1. II Kings 24 Captivity just ahead 1

2. 2

3. Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon (2 Ki 24:1 NKJV) In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. 3

4. The Lords Wrath through men (2 Ki 24:2 NKJV) And the LORD sent against him raiding bands of Chaldeans, bands of Syrians, bands of Moabites, and bands of the people of Ammon; He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD which He had spoken by His servants the prophets. 4

5. The sins of Manasseh, (2 Ki 24:3) Surely at the commandment of the LORD this came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, 5

6. The LORD would not pardon. (2 Ki 24:4) and also because of the innocent blood that he had shed; for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the LORD would not pardon. 6

7. Is there a day when there is no hope? When God says No! there is no higher source to appeal to. It is a tragic day when God shuts the door. Lets listen in to a conversation with God about His people. 7

8. Stating their condition (Jer 14:1-6 NKJV) The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts. {2} "Judah mourns, And her gates languish; They mourn for the land, And the cry of Jerusalem has gone up. {3} Their nobles have sent their lads for water; They went to the cisterns and found no water. They returned with their vessels empty; They were ashamed and confounded And covered their heads. 8

9. Stating their condition (Jer 14:1-6 NKJV) {4} Because the ground is parched, For there was no rain in the land, The plowmen were ashamed; They covered their heads. {5} Yes, the deer also gave birth in the field, But left because there was no grass. {6} And the wild donkeys stood in the desolate heights; They sniffed at the wind like jackals; Their eyes failed because there was no grass." 9

10. Jeremiah prays for Judah (Jer 14:7-9 NKJV) O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, Do it for Your name's sake; For our backslidings are many, We have sinned against You. 10

11. Jeremiah prays for Judah (Jer 14:7-9 NKJV) {8} O the Hope of Israel, his Savior in time of trouble, Why should You be like a stranger in the land, And like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night? {9} Why should You be like a man astonished, Like a mighty one who cannot save? Yet You, O LORD, are in our midst, And we are called by Your name; Do not leave us! 11

12. God answers with No! (Jer 14:10-12 NKJV) Thus says the LORD to this people: "Thus they have loved to wander; They have not restrained their feet. Therefore the LORD does not accept them; He will remember their iniquity now, And punish their sins." {11} Then the LORD said to me, "Do not pray for this people, for their good. 12

13. God answers with No! (Jer 14:10-12 NKJV) {12} "When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence." 13

14. Jeremiahs Response (Jer 14:13 NKJV) Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, the prophets say to them, 'You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.'" 14

15. They lied! (Jer 14:14-15 NKJV) And the LORD said to me, "The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart. 15

16. They will be punished! (Jer 14:14-15 NKJV) {15} "Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in My name, whom I did not send, and who say, 'Sword and famine shall not be in this land'; 'By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed! 16

17. No one to bury them. (Jer 14:16-18 NKJV) 'And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; they will have no one to bury them; them nor their wives, their sons nor their daughters; for I will pour their wickedness on them. 17

18. Ceaseless tears! (Jer 14:16-18 NKJV) {17} "Therefore you shall say this word to them: 'Let my eyes flow with tears night and day, And let them not cease; For the virgin daughter of my people Has been broken with a mighty stroke, with a very severe blow. 18

19. How they will die (Jer 14:16-18 NKJV) {18} If I go out to the field, Then behold, those slain with the sword! And if I enter the city, Then behold, those sick from famine! Yes, both prophet and priest go about in a land they do not know.'" 19

20. Another plea from Jeremiah (Jer 14:19-22 NKJV) Have You utterly rejected Judah? Has Your soul loathed Zion? Why have You stricken us so that there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but there was no good; And for the time of healing, and there was trouble. {20} We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness And the iniquity of our fathers, For we have sinned against You. 20

21. Another plea from Jeremiah (Jer 14:19-22 NKJV) {21} Do not abhor us, for Your name's sake; Do not disgrace the throne of Your glory. Remember, do not break Your covenant with us. {22} Are there any among the idols of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are You not He, O LORD our God? Therefore we will wait for You, Since You have made all these. 21

22. I will not change my mind! (Jer 15:1-2 NKJV) Then the LORD said to me, "Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth. 22

23. Their case is lost! (Jer 15:1-2 NKJV) {2} "And it shall be, if they say to you, 'Where should we go?' then you shall tell them, 'Thus says the LORD: "Such as are for death, to death; And such as are for the sword, to the sword; And such as are for the famine, to the famine; And such as are for the captivity, to the captivity."' 23

24. Appointed for Destruction (Jer 15:3-6 NKJV) "And I will appoint over them four forms of destruction," says the LORD: "the sword to slay, the dogs to drag, the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. {4} "I will hand them over to trouble, to all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem. 24

