[Peter Eddington] Thank you very much, Karlee. That's one of my favorite pieces of special music, actually. Beautiful. Thank you very much for that today. And good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Sabbath Services. Great to be here with you. I hope you've had a good week, that everything is going well. We've got quite a few at Camp Cotubic this weekend. You may have noticed one or two empty seats. So the teens are at Camp Cotubic, which is one of our bigger summer camps, and a lot of staff there as well from our congregation and from the surrounding areas. I think Camp Pinecrest is beginning this week as well. So there's a lot of activity, a lot of action during the summer for our teen camps and our pre-teen camps. So certainly, pray for the success of all of those.

I'm going to turn to Matthew 16:13 for a moment. In Matthew 16, Jesus spoke to his disciples in Caesarea Philippi in the northern part of the land of Israel. Caesarea Philippi was at one time called Banyas, and it was actually part of the tribe of Dan. It was the tribe of Dan's area when the Holy Land or the Promised Land was divided up.

Matthew 16:13-14 We read, "When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, 'Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?' So they said, 'Some say you're John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets.'"

It's an interesting list of prophets here in verse 14. Why is Jeremiah listed? Jeremiah was a very prominent prophet, and his words are actually quoted quite a bit in the New Testament. And what we want to cover today is how God's Church in the end time is going to, in effect, be reliving the experience of Jeremiah, and even going beyond what Jeremiah did. We could call this message, Preaching Gloom to Glory. Preaching Gloom to Glory. And I've got a kind of a subtitle, Hope in the Footsteps of Jeremiah. And I've divided the sermon up into five easy-to-follow sections.

So the nation of Judah had Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, all as contemporary prophets. They also had Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Obadiah, and Joel, as other contemporary prophets. So the Jews had a lot of prophets proclaiming things throughout about a 100-year period there. And Jeremiah was one of the prominent ones. And also at the time of Jeremiah, there was a prophetess named Hulda, H-U-L-D-A-H. So there's a prophetess at the same time as well.

Jeremiah was both a priest and a prophet. Ezekiel himself was a young priest. And then, of course, we had Daniel of the royal family of the tribe of Judah, who was practically running the Chaldean Empire during Jeremiah's time. So what we'd call these spiritual giants helped to keep the people, to some degree on track, so there could be some repentance and a restoration and a return to Jerusalem after what was going to be 70 years of captivity. These prophets set the stage for final repentance and a return.

So I'm going to take a look at Jeremiah's career for a few minutes, and then later I want to tie it into the role of the church of God, particularly in our time today because it's quite similar. We're only 24 years into the 21st century, but it seems there's a good likelihood that things will finally come to a stunning conclusion in the near future and Jesus' return. So my first point of the five is number one, simply Jeremiah's career. Who was Jeremiah? What did he do? He's often thought of as the weeping prophet because he cried for his nation. We talk about the gloom and doom that he preached, but he was also a prophet of hope. And we mustn't forget that there's two sides to what he preached.

He was a prophet of encouragement that led God's people to eventual glory particularly when we look at the church. He was there to warn his nation of impending catastrophe, but he had a hand in rebuilding and restoring the nation. And this is somewhat implied in his name. Jeremiah is a Hebrew name meaning God will exalt or God will raise up. God will restore is what his name means. But it also means to throw or to shoot as to cast away. So his name can mean to build up or can mean to tear down depending on, you know, how you want to see the meaning of his Hebrew name.

Jeremiah saw his beautiful city in the temple destroyed, torn down, but at the same time he knew God would raise up his people and restore them. Jeremiah is known as the prophet of the new covenant. He prophesied of the Messiah and of a new covenant. It's all repeated actually in the Book of Hebrews. Jeremiah's words are in the Book of Hebrews. So Jeremiah did prophesy of punishment and gloom, but also of hope and glory and of the kingdom of God and of the Messiah.

It's interesting that in his long career he was ultimately imprisoned by his own people. And it was because of what he said. They didn't want to hear it. He was persecuted by his fellow Jews and almost killed. He was falsely accused of helping the Chaldeans, and they locked him up in a Jewish dungeon. Strangely enough, he was finally released by the enemy. And one of the commanders of the enemy understood more than the people of Judah why the nation was being punished. We'll look at that in a few minutes.

Jeremiah's career spans many kings because he prophesied for half a century. And one of them was the great righteous ruler Josiah. And he, Josiah, under the influence of the prophetess Huldah, led quite a renewal in Judah. Josiah was one of the most righteous kings there were in Judah. There's not many details about Huldah, other than where she lived and who her husband was. But Huldah's prophecy and the events that precipitated it are quite amazing. We're going to turn to 2 Chronicles 34 for a moment.

