PROPHECY AGAINST FALSE PROPHETS

PROCLAMATION

“Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, ‘Listen, Hananiah!  The Lord has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies.  Therefore this is what The Lord says: “I am about to remove you from the face of the earth.  This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against The Lord.” ’ ”  Jeremiah 28:15-16 (NIV)

EXPLANATION

These are the words of The Lord God which were spoken to the prophet Jeremiah and proclaimed to the people of Judah.  In chapter twenty-seventh of The Bible Book of Jeremiah, the prophet told the people that they would be attacked and overpowered by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.  He warned them that false prophets would tell them that no harm would come to them. (Jeremiah 27:9)  He told them not to listen to the false prophets and they should serve the king of Babylon after they are captured. (Jeremiah 27:9-17)  The false prophet Hananiah said that they would free them from captivity in Babylon in two years, instead of the seventy years prophesied by Jeremiah. (Jeremiah 28:2-4)  The Lord God told Jeremiah to make a yoke and put it on his neck and then go speak to the people. (Jeremiah 27:2)  Hananiah took this wooden yoke off of Jeremiah and broke it saying that was how The Lord was going to break Babylon. (Jeremiah 28:10-11)  Jeremiah told Hananiah that The Lord God said you have broken a wooden yoke, but I will put a yoke of iron on this nation and they will serve Nebuchadnezzar. (Jeremiah 28:13-14)  Then Jeremiah told Hananiah that he was going to die within the year because of the lies that he spoken to the people. (Jeremiah 28:15-16)

APPLICATION

Lying is bad, lying to the people of God is worse, but lying in the name of The Lord is much worse.  The Ten Commandments tell us not to lie, or “bear false witness” (Exodus 20:16), and not to use the name of The Lord God in vain. (Exodus 20:7)  Let us not be false prophets.  The Bible also tells us that it will be very bad for us if we cause a child of God to go astray. (Matthew 18:6, Mark 9:42, and Luke 17:2)  It would be better for us to say nothing at all than to lie.  One day we will be judged on every word that we speak. (Matthew 12:36)  Let us think before we speak and let us ask The Lord God to help us control our tongue so that we do not hurt or deceive others.