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    A Dying Nation/A Living Faith

    Jeremiah 32:1-44

1-5  This was the 10th year of Zedekiah which was also the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar. The 10th year of Zedekiah would have ended on October 17, 587 B.C. (using the Judean Tishri-to-Tishri year) while the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar began on April 23, 587 (using the Babylonian Nisan-to-Nisan year). Thus this prophecy occurred sometime between April 23 and October 17, 587 B.C. During this time Babylon was besieging Jerusalem - a siege that lasted from January 15, 588 till July 18, 586 - and Jeremiah was under arrest and confined in the palace courtyard of the guard.

(Bible Knowledge Commentary/OT Copyright © 1983, 2000 Cook Communications Ministries)

J has been prophesying for years that the Babylonians are going to come and defeat/destroy the city.  We can see here how evil the people were.  It is about six or seven months until the end.  They can see with their own eyes the word of J coming to pass and they still confine him to the guard house.  calvin

Here we see the living faith of J.  J not only wrote part of the Bible, he lived the truths of the Bible.  From faith to faith (we don’t trust in Christ to begin our walk and then trust in ourselves to continue our walk/we don’t lean on Christ for salvation and then lean on ourselves for sanctification)/from glory to glory.  

The 1st phrase outlines the responsibility of man/2nd phrase - response of God.  As we walk in faith, God moves in glory.  J is moving in faith.  J is in jail because of faith/purchases property in faith/prays in faith/the Lord confirms his faith.  The glory of God can be seen in J’s life.  Friend/enemy alike see God’s power on him.  Though everything around him is going from unbelief to unbelief/ from corruption to corruption, J has a living faith in the midst of a dying nation.  This is what the Lord has called you/I to exhibit.  

The word of the Lord came to J during a time of intense hardship.  The city was under siege/he was in jail.  During a time of nat’l/ personal distress, God came to J.  This should encourage you.  It is not trouble that makes you deaf to the word of God/heartache/ struggle/trials – sin makes you deaf to His word.  If you are in a bad/narrow place, God would have His word come to you.  

J wasn’t in jail for doing something wrong, but for doing something right.  He spoke the word of the Lord/spoke it continually/didn’t back down from what he had spoken.  He spoke truth to power.  He spoke living words to dying people.  Zedekiah didn’t want to hear the truth, he wanted to hear what was pleasant/comforting – so he jailed J.

Unlike the French Revolution, traditional believers in modern America will probably not be persecuted in a physical way, but they find themselves in an increasingly tight noose that severely constricts their ability to live their faith.  A respectable body of academic opinion considers freedom of religion a luxury the nation cannot afford; thus, there have been serious proposals to curtail the rights of schools, churches, and parents to propagate ‘pernicious’ ideas, and even proposals to exclude religious believers from holding office.  James Hitchcock | Touchstone | p35 | September/October 2011

Since they can’t put believers behind bars, they want to put the truth under lock/key.  

5  If you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed. So often the word of the Lord is heard as a pessimistic word, a word that seems to be anti-man.  God’s word isn’t anti-man, it is anti-sin.  But if sin is being held in your heart, the word looks like it’s against you.  

Gary Cooper as a Quaker –  “I mean thee no harm, friend, but you are standing where I am about to shoot.”

God is shooting at sin.  The only way you’ll get hurt is if you are where the Lord is shooting!

6-15  If God had not spoken to J, he probably would not have purchased the field.  Hanamel just wanted to get out from under a tanking economy.  It was a bad business move/career move to buy the land.  

Business: J was a prophet and no businessman, but you didn’t have to be a businessman to see the economic folly in purchasing a piece of condemned property.  
Career: God had to speak to J concerning this because he would have not purchased it for it would have made him look as if he didn’t believe in his own message.  “If the end is coming for the land, why are you investing in the land?  You really don’t believe your own message.”  

J was to purchase the field not because it made good business sense, but because it made good faith sense.  It was an act of hope during a time of hopelessness.  Your obedience is an act of faith/hope.  

15  He was instructed to buy the land, but he didn’t know why.  He discovered the why as he did the what.  J investing in Israel.  In the short-term, it made no sense for him to buy this piece of property.  But J wasn’t thinking short-term, he was thinking long-term.

It’s just a few months from the end, but J isn’t throwing in the towel - his faith shines in a perverse generation.  His is a living faith in the midst of a dying nation.

16-25  Prayer

        25   this is what prompted his prayer – God had told him to do something that seemed way out of what was reasonable.

Faith is not believing in spite of evidence, but obeying in spite of consequence.  Bible Exposition Commentary 

He understands why the Lord told him to so as he did, and now he

prays it through.  He confesses the power/mercy/wisdom/purpose/ of God.  He takes this seemingly impossible word and sets against the character of God.

17 is related to 25.  25 only makes sense in the light of 17.

26-44  Answer

27 w/ 17 – nothing is too difficult for God.  It is the form of a question.  Was there a wavering in J’s mind?

What will happen -

28-20a Neb will take/burn the city

Why it will happen –

29b-35  Idolatry/unrepentant sin

God is very clear on why He is doing what He is doing

What will happen next -

36-37   Regathering

38    Relationship

39-40  Restoration

40    Restoration

41    Rejoicing

42-44   Restoration

J exhibits a living faith in the midst of a dying nation.  As he lived from faith to faith he was transformed from glory to glory.  He lived his faith until the every end – and even further, as we will see.