Read: Jeremiah 26
Verses chosen for reflection
12 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and all the people, saying, “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard. 13 Now therefore mend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will relent of the disaster that he has pronounced against you. 14 But as for me, behold, I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. 15 Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants, for in truth the Lord sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”
Reflect
Jeremiah said to the people that he has been sent by God to prophesy against Judah. The prophecy was that unless Judah repents, they would be conquered and held in captivity by the Babylonians.
Jeremiah then tried to back up his claim that he was really sent by God, but boldly asking them to do what they will with his life. This was said with the warning if they should so decide to kill him; they would be spilling innocent blood and bring disaster upon themselves.
Relate
Who is the "true prophet"?
Jeremiah or the priests and prophets who kept saying that Jeremiah was spouting nonsense? We only know from hindsight that Jeremiah was the true prophet of his time. He was called by God and faithfully preached God's message to the people for forty years.
If we put ourselves as one of the common folk at that time, listening to two sides of the argument; who do we think is speaking the truth?
It might be more difficult than we think. On the one side, are the faculty of leaders whom the people grew to trust. Some are friends. Some are even family members. On the other side is Jeremiah. The lone self-proclaimed prophet. Not endorsed by any institution. Not mentored by any of the priests or older prophets. Yet, he seemed to be sincere. Saying that he is from God and even willing to back up what he said with his own life. Not easy to choose!
Even so, we can consider a few tips when trying to discern who is the true prophet of the day. These tips are applicable, not only between Jeremiah and the existing prophets; but self-proclaimed "prophets" of our time. Or persons and leaders who like to declare "God told me..."
The first tip is to discern if what the person says cohere with the word of God. Amazingly, it was the common folk who reminded the priests and prophets in Jeremiah 26:16-19 that Micah and Hezekiah also prophesy the same message about Judah!
So it wasn't just Jeremiah singing his own tune. It was the same consistent message given to Judah by different messengers of God! In other words, Jeremiah was preaching a message consistent to God's word. Similarly, when we hear of people claiming themselves to be apostles or prophets, let us not be too concerned with their "titles" but be more discerning of what they are prophesying about. Are the messages consistent with the word of God as understood in context? Or are they messages that seem to have been plucked from various places in the Bible without much explanation? Yet false prophets can also seek to deceive through the use of the Bible. This is why we need to go to the second tip.
The second tip is to ask ourselves, what does this person has to gain from preaching such a message? From a worldly perspective, Jeremiah had all to lose and nothing to gain from preaching such messages to the people of Judah. What he "gained" was beating, rejection from his own family members and the possibility of a horrible death. Unless we are saying that Jeremiah was not in the right mind; otherwise a fair question would be: "why was he prepared to go through all that suffering if he did not believe that his calling and give word is true?"
On the other hand, the existing prophets and priests had all to gain from denouncing Jeremiah. Their prophetic office was being threatened. If God spoke to Jeremiah, why didn't the existing priests and prophets receive the memo? So denouncing Jeremiah would maintain the prophetic office of the existing leaders. They wanted to maintain their status and power. They are false prophets who misuse and abuse the word of God for their own personal gains. I have personally met persons who claimed to speak God's truth but turned out that they were just trying to further their personal agendas.
The third tip is about the willingness to allow God to judge. Jeremiah told the people to do what seems right to them after he had proclaimed the truth. True prophets are not afraid of God's judgement. They know that what they say is truly from God. Whereas false prophets or those not really sure would not dare to subject themselves to the judgement of God on what they said. Of course, there will still be some who would do so and risk judgement. Then, we will have to discern and watch if the truth holds water. If we are not really sure whether a self proclaimed prophet is speaking the truth; we need to hold back and not be tempted to believe. Rather, turn to the word of God and continue to pray for discernment.
Rest
In world filled with deception and that our heart is also depraved and capable of the greatest deceit; help us Lord to know what is truth and what is false. For Your kingdom glory. Amen.
Jason
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