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Good Monday to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Over the years you and I have seen the overwhelming aftermath of huge disasters, it’s happening right now in North Carolina and Florida after the hurricanes of last fall. It’s happening in several other cities around the world following floods, landslides, earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes and windswept fires. It will eventually be happening in Ukraine and the Gaza strip following the destruction of war. Most clean up and restoration projects take a very long, long time. Have you ever been part of the aftermath of a great devastation?
Yesterday we watched as the great city of Jerusalem and even the great Jewish Temple were destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar’s army in 586bc. It was a travesty but not an accident. It was God’s judgement on the city He loved, the Temple which bore His Name, and the last of His covenant people, Israel. It was judgment for their absolute and continual rejection of God, year after year, decade after decade, generation after generation.
After several days, the ashes grew cold, the smoke dissipated, and all that could be heard was the groaning of the few people allowed to remain surrounded by the rubble of war. The faithful but weary prophet of God Jeremiah was still there and he gives us his firsthand account in Jeremiah 39: “Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had given these orders about Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard: ‘Take Jeremiah and look after him, don’t harm him but do for him whatever he asks.’…so Nebuzaradan…sent word and had Jeremiah taken out of the courtyard of the guard… He had found Jeremiah bound in chains…” (Jeremiah 39:8-14; 40:1)
Now we don’t know exactly why King Nebuchadnezzar showed this kindness to Jeremiah but I suspect it was perhaps Daniel, the young Jewish captive turned advisor to the King, who may have told King Nebuchadnezzar that Jeremiah had been pronouncing God’s judgment over Jerusalem for several years, even predicting the conquest and destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon. Perhaps it was also a kindness of God in honoring Jeremiah for his courageous obedience as God’s ambassador to hard hearted, wicked, Jewish king Zedekiah, the final king of Israel.
As Jeremiah was being freed by the Babylonians, Jeremiah gives us this report of something very interesting which the commander of the Babylonian imperial guard said to him. I wonder what you think about this remarkable moment in the history of Israel. “The LORD your God decreed this disaster for this place. And now the LORD has brought it about; He has done just as He said He would. All this happened because you people sinned against the LORD and did not obey Him. But today I am freeing you from the chains on your wrists. Come with me to Babylon, if you like, and I will look after you, but if you do not want to… look the whole country lies before you, go wherever you please…” (Jeremiah 40:2-4)
We don’t know what Nebuzaradan knew about the God of Israel, or if he too had come to know Daniel, the advisor to King Nebuchadnezzar, but clearly this military general had a good understanding of WHY God had allowed the destruction of Jerusalem.
Apparently Nebuzaradan and Nebuchadnezzar both had a respect for Jeremiah and maybe they thought the God of Israel would bless them if they took care of Jeremiah? Can you imagine that moment as Jeremiah stood, looking out over the horizon, now a free man with the blessing of the most powerful men in the world, to go and live wherever he wanted?
With one brief statement Jeremiah tells us what choice he made, in that moment: “So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah at Mizpah and stayed with him among the people who were left behind in the land… King Nebuchadnezzar had appointed Gedaliah as governor over the land and put him in charge of the men, women and children who were the poorest and had not been carried into exile in Babylon… Gedaliah took an oath to reassure the people: ‘Do not be afraid to serve the Babylonians. Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon and it will go well with you. I myself will stay at Mizpah to represent you before the Babylonians, while you harvest the crops…” (Jeremiah 40:6-10)
Oh, my friends, do you see the love of God, the mercy of God, the grace of God in this remarkable scene? These, the poorest of the only remaining Jews in Israel have found a safe place to live and a kind benefactor to be their leader and representative with the rulers of Babylon while Jerusalem was left in smoldering ruins! Furthermore, God’s prophet Jeremiah, now a free man, chose to live among them as God’s spokesman.
And by the way, one more thing, did you notice the name of the place where this small remnant of poor Jews have settled? Mizpah! Oh my it sends a delightful shiver up my spine of God’s great providence. Do you remember that place? About 500 years before the prophet Samuel came to this place Mizpah after the Philistines had released the Ark of the Covenant of God which they had captured in battle! (1 Samuel 4,5,6)
Here at Mizpah the Israelites gathered around Samuel for a great worship celebration thanking God for bringing the Ark of the Covenant back to them. While they were worshiping and praising God the Philistines rallied to attack the Israelites, assuming they would be preoccupied with worship and unarmed! Does that sound familiar? Enemies of Israel have done that repeatedly including October 7, 2023 which was the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Yom Kippur war!
But with Samuel, as he led the unarmed worshiping Israelites in a great worship celebration God Himself came to their aid with great thunder and lightning and the attackers fled in a panic and were routed by the pursuing Israelite army. (1 Samuel 7:10,11) Samuel then gives us this powerful statement of record: “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it ‘Ebenezer’ saying ‘thus far the LORD has helped us!’ So the Philistines were subdued and stopped invading Israel’s territory. Throughout Samuel’s lifetime the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines!” (1 Samuel 7:12,13)
I’m confident Jeremiah would have known that story very well and undoubtedly Jeremiah gathered those few, poor Israelites, the last remnant of those from Jerusalem, and together I’m confident they gave thanks to God for His watch care over them in bringing them to this historic place and providing for them as only God can do!
Friends, I wonder if that awakens a great sense of gratitude in your heart for the times in your life when God has provided for you, protected you, guided you as only God can do? I think now would be a great time for us to praise and thank God, as we contemplate what God was doing in Mizpah for Jeremiah and the remnant. As always, here’s a wonderful song to help us praise God for His unmerited kindness, His GRACE!
Today’s Scripture: Jeremiah 39:8-14; 40:1-6.
Choose below to read or listen.
Jeremiah 39:8-14; 40:1-6 Jer. 39
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Jer. 40
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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