The truth, the Word of God, is central to all of God’s operations
and also our relationship with Him. Consequently, our love for Him is
measured by our fidelity to His Word (John 14:21-24). And anything that
undermines this love relationship mediated through the Word, is an
offense to Him. Therefore, He directed the Prophet Jeremiah to warn
those “prophets” who spoke according to their own dreams:
- “Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of the Lord and because of his holy words. For the land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land mourns, and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. Their course is evil, and their might is not right.” (Jeremiah 23:9-10 ESV)
If Scripture builds us up, falsehoods will tear us down. With their
own dreams, the false prophets have contradicted “His holy Words.”
The same danger persists today. In their imagination, false
teachers have redefined justice as “therapy” and love as “affirmation,”
telling others what they want to hear. They claim that we need to
discover our own “truths,” what feels right to us.
The resulting consequences for these prophets and those who listen to them are dire:
- “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. Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? 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.” (Jeremiah 23:28-32)
Their words and dreams “do not profit this people at all.” They
inevitably push aside the Word of truth with words of their own
creation. In contrast, God’s Word is compared to fire and a hammer,
which are powerful instruments and can profit the people.
Regarding these “prophets,” God warns that He hadn’t sent them and
calls them “liars.” This is serious. This is because the Word of God is
beyond serious and must be guarded against all imaginative additions or
distortions. It is healing and transformational:
- “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.” (Jeremiah 23:22)
Whenever Israel lacked a righteous shepherd, they became apostate.
These false shepherds caused the people to hear their words in favor of
the Word of the Lord. Therefore, the people did not turn from their
evil. Consequently, God’s solution would require the coming of a Master
Shephard:
- “Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name whereby he shall be called: Jehovah our righteousness.” (Jeremiah 23:5-6)
He is God, and He would also be our righteousness. As a result:
- “I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.” (Jeremiah 32:40)
He will remove the demonic influence of the false prophets so that
we will never succumb to deception and turn from our Savior’s Word.
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