of Nergal-Sharezer are the same person, whom several have equated with Nergal-šarriuᶊur (“Nergal, protect the king”) or Neriglissar (560-556 B.C.), who succeeded Nebuchadnezzar’s son (Evil-Merodach) on the Babylonian throne in 560, after a revolt (cf. ZPEB, 4:410). (Frank E. Gæbelein, Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 621)
· (v. 5) Zedekiah was taken to Riblah (v. 5), where Nebuchadnezzar had his headquarters. It was a strategic site and had been the military headquarters of Pharaoh Necco in his campaign against Assyria (cf. 2 Kgs 23:33). Riblah, which was on the Orontes River, was fifty miles south of Hamath (the modern Hama), some sixty-five miles north of Damascus. Here was a good vantage point for gaining control of both Syria and Palestine. (Frank E. Gæbelein, Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 622)
· (v. 4) In the description of his flight Zedekiah is still called, as in verses 1,2 and 4, the king; but after his capture he is only “Zedekiah.” (Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Jeremiah, 371)
· (v. 9)“The commander of the imperial guard” is literally “the chief butcher.” (Frank E. Gæbelein, Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 624)
· (v. 10) Some of the poorest people in Judah (probably those who do not own land) are left to tend the land. Thus the former state of Judah is not totally depopulated, and the Babylonians will be able to extract tribute from those who remain to tend the land. (J. Andrew Dearman, The NIV Application Commentary: Jeremiah, 346)
· (v. 11) Nebuchadnezzar had heard about Jeremiah’s prophecy and regarded him as the Lord’s man. Because of his experience with Daniel and other Jewish members of his administration, Nebuchadnezzar might have learned to respect the Lord’s prophets. (David M. Gosdeck, The Peoples Bible: Jeremiah, 255-6)
· (vss 11-14) Many have seen a contradiction between the account in 39:11-14 and that in 40:1-6. But the passages may be harmonized in this way: (1) at the command of Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah was released from prison and committed to the care of Gedaliah; (2) while captives were being transferred to Babylon, Jeremiah mingled with the people (cf. 39:14) to comfort and instruct them in their new life; (3) in the confusion of the mass deportation, Jeremiah was not recognized by the soldiers who placed him in chains with the others; and (4) at Ramah he was recognized by officials and released (40:1) (so Jensen). The discrepancy between the accounts may well arise from the brevity of the narrative. (Frank E. Gæbelein, Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 623)
· (v. 14) Jeremiah’s decision to remain in Judah rather than go to Babylon showed his noble spirit. Few people would have chosen to remain a minister of God with the poor people left in the land. This is another way Jeremiah was probably more like our Savior than any man who ever lived. (Max Anders, Holman OT Commentary: Jeremiah, 291)
· (v. 14) Gedaliah, as we have seen, was a good man. He was a member of the one of the godliest families left in Jerusalem. He was the grandson of Shaphan, who brought the Book of the Law to King Josiah (2 Kgs 22:3-20). And he was the son of Ahikam, who defended Jeremiah’s life when he was accused of blasphemy (Jer 26:24). God used Jeremiah’s friends to save his life. (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 597)
The question to be answered is . . . Why the difference in outcomes between Zedekiah and Jeremiah?
Answer: Zedekiah chose his own way that led to devastation and death. Jeremiah chose God’s way that led to abundance and life.
