The Fulfillment of Jeremiah’s Prophecies

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SYLLABUS
STUDIES IN THE BOOK OF Jeremiah

JEREMIAH 37-39
Lesson #37
THE FULFILLMENT OF JEREMIAH’S PROPHECIES

• Memory Verse: Jer 39:18
• We have arrived in our study where we begin to see the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecies.
  • Jeremiah has endured hatred, rejection, ridicule, beating, and imprisonment (5 imprisonments in this book) for his 30 years of ministry preaching the Word of God to the people he loved.
  • Jeremiah started as a young man around twenty years old and now he is about fifty years old.
    • The ministry has taken a heavy toll on this man.
    • It is not easy being alone in the ministry.
  • King Nebuchadnezzar has invaded Israel three times. Each time captives were taken to Babylon. This is the third and last time.
• The political background that prompted the final destruction of Israel:
  • Nebuchadnezzar put King Zedekiah on the throne of Judah as a vassal king who owed allegiance to Babylon.
  • King Zedekiah desired freedom from the yoke of Babylon.
    • He approached the Pharaoh in Egypt for help.
    • Of course, Egypt has always been Israel’s enemy so their motives were not pure. They desired to make Israel a vassal state of their own controlled by Egypt.
      • When Nebuchadnezzar’s army saw the presence of Egypt in Israel, they did not attack but turned around and withdrew.
      • Jeremiah’s enemies were pointing to this fact as proof that Jeremiah’s prophecies were wrong. They said that it was smart to get Egypt’s help because now the Babylonians were afraid of Egypt.
  • God gives them another message.
• Read Jer 37:1-10 God is not mocked
  • Just because current exterior circumstances seem to be contrary, God will fulfill His promises as He said.
    • The prophecies of Jeremiah are true words of God. We learned in our last lesson that God’s Word will not return void but accomplish what God has set out for them to accomplish.
    • God will bring them to pass in God’s perfect timing.
  • The reason for the imprisonment of Jeremiah in this chapter:
    • Jeremiah is imprisoned because he told the king not to make an alliance with Egypt, their enemy.
    • Instead, God’s will was that the Israelites surrender to Babylon.
• Read Jer 37:11-21 Accusations of treason
  • Jeremiah attempted to retire to the country, because no one listened to him.
  • Instead Jeremiah is taken capture by the grandson of the false prophet with whom Jeremiah contended in chapter 28. He was accused of treason against his own people because he was leaving Jerusalem to help the enemy.
    • Because his prophecy favored surrender to Babylon, he was suspected of siding with Babylon against his own people.
    • His arrest by the grandson of Hananiah, the false prophet, probably had something to do with the false charges.
    • Jeremiah was imprisoned in a dungeon for many days. We are not told exactly how many days.
  • The king’s visit with Jeremiah:
    • When the Babylonian army returned around Jerusalem, King Zedekiah fearfully and secretly sent for Jeremiah.
    • King Zedekiah was so weak and unsure of what he was doing that he looked for some kind of confirmation and prayer.
    • Jeremiah is brought before the king.
      • The king wanted confirmation that Egypt would save them from Babylon.
      • However, Jeremiah told King Zedekiah that God would deliver him to the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.
      • The king wanted prayer and a word of hope for himself and the nation.
        • Those who pray for the nation and the leaders are the strength of the nation.
        • We learned that back in Jer12:5, 10.
      • Jeremiah pleads for his own life.
      • He requests freedom from the dungeon to save his life.
        • The king did not return Jeremiah to the dungeon but neither was he set free. However, the King’s action here saved Jeremiah’s life.
        • The king was more soft-hearted toward Jeremiah than the princes of Judah.
        • Jeremiah was again imprisoned in the temple courtyard.
        • However the King Zedekiah never had the moral courage to do what God told him to do to save the nation.
• Read Jer 38:1-13 Jeremiah suffers more
  • Because Jeremiah did not stop preaching to the people that came to the temple court, the leaders of Judah wanted to stop him from demoralizing the people with God’s messages.
  • He was put in a different dungeon in the temple complex.
    • This dungeon had no water. The only entrance was to be let down by ropes.
    • The bottom of the dungeon was covered with mud. The historian Josephus tells us the mud was up to his neck. In other words, the princes of Judah intended that he die there.
      • Read Lam 3:55, 57 Jeremiah’s thoughts on the matter.