You see, because of the nation's sins, King Josiah said, "I need guidance on what to do." So he sent his advisors to see Huldah, the prophetess, asking for a word from God. And Huldah gave the king's men a message to take back to Josiah that basically said, "Yes, disaster will strike the nation because the people have forgotten God and are worshiping idols." And King Josiah himself, though, had already started to tear down the idols and restore the nation. And as a result of this action, Huldah said, "The destruction of Judah would not occur during Josiah's reign, not during his lifetime." So here's a few words from Huldah in 2 Chronicles 34:27-28, for example, if you just break into the story here.

2 Chronicles 34:27-28 Huldah says from God, "'Because your heart,'" Josiah, "'was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place, against its inhabitants. And you humbled yourself before me,' says God, 'and you tore your clothes and wept before me. I also have heard you, says the Lord.'" So Josiah was restoring the nation, tearing down the idols, trying to restore things at the temple. Verse 28, "'Surely,' says God, 'I will gather you to your fathers and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace. And your eyes shall not see all the calamity which I will bring upon this place and its inhabitants.'"

So Josiah was one of the final righteous kings before the destruction came and kind of allowed the nation to live in peace and be restored for a short time. But after Josiah's death, which happened in battle, unfortunately, he died in battle, Jeremiah mourned deeply the loss of Josiah. It really hit him hard. And so Jeremiah wrote the Book of Lamentations, not just about lamenting Judah and its fall, but the loss of Josiah. The Book of Lamentations, in many respects, was his sadness over the loss of this righteous king, Josiah. So Jeremiah wrote the Book of Lamentations.

He also wrote other laments about Josiah that are recorded in 2 Chronicles 35, the very next chapter from what we just read. There's a lament to Josiah by Jeremiah there. But Jeremiah had a long career spanning half a century. He's traditionally the author of the Books of Kings. Jeremiah wrote the Books of Kings, the Book of Jeremiah, and the Book of Lamentations. He had a scribe who worked with him on all this, worked very closely with him, named Baruch. Baruch was his scribe.

So to summarize, Jeremiah worked during the lives of many kings of Judah for 50 years. And finally, the last king of Judah before the captivity was Zedekiah. Now, Zedekiah was just 21 years old when he took the throne. And it was a shaky throne. Zedekiah took a very shaky throne in Judah. The land of Judah in the southern kingdom was under siege by the Chaldeans. And he was put on the throne by the grace of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar let Zedekiah rule there in Jerusalem.

At the end of the sermon, we'll actually note Zedekiah's final fate as this last king before the captivity. But with Zedekiah, the monarchy of King David ended in terms of there in the southern kingdom of Judah. Zedekiah was the final king of the line of David there before the captivity. The last of the Davidic kings to rule over the house of Judah. So that's kind of a brief overview of Jeremiah, who his contemporary prophets were, and you know this 50-year span of his prophecies, including during King Josiah's reign.

So, now, let's look at Jeremiah's mission. Point two, Jeremiah's mission. And we're going to draw some parallels about the church here in a little while. But Jeremiah 1, gives his mission from God. Right here at the beginning of Jeremiah 1, let's start in verse 4, for example.

Jeremiah 1:4-6 "Then the Word of the Lord came to me saying," and here's a quote from God, "'Behold, I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I ordained you a prophet to the nations.'" So this is now his mission being given. And then Jeremiah says, "'Oh, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak for I am a youth.'"

Jeremiah may have been in his mid-teen years, perhaps 16 years old, 15 years old, when God first called him to this mission. Jeremiah said, "I'm just a kid." And when he began preaching in earnest several years later, he may have only been about 20 years old. When what we're about to read was written by him, a very young prophet.

Jeremiah 1:7-10 "The Lord said to me, 'Don't say I'm a youth, for you shall go to all to whom I send you. And whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you,' says the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth. The Lord said to me, 'Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out, to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, but to build and to plant.'"

So remember the name Jeremiah can mean to raise up or to cast away. Verse 10 says this almost exactly. And so here we see Jeremiah's mission as a very young prophet to speak on behalf of God. So what we read in Jeremiah is God speaking through this prophet. He was called to be a prophet as a teenager and even from his mother's womb, God had set him apart. God told him, "You're going to face a lot of opposition in your work." And he surely did. It was rough. Jeremiah didn't live an easy life. He had a very difficult life as a prophet, at least after Josiah had died. But God did deliver him through it all, which we'll see. Yes, Jeremiah saw the kingdom torn down, and yet he was commissioned to be part of raising it back up again.

So in chapter 7, if we turn to Jeremiah 7, as part of Jeremiah's mission, we see a very serious condemnation of the nation. And I would say it's exactly what we see happening in our world today, in our country today. What we read here could be said about the United States, Australia, United Kingdom. It's pretty much an indictment on us too when you look at it. Jeremiah 7:25, if we start there, Jeremiah is in the middle of saying what God is condemning the nation for.

