As you may already know, I quote Jeremiah 16:19-20 quite often.
It is so very important today, and moving into the future, as we get nearer and nearer to End Days, and specifically, the very end day.
Jeremiah 16:19-20
19 O Lord, my strength and my fortress,
My refuge in the day of affliction,
The Gentiles shall come to You
From the ends of the earth and say,
“Surely our fathers have inherited lies,
Worthlessness and unprofitable things.”
20 Will a man make gods for himself,
Which are not gods?
Just how important are these words?
Do the prophets’ words still matter today?
If the prophets have gone silent for many centuries, can we still look at what the biblical prophets said, and apply it to our lives?
Absolutely.
Verse 14 and 15 of Jeremiah 16 set the timeframe for the statement made in verses 19-20.
They show us this has not yet occurred, but it is coming.
Jeremiah 16:14-15
14 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 15 but, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.
So…
If the words spoken in verses 19-20 have not yet occurred, but are coming, then we should take them seriously.
What do they tell us?
1. Our religious system will get everything wrong, teaching nothing but lies. These are inherited lies, so we are talking about generations of lies, not just a sudden change at the end.
2. The result of these lies are what? Men will make up their own gods, but they are not gods. If they are not gods, then they cannot save.
So, yeah, this is a big deal.
I had a “conversation” [social media dialogue] with a person who considers himself to be saved.
I shared scripture, the direct quotes of Messiah, that would indicate otherwise.
His response?
I can’t receive that. At least the part about the “Depart from Me. I never knew you.”
The scriptures tell us all about Messiah, the Son of the living God.
We are told about the things He did, and many of His words are recorded in scripture as direct quotes.
It is simple to learn about Him, and to get to know Him simply by reading the scriptures and believing what it says.
I think it is especially important for us to learn His warnings, and understand the consequences of not heeding His warnings.
That is the entire purpose of my blog here. I’m nearing 250 articles specifically about the warnings in scripture.
There are so very many people out there who reject the words of Messiah, and yet claim to know Him, love Him, and serve Him.
Is this problematic?
Yes, double yes, and triple yes.
Why?
Because of these direct quotes of Yeshua Messiah:
“I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.“
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?”
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
…And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
His sheep hear His voice.
His sheep follow the things He says.
If your theology and doctrine require you to respond to the things Messiah said with, “Yeah, but…” then you are doing it wrong.
We do not get to change the things He said.
We do not get to disagree with Him.
We do not get to decide He never said that…
The prophet Jeremiah told us all about the people who do this.
20 Will a man make gods for himself, which are not gods?
People have created a new messiah of their own liking.
Their messiah conforms to their own ideas about salvation.
But their messiah does not match the Messiah in scripture.
Their messiah is based upon the ideas made up by men.
Their messiah is a figment of their imagination, although they call him by the same name used in scripture.
Creating a new messiah in our own imagination does not make him real. Jeremiah says he is not real.
If you do this, the REAL Messiah of scripture will say to you, “I never knew you.”
We need to know the true Messiah of scripture by believing what scripture says about Him, and by believing and heeding the things He said.
We cannot ‘modify’ Him to our own liking.
Jeremiah was speaking about those who make this mistake.
20 Will a man make gods for himself, which are not gods?
Do you serve a made up, modified messiah?
Or do you serve Yeshua Messiah, the living Son of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?