  • Jeremiah’s miraculous rescue
    • An Ethiopian Gentile named Ebed-Melech appealed to the king on behalf of Jeremiah.
    • Ebed-Melech was a servant in the bedchamber of the king.
      • With great courage he took the case of Jeremiah’s imprisonment in the dungeon to the king.
      • Notice that the enemy can do only so much and then God provides what Jeremiah needs to put him in the place where God wants him.
    • King Zedekiah has Jeremiah freed by 30 men fearing the opposition of the princes of Judah.
• Read Jer 38:14-28 Moral Weakness and Moral Strength
  • Again King Zedekiah, in his insecurities and weaknesses, seeks answers from Jeremiah secretly.
  • But God has not changed His mind. Surrender is still the only viable option.
    • Like all stories of moral courage and moral weakness, King Zedekiah walks a fine line between the power of the princes of Judah, his own conscience, and God’s will.
    • Pontius Pilate walked this same fine line between the powers of the Jewish Sanhedrin, his own conscience in doing what was morally right by sending Jesus to be crucified.
  • Zedekiah’s promise in exchange for a word from Jeremiah.
    • Before Jeremiah will tell King Zedekiah the latest word from God, he extracts a promise from the king.
      • The king will guard his life from the evil princes of Judah.
      • When the Babylonians come, the king will protect Jeremiah from harm.
    • Jeremiah tells the king to surrender to the Babylonians.
      • However, we see the king’s greatest fear in this passage….pride. (19)
      • He is afraid people will laugh at him. He has more concern for his pride than he does for his family and his nation.
    • Jeremiah encourages him to obedience to God.
      • His fear of ridicule will not happen if he obeys God.
      • Instead, if he does not obey, the women of his harem and his family will ridicule him.
  • King Zedekiah encourages Jeremiah to secrecy about their meeting because Zedekiah fears the princes of Judah.
• Read Jer 39:1-10 Jeremiah’s prophecy about King Zedekiah is fulfilled.
  • In this chapter we see the final fall and destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC.
    • After an 18 month siege around the city, the Babylonian army moved to take the city. (1)
    • Israel’s king Zedekiah and his army tried to flee.
    • The Babylonian army caught up with them in the valley between Jerusalem and Jericho.
  • Zedekiah’s sons were killed before his eyes. (6)
    • Remember Jeremiah’s prophecy that Zedekiah would not be killed, but he would be taken captive to Babylon.
    • However, the Babylonian army put out Zedekiah’s eyes.
      • He never saw his homeland again.
      • The king ended his days in spiritual and physical blindness.
  • The rest of the people of Israel were taken captive to Babylon with their king.
    • The only exception was a few poor people of no importance were left in the Promised Land. (10)
    • After that Babylon, like Assyria before it, moved other captive populations into the Promised Land. These people became the mixed multitude later called the Samaritans after the territory they inhabited.
• Read Jer 39:11-18 The fulfillment regarding the prophecy about Jeremiah.
  • In a previous lesson, we learned that God gave Jeremiah a prophecy that he would not be taken captive to Babylon, neither would he die in the fall of Jerusalem.
  • That prophecy is repeated again here in this chapter (16-18). However that promise of protection is extended not only to Jeremiah but to the gentile Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian that was responsible for freeing Jeremiah from the dungeon in chapter 38.
  • The king of Babylon told his captain not to harm Jeremiah. (12)
    • This is God’s miraculous protection during this time of chaos.
    • Through this miracle we see that the evil that fell on the nation of Israel was still under God’s control.
      • Even though everything was falling apart around them, nothing escapes God’s notice.
      • The enemy can go only so far.
      • It is God that determines in the end how far the enemy can proceed.
        • God set limits around Jeremiah and provides him with someone to take care of him.
        • God does that for every true believer in Jesus Christ.

Homework
Jeremiah 40-42

• Application of Jer 37-38
  • In these chapters we saw the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecies. God has made promises to you as He did to Jeremiah.
  • What promises that God made to you have you seen fulfilled in your life? (be specific)
  • Give Him praise for what He has done for you!
• Preparation for Jer 40-42
  • Read Jer 40 and 41
  • Read Jer 42
    • What is the attitude of the fleeing remnant?
    • What very important counsel does Jeremiah give to the fleeing remnant? (Jer 42)
• Memory Verse: Pro 3:5-6