Jeremiah 7:25-27 "'Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt, until this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. Yet the nation did not obey me or incline their ear, but stiffen their neck, and they did worse than their fathers. Therefore, you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.'"

We have a similar situation today, where our efforts to proclaim the gospel fall on deaf ears. Most people don't want to hear it, and they just want to go on with their lives. And that's what it was like in Judah. They didn't want to hear it. They just wanted to go on with their lives.

Jeremiah 7:28-30 "'So you shall say to them, this is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord, their God, nor receive correction. Truth has perished, and it's being cut off from their mouth.'" So today, even our politicians lie all the time, don't they? Our leaders lie. Truth has perished. Verse 29, "'So Jeremiah, cut off your hair, cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights. The Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath,'" once again, very sad words there that Jeremiah is told by God, "'for the children of Judah have done evil in my sight,' says the Lord. 'They have set their abominations in the house, which is called by my name, to pollute it.'"

So even in church, things are being done that God thinks are evil.

Jeremiah 7:31-34 "'They've built the high places of Tofet,'" you know, these are places of idol worship, "'which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, neither did it come to my heart.'" In verse 34, "'Then I'll cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land shall be desolate.'"

So this is Jeremiah's mission. It sounds like a dead-end job, doesn't it? Nobody's going to listen, but say it anyway. Jeremiah is told that, unfortunately, your words will fall on deaf ears. "Truth has perished," we read in verse 28. Truth is dead in Judah. And we even see horrible human sacrifices of children taking place in verse 31. Total paganism and abomination. God said it's worse than even, you know, the previous generations had done. So a very tragic end is prophesied for Judah. And this so much mirrors our society today, doesn't it? We even have child sacrifice for family convenience. We have lifestyle abominations throughout our land, even in churches which should know better. Jeremiah said, "It's even happening in the place of worship." God says, "Truth has perished." So Jeremiah's mission seems like a hopeless one.

And, now, look what comes next. Point three, Jeremiah is imprisoned. He wound up being imprisoned by his own people. They did not want to hear what God was telling them through Jeremiah. If we go to Jeremiah 38, starting in verse 1, Jeremiah 38:1, this is actually a list of palace princes here in verse 1.

Jeremiah 38:1-3 "Now, the palace princes, Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people." So these palace princes were listening to what Jeremiah was saying. For example, in verse 2, "Thus says the Lord, 'He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes over to the Chaldeans shall live, for his life shall be as a prize to him, and he shall live.'" "Thus says the Lord," verse 3, "'This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which shall take it.'"

So Jeremiah said, "Calamity is coming because of your sin, but if you are nice and just go with the Chaldeans back to Babylon, you'll live, you'll be okay."

Jeremiah 38:4 "Therefore, the princes," these palace princes, "said to the king," to King Zedekiah, right, this final king of Judah, "'Please, let this man be put to death, for thus he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man does not seek the welfare of this people, but their harm.'"

They're saying, "Jeremiah is a traitor. He is telling us all to just, you know, lay down our arms and go with the Babylonians or the Chaldeans back to Babylon." Then Zedekiah the king said…

Jeremiah 38:5-6 "Look, I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do. He's in your hand. The king can do nothing. So, like, you know, I wash my hands of all this." Kind of sounds like Pilate, doesn't it? "You do with him whatever you've got to do." Verse 6, "So they took Jeremiah, cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah, the king's son."

So one of the princes here, I guess, had a dungeon ready to roll, "which was in the court of the prison, and they let Jeremiah down with ropes and in the dungeon, there was no water but mire." So Jeremiah sank in the mire. Kind of like quicksand almost, right? So Jeremiah was left to starve in this dungeon, and it actually reached the point where there was no food left even in Jerusalem. Remember the Chaldeans had basically conquered all of Judah. They conquered Egypt and all the surrounding countries and only Jerusalem was left standing with a holdout of the kings of Zedekiah and the population there in Jerusalem was the last holdout against the Babylonian army. So, now, verse 7.

Jeremiah 38:7-10 "Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs, who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon. When the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin, Ebed-Melech went out of the king's house and spoke to the king, saying," verse 9, "'My lord, the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon, and he is likely to die from hunger in the place where he is. For there is no more bread in the city.'"

So this Ethiopian eunuch goes to bat for Jeremiah and says, "This guy's going to die in prison. You've got to do something." So King Zedekiah finally brought Jeremiah out of the dungeon and asked him to tell him all that God had prophesied. So Jeremiah told the king about the Chaldeans being the ones that God said would destroy Jerusalem because of all Judah's sins. So Zedekiah heard all the prophecies, and then did he say, "Thank you very much, Jeremiah. I guess we need to repent"? No, he put Jeremiah back in the dungeon. No thanks.

Jeremiah 38:28 "Now, Jeremiah remained in prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken, and he was there when Jerusalem was taken."

