Jeremiah 39:1-41:18 "Your Kingdom Come"

1:00Quite a few people were certain that Jesus was going to return last Monday. There were lots of predictions about that. And to be fair, Jesus did say that there would be signs in the heavens that would precede his coming. But Jesus also said that no one knows the day or the hour of his return. Not anyone on earth, not him, but only his father in heaven. So, people claiming to know that Jesus was going to return last Monday could not, in fact, have known that Jesus was going to return last Monday, even if Jesus did return last Monday.

1:47But isn't it sad that Jesus didn't come back last Monday? I mean, every Christian should be praying along with the Apostle John, Come, Lord Jesus. Many Christians around the world pray that daily because this world is such a hard place to live. And as we think about lament this morning, as we pray a prayer of lament, as we lament for those in our church body who are experiencing such difficulties, and maybe we're going through them ourselves, maybe we can relate to that.

2:23Maybe you have faithfully prayed for Jesus' return for some time because this world has been a hard place for you to live. And as a result, you long for his kingdom to come. Today we're going to be studying Jeremiah 39 through 41, which covers the fall of Jerusalem and its aftermath. It's not pretty. And for the people of Judah who had known the glories of the Davidic kingdom, the fall of Jerusalem and the exile were unspeakably sad.

3:01At one point, their nation was first, but now they were last. At one point, their nation had known the blessings of righteousness, but now they knew the reproach of their enemies. At one point, their nation was a place where justice was done, but now they suffered injustice all around. And perhaps we can relate in bigger or smaller ways to the people of Judah after the fall of Jerusalem. We see the wicked prospering. We bear the reproach that we bear for the name of Jesus. We see and we suffer injustice in this world.

3:48And so we pray to our Heavenly Father, your kingdom come. We pray, come, Lord Jesus, because we want him to return. We want him to come and consummate his kingdom. Because in his kingdom, the last are first. Reproach becomes reward, and justice will be served. And so this morning, we're going to be encouraged that Jesus will return to consummate the kingdom that we long for. Jeremiah 39 represents one of the lowest points in Israel's history. Just as the prophet Jeremiah had foretold, the Babylonian army besieged Jerusalem for about 18 months and then broke through the city walls around 587 BC in the summer. In a predictably self-serving move, Zedekiah decides to abandon the city and his people and take off in the middle of the night to try to get away from their conquerors. But the Chaldean army catches up to them just about 14 miles away from Jerusalem.

5:02They're marched 200 miles north to Ribla, where Nebuchadnezzar had set up his command post. And you just have to wonder what is going through Zedekiah's mind on that 200-mile march. I wonder if the words of Jeremiah back in chapter 34 came to his mind. Take a look. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Go and speak to Zedekiah, king of Judah, and say to him, Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

5:41You shall not escape from his hand, but shall surely be captured and delivered into his hand. You shall see the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak with him face to face, and you shall go to Babylon. Zedekiah would not listen to God's word through Jeremiah. He wouldn't see the truth. And so now the last thing he will ever see is his sons, all 12 and under, slaughtered right in front of him. And then his closest friends and advisors.

6:24After that, all of the nobles, the important people in Jerusalem, Zedekiah, they're all marched off to Babylon. The Babylonians then break down the city walls, they burn the palace, and then they loot the temple and burn it to the ground as well. And just like that, God's people are exiled from God's place. The temple, the symbol of God's presence, is smoldering in the background as they march into the distance into a frightening and uncertain future. All of the powerful and influential have been carried off because they rejected God.

7:10And because they rejected God, the first have become last. And as we saw in the chapter, the last have become first. I want you to look again at verse 10. Nebucharadan, the captain of the guard, left in the land of the Lord. Of Judah, some of the poor people who owned nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time. Now, this was shrewd foreign policy. By deporting the rich and the powerful and giving their assets to the poor people in the land, they ensured the loyalty of these conquered people and made the likelihood that they were going to rebel against them very minimal. But keep in mind, God is sovereign, and ultimately, he is the one orchestrating these events.

