「神の言葉に聞き従う人と聞いても従わない人との違い」
十一月第四主日礼拝 宣教 2025年11月23日
エレミヤ書 Jeremiah 42章1〜17節 牧師 河野信一郎
Good morning. Welcome to Okubo Church, our guests! We extend a warm welcome to you. To the members of Okubo Church, welcome back. We are thankful to be able to offer praise and worship to God together with you all again this morning. The mornings and evenings have become quite chilly. Jackets and coats are now necessary. We hear the flu is also spreading. We pray that God will protect and bless your health and daily lives.
Now, the series on the Book of Jeremiah that we’ve been listening to since September will conclude with this morning’s message and the next one on the 30th. We’ve learned that for anyone to live in God’s love and blessing, it is essential to repent, return to God, and continue to listen to and obey His word daily. This message covers a crucial period in Israel’s history, so the content will be quite complex. I ask you to listen patiently to God’s message and take to heart what is important for each of us. As the title indicates, the message highlights the clear difference between those who listen to and obey the words of the Lord God, and those who hear but do not obey.
Last week’s message focused on Jeremiah chapter 33, where we learned that even when placed in desperate circumstances, if we call upon the Lord God, He will surely answer. We also heard the promise that even if we fall into a state of ruin, the Lord God will give us a new king and savior like a young shoot, and that this promise was fulfilled through the birth of Jesus Christ.
However, because the sins the people of Judah and Israel had continually committed against God were so great, God used the great northern power, the Babylonian Empire, to judge Judah’s sins. Historically speaking, in 598 BC, the southern kingdom of Judah was defeated by the great army of the Babylonian Empire. King Jehoiachin of Judah at that time, along with the rulers, priests, and skilled craftsmen, were taken captive to Babylon. This is known as the First Babylonian Exile.
After that, a man named Zedekiah ascended the throne of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. However, ten years later, in 588 BC, King Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon. The following year, 587 BC, after his rebellion failed, Jerusalem fell completely. The Temple of Jerusalem, which had been preserved until then, was utterly destroyed. The Southern Kingdom of Judah was destroyed, and the Second Babylonian Exile began. As the prophet Jeremiah had foretold, King Zedekiah was led away to Babylon in a pitiful state, and the people of Judah were also taken into exile, leaving behind only a poor remnant.
Following this, a 60-year period of captivity began. Including the initial 10 years, the total duration of captivity amounted to 70 years. These events are detailed in chapters 39 through 41. I encourage you to find time to read them, as they form the background for chapter 42, which we will hear today. I would like to discuss the events recorded in chapter 41.
Some people had escaped captivity, having fled Jerusalem before and after the first exile, and then returned to Jerusalem after the second exile. They joined forces with the anti-Babylonian faction among those left in Jerusalem and assassinated Gedaliah, the governor appointed by the king of Babylon. Gedaliah had been working to rebuild the ruined city of Jerusalem and the land of Judah. They also attacked the occupying forces stationed in Jerusalem, provoking the wrath of the king of Babylon.
After losing Gedaliah, the governor who served as their liaison with the Babylonian Empire, the people left behind in Jerusalem feared the Babylonian king’s purge and planned to flee to Egypt to survive. However, wanting divine approval for this action—that is, seeking God’s consent—they came to the prophet Jeremiah seeking his counsel on this plan. This is recorded in Jeremiah chapter 42, verses 1 through 3. Let us read it.
“Then all the commanders of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least to the greatest, came near 2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Let our plea for mercy come before you, and pray to the Lord your God for us, for all this remnant—because we are left with but a few, as your eyes see us— 3 that the Lord your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do.”
As you read this now, is there any phrase that resonates with you? Here we find the words, “Pray to the Lord your God,” and “Ask the Lord your God.” Though God is their God whom they seek counsel from, they are asking Jeremiah here, “Please ask the Lord your God for us.” I believe various thoughts are crossing their minds here.
1) They acknowledge that there is a special relationship between God and Jeremiah. However, 2) they feel that they themselves lack this special relationship with God because of their sin. This, 3) seems to reveal their irresponsibility, as if they are somehow leaving it up to Jeremiah.
To such people, Jeremiah says in verse 4, “Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to the Lord your God according to your request, and whatever the Lord answers you I will tell you. I will keep nothing back from you.” Here Jeremiah says, “Let us pray to the Lord your God.” This shows that the God from whom Jeremiah seeks revelation is the God of Israel, the Lord God, and therefore the people have the duty and responsibility to listen to and obey God’s word. It is not a matter of human affairs; each person must listen to and obey God faithfully.
Relieved that Jeremiah had agreed, the people said to him in verses 5 and 6:
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the Lord your God sends you to us. 6 Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.”
Please take these words to heart. They are very important. “Whether good or bad” means “whatever the content of God’s message may be.” They tell Jeremiah, “We will listen to and obey whatever voice you bring us,” but what is the reality? What is in their hearts?
Read verses 7 through 12. “7 At the end of ten days the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. 8 Then he summoned Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least to the greatest, 9 and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea for mercy before him: 10 If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I relent of the disaster that I did to you. 11 Do not fear the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not fear him, declares the Lord, for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12 I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and let you remain in your own land. “
This is the promise of the Lord God, the instruction from God that people should hear and obey. But Jeremiah knew what was in their hearts—that they wanted to flee to Egypt. That is why Jeremiah spoke the words found in verses 13 through 17.
“13 But if you say, ‘We will not remain in this land,’ disobeying the voice of the Lord your God 14 and saying, ‘No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war or hear the sound of the trumpet or be hungry for bread, and we will dwell there,’ 15 then hear the word of the Lord, O remnant of Judah. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: If you set your faces to enter Egypt and go to live there, 16 then the sword that you fear shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you are afraid shall follow close after you to Egypt, and there you shall die. 17 All the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to live there shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. They shall have no remnant or survivor from the disaster that I will bring upon them.18 “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: As my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You shall become an execration, a horror, a curse, and a taunt. You shall see this place no more.” This is the word of God.
I will read the passage from verse 18 to the first half of verse 19. “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: As my anger and my wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you go to Egypt. You shall become an execration, a horror, a curse, and a taunt. You shall see this place no more. 19 The Lord has said to you, O remnant of Judah, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’”
Those who heed the words of the Lord God will live under His guidance and protection, receiving abundant mercy from Him. But those who hear God’s words yet disobey will find Him not with them; they will live in curses, fear, and suffering, and ultimately their lives will end. Yet God continues to speak His words so that we may not fall into such a state.
Verses 19 and the first half of verse 20 state: “The Lord has said to you, O remnant of Judah, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Know for a certainty that I have warned you this day 20 that you have gone astray at the cost of your lives.” This is a warning from God. It says that if you continue to live according to your own desires, steeped in greed, without turning back to God, destruction awaits you.
Jeremiah clearly states in verse 22, “Now therefore know for a certainty that you shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence in the place where you desire to go to live.” The critical difference between those who obey God’s word and those who hear it yet refuse to obey.
However, thankfully, God continues to speak so that we do not fall into such a state. That is Jesus Christ, the Savior given to us by God. This Savior was born into this dark world as the Word of God, as the light of the world. Christmas, a time to rejoice in this work of God’s love, is approaching. Advent, the season of preparation to welcome the Savior Jesus, begins next week on the 30th.
“Do not fear the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not fear him, declares the Lord, for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. 12 I will grant you mercy,”, says the Lord God.
Though daily life brings many challenges, let us quiet our hearts before the Lord and listen to God’s word.