So Jeremiah spent quite a bit of time there in prison. You can imagine the scene. All of Judah has been conquered by the Chaldeans, except the capital, Jerusalem. Only Jerusalem is left. It's as if all of the United States has been captured and overrun by let's say China or Russia or by the future beast power and only Washington, D.C. is left. And there's a holdout in Washington, D.C. of the military defending the capital before finally being overrun. And it's as if the leader of God's Church is in prison in Washington, D.C. No matter what he says the Church leaders are in prison left to starve shall we say in a wet dungeon. So the whole nation is overrun except for the capital. But when Jeremiah's country was then conquered by the Chaldeans a commander of the Chaldeans came and spoke to him in the prison.

And that's in Jeremiah 40 just a few pages over. If we read Jeremiah 40 starting in verse 2.

Jeremiah 40:2-3 "The captain of the guard," whose name actually was Nebuzaradan... We read in other places his name was Nebuzaradan. "When the captain of the guard," Nebuzaradan, "took Jeremiah...then took Jeremiah, and said to him, 'The Lord your God has pronounced this doom on this place.' He says, 'The Lord has brought it and has done just as He said He would because you people,'" says this Chaldean, '"have sinned against the Lord and not obeyed His voice, therefore, this thing has come upon you.'"

This Chaldean captain knew exactly why Judah was being conquered. He knew it was a punishment on Judah for their adultery and sin. So even the enemy knew why they were given this power to overtake Judah. In fact, this Chaldean captain knew it better than the Jews did. He'd figured out the whole scenario. The reason for Judah's punishment had not escaped this Chaldean captain.

Jeremiah 40:4-5 So Nebuzaradan says, "Look, I free you this day from the chains that were on your hand." So he lets Jeremiah free, lets him out. "If it seems good to you come with me to Babylon, and I'll look after you," so this Chaldean took a liking to Jeremiah, "but, you know, if you don't want to do that if it seems wrong for you to come with me to Babylon, remain here." He says, "All the land is before you, wherever it seems good and convenient for you to go there." He said, "You can live anywhere you want, and I'll watch after you, Jeremiah." Verse 5, and basically, before Jeremiah had made a decision on this, "Nebuzaradan said, 'Well, or go back to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah.'"

So the Chaldeans had placed certain governors in the town that worked for them now and one of them was Gedaliah. So Gedaliah was working for the Chaldeans. "'Dwell with him among the people or just go wherever it's convenient for you to go.'" "You, Jeremiah, can do anything you want, and I'll look after you." "So the captain of the guard gave him rations and a gift, and let him go."

Jeremiah 40:6 "So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah, and dwelt with him among the people who are left in the land."

So you've got a remnant of the people that have not been taken to Babylon like Daniel was, right? Daniel got taken off with the royal family and others to Babylon, but Jeremiah stayed back here with a remnant of the people that were allowed to live in the city.

Jeremiah 40:9 "And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, took an oath before them and their men, saying, 'Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans, dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it should be well with you.'"

So just behave yourselves, keep your heads down, and we'll be okay. We're not all going to get killed by the enemy if we just do what we're told. So Jeremiah ended up with a group of survivors here in this area that Gedaliah was now governor of, but, unfortunately, there was more trouble to come in Judah. Gedaliah then got assassinated, so that didn't go well. So Jeremiah felt he should flee, and he decided to flee to Egypt, but going to Egypt wasn't exactly what God had wanted either. In this section about Jeremiah being imprisoned, of course, now is out now.

Jeremiah 43:5-6 "But Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to dwell in the land of Judah from all nations where they've been driven.” So they got this group of survivors. Verse 6, "Men, women, children, and King Zedekiah's daughters and every person whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had left with Gedaliah."

So they gathered all these VIPs that had been allowed to live in Gedaliah's area. Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and, of course, Jeremiah the prophet was with them, and Baruch the son of Neriah. So, of course, Baruch was Jeremiah's scribe. So you got all these VIPs and Jeremiah and Jeremiah's scribe deciding that they need to escape now after Gedaliah had been assassinated.

Jeremiah 43:7 "They went to the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the Lord, and they went as far as Tahpanhes."

So in this group were the daughters of King Zedekiah, and there's a very good case to be made that after this Jeremiah took at least one of the daughters of Zedekiah and traveled from Egypt to a faraway land where there's a remnant or descendant of Judah ruling, and she married a prince of that land, and so the descendants of King David continued to rule. I gave a sermon a year ago titled God's Covenant with King David about how God promised there'd always be someone sitting on the throne. And in that sermon, we looked at how King Zedekiah's daughter seems to have gone from Egypt to Ireland to continue the throne of David there, where she married a Jewish royal person in the British Isles, and that kingly line still exists today, of course, from that. So this is story of Jeremiah being imprisoned and then let out by the captain, the Chaldean captain.