8:02One of the chief sins committed by the political and religious leaders of Judah was the neglect of the poor. They exploited them and denied them justice. And so God asks through Jeremiah back in chapter 5, shall I not punish them for these things? And shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this? For generations, God had been gracious and merciful and patient with his people, calling them to repent and change their ways, but they wouldn't. And so God did what he promised to do: he took everything away from them, and he gave it all to the poor people who owned nothing.

8:43The last have become first. We see this also with what happens to Jeremiah and Ebed Melech as well. In verses 11 through 14, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar tells Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the guard, take Jeremiah. Jeremiah, look after him well and do him no harm, but deal with him as he tells you. You truly cannot miss the irony of this statement. Zedekiah, the king of Judah, only looked after Jeremiah if it didn't cost him politically. He allowed him to be beaten and thrown into prison.

9:22He allowed him to be cast into a cistern and left for dead. He never did what Jeremiah said. And yet, Nebuchadnezzar, a pagan king, orders his captain to take good care of Jeremiah, to make sure that he suffers no harm, and to do exactly what he says. What a striking contrast. In Zedekiah's kingdom, God was ignored, and Jeremiah was last. In Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom, used by the Lord as an instrument of his justice and discipline, Jeremiah is first.

10:05Same with Ebed-Melech. You may remember from last week that his name means servant of the king. And in Zedekiah's kingdom, Ebed-Melech, a lowly servant, a foreign eunuch in a land that had very little respect for foreigners, he feared the Lord. He confronted Zedekiah. And he rescued Jeremiah from the cistern. And I want you to look at verse 18, the last verse in the chapter. This is God's promise to Ebed-Melech: For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but you shall have your life as a prize of war, because you have put your trust in me, declares the Lord.

10:53Zedekiah's officials were executed. The rest of the people were marched off into exile, but Ebed-Melech would be saved. Why? God says, because you put your trust in me. He put his faith in God when no one else would. And so, with Jeremiah and Ebed-Melech, the last have become first. You know, you think about this whole situation and how hard it must have been for these righteous people. It must have been hard for Ebed-Melech, a faithful man who trusted in God, to serve a wicked king who didn't listen to God. He must have thought, why do these people get to be powerful and rich when they don't obey their Lord?

11:44You think about the poor people in the land. They must have had some of the same questions. How is it that these people get to exploit us and deny us justice and they get all of the good things in life? Why are they wealthy and privileged while we're poor and oppressed? And we certainly know that Jeremiah almost gave up at certain points, believing that God had deceived him, wishing he had never been born. It seemed that there was no benefit whatsoever to following the Lord and living to please him.

12:18And friends, many Christians, perhaps even at times you and me, have felt this way. We wonder if following Jesus is really worth it. Is it worth all the trouble? Is it worth every Sunday? Is it worth 10% or more of our income? Is it worth all of the stress of pursuing those who have wandered away from the faith? Is it worth it? But you know, the disciples wondered that too. And after a rich man walked away and decided not to follow Jesus, I want you to look at this interaction that Peter and Jesus have.

12:58Peter said in reply, See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have? Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for my name. Sake will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last and the last first.

13:43Peter reminds Jesus, as if he needs a reminder, that they have left everything to follow him. They paid a very high price to become Jesus' disciples. But, friends, as we've talked about often this year, everybody pays a price to follow Jesus. Some people pay a higher price than some people pay a lower price, but everybody pays a price to follow Jesus. Discipleship, according to him, is costly for everybody. But it's also worth it. Because in Jesus' kingdom, many who are last will be first, and the first, last.

14:25That is what we see foreshadowed in Jeremiah 39. Jeremiah, Ebed, Melech, and the poor were last in the earthly kingdom of Zedekiah. But when God intervened through Babylon, the last became first. In this fallen world, followers of Jesus will often be last. As we talked about last week, as we talked about at Easter, as we've talked about often, if our hope in Christ is for this life only, that would be a tragedy. It would be a tragedy to live in this life and to give up everything that everybody else seems to have if in Christ we only have hope for this life.

