Consequences of Rebellion

Jeremiah 29:15-32

15 Because you have said, "The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon"— 16 therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, concerning all the people who dwell in this city, and concerning your brethren who have not gone out with you into captivity— 17 thus says the LORD of hosts: Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten, they are so bad. 18 And I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence; and I will deliver them to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth—to be a curse, an astonishment, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, 19 because they have not heeded My words, says the LORD, which I sent to them by My servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; neither would you heed, says the LORD. 20 Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.

21 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in My name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall slay them before your eyes. 22 And because of them a curse shall be taken up by all the captivity of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, "The LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire"; 23 because they have done disgraceful things in Israel, have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and have spoken lying words in My name, which I have not commanded them. Indeed I know, and am a witness, says the LORD.

24 You shall also speak to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, saying, 25 Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26 "The LORD has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, so that there should be officers in the house of the LORD over every man who is demented and considers himself a prophet, that you should put him in prison and in the stocks. 27 Now therefore, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who makes himself a prophet to you? 28 For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, 'This captivity is long; build houses and dwell in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit.'"

29 Now Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet. 30 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying: 31 Send to all those in captivity, saying, Thus says the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I have not sent him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie— 32 therefore thus says the LORD: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his family: he shall not have anyone to dwell among this people, nor shall he see the good that I will do for My people, says the LORD, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD.

The consequences of rebellion were spelled out by the LORD through Jeremiah to those taken into captivity in Babylon.  They had conjured up false prophets to make them feel better as if they were going back to the promised land and the capital of Jerusalem as if they would actually worship God sincerely and according to His word.  The LORD had clearly told them to settle in for the coming seventy years of their deserved bondage in a foreign land because of their sin of rebellion, and they kept fighting it as if they deserved better and found voices to meet their desires instead of His voice through Jeremiah.  Those who had refused to go where told by Him out of Jerusalem would face destruction instead of deliverance because they defied God’s word.  He had sent prophets who spent the entirety of each of their days as deliverers of His message of righteousness and repentance, but they refused to hear and heed Him.  Then those in Babylon who also entertained false prophecies were called to account.  Their lies and adulteries added to their false messages in God’s name which were opposed to what He really said, just as there are those today who speak as of for God as prophets yet do so in opposition to the word of the Lord recorded in scripture as the final authority (Hebrews 1:1-2).  God was the witness to their sin and just as two or three witnesses were required to prove guilt (Deuteronomy 17:6, Matthew 18:16), the triune God bore that ironclad witness against them.  As for Shemaiah who wrote letters back to Jerusalem to appoint evil priests and condemn real prophets of the LORD while supporting demented and false self-proclaimed ones, he was to face the question of why he did not accuse Jeremiah as well for telling the truth of the extended captivity against the tickling of the ears messages of early parole from Babylon.  When Jeremiah heard this letter, he sent a reply to those in Babylon about these false prophecies to hold him accountable for the lies and suffer punishment as a just reward.  Shemaiah Had taught spiritual insurrection against the sovereign rule of God and therefore would not live to see the blessings He was to give them through the captivity and into deliverance in the future.  False prophets do not taste the blessings of God as the consequence of cosmic rebellion which is the ultimate insurrection of sin.  As 2 Peter 2:1-2 tells us, such will always exist to turn God’s people from His word of truth, but ultimately answer to Him (2 Peter 2:3, 12-14) in the end when we are delivered from this present evil age (Galatians 1:4) of spiritual Babylon (1 Peter 5:13) into the new promised country (Hebrews 11:16) forevermore. These are the consequences of rebellion for self-appointed prophets presuming to speak for God in opposition to His word.