Daily Devotions
Jeremiah
"I will pour their wickedness on them"
Text: Jeremiah 14:16
JUDGMENT AGAINST THE FALSE PROPHETS
The LORD pronounced judgment against the false prophets. They had contributed to the spiritual decline of the children of Judah! They would be punished for their iniquity!
“Therefore thus says the LORD
concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name,
whom I did not send, and who say,
‘Sword and famine shall not be in this land’—
By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed!
And the people to whom they prophesy
shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem
because of the famine and the sword;
they will have no one to bury them—
them nor their wives, their sons nor their daughters—
for I will pour their wickedness on them.'”
Jeremiah 14:15-16
1. “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name”
a) There were true prophets like Jeremiah.
b) There were prophets who proclaimed prophecies using the name of God.
2. “Whom I did not send, and who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not be in this land’—
‘By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed'”
a) The LORD declared that He had not sent these prophets.
b) Thus, they had no authority to prophesy in His name.
c) Their prophecy: “Sword and famine shall not be in this land”.
d) Their punishment:
i) They will perish.
ii) They will be consumed by the very words they proclaimed.
iii) They will die by the sword or by famine.
3. “And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword”
a) The people who listened to these false prophets will also be consumed.
b) They had rejected the true prophets like Jeremiah.
c) Thus, they were responsible for their choices.
i) They will die by the sword and the famine.
ii) They will die by the droves.
iii) So many will die, that they would be cast out into the streets waiting to be carted away for burial.
4. “They will have no one to bury them—them nor their wives, their sons nor their daughters—for I will pour their wickedness on them”
a) They will not have the expected burials:
i) The men
ii) Their wives
iii) Their sons and daughters
b) A decent burial.
i) This was the most basic of duties to be done for the dead.
ii) But because of their wickedness, no one would do them any honours.
c) Wickedness sown would reap the reward of wickedness.
i) They had rejected God.
ii) They had spurned His true prophets.
iii) They had chosen wickedness.
iv) God would not be with them in their hour of death.
‘By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed'”