Jeremiah
God had a prophet that proclaimed His will to the people of Israel. His name was Jeremiah, and there is a book in the Bible that he wrote and bears his name. He spoke at a time when the people of Judah were not following the One true God any longer. All of the people from the least to the greatest were committing sin. Jeremiah came to warn the people, but they would not listen to what God sent Him to say. As a result, God allowed Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylonia, to take Jews from Jerusalem and ultimately destroy the city of Jerusalem, the holy temple, and many people were carried into exile in Babylon.
We think of how horrible this was for the people. Many who did not go to Babylon were put to death, died of pestilence or other things. How could a God who is a God of love allow this to happen?
God loves all mankind. We are all His creation. But He does demand that we are to be obedient to Him. Instead they bowed down to images that were not able to save or deliver them. Note one of the things that they did recorded in Jeremiah 32:35, “They built the high places of Baal that are in the valley of Ben-hinnom to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I had not commanded them nor had it entered My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.” (NASB) Could you imagine offering up your child to a god that had no power whatsoever? A god that could not see or hear? And yet God’s people were doing this detestable thing. Did you notice in the Scripture that this thing was never “in the mind of God?”
Jeremiah was ridiculed, imprisoned, thrown into a well and even carried off to Egypt when he had told the people they should not trust themselves to the Egyptians. And yet, he stayed faithful to God and continued to preach to the people, to warn them of impending doom to them.
God kept the people of Judah in Babylon for 70 years. Then, He allowed them to go back to their land, and He blessed them. He did this by raising up a Persian king, Cyrus, who became God’s servant in this matter. They would go back and rebuild the temple (though not as glorious as the original one. Read Haggai and Zechariah). And the walls around Jerusalem would be rebuilt (Read Nehemiah).
So, what do we learn from Jeremiah? God expects His people to be obedient to Him. If we are not faithful to God, horrible things could come to us. We, as a nation, need to come to God and stay faithful to Him. We must turn from evil things and follow God’s Word, the Bible, for that is the only place we learn about God’s desire for us. Proverbs 14:34 tells us, “Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a disgrace to any people.” Read the book of Jeremiah. It has so much to tell us today!