So, now, fourth point, from gloom to glory. Here's where we get to see now the whole story come full circle. So point four, I've called from gloom to glory. Because you see this is not the end for Judah or for Israel. Jeremiah was also a prophet of hope, and there are words he wrote back then for us to consider today, which actually apply to us in preaching the gospel of the kingdom. It's a story of preaching from gloom to glory. Let's go to Jeremiah 31 and read verse 10. Jeremiah 31 is often what we read on the day of Pentecost. It's about the new covenant.

Jeremiah 31:10-17 "'Hear the Word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the isles afar off.'" Those Isles many people say could be referring to Jeremiah referring to the British Isles where King Zedekiah's daughter that he had taken. "'Hear the Word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He who scattered Israel,'" which was God, right, "'He who scattered Israel would gather him and keep him as a shepherd does his flock.'" You know, bring the flock back together again. Verse 16, "Thus says the Lord, 'Refrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears for your work shall be rewarded,' says the Lord, 'and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.'" And verse 17, here's what God is telling Jeremiah, "'There is hope in your future. That your children shall come back to their own border.'"

"There is hope," God told Jeremiah, "refrain from weeping because your work as a prophet is going to be rewarded." Verse 17 here is actually inspiration for the poem that became the national anthem of Israel today about the Jews coming back to the Promised Land or the Holy Land. That's from verse 17 their national anthem.

There is hope in your future. Jeremiah is a prophet, ultimately, of hope, and we too, ultimately, preach and announce the gospel of the kingdom of God. A message of hope for our world today. If we continue reading, of course, Jeremiah next speaks of the new covenant and mankind and Israel and Judah getting a new heart, and, of course, being eventually led by God's Holy Spirit. Look at Jeremiah 33 because here we see kind of an echo of what we read in Jeremiah 7. Jeremiah 7 was all the gloom and doom, right? Here in Jeremiah 33, though, we see the opposite of that. Here we now see the hope of how all that will get turned around. It's a rebuttal really to chapter 7. Jeremiah 7 was indeed fulfilled. Judah was overrun by the Chaldeans. But, now, we come to Jeremiah 33:10.

Jeremiah 33:10-11 "Thus says the Lord, 'Again, there shall be heard in this place of which you say, 'It is desolate, without man and without beast,' in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate without man and without inhabitant and without beast, the voice of joy.'" So it's not looking good right now but, eventually, we'll have the voice of joy, the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom. Remember we read in chapter 7, there won't be anybody getting married anymore, you won't see the bridegroom or the brides anymore, the noble kids playing in the streets. He says, "But you're going to hear the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say, 'Praise the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good.'" You won't have people cursing God, now you have people praising God, "'For His mercy endures forever,' and those who will bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord." So the house of the Lord then will be filled with praise for God, not the abominations that were going on during Jeremiah's time. "'For I will cause the captives of the land to return as at the first,' says the Lord."

So this is a prophecy of the return of the Jews back to the Holy Land shall we say. You never know whether to call it Israel, the Holy Land, the Promised Land, Palestine, you never know what to call it, right? I'll just call it the Holy Land, I guess, or the Promised Land. But there was indeed...this prophecy did come to pass partly for the Jews after Jeremiah had died. There was a partial restoration of Jerusalem in the days of King Cyrus of Persia, remember. The nation of Judah returned to remain in the Holy Land for quite some time, and the covenant was renewed under Nehemiah. So this took place, but it's a prophecy of a much greater return yet to come. But that return, too, did not last, and there is coming an ultimate redemption yet ahead because Jeremiah 33 is also an end-time prophecy not just a prophecy for those days.

Jeremiah's book, 52 chapters or so, contains condemnation as well as encouragement in chapters like this, chapter 33. During this Chaldean siege of Judah and Jerusalem, Jeremiah worked hard to encourage his people through these prophecies. It was a message of gloom that, eventually, led to a message of future glory for both Judah and Israel. And as part of this prophecy, Jeremiah even bought land while his country was under siege. It's as if you lived in Washington, D.C., the rest of the country is under foreign rule, you're put in prison, you know, under the White House or something, hiding from the enemy, yet you decide to buy a house, buy some real estate. It's actually in Jeremiah 32 if you go back a chapter here.

Jeremiah 32:2 "For the king of Babylon's army," so it's king Nebuchadnezzar's army, "besieged Jerusalem, and Jeremiah, the prophet, was shut up in the court of the prison."

So once again here's Jeremiah in prison, right? As Jerusalem's being overrun by Nebuchadnezzar, the prison was in the king of Judah's house. This is actually at the palace, Zedekiah's palace.

Jeremiah 32:6 "And Jeremiah said," verse 6, "'the Word of the Lord came to me,'" here while I'm sitting in prison, "'saying, 'Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum, your uncle will come to you saying, 'Buy my field which is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is yours to buy it.'''

