Jeremiah watching the future.

by Alejandro Roque Glez.

 “Then Yahweh said to me: Out of the north an evil shall break forth on all the inhabitants of the land. For, see, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, said the Lord; and they shall come, and they shall set everyone his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah. You therefore gird up your loins, and arise, and speak to them all that I command you: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound you before them… And they shall fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you; for I am with you, said the Lord Yahweh, to deliver you.”

(Jeremiah 1:14-15, 17-19)

The book of the prophet Jeremiah, who lived between the years 626-586 BC, always does not flows written in chronological order, thus we will see sometimes how it skips from one period to another. Originally from Anathoth, a nearby town located northeast of Jerusalem, Jeremiah was called by God at a young age to bring us his Holy Word, with his characteristic passion and even labeled by some as the weeping prophet, by the constant crying at seeing his own people turning their backs to the Creator and given to pagan idolatry. His lamentations were also written on scrolls, and are the result of witnessing the debacle of his lost nation.

The prophets Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Nahum coincided and lived in the time of Jeremiah, more or less; and the prophet Obadiah ministered when these prophets were already well known. The name Jeremiah means ‘Yahweh God raises,’ and he was the son of the priest Hilkiah, a Benjamite. When God calls him to his early ministry, the young man declares his inexperience to exert oral or written discourse, and Adonai––the Lord––invests him with the power of the Holy Spirit who accompanies him during his tragic experience; being also the mockery and amazement of his countrymen; persecuted, imprisoned and threatened with death by his society and government. Those governing the epochs, always eager and busy in their egos and destructive self-sufficiencies; they deplore to hear anything about God, much less if related to chilling judgments.

Be welcome to God’s truth.

Same as yesterday, Jerusalem––today––will again be cause of anguish and stumbling stone for the nations of the earth which are planning to launch against it (Zech 12:3). It is interesting how Arab and Muslim nations want to claim Jerusalem as part of their historical and religious sites worthy of being worshiped; however, in the Quran which was written over 600 years after Christ, there is not even a mention of the city of Jerusalem regarding Muslims or anyone. There is no mention of Jerusalem in the Quran, not once, but––on the contrary––in the Holy Scriptures, the Old Testament alone, there are 657 mentions about the city of Jerusalem, and in the New Testament there are also other 154 quotes from the holy city of Jerusalem. Then let’s ask ourselves: to whom has belonged Jerusalem for 3,000 years by divine decree?

Here Jeremiah prophesies to us, in this passage we are discussing, what would happen 30 years later, when the city of Jerusalem would be burned and destroyed its Temple of Prayer (52:4-30) under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, at the hands of the captain in his guard named Nebuzaradan (52:12), who was in command of his troops (2 Kgs 25:1-11).

Everything was burned and scorched by fire, the wall of the city destroyed, and the people of Israel transported to an exile that would last 70 years (25:11-12). This was ultimately the final captivity, although in the eleven years that preceded it (2 Chron 36:5-10) there were two invasions by the hand of the same Babylonian king, in times of Judah’s kings Joaquim and Jehoiakim (609-598 BC); when it were also taken captive a total of more than ten thousand people (2 Kgs 24:14-16).

This last and final exile (587 BC) which was accompanied by the destruction and burning of the holy city of Jerusalem, bringing ruin and long affliction to the Jews’ nation. Suffice is to read the book of Jeremiah entitled ‘Lamentations,’ to understand the anguished cry of this God’s man (Lam 2:11-12) while watching children fainting with hunger, contemplating the young and old while laying on the ground in the streets, looking also at their virgins and people in general who had been killed with gashes (Lam 2:19-21). Much lamentation and tears! And all for their abominations, idolatries (5:19) and injustices (2 Kgs 24:3-4), due to the vanity of their political and religious leaders (Lam 2:14), and also for their unlimited wickedness and immoral ways while giving their backs to the Creator God and his statutes (5:23-31).

Do not be surprised when we see how today’s world openly mocks, ignoring the Lord. In our societies abound governmental injustices, immoral citizenry, our schools and courts removed the commandments of God from their classrooms, made unconstitutional the National Day dedicated to prayer, every principle is converted to a relative and indefinite array; that is to say, accommodated to the times and concupiscence of the worldly fashion embracing us. Neither marvel yourself because of the harsh sentences prophesied against our modern time, which predict––as Jeremiah’s fire––the destruction of our societies with fire from above (2 Pet 3:10, 12).

(Also read the author's book entitled: 'The Great Peacemaker from Hell,' which recreates in a narrative form the final events, now very close, and the writing entitled: 'Prophet Daniel: The Last Four Empires of Mankind').

[These and other Old Testament prophecies are explicatively compiled in the author's book entitled: 'Major Prophets of the Old Testament;' in print and digital editions]

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