For I Heard the Defaming of Many...the Wayfarer 9/6/14

For I Heard the Defaming of Many
9/6/14

“For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report say they, and we will report it.  All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.

But the Lord is with me as a mighty terrible one; therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.”

(Jeremiah 20: 10 &11)

Throughout the ages, those serving God, His people, have been defamed.

That defamation has always, without fail, led to persecutions of more and more increasingly vile and violent means, eventually resulting in the martyrdom of many, by means both covert, and overt.

Jeremiah, as strong and faithful a servant as he was to God, was no exception.

“Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the Lord’s house; and said to all the people,

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.”

(Jeremiah 19:14 &15)

Dutifully, without thought of either his safety or his life, this old prophet went where he was told to go, spoke what he was told to speak, only to face that defamation and danger that was destined and predetermined to follow.

“Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things.

Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord.

And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The Lord hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magormissabib.

For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword.

Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all the labors thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them to Babylon.

And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.”

(Jeremiah 20: 1-6)

In the very face of power, while still within the hands and reach of those of the ruling classes to include those who were supposed to be God’s priests, chosen to assure their obedience to the intent of the covenant, given them, those who had turned away from that responsibility, choosing to follow the means quickest to fill their coffers whether it honored God or not, chose to lead His people from Him instead of to him, Jeremiah chose to speak that which was given by God to speak!

Like all men, however, Jeremiah had his weaknesses, limits to his patience, and had to search his own heart to maintain his faith.

“O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, everyone mocketh me.

For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me, and a derision daily.

Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.

For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.

But the Lord is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.”

(Jeremiah 20:7-11)

Jeremiah bemoaned the constant conflict with those he had been sent to warn.

Just as, any servant of God, he tired, and the human proclivity to cease that service came to the fore.

He bemoaned the unpopularity, the isolation and severance from all around him that he faced for having done as commanded, wishing that he had a choice to cease and desist, go along to get along, be less than he had been chosen to be, simply because of the inconvenience it caused him in his life.

He also recognized that that could never be, that what had to be done, had to be done, whether inconvenient, painful and tiring or not.

He found that he could do no less than what had been placed on his shoulders to do.

He knew that there would always be many waiting for him to make any misstep, to find any failure that could arise, to find any and all means of denying and defying the message that he had been sent to give.

He also realized that God was in what he did, and that God was far more to be feared than the mere men who had the power to deride him, and even to kill him.

He knew also that those seeking to silence him could not do so, could not prevail, and that they themselves faced the Judgment of a Righteous God who would not allow them to prosper, would not allow them to stand before Him without shame, and Whose memory was without end.

“OK, preacher, what has Jeremiah’s predicament to do with anything now?”

Jeremiah stood fast in his faith and reliance on God.

He knew that the warnings he had been sent to give would result in the wrath that he predicted.

He knew that all promise of blessing depended on that message being heard and heeded and that repentance be given or that any possible redemption was to be withheld until it had been given.

Defamations, degradations, persecutions continue constantly during a time, when, once more, warnings are held in disdain; 

when people refuse to acknowledge the truth of the warnings that were given throughout the scriptures; 

when even the promise is ridiculed in favor of promises made by those professing to provide something new that will replace that promise, in some way that will mollify the body, and its concerns, completely ignoring the concerns of an eternal soul… destined to face that same Judgment faced by all who ignore both the warning and promise given by Christ.

In an old sermon, given once in the past, I too bemoaned those chosen to be “That Guy”.

Like Jeremiah, and any who truly believe both the promise and the warnings, there is no choice of whether to be “That Guy” or not.

Despite my own failures, weaknesses and humanity, His word is burned into  heart, mind, and soul. I too have no choice in convenience, or popularity of that word.

My fervent prayer is that others too have that word burned into heart, mind, and soul, give credence to both promise and warning, may extend both for the choosing of those still reachable, still teachable, as the day of that Judgment draws ever nearer, ever clearer to any whose eyes are open to see, ears open to hear, and hearts open to accept the truth of what has been given, not by any man, but by God Himself through the sacrifice of His own Son.

“This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:

That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior:

Knowing this first,  that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”

(2 Peter 3:1-4)

What has remained from the beginning of creation is the absolute hardheadedness, and stiffnecked pride of men who refuse the truth and scoff when it is given them.

“These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.

They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, then time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God a service.

And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father nor me.

But these things I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.”

(John 16:1-4)

“He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus.”

(Revelation 22:20)

 Amen and Amen
the Wayfarer