Lesson Twenty-eight: Whose report will you believe?
INTRODUCTION
When I moved to Sydney in 1998 we stayed with dear friends, John and Charlotte Lawler in Wahroonga. They met in Abilene, Texas at university and eventually John brought his American bride back to his hometown. They had many traditions in their home and many of those were new to me. They had breakfast together including cereal to start, and juice, of course, and we really enjoyed the silverware hanging vertically on a stand of its own. Toast with various jams (sorry, not vegemite… never quite got the hang of that) and marmalade as dessert was most curious to me. We ate in their dining area and listened, every morning at 7 AM promptly, to the ABC news on the radio. Like morning devotions, we paused and gave our ears to the updates from Olympic preparations to John Howard’s latest governmental pronouncements. We listened and learned what was actually happening in our turbulent waters and in the nations of the world.
At the same time, back in the USA, from which we had just moved, our families were hearing other news reports at their dinner tables during the 6:00 evening news. Some of those reports were similar, although the sports they each covered were significantly different.
I title today’s message, “Whose report will you believe?” And of interest to me in the last 3 years is the continual stridency, the hostility between camps in the newsrooms and in the people who listen to those radios and newscasts worldwide. Nowadays if you listened to the ABC with John and Charlotte, you would be described by some as left-leaning. If you read Rupert Murdoch’s yellow journalism whether in the New York Post or watch his reporters and celebrities on Sky News, or the Fox News channel, you could be accused of right-winged conservatism. People don’t necessarily curate their own news any longer, and their trust in various institutions has become like morning devotions instead of simple listening to learn the news of the day.
I guess, when I think about it, this question of whose report will you believe is something people have been asking since time immemorial. Satan, posing as a curious serpent in the Garden of Eden, reports something differently than the Almighty had reported to Adam and that Adam reported to Eve. Eve, I want to shout, whose report will you believe?
Some of you will remember that God spoke many things to humanity throughout the Bible, to Noah, to Abraham, to Moses, and also THROUGH the prophets to the people of Israel and Judah. And each time, when people heard from God, and when people reported what God spoke, the people were given a choice. The same choice as Eve. The same choice as the people of the day in our reading today, “Whose report will you believe?”
Let’s dig in and find out what the chapter says, and then we will return to this famous question, and invite ourselves to ask it of ourselves in light of the 28th chapter of Jeremiah.
This chapter divides into four sections, each one featuring a single Jewish prophet. Sections one and three, feature Hananiah. Sections two and four—Jeremiah.
1. Hananiah announces victory! (.1-4)
Verse one: We pick up the story in the same year as last week’s episode. 593 BCE. The fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah. The month of Av. (That’s next month for those of you counting Hebrew months in 2022). And we hear the prophecy spoken and acted out two different times by a prophet whom we have never before met. His name is Hananiah. His name means, “Grace of God.” And if you listen to his prophecies, you who are learning with us this year in the reading of the prophecy of Jeremiah might tend to agree with him. Listen to his words in verses 2-4.
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3 ‘Within two years I am going to bring back to this place all the vessels of the LORD’S house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. 4 ‘I am also going to bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles of Judah who went to Babylon,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’”
I like this guy. I like this prophecy. He is helping me get excited about God and about deliverance. He is assuring us that within 24 months we will be delivered. That’s hope. That’s significant. That’s awesome. And that is a report that everyone wants to hear. All of Judah would want to hear that freedom is coming. Many of our people were taken into captivity in the First War four years before this prophecy. Babylon, he says, is going down, and we will be victors. Listen to verse two and whose name is being pronounced, “The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel.” Hosts means armies. This is not some mamby-pamby deity of no repute. This is the Lord of all the armies of the earth, who has already conquered peoples and nations. This is the warrior God, and the one who has been on the side of Israel in the past. He is the awesome and powerful God. Hananiah is shouting, “God’s going to win. Don’t worry about those who are trumpeting bad stuff about the military might of Babylon—we’re going to have the victory!”
Now, no matter who you are, a Rabbitoh supporter or cheerleader for the Sydney Swans, if you barracked for Kyrgios or Nadal at Wimbledon, if you are a Baptist or a “faith is the victory” champion of the name it and claim it community—to everyone who is assured of victory and after only two years… that’s got to be a thrill to hear, amen?
But here’s the problem—God didn’t actually say that. I call to your memory the words of chapter 23. Remember the earlier words of Jeremiah in this chapter about false prophets.
“For both prophet and priest are polluted; even in My house I have found their wickedness,” declares the LORD. (23.11)
And again: “They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.” (23.13)
Thus says the LORD of hosts,
“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you; they are leading you into futility; they speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the LORD. “They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD has said, “You will have peace”’ (23.16-17)
“I have heard what the prophets have said who prophecy falsely in My name, saying, ‘I had a dream, I had a dream!’ (23.25)
“Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the LORD, “who use their tongues and declare, ‘The Lord declares.’ (23.31)
That’s a serious series of charges and anticipated failures on any prophet who speaks on behalf of God but gets it seriously wrong. Listen, as a Bible teacher, and thus a spokesman for the Lord in these days, I find it extremely dangerous to put up my hand to speak on his behalf. Every time I think I should weigh in on the topics of discussion in the news or on the pickleball court about controversial issues, I am reluctant to speak, and consider that I could be labelled a false spokesman. Fear is a good motivator sometimes.