The Word for the Day is . . . Choose
Which way should we go?:
I- Our way leads to disaster and death. (Jer 39:6-7; see also: 2 Kgs 25:1-11; 2 Chr 36:10-20; Ps 1; Prv 14:12; 16:25; Isa 3:11-12; 53:6; 56:11; Jer 52:4-14; Ezek 18:25; 33:17; Rom 3:9-23; 6:23)
By rebelling against the king of Babylon, Zedekiah had been guilty of rebelling against God (cf. Ezek 17:15). He had brought about the shaping of his own destiny and that of the dynasty of kings he represented. (R.E. Clements, Interpretation: Jeremiah, 224)
Zedekiah pays the price for his moral and spiritual weakness. He had worried about reprisals from his countrymen if he surrendered to the Babylonians (38:19) only to find that he was unable to avoid the prophetic word that he would have to account for his failures. According to the prophet, Zedekiah could have avoided an awful fate and saved the city from destruction (38:17-18), but it was not to be. (J. Andrew Dearman, The NIV Application Commentary: Jeremiah, 347)
When we allow others’ perceptions of us (or even our perceptions of their perceptions!) To control how we live, we are enslaved. We become entrenched in the ways of this world and do not live as citizens of heaven, which is another kind of kingdom altogether. (Francis Chan, Forgotten God, 53-4)
By modern standards what Nebuchadnezzar did was unusually harsh, but it was in accord with ancient pagan practices and is understandable in view of the trouble that Judah and especially Zedekiah had given Babylon. This kind of punishment, especially the blinding (v. 7), is mentioned in the Hammurabi Code (so Freedman). Thus two prophecies were fulfilled: (1) Zedekiah would see the king of Babylon and be taken there (cf. 32:3-4). And (2) he would die in Babylon without ever seeing it (cf. Ezek 12:13). To add to his torture, Zedekiah had to witness the slaughter of his sons and the nobles (so the last memory of this world’s light might remain a grief” (so Ruskin, quoted in Elliott-Binns). This kind of punishment was very ancient (cf. Jdg 16:21). Assyrian sculptures show how kings delighted to put out, often with their own hands, the eyes of captive rulers (so JFB). (Frank E. Gæbelein, Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 622)
These intruders were all unconscious of the meaning of their victory, and the tragedy of their presence there. They thought that they were Nebuchadnezzar’s servants, and had captured for him, at last, an obstinate little city, which had given more trouble than it was worth. Its conquest was but a drop in the bucket of his victories. How little they knew that they were serving that Jehovah whom they thought that Nebo had conquered in their persons! How little they knew that they were the instruments of the most solemn act of judgment in the world’s history till then! (Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Jeremiah, 369-70)
They believe the Bible about certain things, but not everything. They start thinking they can be a Christian but live the way they want to live instead of following the Bible. That kind of self-will and stubbornness is what the Bible calls idolatry. (Jentezen Franklin, The Spirit of Python, 47)
Beware lest you delay repentance so long that your heart become hardened to that point where your conscience ceases to function and the voice of God is unheard in your soul. (Richard Owen Roberts; Repentance, 240)
Man is the strangest of all animals. He is the only animal that runs faster when he’s lost his way. —Rollo May (Chuck Swindoll message, Cloudy Days…Dark Nights)
The scene of the capture underscores the lesson of the capture itself; namely, the victorious power of faith, and the defeat and shame which, in the long-run, are the fruits of an “evil heart of unbelief, departing from the living God.” (Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Jeremiah, 371-2)
Probably he was too much absorbed with his misery and fear to feel any additional humiliation from the mighty memories of the scene of his capture; but how solemnly fitting it was that the place which had seen Israel’s first triumph, when “by faith the walls of Jericho fell down,” should witness the lowest shame of the king who had cast away his kingdom by unbelief! The conquering dead might have gathered in shadowy shapes to reproach the weakling and sluggard who had sinned away the heritage which they had won. (Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Jeremiah, 371)
More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly. —Woody Allen
There is no wider path to misery than to play it safe. —Steve Brown
II- God’s way leads to abundance and life. (Jer 39:11-12, 17-18; see also: Ps 18:30; 37:3; 119:128; 125:1; Prv 12:28; Isa 3:10; 55:7; Ezek 18:32; Mt 3:1-6; Mk 1:1-8; Lk 3:1-18; Jn 1:23; Acts 16:31)
Verses 11-14 show how the Lord preserved his prophet; vv. 15-18 show the Lord’s concern for Jeremiah’s rescuer. The scene goes back to Jeremiah’s imprisonment in the cistern (38:1-13). This message must have come to Jeremiah soon after Ebed-Melech had rescued him (v. 15). It is included here so as not to break into the chain of events (cf. 38:14-39:14). Ebed-Melech needed this message of hope, for he had doubtless incurred the wrath of Jeremiah’s enemies for lifting him out of the cistern and so feared reprisals (v. 16). Ebed-Melech was assured that he would escape death (vv. 17-18) because his compassionate acts were motivated by his trust in the Lord. (Frank E. Gæbelein, Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 624)
Undoubtedly the Babylonians had favorable information about Jeremiah and probably considered him a sympathizer. Besides, those who had deserted Judah in the siege gave a report of him. Jeremiah’s advice about submitting to Babylon even during the siege had been proclaimed over so long a time that it could not have escaped the attention of the Babylonian authorities. They realized that he was no threat to them. Paradoxically, he was treated better by foreign invaders than by his own countrymen whom he so dearly loved (v. 12). (Frank E. Gæbelein, Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 623)