15:13But thanks be to God, Jesus rose from the dead. And because of that, we will be raised to live in his kingdom forever. And in his kingdom, the last are first. Let's pick up now in chapter 40, where we'll see in God's kingdom, reproach becomes reward. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after Nebuzuradon, the captain of the guard, had let him go from Ramah, when he took him bound in chains along with all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon. The captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, The Lord your God pronounced this disaster against this place. The Lord has brought it about and has done as he said. Because you sinned against the Lord and did not obey his voice, this thing has come upon you. Now behold, I release you today from the chains on your hands. If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you well. But if it seems wrong to you to come with me to Babylon, do not come. See, the whole land is before you. Go wherever you think it good and right to go. If you remain, Then return to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikom, son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon appointed governor of the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people. Or go wherever you think it right to go. So the captain of the guard gave him an allowance of food and a present and let him go. Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikom, at Mizpah, and lived with him among the people who were left in the land.

16:59For over 40 years, Jeremiah had lived a very hard life. In addition to being constantly mocked and threatened, in addition to being beaten and imprisoned, he had very little companionship and few advocates. As we noted earlier, he came close to giving up. So I want you to imagine how Jeremiah must have felt when Nebuzaradan comes and speaks the words of God. The very words that he has been saying for four decades to people who will not listen.

17:38And then Nebuzaradan follows it up by saying, if it seems good to you, come with me to Babylon and I will look after you well. Let me translate all of this for you. Jeremiah, you were right all along. Unlike your own people, we actually respect you as a prophet. Now, how would you like to retire in Babylon? You can have whatever you want for the rest of your life. Honestly, who could pass up an offer like that?

18:18After all of the hardship and persecution that he's endured, who could turn down the opportunity to ride off into the sunset aboard the Royal Chaldean cruise line? But unbelievably, Jeremiah tells Nebuchadnezzar, thanks, but no thanks. I'll stay here with the people that you're leaving behind in the city. In the city of Jerusalem. You know, the one with the broken down walls and the burned-out buildings and the bodies piled on top of each other and no bread to eat.

19:07Why in the world would Jeremiah do something like that? Because he understood that in God's kingdom, reproach becomes reward. And he understood that because another godly man made the same decision centuries ago. Earlier. Look on the screen at Hebrews 11. By faith, Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

20:04Guys, Moses had it made. Plucked out of the river by Pharaoh's daughter, raised in Pharaoh's palace, the world was his oyster. He came from a destitute and despised people, and Moses had in front of him the prospect of a life of privilege and plenty. But instead, he chose to return to his people, to God's people, and to be mistreated along with them. Look again at what the author of Hebrews says. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

20:53As you know, the Pharaohs lived in opulence. When they died, they were buried in a labor. Tombs with tons of valuable possessions because they believed that you could take that stuff with you into the next life. But thousands of years later, when archaeologists dug up those tombs of the Pharaohs, anything that had not been stolen by grave robbers was still right there, next to the skeleton of a man who used to be a king. Look what Jesus said: Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22:02Summarizing Jesus' teaching, the missionary Jim Elliott wrote this: He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Moses believed this. That's why he chose to be mistreated along with God's people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin in Pharaoh's house. He was storing up treasure in heaven and looking to his eternal reward. And almost a thousand years later, Jeremiah was doing the same thing. He took a pass on retiring in Babylon and was willing to continue to be mistreated alongside of God's people because he believed that the reproach of Christ was greater than all of the treasures that Babylon had to offer, because he was looking to his reward.

23:02Brothers and sisters, do we believe, along with Moses and Jeremiah, that the reproach of Christ is greater wealth than all of the treasures that this world has to offer? Do we believe, along with Jim Elliott, that we are not foolish to give up the things that we cannot keep to gain things that we can never lose? Do we believe what Jesus told us to do, that we should store up our treasures in heaven because wherever our treasure is, our hearts will follow?

23:40Do we believe that? You see, in God's kingdom, reproach becomes reward. And when you believe that, you make decisions that look insane to the rest of the world. Leaving Pharaoh's house to live among Slaves looks crazy. Staying in war-torn Jerusalem instead of retiring in Babylon looks crazy. Giving up a life in the United States of America to train to become a missionary, to fly overseas and get speared to death before you even shared the gospel one time looks crazy.

24:38And it is crazy. If this life is all there is, if there is no resurrection, if we won't live eternally, if there is no reward waiting for us, but brothers and sisters, this life is not all there is. We will be raised from the dead. We will live eternally. And for every person who trusts in the finished work of Jesus Christ and lives his or her life to sacrificially serve him and his kingdom, there are unspeakable and unimaginable rewards waiting for us. That is the truth.