But the first speaker in today’s chapter either didn’t have that fear or buried it in hopes that his cheerleading would win the day. He disagrees both with Jeremiah’s prophecy of chapter 27 AND the use of the yoke image. He announces that the bondage and the situation with King Nebuchadnezzar will end within two years, not only for the Jewish people, but also for the religious Temple items like vessels and such used in public worship. But wait, there’s more! God will actually restore King Jeconiah to the throne (replacing Zedekiah). So we get promised three things: a return of the captives in 2 (although a total of 6 or 7 all up), not 70 years, of all the Temple goods and of the good king Jeconiah. That sounds like a win/win/win for Judah. All in favour of that outcome, raise your hand!
Hananiah says God is going to break the yoke in verses 2 and 4 both.
2. Jeremiah speaks (.5-9)
In our second section today, Jeremiah speaks to the new prophet on the block who comes from his same tribe, Benjamin. Jeremiah is still wearing the wooden yoke. And his response is landmark.
“Amen! May the LORD do so; may the LORD confirm your words which you have prophesied to bring back the vessels of the LORD’S house and all the exiles, from Babylon to this place.
It is as if he is shouting, “Amen, bring it on. Let’s confess that our God is able and will bring victory to the Jewish people!” I hear the Beach Boys singing, “wouldn’t it be nice?” Hear the words similarly spoken by a contemporary prophet named Ezekiel.
“It is definitely because they have misled My people by saying, ‘Peace!’ when there is no peace. And when anyone builds a wall, behold, they plaster it over with whitewash” (Ezek. 16.10)
And the NT agrees:
While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labour pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.” (1 Thes. 5.3)
Jeremiah’s agreement is not really agreement, but an announcement of wishes. At the same time, he, still wearing the wooden yoke, is sounding the alarm from verse 7. In verse 8, he says he is standing on the shoulders of previous true prophets. And in verse 9, he cites Moses’ clear instruction that the proof’s in the pudding. If a person predicts anything and if it doesn’t not eventuate, then the prophet is a false prophet. End of story. (Deut. 18.20) In other words, Hananiah, you have two years to make this come to pass, but I’m not waiting; I’m calling you a false prophet already. I don’t need to wait; I know God has shown me 70-year captivity.
Whose report, Judah, will you believe?
3. Hananiah responds (.10-11)
The next section contains the actions and the words of Hananiah in response. In verse 10, he takes the yoke off the neck of his fellow prophet and breaks it. That took a lot of chutzpah and a lot of strength to break a 15-pound wooden instrument like a yoke. Then in verse 11, Hananiah repeats his words of yoke breaking, that Judah will be free from the yoke of slavery under Babylon. That has got to be good news to the Jewish people. Amen? Whose report will you believe?
4. Jeremiah’s admonition to Hananiah (.12-17)
But the final moment in today’s chapter is Jeremiah speaking again, only this time, only to one man, Hananiah. God gives Jeremiah the words to speak in verses 12 and 13, then Jeremiah carries out the ministry of being a spokesman for the Lord. The word is to include this phrase, “yokes of iron.” A metal plate would make all the difference and it was not only heavier, but also more resilient to editing and change. Remember the response of the Egyptians in the time of Moses to Moses’ disagreements with their increasing the bondage and servitude? The Egyptians increased the labour required by us all. We had to supply our own grain for the production line of buildings. It’s as if the wood had been replaced with metal.
In this last section today Jeremiah both knocks back the prediction of peace by Hananiah, but also increases the prediction by saying Hananiah will be dead in that year! Sure enough, in verse 17, he is found dead within 2 months, not two years.
So who is right? Who is wrong? We have the privilege of history and can look back to see that Jeremiah was right. But what would you have done in those days… whose report would you have believed?
Don’t be so simplistic as to say the one that quotes more Bible verses. Or live so in your optimism or your pessimism. God’s word at times is intended to pluck up and other times to build up. True prophets have words that come to pass--- every time. False prophets make excuses. True prophets live out their lives in person, and people can monitor who they are and what they are saying. Measuring the reality of the lives of prophets, that makes sense to me. Paul wrote, “despise not prophecying. Examine everything. Hold fast to what is good.” (1 Thes. 5.19-21) Just because someone sounds cool, has flashing imagery behind them on their powerpoint slides and Tik Tok videos, just because someone has met with important ministers and has a best seller on the NY Times list, that all is irrelevant. Truth matters. Especially in the last days. Especially now.