As a postscript to the oracle for Ebed-melech, we can notice that it says nothing of the heroism, the compassion or the resourcefulness of his rescue-operation, outstanding though these were: only of the faith in God that was the mainspring of them all. Here, par excellence, was the “faith which worketh by love.” (Derek Kidner, The Bible Speaks Today: Jeremiah, 128)
The eunuch chose his difficult path and discovered that God was with him. He was an agent who acted responsibly on his spiritual and moral convictions. He received his life rather than exile or execution, like many associated with the royal house (cf. Mt 16:24-26). (J. Andrew Dearman, The NIV Application Commentary: Jeremiah, 348)
If you should ask me what are the ways of God, I would tell you that the first is humility. The second is humility. And the third is humility. Not that there are no other precepts to give, but if humility does not precede all that we do, our efforts are meaningless. —St. Augustine
I said that every Discipline has its corresponding freedom. What freedom corresponds to submission? It is the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way. The obsession to demand that things go the way we want them to go is one of the greatest bondages in human society today. People will spend weeks, months, even years in a perpetual stew because some little thing did not go as they wished. (Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline, 111)
Ebed-melech is a singular anticipation of that other Ethiopian eunuch whom Philip met on the desert road to Gaza. It is prophetic that on the eve of the fall of the nation, a heathen man should be entering into union with God. It is a picture in little of the rejection of Israel and the ingathering of the Gentiles. (Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Jeremiah, 374)
III- God’s Promise: Your destiny is determined by the path you choose. (Jer see also: Isa 3:11-12; Jer 32:19; Ezek ch 18; 33:18; Mt 10:30-42; 12:37; 16:24-26; 18:8-9; Lk 9:24; 13:24-29; 19:12-27; Jn 12:25, 48; Acts 2:19-21; 17:31; Rom 2:5-16; 14:12; 1 Cor 3:8, 13; 2 Cor 5:10-12; Gal 6:5-10; 2 Tm 4:8; Heb 9:27; 2 Pt 2:9; 3:3-12; Rv 20:11-15; 21:21 ) Mt 18:8-9; 25:46; 1 Pt 3:3-4; Rv 20:11-15; 21:21)
Your eternal destiny lies in your response to the truth.
“Every person on the face of the earth is making a high stake life commitment to a particular faith view about God” (Pascal). Whatever view you have of God you are basing it on faith and you are betting your eternal destiny that you are right. (Tim Keller, “The Necessity of Belief”)
Ebed-Melech was not saved on the basis of any good work. He was saved by grace through faith: “I will save you. . . because you trust in me” (39:18). Ebed-Melech’s trust in the Lord saved him from the fate of the rest of the city. God did not commend Ebed-Melech for his compassion or courage, but only for his trust in God. (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 598)
The ways of God all lead in the end to joy. Even that which seems hard for the moment, the way of sacrifice, self-control, and righteousness. . . in the long run it all leads to joy. God’s calendar ends with the Feast of Tabernacles, and those who walk in His ways end up altogether joyful. For the ways of God all lead to joy. And the best is saved for last. (Jonathan Cahn, The Book of Mysteries, Day 71)
Right up until the very end, God gave him every opportunity to repent for his sins (38:20). Jeremiah repeatedly went to Zedekiah and pleaded with him to turn to God in faith and repentance. But the king rejected every last entreaty. (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 596)
There will be two different kinds of people on that day–the sheep and the goats; the righteous and the unrighteous. These two peoples will have two very different destinies. Some will be saved, while the rest will be lost forever. Some will walk through pearly gates into the heavenly city of gold (Rv 21:21), while the rest will be condemned to an eternal hell of fire (Mt 18:8-9; cf. Rv 20:11-15). Jesus promised that the unrighteous “will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” (Mt 25:46). (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 595)
Peter was right. The people of this generation do not believe in God’s wrath, do not look for Christ’s coming, and do no not fear the day of judgment. (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 594)
Like Zedekiah, many people hope to escape the day of judgment. They doubt the personal return of Jesus Christ to judge the world. They hope that the wrath of God has been exaggerated. They deny the existence of Hell. They think they are good enough to get to Heaven. They expect to have time to slip out the garden door and run for dear life. (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 596)
Watch you thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny. -Frank Outlaw
It is left unexplained how it is possible that one can rely on Christ for the next life without doing so for this one, trust him for one’s eternal destiny without trusting him for “the things that relate to Christian life.” (Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, 49)
There is too little urgency in the church for the salvation of the lost. What would the church be like if Christians understood that this post-Christian culture is about to be set aflame by the wrath of God? What would our witness be like if we saw the spiritual condition of unsaved family and friends as it actually is? And what if we accepted personal responsibility to help snatch them from the fire? (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 599)
On the day of judgment every promise God ever made about the fall of Jerusalem came true (cf. 2 Kgs 25:1-26; Jer 52:4-30). God said disaster would come from the north (Jer 1:14; 4:6; 6:22; 13:20), and disaster came from the north. God said a strange, foreign nation would attack (5:15), and a strange, foreign nation attacked. God said Jerusalem would be surrounded and besieged (4:17; 6:3, 6; cf. Ezek 4:1-3), and Jerusalem was surrounded and besieged. God said there would be famine in the land (14:1-6, 16, 18; 18:21; cf. Ezek 4:16-17), and there was famine in the land. God said the whole land would be laid waste (25:11), and the whole land was laid waste. God said nations and kingdoms would be torn down (1:10; cf. 39:8), and the nation of Judah was torn down, stone by stone.