25:21So I want to challenge you today to consider the example of Jeremiah and Moses and Jim Elliott and many others and live. Live for God's kingdom rather than the kingdom of this world. Because in God's kingdom, reproach becomes reward. Let's pick up now in chapter 41, where we'll see that in God's kingdom, justice will be served. In the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nephaniah, son of Elishima, of the royal family, one of the chief officers of the king, ate bread with ten men to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikom, at Mizpah. As they ate bread together there at Mizpah, Ishmael the son of Nephaniah and the ten men with him rose up and struck down Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him, whom the king of Babylon had appointed governor in the land. Ishmael also struck down all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah and the Chaldean soldiers who happened to be there. On the day after the murder of Gedaliah, before anyone knew of it, 80 men arrived from Shechem and Shiloh and Samaria, with their beards shaved and their clothes torn, and their bodies gashed, bringing grain offerings and incense to present at the temple of the Lord. And Ishmael the son of Nephaniah came out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he came. As he met them, he said to them, Them, come in to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. When they came into the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them and cast them into a cistern. But there were ten men among them who said to Ishmael, Do not put us to death, for we have stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the fields. So he refrained and did not put them to death with their companions. Now the cistern into which Ishmael had thrown all the bodies of the men whom he had struck down along with Gedaliah was the large cistern that King Eza had made for the defense against Baasha, king of Israel. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain. Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, the king's daughters and all the people who were left at Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradon, the captain of the guard, had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them captive and set out to cross over to the Ammonites.

28:04Before marching the exiles back to Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikom as governor over the whole area. He was a very godly man from a very godly family who encouraged the people to obey God by submitting to the Babylonian rule and working the land. And at the end of chapter 40, he promised to faithfully represent all of the people as their governor to their Chaldean overlord. Lords. And at the end of chapter 40, Johannan and several officers tell Gedaliah that there's this guy named Ishmael, and he is plotting to kill Gedaliah. This man, Ishmael, was a member of the royal family, and so he was very upset about what the Babylonians had done to his family.

28:54He was upset with anybody who was working with them. And so he defected to Israel's ancient enemy, the Ammonites. So Johannan and the soldiers try to warn Gedaliah and even offers at the end of the chapter to preemptively kill Ishmael in order to spare Gedaliah. But Gedaliah, who is a godly man of integrity, will not authorize murder to save his own skin. And charitably, at the end of the chapter, he even assumes the best about Ishmael.

29:26But as we heard, tragically, Ishmael and these ten men come to eat with Gedaliah. They kill Gedaliah, they kill the Judeans with him, and they even kill some of the Chaldean soldiers, making it very clear that this is an act of rebellion against Babylon. But as you heard, it got so much worse. 80 innocent people come down from the northern country to worship. And in cold blood, he slaughters 70 of them. He only spares 10 of them because they essentially bribe him. They say, we've got precious food hidden away in the field. And we'll give it to you if you spare our lives.

30:04So Ishmael rounds up all of the captives, makes them prisoners of war, and starts marching them back to the Ammonites. Well, Johannan and the men find out what happened. They pursue everybody, they catch up to them, they rescue the captives, but Ishmael and eight of his men escape, assuming that two of them died in the conflict. Now Johannan doesn't know what to do. Chapter 41 ends with them contemplating going down to Egypt. Because he's thinking Nebuchadnezzar is going to be furious. As soon as he learns that some Israelites rose up and killed the governor that he appointed, as soon as he finds out that Israelites rose up and killed some of his soldiers, he is going to be furious.

30:54But Johannan is also thinking, probably, I can't go back to Jerusalem because Ishmael might show up with the whole Ammonite army behind him. So, what are we supposed to do? Where are we supposed to go? And so, this whole thing ends with almost all of God's people dead, marched off to Babylon, or seriously considering going back to the country where they had been enslaved for 400 years. What a mess. The whole series of events takes us back to the book of Judges, where the last line in that book is, in those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

31:47I mean, who is going to stop people like Ishmael? There is no king in Israel, just like in the days of the judges. And let's be honest, even when there was a king in Israel, most of them were as bad or worse than Ishmael. And where is God? He is barely mentioned in these three chapters. Did you notice that? He's mentioned once when telling Jeremiah what to say to Ebed-Melech. He's mentioned once when Nebuchadnezzar, this foreigner, essentially preaches the word to Jeremiah. But that's it.

