Jeremiah had warned them for decades.....and as in all of God's warnings of judgment.....they came to pass. Jerusalem was desolate and burned. Nebuchadnezzar knew all about Jeremiah....who he gave a choice of doing whatever he wanted to do....and also left the few remaining poor to tend to whatever was left of the vineyards and fields. Some people who had been driven away into the wilderness....returned to what was left.
The people knew all about Jeremiah also....for most of them ignored him over all those years....and now they saw that he was right. They....oh so very piously came to him and asked him to inquire of the Lord.....of what to do.....and they would then obey. Jeremiah did so....heard from the Lord....and told them to stay and live out their lives....and be submissive to the dictates of Nebuchadnezzar.....(remember...Daniel and so many others are now living in Babylon.)
Well the people didn't like what they heard....and told Jeremiah that he was lying. Jeremiah laid out on the line to them what he heard from the Lord.....'stay and you will be OK'....'leave and you will all perish by the sword and by famine." Well they left....to Egypt....in effect leaving the Lord their God....to trust in the world.....God then sent Nebuchadnezzar to Egypt....and they all perished there. Meanwhile back in Jerusalem....seventy years passed....and as promised....many of the Jews came back from Babylon.
We in the church have a very similar choice today. We brought all this upon ourselves....just like the people of Jerusalem and Judah brought upon themselves all their troubles....for we had our own idols that we worshiped....as only for instance....just one example of many....where college football became our passion for half the year....down in the South anyway....(I've heard so many....of even the better preachers....stop mid-sermon....and make a joke about their great football conference or team)....and as for the pros....we got out of church as fast as we could on the Lord's Day to worship at the stadium or in front of the television. We raised false teachers up all around us like Joel Osteen...and then fell hook line and sinker for a genuine biblical false prophet....an antichrist as John labeled these men who led the church astray....in Donald Trump....(even MacArthur got sucked in)....who told us for five years running the exact opposite that Billy Graham type ministers....(and MacArthur himself!)....were telling us that God was was telling us through His Word!
Look at America folks. We are right now....'desolate'....it's 'astonishing' for those of us older Americans to watch....we are so far from God....and clinging to politics as the answer....that we refuse to get a medical vaccination....a simple vaccination....of which many of us have had in our lives.....because that would be 'staying' and being submissive to Nebuchadnezzar. We're....as if....saying to God...."where's the deaths God.....all you got is a lot of infections....get out of the way....we got a mid-term to win!" We followed a man....a 'prince'....who to anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear....has totally discredited himself....but we....like those left in Jerusalem....are not going back to our Lord either.....we're going to Egypt....the world....with total dependence on ourselves....for that's where there is security.