The list of fulfilled prophecy goes on and on. God said death would enter the city (9:21; cf. 15:7-9; 18:21), and death entered the city. God said kings would “come and set up their thrones in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem” (1:15). The kings came, they conquered, and they sat. God promised that the city would be burned (21:10, 14; 32:29; 34:2, 22; 37:8; 38:18, 23; cf. Ezek 5:1-4), and the city was reduced to ashes. God said his people would be taken into exile (10:17-18; 13:17-19; 15:14; 17:4), and they were lined up in chains to be deported. (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 593)
Worship Point: Worship God who reveals the way, encourages the way and perfectly lives the way so we might have life in Jesus Who is the Way.
Centuries before Messiah’s coming the people of Israel fell away from God and defied His ways. And then the judgment came as the armies of Assyria ravaged and depopulated the regions of the north, namely the land of Galilee. It was destroyed and left desolate. Galilee was the first of lands to suffer God’s judgment. So too Galilee would be the first of lands to receive the comfort of God’s mercy in the coming of Messiah. (Jonathan Cahn, The Book of Mysteries, Day 210)
Gospel Application: Jesus’ way becomes your way if, by faith, you choose to follow Jesus. (Lk 1:79; Jn 14:6; Rom 1:17; 3:21-26; ch4; 10:4; Gal 3:6; Phil 3:8-9)
Fundamentally, our Lord’s message was Himself. He did not come merely to preach a Gospel; He himself is that Gospel. He did not come merely to give bread; He said, “I am the bread.” He did not come merely to shed light; He said, “I am the light.” He did not come merely to show the door; He said, “I am the door.” He did not come merely to name a shepherd; He said, “I am the shepherd.” He did not come merely to point the way; He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” —J. Sidlow Baxter
The Son of Man has come unto the world to take upon Himself the sins of the world. If you want to follow Him you must be willing to do the same. (Jesus of Nazareth video)
My friend Andy Stanley reminds us that we don’t end up where we hope to end up. Our lives ultimately end up wherever our path is headed right now. So we have to be diligent about who and what we align ourselves with. Because whatever (or whomever) we saddle up with is going to determine where we arrive months and years from now.
Who are you linking your life to? Who helps you decide what you spend, where you go, what you watch, what ranks at the top of your to-do list?
To walk with Christ is to imitate him. To imitate Christ is to live with ultimate purpose. (Louie Giglio, Goliath Must Fall: Winning the Battle Against Your Giants, 124-5)
That evangelism which draws friendly parallels between the ways of God and the ways of men is false to the Bible and cruel to the souls of its hearers. The faith of Christ does not parallel the world, it intersects it. In coming to Christ we do not bring our old life up onto a higher plane; we leave it at the cross.
We who preach the gospel must not think of ourselves as public relations agents sent to establish good will between Christ and the world. We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make Christ acceptable to big business, the press, the world of sports or modern education. We are not diplomats but prophets, and our message is not a compromise but an ultimatum. (A.W. Tozer, Man: The Dwelling Place of God, 44)
Spiritual Challenge: Understand the spiritual reality that the path you choose determines your destiny and your inability to choose it on your own. (Ps 119:101, 104-105; Prv 3:5-6; 4:14; 23:19)
God’s Way – exactly the opposite of my natural inclinations.
