©Bonnie LaBelle
Chapter 43:8-13 (ESV) - Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes: “Take in your hands large stones and hide them in the mortar in the pavement that is at the entrance to Pharaoh's palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah, and say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his royal canopy over them. He shall come and strike the land of Egypt, giving over to the pestilence those who are doomed to the pestilence, to captivity those who are doomed to captivity, and to the sword those who are doomed to the sword. I shall kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captive. And he shall clean the land of Egypt as a shepherd cleans his cloak of vermin, and he shall go away from there in peace. He shall break the obelisks of Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt, and the temples of the gods of Egypt he shall burn with fire.’”
Question to consider: What can we learn from the judgment that came upon Johanan?
In the book of Ruth, Naomi’s late husband, Elimelech, moved his family from Bethlehem to Moab during a famine. Rather than repenting and turning to the LORD for his bread, he sought refuge in the bread of the Moabites. As expected, his sons ended up taking wives among the Moabites and facing the LORD’s judgment for it. The LORD used Naomi to bring the Moabitess, Ruth, to faith and return to the land.
Rather than repenting and turning to the LORD for refuge in Mizpah, Johanan pulled “an Elimelech” and sought refuge in Egypt. However, there would be no refuge in Egypt. The LORD would continue to wield Nebuchadnezzar like a sword to judge all of the nations, and Johanan and the people would be given over to the sword (death), pestilence (disease), and captivity (slavery). Just as the LORD used the plagues of Egypt to conquer their gods during the time of Moses, so the Egyptian gods would once again be conquered by Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar would knock down their obelisks and destroy their temples with fire.
One day down the road, Nebuchadnezzar would convince himself that that supernatural way in which he conquered the world was due to his own power. He would allow people to create a giant statue and force others to bow down to it as if he were the god of all nations. When someone without faith receives god-like favor in this world, they are idolized by the world, and it is easy for that person to start believing he deserves it.
Given that the people had received this word from the LORD ahead of time, hopefully there would be those who repented and turned back to the LORD before they succumbed to the sword or disease. Those of us who are reading this post need a constant reminder that the LORD who used Nebuchadnezzar to conquer Egypt is the same LORD of heaven and earth who rules today.
Rather than taking refuge in governments, we can take refuge in Christ who works through His word and can conquer nations with the Gospel. Regardless of whether we can vote people into power who will promote the Law of God, we can love our neighbor and preach Christ crucified for the forgiveness of our sins, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for us, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this we rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, we have been grieved by various trials. Amen. (from 1 Peter 1:3-6)