Wed.’s Devo - A Public Rebuke

Read: Jeremiah 28:1-29:32; 1 Timothy 1:1-20; Psalm 86:1-17; Proverbs 25:17 Hananiah, a prophet from Gideon addressed Jeremiah publicly in front of the priests and people. He spoke in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies and said that in two years God would bring back all the Temple treasures and Jehoiachin and all the captives to Jerusalem. God would break the yoke that the king of Babylon had put on their necks. *** Jeremiah told him that if a prophet predicts peace, it will be proven true when his predictions come to pass. Then they will know if he was really from the Lord. Hananiah took the yoke that was on Jeremiah and broke it in pieces and told the people again what he had said. Jeremiah left the Temple area. *** God sent Jeremiah to tell Hananiah that he broke a wooden yoke, but God had replaced it with a yoke of iron. All the nations will be put under King Nebuchadnezzar, even the wild animals. *** Jeremiah rebuked Hananiah and told him God had not sent him. Because the people believed what Hananiah had said, he would die that year. Two months later, he died. *** Jeremiah, who was in Jerusalem, sent a letter to the elders, priests and prophets and all the people who had been exiled to Babylon. He sent the letter by one of Babylon’s ambassadors. It told them to build houses and carry on their lives and multiply because they were going to be there for seventy years. He warned them not to listen to the false prophets. *** After the seventy years, the Lord will come and do all the good things he promised. He had good plans for them. Then, he will end their captivity and restore their fortunes. He will gather them and bring them home to their own land again. *** Jeremiah’s letter continued… as for the ones left in Jerusalem, they are the bad figs of Jeremiah’s vision. They will die of famine, war and disease. They will be scattered all over the world and become an object of contempt and mockery. This will be because they didn’t listen. But the ones exiled to Babylon didn’t listen either. Their prophets Ahab and Zedekiah lied to them so they will be burned alive and you will watch. Their names will become a bad proverb because they lied in God’s name. *** Shemaiah, who was in Babylon had sent a letter to Zephaniah, the priest in Jerusalem telling him to arrest any crazy man who claims to be a prophet and named Jeremiah. He told Zephaniah about the letter Jeremiah had sent them saying that they would be in Babylon for 70 years. But when Zephaniah got the letter, he went to Jeremiah and let him read it. *** Jeremiah had an open letter sent to the exiles in Babylon telling them not to listen to the lies Shemaiah was telling them. God would punish him and his family and none of his descendants would live to see the good things God has planned for them. *** Paul had urged Timothy to stay in Ephesus while he went to Macedonia. The people in Ephesus had gotten lost in the Gnostic teaching of genealogies that went back to fallen angels and things that took their attention off Jesus and his teachings. *** He told them instead, to let their hearts be filled with love and to live a life with clear conscience and genuine faith. *** These false teachers wanted to be known as teachers of the law of Moses but the law was given to show sinners their sins. It was not given to cause arguments among those who did right. Paul knows this because he counted himself the chief of all sinners. Christ saved him and now his whole purpose is to honor Christ. *** Paul urged Timothy to keep his conscience clear because some had deliberately violated their conscience which shipwrecked their faith. He gives Hymenaeus and Alexander as examples, who Paul handed over to Satan so they might learn not to blaspheme God. Lord, may we not be drawn away by every wind of doctrine but stand firm in our faith. May we not give in to fear or hopelessness but see the future and the good that you have planned for us.