25. I am weary of relenting! (Jer 15:3-6 NKJV) {5} "For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Or who will bemoan you? Or who will turn aside to ask how you are doing? {6} You have forsaken Me," says the LORD, "You have gone backward. Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you; I am weary of relenting! 25

26. I will punish and destroy (Jer 15:7-9 NKJV) And I will winnow them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children; I will destroy My people, Since they do not return from their ways. {8} Their widows will be increased to Me more than the sand of the seas; I will bring against them, Against the mother of the young men, A plunderer at noonday; I will cause anguish and terror to fall on them suddenly. 26

27. I will deliver to the sword (Jer 15:7-9 NKJV) {9} "She languishes who has borne seven; She has breathed her last; Her sun has gone down While it was yet day; She has been ashamed and confounded. And the remnant of them I will deliver to the sword Before their enemies," says the LORD. 27

28. Im sorry I was borne (Jer 15:10 NKJV) Woe is me, my mother, That you have borne me, A man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent for interest, Nor have men lent to me for interest. Every one of them curses me. 28

29. Easier to understand version (Jer 15:10 NCV) Mother, I am sorry that you gave birth to me since I must accuse and criticize the whole land. I have not loaned or borrowed anything, but everyone curses me. 29

30. Hope for the future (Jer 15:11 NKJV) The LORD said: "Surely it will be well with your remnant; Surely I will cause the enemy to intercede with you In the time of adversity and in the time of affliction. 30

31. In 70 years, it will happen (Jer 29:8-14 NKJV) For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. {9} For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the LORD. 31

32. In 70 years, it will happen (Jer 29:8-14 NKJV) {10} For thus says the LORD: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. {11} For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. {12} Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 32

33. In 70 years, it will happen (Jer 29:8-14 NKJV) {13} And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. {14} I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive. 33

34. Back to Jeremiah 15 (Jer 15:12 NKJV) Can anyone break iron, The northern iron and the bronze? 34

35. Jamieson, Faussett, and Brown. steel rather, brass or copper, which mixed with iron (by the Chalybes near the Euxine Pontus, far north of Palestine), formed the hardest metal, like our steel. Can the Jews, hardy like common iron though they be, break the still hardier Chaldees of the north (Jer_1:14), who resemble the Chalybian iron hardened with copper? Certainly not [Calvin]. 35

36. Henderson translates. Can one break iron, (even) the northern iron, and brass, on the ground that English Version makes ordinary iron not so hard as brass. But it is not brass, but a particular mixture of iron and brass, which is represented as harder than common iron, which was probably then of inferior texture, owing to ignorance of modern modes of preparation. Jamieson, Faussett, and Brown. 36

37. Their problems (Jer 15:13-14 NKJV) Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder without price, Because of all your sins, Throughout your territories. {14} And I will make you cross over with your enemies Into a land which you do not know; For a fire is kindled in My anger, Which shall burn upon you." 37

38. Jeremiahs Prayer (Jer 15:15-16 NKJV) O LORD, You know; Remember me and visit me, And take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In Your enduring patience, do not take me away. Know that for Your sake I have suffered rebuke. {16} Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts. 38

39. Jeremiah pleads his case (Jer 15:17-18 NKJV) I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, Nor did I rejoice; I sat alone because of Your hand, For You have filled me with indignation. {18} Why is my pain perpetual And my wound incurable, Which refuses to be healed? Will You surely be to me like an unreliable stream, As waters that fail? 39

40. The Lords Answer (Jer 15:19-21 NKJV) Therefore thus says the LORD: "If you return, Then I will bring you back; You shall stand before Me; If you take out the precious from the vile, You shall be as My mouth. Let them return to you, But you must not return to them. 40

41. The Lords Answer (Jer 15:19-21 NKJV) {20} And I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall; And they will fight against you, But they shall not prevail against you; For I am with you to save you And deliver you," says the LORD. {21} "I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, And I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible." 41

42. Not All Accounts are settled Now 42

43. Not All Accounts are settled Now Jeremiah suffered because of what others had done. 43

44. Not All Accounts are settled Now Jeremiah suffered because of what others had done. All of us suffer because of what Adam and Eve have done. 44

45. Not All Accounts are settled Now Jeremiah suffered because of what others had done. All of us suffer because of what Adam and Eve have done. Not everything is made right immediately. Sometime we suffer for things done in the past. 45

46. Not All Accounts are settled Now Jeremiah suffered because of what others had done. All of us suffer because of what Adam and Eve have done. Not everything is made right immediately. Sometime we suffer for things done in the past. God is the One Who will determine the final victory 46