Jeremiah 35 Should we listen?

Jeremiah the prophet has given the Israelites message after message of the destruction of Judah. All of what he has said has come true so now as we listen to some of the remnant who were not enslaved by the Babylonians we recall this warning from Moses. “Deu 18:22 whenever a prophet speaks in my name and the prediction is not fulfilled, then I have not spoken it; the prophet has presumed to speak it, so you need not fear him.” The people asked well how do we tell who is speaking from God and who is not? The NT churches also had that same question.How can we tell the true from the false? The clear test for the OT prophets is to listen and observe. A true message from God through an OT prophets must come true and Jeremiah’s words prove that he was truly sent from God for each word he spoke came true. 

So why is this chapter so important for us today? First, the remaining remnant did not stay in the land but went to Egypt even after Jeremiah told them not to.

Secondly, the remaining remnant came to him and asked him to pray for God’s direction. So we read: “Pray that the Lord your Godwill tell us where we should go and what we should do.” However, after God revealed to Jeremiah what to do how did they respond? Fast forward to chapter 43 we read the response of the people: “You are telling a lie! The Lord our God did not send you to tell us, ‘You must not go to Egypt and settle there.’

Are we like this? God says you must have faith to be saved but instead we say I have to do this work or that work. We decide to totally ignore what God has said in His Word and the consequence is the same for us as it was for the remnant. They died just as Jeremiah said and if we choose to ignore God’s Word, we too will die in our sins.