32:26So where is God in all of this? Friends, in 2024, these are the kinds of questions that your coworkers are asking. These are the kinds of questions that your friends and your neighbors and your classmates are asking. Where is God in all of this? In a world where a righteous leader can be assassinated, in a world where 70 people can be killed. In cold blood, and their bodies dumped like trash. In a world where people can do those things and seem to get away with them, many, maybe even most of the people in your life are asking, where is God?

33:17Does he not care? If he cares, is he powerless to do anything about these kinds of things? In a world that is lost and ruined by the fall, these are understandable questions. Even believers may start to wonder if the wrongs that we suffer in this life will ever be made right. But, my friends, there is good news for us. Jesus promised that when he returns, justice will be done. Take a look at what John wrote in Revelation 20.

33:56Then I saw a great white throne and him who is seated on it. From his presence, earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. You see, God cares infinitely more about justice than you or me.

34:30He is perfectly holy and perfectly righteous, and he has promised to hold every person accountable for what they do in this world. People like Zedekiah, people like Ishmael, and people like you and me. When Jesus came the first time, he did not come to judge the world, but to save it. Jeremiah took a pass on retiring in Babylon, which is commendable. But we must remember that Jesus left heaven and the glory that he had enjoyed with the Father from before the foundation of the world and came to earth and took on flesh to live a life of perfect righteousness and to offer himself as a sacrifice in our place.

35:27He was unjustly accused of breaking the laws of Moses and the laws of Rome, and he was sentenced to die. But, friends, all of this was according to God's plan. God's plan was to send his only begotten Son, Jesus, to willingly lay down his life for you and me, the just for the unjust, so that through faith in him, we could be reconciled to God. Forgiven, counted righteous, and adopted into his family. That is the good news. That now all who trust in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection are not just forgiven for all the injustices that we have committed, but that we are counted righteous and adopted.

36:21So when Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead, everyone who trusts in him, like Ebed-Melech, has nothing to fear. But for those who do not trust in Jesus, you must understand that you will be judged according to what you have done in this world. And I speak as a sinner to fellow sinners: what we have done is not good. We have been called to love God and love our neighbor perfectly every day, but we have not done that.

37:00And we cannot hope that our good deeds will outweigh our bad any more than you could put your trust in that in a human court. If you break the law of the land, it doesn't matter how many good things you've done in your life, you will still go to prison for breaking the law. So it's imperative that if you have not done so, that you repent and trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, not putting any hope in religion, not putting any hope in your good works outweighing your bad, not putting anything in your body. Any hope in the mistaken idea that justice looks like you getting off the hook when we don't want any other lawbreakers to get off the hook.

37:43Friends, these sad chapters remind us that we need King Jesus to return, to rule in righteousness, because in his kingdom, the last will be first, reproach becomes reward, and justice will be served. And the good news is that Jesus has promised to return to consummate the kingdom that we all long for. So we pray along with the Apostle John, come, Lord Jesus. Let's pray. Father, we confess this morning that for a lot of us, it is hard to long for eternity.

39:02To pray for your kingdom to come because we live in such a relatively wealthy, healthy, safe country. We don't feel the burn of poverty and illness with no access to medical care and hopelessness and so many other things that most of the rest of the world deals with every single day. So, Father, this morning we pray that you would teach us, train us to long for your kingdom. Help us, Lord, to store up treasure in heaven rather than here on this earth. Because we want our hearts to be with you, not this world. And you said that wherever our treasure is, our hearts will be there too.

40:14So we pray for that. God, I pray for all of those who are lost in certain ways in this room, overlooked and forgotten. Judged, mistreated because of their faith in Jesus. I pray that you would give them hope today that that is not how it will be in the new kingdom. Father, we pray that you would fill our hearts with faith, that we would live holy and distinct lives in this world, that would draw others to the person and work of Jesus, just as you use people in our lives to draw us to Him.

41:06Thank you, God, for your word. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.