“And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death. He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey. For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire,” Jeremiah 21:8-10.
“But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the LORD; and they shall till it, and dwell therein. I spake also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live,” Jeremiah 27:11-12.
King Zedekiah has sent messengers unto Jeremiah, Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest (not the same Pashur who was judged of God for his abuse of Jeremiah, 20:1-6). The request they made of the prophet was, “Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us,” Jeremiah 21:2.
We may date this encounter with Jeremiah about one year before the fall of Jerusalem in BC 588!
Jeremiah had been preaching for some 40 years by this time, preaching what he had begun to preach as a young man, even the message given him by the Lord.
“But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak,” Jeremiah 1:7.
What that message was is stated for us in the same chapter 1.
“And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is toward the north. Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah. And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands. Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee,” Jeremiah 1:13-19.
So, after all the years of preaching the same message and issuing forth, in the plainest of terms, and suffering much affliction for so doing, the last of the wicked kings upon the throne of Judah STILL doesn’t understand the message of God! He is still blindly hoping that the Lord will come to their aid!
I. IT IS TO BE NOTED THAT EVEN THE MOST BLIND AND WICKED MEN HAVE SOME AWARENESS OF THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD!
That is seen in the king’s request of Jeremiah. “Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us,” Jeremiah 21:2.
1. This evil king believed that the Lord was able to deliver them from Nebuchadrezzar! But it was not true faith, rather it was akin to that possessed by the devil and his minions. “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble,” James 2:19.
There are plenty of his character around still. They sit under the sound of God’s Word on a Sabbath day and would be most indignant were it suggested to them that they did not believe what they heard. BUT they do not obey the Gospel’s call. “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent,” Acts 17:30.
TRUE FAITH is ever accompanied by OBEDIENCE! That is the ‘works’ which James says without which ‘faith’ is dead!
Perhaps one reading these very words is in that state of ‘believing’ but not ‘obeying’!
Zedekiah was originally called Mattaniah. He was the third son of King Josiah and the uncle of his predecessor, King Jehoiachin. He was renamed and made a vassal by King Nebuchadnezzar. He was a weak ruler who repeatedly ignored the prophet Jeremiah’s warnings of coming judgment!
2. The fate that awaited this most foolish man was most terrible. “And it came to pass, that when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the men of war, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, by the gate betwixt the two walls: and he went out the way of the plain. But the Chaldeans’ army pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment upon him. Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah. Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with chains, to carry him to Babylon,” Jeremiah 39:4-7.
The last things this wicked man saw was his sons being slain “before his eyes”! Then his eyes were “put out” and he ended his days in darkness before entering eternal darkness forever!
It is a sad fact that men who reject the Gospel often, if not invariably, witness their offspring following them down the road of ruin through their like rejection of God’s Word.
That tragedy will be a memory to plague them eternally!
3. It shows the blindness and ignorance that prevails when God’s Word is repeatedly and resolutely rejected. On this occasion, likely the fortieth year of Jeremiah’s most faithful ministry, that the king should sent such a request to the prophet and that there was none in his court to tell the king what Jeremiah had been preaching for a generation, shows he awful spirit of indifference toward God and His truth in the land!
The truth of God, like the good seed that fell on the wayside, had been snatched away by the devil (Matthew 13:19).
There is evidence of that same prevailing unbelief today in Ulster. What was preached by Dr Ian Paisley and our forefathers from 1951, and is still the message of faithful men today, has not registered with the majority here.
Indeed, it may be said with grief that there are some Christians, who once professed to believe the warnings, plainly and powerfully preached in the 50s 60s, 70s and 80s, are now beginning to set aside the warnings and act as if they had never come from the Lord!
II. PATIENTLY AND YET WITH FAITHFUL PLAINNESS, JEREMIAH REPEATS THE MESSAGE OF GOD.
“Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah: Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city. And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath. And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence. And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy. And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death. He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey. For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire,” verses 3-10.
1. Here was no compromise, hoping for favour with the king. Jeremiah cared only about the favour of God and therefore he faithfully delivered the Word of God to the king’s messengers.
Few today can honestly preface their preaching with the words, “Thus saith the LORD”. Oh yes, they may all preach from the Word of God but it is NOT THE MESSAGE OF GOD FOR TODAY! That is what the Free Presbyterian Church is lost for! Men-pleasing is more important to some than pleasing the Lord!
2. If anything Jeremiah’s message is plainer than ever. The verses 3-10 can not be misunderstood or misinterpreted! “And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.” “And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.” “And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.”
There is a specific message of “life” for Ulster today. It is that of obeying the Gospel of Christ and TOTALLY REJECTING ALL FELLOWSHIP AND COMMUNION WITH APOSTATE ECUMENISM, AND ALL IN IT!
To drift back toward that which the Lord called us out of in 1951 is to go back to the way of death.
Those who fool around with so-called ‘evangelicals’ who defy God and His Word and stay in Ecumenism are encouraging Ulster to take the road of death and damnation.
There will be a price to pay for such treachery.
3. This is how all faithful men should end their days! Jeremiah, like Paul, could say: “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing,” 2 Timothy 4:6-8.
Sadly, there are men who are not keeping the faith as they vowed to do when first ordained. May the Lord in mercy restore them as he did with poor Peter.
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
Saturday 1st August 2026
(Part 2 will follow soon)