Have got to see some land, Jeremiah. I know you're in prison but God's telling you should buy it.

Jeremiah 13-15 "'Then I charged my scribe, Baruch, before them saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, take these,''" you know, real estate deeds, "''both this purchased deed which is sealed and this deed which is open and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last many days.''" So I'm going to buy this land, please protect my title here and this deed.Verse 15, "'For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.''"

So you're shut up in prison in Washington, D.C., but you buy real estate because you know you're going to get out. Jeremiah had hope, and so he bought this land. It's like a very, very famous prophecy here in Jeremiah 32. "Yes, the land will be possessed, again," Jeremiah is told, "in a time of future peace." There's a very similar message to what we preach today, there's a time of hope ahead for Judah and Israel and even in our nation today. This is a prophecy of hope and encouragement of the coming kingdom of God is what it is. Let's go to Jeremiah 25 because this is a chapter of prophecy that encouraged Daniel while Daniel was over in Babylon. Of course, Daniel was a Jewish captive taken to Babylon while Jeremiah was in prison in Jerusalem and Ezekiel's off doing his thing at the same time.

Jeremiah 25:12 Jeremiah says, "'Then it will come to pass when 70 years are completed that I will punish the King of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,' says the Lord, 'and I will make it a perpetual desolation.'"

So you see the Chaldeans were not righteous either. God used them as a tool to punish Judah, but they, too, were extremely sinful. And so after 70 years, the Babylonian empire collapsed, and the Persian empire took over. That's a story for another day. Of course, it's all in Scripture as well. So this empire of the Chaldeans, Jeremiah said would only last another 70 years. It was to be a 70-year captivity for the Jews, and Daniel was there for the fulfillment of that return back to the Holy Land. Jeremiah by then had most likely since died after fleeing to Egypt and didn't get to see the return from what we understand. But Daniel, certainly, saw the return. Daniel was being in his 90s, but he saw the return.

I'm going to go to Daniel 9. Let's leave Jeremiah for a moment and go to Daniel 9. Because Daniel read Jeremiah's words of hope and thought, "Maybe we're going to have the opportunity to go home after all." So he prayed deeply about it, and after 70 years, they went home. The prophecy of Jeremiah's field came to pass.

Daniel 9:2 "In the first year of his reign," that's the first year of King Darius's reign, "I, Daniel, understood by the books, the number of years specified by the Word of the Lord through Jeremiah, the prophet..."

So Daniel's reading what, no doubt Baruch, the scribe had penned down all these prophecies. Daniel gets a copy of what Jeremiah had said. That he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

Daniel 9:3 "So I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes."

Daniel prayed deeply to God for this prophecy to come to pass, for his people to go home.

Daniel 9:4-5 "And I prayed to the Lord my God, I made confession, and said, ‘O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, with those who keep his commandments, we have sinned, we've committed iniquity, we've done wickedly, and rebelled, even by departing from your precepts and your judgments.'"

Of course, Daniel was a righteous person overall. He wasn't sinning like the rest of the nation, but he's taking the sin of the whole nation on his shoulders, going to God, and he says, "Please, forgive us for what we've done, have mercy upon us. We've done wickedly and rebelled." And I would say here, when we look at verses 4 and 5, just like Daniel, we too should pray for our nation to repent. We don't want to see a future captivity and annihilation of what is prophesied in the Bible that will come before the descendants of Jacob because of their sin. What happened in Jeremiah's time, we're told is going to happen again at the end time right before Christ returns.

Punishment of sin for those who should know better. This nation has the Bible. We should know better, and so there'll be punishment for breaking God's laws. So, I mean, I said, we too should pray for our nation, shouldn't we? That this calamity won't come. That people will repent. They will get righteous leaders. Daniel acknowledges the great sin of his nation and pleads for forgiveness throughout this whole chapter. He asked for mercy upon those who've rebelled against God. We want people to see their sin. We want people to change, don't we? So once again, I mean, we pray for our nation, too, we should, that God will have mercy upon us.

Jeremiah 9:19 He says, "O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, listen and act. Do not delay for your own sake, my God, for your city and your people are called by your name."

What eventually happened? Daniel read these words of the 70-year prophecy from Jeremiah, and God inspired the subsequent Persian king, who took over the Chaldean empire, King Cyrus, to allow the Jews, after 70 years exactly, the opportunity to go back and rebuild the city of Jerusalem and the temple. And the rest of Daniel 9 talks about the 70 years and other prophecies, the 70-weeks prophecy, but also the eventual time of the Messiah to change and save the whole world. Once again a prophecy of hope. The ultimate message of hope is this from going from gloom to glory. Jeremiah prophesied of the Messiah as well, particularly in Jeremiah 23. That's a whole chapter on the hope of the Messiah, and as we could say the rest is history.

