Does the leadership of a nation matter to God? Here we see that the Lord told Jeremiah to
re-write the scroll that he had previously made with the prophecy concerning
the nation, the scroll that Jehoiakim the king had burned. The Word of the Lord is sure, it will be
fulfilled. There is a similarity here
with Moses breaking the tablets on which the Lord had originally written the
Law on Mt Sinai. Simply because the
tablets were broken does not mean that either the covenant or the Law was
annulled. Here, the Word of the Lord
will be fulfilled, burning it was simply an act of arrogance by the king. America is not a substitute or modern day Israel
but simply because our leaders pay no heed to the Lord does not mean that His
will is going to be thwarted. A nation,
like ours, that professes itself to be one nation under God, and whose very
founding documents speak of God, cannot so easily walk away from Him without
answering to Him. Taking the Name of God
in vain is a serious matter.
Jesus didn't exactly send the disciples out with words of
encouragement did He? You will be:
delivered to the courts, flogged in the synagogues, dragged before governors
and kings, brother will turn against brother, parent against child and child
against parent and have them put to death and everyone will hate you. Now, off you go. We have it made in America. We can proclaim the Gospel most anywhere we
please and yet when we find that the society, or the government, infringes on
our ability to do so in any way we petition for the redress of grievances in
the courts. That isn't a wrong thing to
do but I am pointing out that we expect something different from what Jesus
promised here. We take our freedom for
granted and mostly fail to use it for His glory. Let us use the freedoms we have while we have
them as we prepare ourselves for the things of which Jesus spoke prophetically
here.
Paul says to pursue prophecy. He sets this gift higher than the gift of
tongues because it serves to build up the church. What, exactly does it mean to build up the
church? I have heard it said that
prophetic speech must be edifying, uplifting in the church today and therefore
any words of discouragement or admonition are to be avoided. I don't believe that to be the case. Sometimes the most edifying things we can do
or say are warnings against going down the wrong path or correction where we
are in error. Such words, however,
should normally be given as loving reproof but that isn't always possible. Warnings sometimes need to be expressed in
dire terms in order to capture the attention and change course
immediately. The spirit of prophecy
always has in mind the best intentions not pride and arrogance. Real prophets don't take it personally, they
know it isn't their word but the Lord's.
The church, unlike Jehoiakim, has the Spirit and we can pray for
discernment concerning prophecy. We need
prophets but we also need humility and love among prophets and among leaders.
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