Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (OT)

Jeremiah 23:16-29

¹⁶ Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. ¹⁷ They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’ ”

¹⁸    For who among them has stood in the council of the Lord

to see and to hear his word,

or who has paid attention to his word and listened?

¹⁹    Behold, the storm of the Lord!

Wrath has gone forth,

       a whirling tempest;

it will burst upon the head of the wicked.

²⁰    The anger of the Lord will not turn back

until he has executed and accomplished

the intents of his heart.

       In the latter days you will understand it clearly.

²¹    “I did not send the prophets,

yet they ran;

       I did not speak to them,

yet they prophesied.

²²    But if they had stood in my council,

then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,

       and they would have turned them from their evil way,

and from the evil of their deeds.

²³ “Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? ²⁴ Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. ²⁵ I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ ²⁶ How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, ²⁷ who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal? ²⁸ Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. ²⁹ Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

I have always loved how easy it would be for you to use verse 21 with some kind of positive slant. God didn't have to do anything and people were already speaking his word. They were already running to tell the good news about Jesus to the nations. But then there is verse 22, telling us to sit down and shut up and listen to the counsel of the LORD. He will tell you to shape up, live right, and do what you are told OR ELSE!

Is this not modern Christianity? We hear the words of forgiveness and love to talk about loving our neighbor and serving our neighbor, and even accepting our neighbor's sinful lifestyle. Or maybe your church body does not latch onto the forgiveness of sins, but the wrath of God. God has promised to purge the world with fire and bloodshed. God is going to bring his great power and might down upon your head. He is going to destroy you for all your evil.

I think you are forgetting to take counsel with the Lord. Jesus Christ has proclaimed both things. These do not stand opposed to one another, but united together. Even here God praises the work of His prophets who continue to proclaim his truth and at the same time he speaks about a hammer and fire and the evil of the people.

Thanks be to God, that he sent his Son as the perfect Prophet. Jesus spoke the full counsel of God, and spoke even more so through his actions. He suffered on account of our sin. He rose claiming our victory, and pointing us to our eternal life in the resurrection.