“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” —Proverbs 14:12
You don’t need the Holy Spirit if you are merely seeking to live a semi-moral life and attend church regularly. You can find people of all sorts in many religions doing that quite nicely without Him. You only need the Holy Spirit’s guidance and help if you truly want to follow the Way of Jesus Christ. You only need Him if you desire to “obey everything” He commanded and to teach others to do the same (Mt 28:18-20 NIV). You only need the Holy Spirit if you understand that you are called to share in Christ’s suffering and death, as well as His resurrection (Rom 8:17; 2 Cor 4:16-18; Phil 3:10-11). (Francis Chan, Forgotten God, 122-3)
Faith comes out of awe, out of an awareness that we are exposed to His presence, out of anxiety to answer the challenge of God, out of an awareness of our being called upon. Religion consists of God’s question and man’s answer. The way to faith is the way of faith. The way to God is a way of God. Unless God asks the question, all our inquiries are in vain. (Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man, 137)
What is temptation? It is always, in one way or another, the deception that something is more to be desired than God and his ways. Therefore, the prayer for deliverance is that we would not fall for that deception but always taste and know that God and his ways are to be desired above all others. (John Piper, When I Don’t Desire God, 147)
Self-reliance is not the way to holiness, but the negation of it. Self-confidence in the face of temptation and conflicting pressures is a sure guarantee that some sort of moral failure will follow. (J. I. Packer; Rediscovering Holiness, 92)
“Taking up my cross” has become a euphemism for getting through life’s typical burdens with a semi-good attitude. Yet life’s typical burdens–busy schedules, bills, illness, hard decision, paying for college tuition, losing jobs, houses not selling, and the family dog dying–are felt by everyone, whether or not they follow the Way of Jesus.
When Jesus calls us to take up our cross, He is doing much more than calling us to endure the daily, circumstantial troubles of life. The people in Jesus’ day were very familiar with the cross. Having witnessed crucifixion, they understood the commitment and sacrifice of taking up a cross.
It is a call to radical faith. (Francis Chan, Forgotten God, 124-5)
No one comes to any text with a completely vacant mind. Everyone comes with a pre-understanding; without this no understanding is possible. But the reader must also, in a sense, place a temporary moratorium on his judgment, allow the text to speak in its own way, and accept the possibility that the pre-understanding will be changed into a new understanding. (Lesslie Newbigin, Foolishness to the Greeks, 51)
God intended man to live by trusting Him instead of making his own choices. Thus, when man acquired freedom of choice he acquired a curse. True freedom is serving God and trusting in Him. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths” (Prv 3:5, 6). (Donald Grey Barnhouse, God’s Discipline, 119)
Wesleyan Quadrilateral and the three lights in the harbor.
Spiritual Challenge Questions:
A- It seems so easy. There is God’s way that leads to life and man’s way that leads to death. What makes going God’s way so difficult?
B- Jesus told us that God’s way was the narrow way (Mt 7:13-14; Lk 13:24). What do you think Jesus meant by this?
C- In what ways is Zedekiah’s punishment for his blatant disobedience similar to hell? In what ways do you see it as different?
So What?: The path you choose determines your eternal destiny. Choose wisely. Choose life. Choose Jesus, who is the Way.
If we are sinners, who is going to pay for our sin? The Bible says that we can–if we wish. But that is what hell is. I realize, at this point, that to go into the whole teaching about and objections to hell would make this letter the length of War and Peace. But let me ask you to at least accept the logic of this thought: if heaven is where God is in all His mercy, grace and love, and hell is where God is not, then surely those who choose to live without God are simply getting what they requested? Jesus came to save us from the hell of our sins, the hell we choose to go to ourselves when we shake our fist at God and say, ‘No, I want to have it my way!’ Jesus suffered hell so that we don’t have to. (David Robertson, Magnificent Obsession–Why Jesus Is Great, 88-9)
In Discipleship Journal author Mack Stiles tells the story of how he led a young man from Sweden named Andreas to Christ. One part of their conversation is especially instructive:
Andreas said, “I’ve been told if I decide to follow Jesus, He will meet my needs and my life will get very good.”
This seemed to Andreas to be a point in Christianity’s favor. But I faced a temptation–to make it sound better than it is.
“No, Andreas, no!” I said.
Andreas blinked his surprise.
“Actually, Adnreas, you may accept Jesus and find that life goes very badly for you.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“Well, you may find that your friends reject you, you could lose your job, your family might oppose your decision—there are a lot of bad things that may happen to you if you decide to follow Jesus. Andreas, when Jesus calls you, He calls you to go the way of the cross.”
Andreas stared at me and asked the obvious: “Then why would I want to follow Jesus?”
Sadly, this is the question that stumps many Christians. For some reason we feel that unless we’re meeting people’s needs they won’t follow Christ. Yet this is not the gospel.
I cocked my head and answered, “Andreas, because Jesus is true.”
JESUS:
THE WAY