At the end of the Book of Jeremiah, there is encouragement as well. The book actually ends on a message of hope. He did lament, and he did prophesy gloom and doom but also of tremendous encouragement, including the new covenant that we focused on during the Feast of Pentecost. The final chapter of Jeremiah, chapter 52, which I'll turn to here in a moment, first, gives a summary of all that had happened in Judah. It gives a historic summary of the fall of Jerusalem and the fate of King Zedekiah himself, that young 20-year-old king. This all happened after Zedekiah had put Jeremiah back into prison.

It says in verses 10 and 11, the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah right before his eyes. He killed all the princes of Judah in Riblah. He also put out the eyes of Zedekiah. And the king of Babylon bound him in bronze fetters, took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death. So that's what happened to King Zedekiah who listened to Jeremiah and threw him back in prison. It was only Zedekiah's daughters that escaped, of the whole royal family just the two girls, and they fled to Egypt, and then we think on to other places, right? And then the final verses of the Book of Jeremiah tell the story of the next Jewish king, Jehoiachin, after 37 years of captivity being given honor by the Babylonian King Evil-Merodach. So the Book of Jeremiah even ends on a more positive note. We look at verse 31.

Jeremiah 52:31-34 "It came to pass in the 37th year of the captivity," so we're 37 years into the 70 years, "that there was a king there Jehoiachin, king of Judah, there in captivity in Babylon in the 12th month on the 25th day of the month." So we've got the exact date on the calendar this happened. "Evil-Merodach, the king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign lifted up Jehoiachin, king of Judah, and brought him out of prison, and he spoke kindly to him." So this new Babylonian king liked Judah it seems. "He spoke kindly to him, gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, and he ate bread regularly before the king all the days of his life. And as for his provisions, there was a regular ration given him by the king of Babylon, a portion for each day until the day of his death, all the days of his life."

So even while in captivity, there was hope for the Jews, and the king was let out of prison. This particular king was no longer of the line of King David. This shows, again, that this book is intended to be a book of encouragement when all is said and done. Jehoiachin was restored to a very prestigious position. No, he was not sent back home to Jerusalem to rule, but this encouragement is a fitting conclusion to this material because Jeremiah did look forward to more positive time. So that leads us to our final point, point five, the Church, us today. The church preaching gloom to glory. The Church preaching gloom to glory. So in keeping with the spirit of Jeremiah's prophecies, I want to go to what is an analogy or a comparison of Jeremiah's career with that of the New Testament church of God. And I, particularly, want to consider the end-time role of the New Testament church, you know, at the end, and how similar it is to what Jeremiah witnessed in his nation, from gloom to glory.

And in many ways, we walk in similar footsteps to Jeremiah. The time is soon coming when there's going to be a very powerful witness, an indictment from God against this world. And this witness will be, particularly, powerful right before the second coming of Jesus Christ. And we even have what are called the two witnesses, right? And at that time, the sins of the world are going to be exposed just like Jeremiah told his people the same thing and got thrown in prison. Humanity is going to be condemned, and the right way of life will be expounded, whether anybody wants to hear it or not, soon before Christ returns. And just like for ancient Judah, the consequences for sin will be revealed. In other words, we have the good news, but the good news will be preceded by some bad news.

When we preach the gospel, we tell people, "Yes, there's good news, but, unfortunately, because of sin, the world is going to go through some bad news first." But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Because the world is so ungodly, there is coming a cataclysm and a punishment, and then God will finally intervene in the most powerful way ever to judge this world and our civilization, just like in Jeremiah's time, that time is coming. But beyond it is coming a wonderful world tomorrow. In many respects, we could say the brand of the Church throughout the 1900s, the vision of the Church throughout the 1900s was that of the wonderful world tomorrow. The Church's message continually revolved around that phrase. The television program was even called that. The world tomorrow was a message of hope. It's bad news today turning into good news tomorrow. It's a message of gloom to glory.

Jeremiah was imprisoned for bringing God's warning message to His nation. The people and the king did not want to hear it. So he was left to die in a deep wet dungeon with no food. Christ prophesied the same could happen for His church in the end time. Our message is not popular either. So Christianity is on the outs, but our version of Christianity is even more on the outs, where even other Christians don't like what we teach. It's not a popular message, but nevertheless, just like Jeremiah, the Church has a responsibility to preach the message.

What is the gospel message? It actually has a number of facets to it. It's to preach against sin. Yes, a warning against sin. It's to preach repentance. And we want people to repent, of course. It's to preach a warning message. So it's a message against sin, it's for repentance, it's a warning message, but it's also a message of hope, to preach of a wonderful world tomorrow, to announce the kingdom of God to come. And with all of this, I encourage each of us each day to pray for the gospel to be preached successfully around the world, to all nations. It's part of our duty to pray for the work of the Church to successfully preach the gospel around the world.

