Jeremiah and the false prophets

Jeremiah 14:13-16,16:14,15,19-21

Mark 1:1-4,14,15

Jeremiah's prophecy turns our attention to difficult last years of independency of Judah Kingdom. Babylon exile was coming. From Scripture we know, that Babylon captivity was the penalty for unfaithfulness of God's people. Northern Israel, Judah's closest neighbor, against whom Judah many times lead fights, but who had the same roots, was thence about hundred years out of existence. Small kingdom Judah between mighty Nebuchadnezzar's  monarchy from the East and strong Egypt from the West, during last decades weakened by its own decadency, had – from human point of view – really no hope to remain politically independent. Bible says, that it was consequence of their unfaithfulness and disobedience. Maybe, historians would say it was natural result of previous historical events and of contemporary political situation. Not everybody is able to perceive God's hand in what happens. The authors of Holy Scriptures had no doubts that Exile was penalty sent from God. 

By their way of life and their conduct, Judah nation got into very hard situation, but many of them were not aware of it. Jeremiah speaks in his challenge about reality clearly and emphatically; he calls people to live and to conduct appropriately. Non-dependent Kingdom Judah finds near to its end – that is reality. Babylon captivity is inescapable. People must know the very state of matters and think and do according to it. Penalty due to unfaithfulness and disobedience is coming. But also now, as we read in 16th chapter of Jeremiah's book, God's might and his mercy are source of hope for Judah in that hard turning point of their history in the beginning of the 6th century B.C.

Jeremiah is not the only man who speaks to Judah nation. There are also many false prophets there; they proclaim that the situation is not serious. Jeremiah warns from them. Their speech is in disagreement with God's message. They say: "Don't change your way of life. Nothing important happens. All will be good again. Don't worry. Don't do anything!" While Jeremiah calls to activity, to deep change, to project the reality both into thinking and into conduct, those false prophets calls people to passivity, to self contentment, to accepting actual status quo.

After 2600 years, the world is much different. Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has His people not only in a small region at the Eastern coast of Mediterranean, but almost over all the world. Law, Prophets and Writings are read in every corner of the earth and they are interpreted through the Gospel; God's word became flesh, the very God descended among people. We have spoken about the Judah's hard situation due to his conduct during the period of Kings. Today's mankind have got by its conduct into a hard situation, too. We can see an analogy. Worsened state of the environment in the planetary dimension is an objective fact, characterized by measurable values. Scientists and the other individuals and groups of people, which look at reality with open eyes and are responsible enough, bring an important challenge: "The manner of our living must change!" But many people did not listen to them. They prefer an other voice, similar to the voice of false prophets of the last period of Judah kingdom. Jeremiah's warns against them. Today's false prophets say:

= Coal power plants will not more pollute. They prefer to say nothing about the economical and environmental price of removing dangerous components.  

= In the future we will have practically unlimited amount of energy from nuclear sources. They do not say that even if the problems of nuclear security and of used nuclear fuel would be solved, there still remains the danger, that special good condition for life will be corrupted by some unbalance.

= The increase of concentration of carboneumdioxide is in no relation to human activity.

= Soon we will have cars which when running would clean the air.

= Gross natural product increases, what more we can wish!

Such and similar challenges are brought by today's false prophets.  

In reality, the state of environment calls to change: to change lives, to change value orientation. It is consequence of human violence against creation. This violence projects into inter-human relations, too. Results of this growing violence in that area hardly can be quantified. But it exists and destroys. Intrusive [in'tru:siv] advertisements, intrusive publicity violate human inward nature. They are often based in lie and we look at them like at something natural, like at a not avoidable component of our economical system. Usually we are not aware of how society is exhausted by our actions, which supposedly protect her - or should protect her - these are protection against consequences of evil, that very evil, that is still generally being considered as an evil. There is army, police, sophisticated security systems, a lot of keys and credit cards, that we have to carry on us all the time. We have to protect our property, insure it against theft and robbery and so on. We are missing this great potential that is needed for fulfilling (of) steward's [stju:eds] role,which we as humans have got from God and which concerns our relationship to the creation.

In Jeremiah's time the Judah's situation was serious. The today's man's situation is serious, too. False prophets at that time belittled it and proclaimed that nothing had happened, that everything will soon be again O.K. It is similar today in our world. Many false prophets are around us. They call people to do nothing. Some of them use similar arguments as Jeremiah's contemporaries saying, that all is O.K. Other ones proclaim that we people can reach no result, no change, and so, why to make some effort?  

You must repent. You must change your lives. It is the basic tone of Old-Testament Prophets. And after several centuries with a new stress and urgency John the Baptist announced this message. And it is also an important part of Our Lord Jesus Christ's teaching.

I am afraid the challenge to repent is not often contained in today's Christian sermons. But this basic accent of Holy Scriptures, the challenge to change thinking and conduct, to see all the world, all the Universe, in a new way, to turn to vertical dimension of life, is specially nowadays very actual and important. Serious analyses and prognoses concerning all the earth and human life on it have similar conclusions. Today's common way of life is unsustainable. Change is inevitable. Challenge for repentance is heard also from outside of Church.

Change is inevitable. Contemporary manner of life must be abandoned. Now the questions arise: What can it be substituted by? How should right, sustainable manner of life look like? These are big and complicated questions – for humanists, ecologists, politicians, theologians, true economists, and maybe for all responsible people of good will. We can find the answer in Scripture. Apostle Paul writes: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come (2nd Cor. 5:17). And Lord Jesus Christ gives the testimony of himself: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).

These are well-known words of the New Testament. But we always can find something new in rich message of Bible. Let us listen to these words thinking both # about contrast of Jeremiah's word and words of false prophets, and # about actual state of earth and mankind:

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come" (2nd Cor. 5:17). (Jesus answered:) "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).

Lord Jesus Christ came for all people, for all the world. He came to redeem all, all sins that man did and does. God so loved the World, that he gave His only and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not die but to live forever (John 3:16). God's love is stronger than human sin. Through His love, God invites the man; He invites all the people, He invites each one of us to change, to repent, to live a life, that has the dimension of eternity already here, on this earth. His Kingdom, much more greater then whoever can imagine, comes through Jesus Christ into the World. Everyone is invited. And Direction to the life with Christ, is marked by His words written by evangelist Mark in the first chapter of his Good Message: "Repent and believe the Gospel" (Mark 1:15b).

IBTS (Mezinárodní baptistický teologický seminář)  Praha – Šárecké údolí 9.6.2002; pro web upraveno 2003-2004