Back in the days of Moshe Rabeinu, about 3500 years ago, 12 men came back from surveying the land we today call Israel. 10 of them offered their majority report saying that the land was too big, as were the inhabitants. We Jews would never be able to conquer the peoples and take the land. Their majority report was believed by the people in the wilderness and as a result, we spent the next 38 years wandering, without being able to enter the Promised Land.
Two of those spies were named Joshua and Caleb. Each of them reported that the land was tough, but we could take it. We had God’s promises. We had God’s provision. God had just delivered us from Egypt and slavery a short time before. He wanted us to move in to the land. Of note is that all the men of Israel who were over 20 years old when those reports came out, all those men died in the wilderness. Except for two. Caleb and Joshua.
Whose report will you believe? The report of faith and consistency and holiness and agreement with God’s standards… that’s how this works. Not the happy clappy sounds. Not the woeful, fearful despondent report. Not the report of the slick G7 or the seductive serpent in the Garden… we will believe the report of the Lord.
Will you do that today? God, for instance, has made it clear that Yeshua is the Messiah and Saviour of the world. Especially he did that 2,000 years ago when Yeshua walked the earth in Israel. Only a few believed it then. He was tried and convicted and sentenced to death. He died. A horrible death. Then he rose again and lives today to bring us into relationship with God. Some Jewish people today say he’s not the messiah. They are the majority. We in Jews for Jesus say Jesus IS the messiah. Whose report will you believe?
The choice is yours and has eternal impact.
CONCLUSION
God is calling each of us to know him and to walk with him, today and throughout our days. Have you received Yeshua as your messiah and Lord? He is risen from the dead! Have you renounced your sin, your idolatry, your forsaking God and given him First Place in your life? If not, please, do so now, just now, as we pray together. Use your own words, if you want, but yield, surrender, to the Lord of life.
PRAYER
Then please write us (admin@jewsforjesus.org.au) to tell us what you have just done, and we will send you literature and encourage you. You are part of our family; we love and appreciate you. And we want you to enjoy the presence of the Lord who calls, who knows, who blesses and builds us up.
We hope to see you again next week as we study chapter 27. Until then, Shabbat shalom!
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barnes, Albert, Albert Barnes’ Commentary on the Old Testament.
Craigie, Peter; Kelley, Page; Drinkard, Joel. Word Biblical Commentary. Book of Jeremiah. 1991.
Henry, Matthew, Commentary.
McConnville, Gordon, Jeremiah, New Bible Commentary.
Wright, Christopher, The Message of Jeremiah, The Bible Speaks Today, Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 2014.
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ACTUAL TEXT
Jer. 27:1 In the beginning of the reign of 1aZedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying — 2 thus says the LORD to me — “Make for yourself abonds and byokes and put them on your neck, 3 and send 1word to the king of aEdom, to the king of aMoab, to the king of the sons of aAmmon, to the king of aTyre and to the king of aSidon 2by the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. 4 “Command them to go to their masters, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, thus you shall say to your masters, 5 “aI have made the earth, the men and the beasts which are on the face of the earth bby My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I will cgive it to the one who is 1pleasing in My sight. 6 “Now I ahave given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, bMy servant, and I have given him also the cwild animals of the field to serve him. 7 “aAll the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson buntil the time of his own land comes; then cmany nations and great kings will 1make him their servant.
Jer. 27:8 “It will be, that the nation or the kingdom which awill not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the bsword, with famine and with pestilence,” declares the LORD, “until I have destroyed 1it by his hand. 9 “But as for you, ado not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your 1dreamers, your soothsayers or your sorcerers who speak to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’ 10 “For they prophesy a alie to you in order to bremove you far from your land; and I will drive you out and you will perish. 11 “But the nation which will abring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will blet remain on its land,” declares the LORD, “and they will till it and dwell in it.”’”
Jer. 27:12 I spoke words like all these to aZedekiah king of Judah, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and live! 13 “Why will you adie, you and your people, by the sword, famine and pestilence, as the LORD has spoken to that nation which will not serve the king of Babylon? 14 “So ado not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy a blie to you; 15 for aI have not sent them,” declares the LORD, “but they bprophesy falsely in My name, in order that I may cdrive you out and that you may perish, dyou and the prophets who prophesy to you.”
Jer. 27:16 Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says the LORD: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, ‘Behold, the avessels of the LORD’S house will now shortly be brought again from Babylon’; for they are prophesying a blie to you. 17 “Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city abecome a ruin? 18 “But aif they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, let them now bentreat the LORD of hosts that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD, in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem may not go to Babylon. 19 “For thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the apillars, concerning the sea, concerning the stands and concerning the rest of the vessels that are left in this city, 20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he acarried into exile Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem. 21 “Yes, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of the LORD and in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem, 22 ‘They will be acarried to Babylon and they will be there until the bday I visit them,’ declares the LORD. ‘Then I will cbring them 1back and restore them to this place.’”
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