Look at Matthew 24:14 for a moment. Because with the Church's responsibility to do this, can come difficult times, can even come some persecution. God's people are promised protection from Satan, but some, apparently, will die for what they believe as well. Jeremiah survived, and the Church will survive as well.

Matthew 24:14 "This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come."

The gospel does have to be preached to the world as a witness before Christ returns, and, like I said, a big part of that will be the two witnesses who will not be able to be stopped for three and a half years. This tells us here there's going to be a very powerful wittess to all the nations not just to Judah by Jeremiah but to all of humanity by the Church. Jesus Christ told His disciples in Acts 1:8, right before they were to receive the Holy Spirit.

Acts 1:8 He says, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you shall be witnesses to me," Christ said to the disciples, "in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

It's Acts 1:8. Christ said, "You'll be witnesses of me not just in the Holy Land, not just in Judea, but to all the earth." And then if you want to make a note of it, of course, it's Matthew 28:18-20 that gives us what we call the great commission to preach the gospel. I was going to turn to Mark 13 as our second last scripture here. Because the gospel is to be preached throughout all the world, to the ends of the earth, to the end of the age, we're told.

Mark 16:15 It says, "The gospel will be preached to every creature," you know, to everyone.

There's going to be a Jeremiah-like work. The unpopularity that Jeremiah brought upon himself will be similar for the Church. Christ said if they hated Him, that they would hate us. So Mark 13. Thank God there are some people who will respond, but then others, even the majority, will not, for now, as we know. But they'll hear the gospel message as a witness, and they'll be able to respond later when Jesus Christ returns. Mark 13:11, notice this...actually verse 10.

Mark 13:10-13 "This gospel must first be preached to all the nations," once again there's our commission, "but when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand, or pre-meditate what you shall speak. For whatever is given you in that hour, speak that, for it is not you who speak but the Holy Spirit. And you shall be hated," verse 13, "by all for my name's sake. But he who endures to the end shall be saved."

So once again there's the hope, but he who endures to the end shall be saved. It's going to come to the point of, which we read in Revelation 12, where a great persecution will come upon the Church, and the Church will have fled to, "Her place prepared by God." At that same time, the work of the two witnesses will continue, and they'll be protected just as Jeremiah was protected. The two witnesses will preach, and many will be converted during what is called the great tribulation. There'll be conversions during the great tribulation after the Church has fled, and it seems those new converts won't be able to flee and will face persecution, it seems like in Revelation 12:17, we read there.

So to wrap things up, Jeremiah was one who restored the confidence of the people through his encouraging prophecies of a better time to come. He inspired Ezekiel and Daniel in their work, and so God gives us a view of what He will ultimately do in a better world to come as well. God's Church, in the end time, will have the opportunity of telling it like it is. Obviously, we don't want to be around when catastrophe occurs, who would want to? But, on the other hand, on the other side of it, the saints survive, the Church of God comes through it all, and it's offered eternal life. The goal is eternal life in what we used to call the wonderful world tomorrow. Just as Jeremiah survived on the other side of the destruction of Jerusalem, we can be encouraged that not only will we keep the truth alive but beyond that, we will have the opportunity to be part of the solution, to be kings and priests and judges with Jesus Christ, helping others learn what we learned, be part of the solution.

And when Jesus Christ returns, we'll be raised to immortal life. And then we'll not only be able to help rebuild the world but make it greater than it's ever been. Everyone then will be following God's way of life. They'll all be part of what we've called the wonderful world tomorrow. An amazing age is ahead, the messianic era, the millennium, and then beyond that to infinity. Let's go to Revelation 20:6 to close. There's kind of a parallel between Jeremiah's career and what he did and what the Church is doing, but the Church will go even beyond that to all nations, and when Jesus returns, Jeremiah will be there. We'll be able to work together with Jeremiah and other heroes of the Bible that are resurrected when Christ returns. It's certainly a thrilling time to look forward to when those famous prophets will see the kingdom as well. A thrilling time to look forward to that should motivate us to want to stay on the straight and narrow path to be a part of it all.

Revelation 20:6 Speaking actually of the Church and the saints, "Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such, the second death has no power."

So it's talking of immortal life for the Church, for the saints, "and they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a 1,000 years." Of course, that's just the first 1,000 years. The second death has no power over the saints. The saints are resurrected to immortal life. And we can do even more than Jeremiah did with the technology available to us today in preaching against sin and preaching of a better world to come. We will share in the millennium with Him and with many other biblical heroes, and with the returning bridegroom to have the marriage supper of the lamb. We have the opportunity of being kings and priests and judges under the King of kings and Lord of lords as we walk in the footsteps of Jeremiah and humanity eventually goes from gloom to glory.