Rev. Don Campbell
Jeremiah 23-25
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, August 13, 2019
“IF GOD IS AGAINST US, IT MATTERS NOT WHO IS WITH US”
The apostle Paul, speaking of God’s great love, asked, “If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31). If God is for us, it does not matter who or what is against us, because we are more than conquerors through him who loves us (Romans 8:37).
By the same token, if God is against us, it does not matter who is for us. God used the words “I am against” three times in Jeremiah 23:30-32: “Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from one another. Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the Lord.’ Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the Lord.”
Four marks of false prophets are exposed in this chapter: They strengthened the hand of evildoers (v. 14). They spoke visions of their own minds (v. 16). They were zealous for evil (v. 21). They claimed God had spoken to them in dreams (v. 25).
Self-proclaimed prophets do the same today over the airways, in books, and from pulpits. We will not labor here to identify them by name or doctrine. Anyone claiming to be a prophet from God today is a lying prophet. Foy E Wallace, Jr of a bygone generation explains why this is true:
“But prophecy served its purpose, as did the Mosaic law, and
the regime of prophecy ended with the law of Moses and at
the same time. Jesus Christ said “the law and the prophets
were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God is
preached. “—Luke 16: 16. The Lord did not say the law was until
John—but the law and the prophets. The expression “until
John” does not mean until John appeared, but until John’s order
ended—at the cross. Hence, “since that time, ” that is, after
the cross, the text says the kingdom of God was preached. The
gospel (good news) of the kingdom was announced before the
cross but the kingdom was not preached until after the cross.
The words “prophesy” and “prophets” occur in the New
Testament but they are of a different category.
The prophets of the New Testament were an order of spiritually gifted men who
were assistants to the apostles in the establishment of the
church, and the prophesying mentioned in the Corinthian
epistle was a form of inspired teaching which Paul said in 1
Corinthians 13:8 would cease when the exercise of all such spiritual
gifts ended with the apostolic age.”
The writer of Hebrews wrote, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Hebrews 1:1-2). Building on this truth, he wrote, “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will” (Hebrews 2:1-4). Note the gospel was DECLARED by Christ, ATTESTED to by the apostles, and CONFIRMED by the Lord.
Jude wraps things up: “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (v. 3).
CONNECTIONS
1. Peter identifies the motive of false prophets in 2 Peter 2:3. What is that motive?
2. What does Paul identify in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 as the standard by which all teaching and preaching should be done?
