We continue tracing the unconditional promises God made initially to Abraham and as well as one He made to David and show that they both have been fulfilled all the way up until today.
Part 1 Recap
In the first message we began with the unconditional promises made to Abraham and showed how they were passed onto Isaac, Jacob and then to Joseph and his two sons, in particularly the youngest, Ephraim first, and then Manasseh. He gave the prophecy in Genesis 48:19 that Manasseh also shall be great; but truly his younger brother [Ephraim] shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.” He also put the name of Israel on them, not Judah or the Jews, as well as the birthright promises of Abraham and Isaac.
We then followed them into slavery and then out of that into the Promised Land. The tribes split into two nations, Israel in the north and Judah in the south. The northern tribes (with Ephraim and Manasseh) then went into captivity, taken by the Assyrians, and have never returned to the Promised Land.
We left this hanging there for the time being and took a look at the fact that God made another unconditional promise, an everlasting covenant with David, ( Jeremiah 33:17 “For thus says the LORD: ‘David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; ) in other words that his throne would always exist. After the northern 10 tribes of Israel went into captivity, David’s dynasty continued on through the tribes of Judah. We then saw that Judah also went into captivity about 130 years after Israel and that the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, killed Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, all the sons of Zedekiah and all the nobles or any that might be made king. And that is where we left the last message with two unconditional promises lacking continuity and fulfillment
Luke 1:31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS.
Luke 1:32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.
It is imperative that we reconcile all these things.
Jeremiah’s Commission
So now let’s begin another thread that we need to weave all this back together.
Jeremiah 1:9 Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
Jeremiah 1:10 See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, To root out and to pull down, To destroy and to throw down, To build and to plant.”
Jeremiah 1:6 Then said I: “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”
Jeremiah 1:7 But the LORD said to me: “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ For you shall go to all to whom I send you, And whatever I command you, you shall speak.
His first job in this commission was to warn Judah. As we know they did not heed that warning.
This was the “To root out and to pull down, To destroy and to throw down”
We also know where we are in the timeline. Israel had already gone into captivity and Judah heading there
After Zedekiah then what?
It wasn’t going to be in Babylon because the promise was to rule over ISRAELITES through all generations –
We also know that David’s throne was never again among the Jews! During the time of Christ the Jews were under Roman rule.
An aside: Jeconiah
Here is something else that you may have to resolve one day, so let’s look it very briefly
A former king of Judah Jeconiah or (Jehoiachin), was taken in the captivity to Babylon.
He was in David’s lineage; he had sons; after being held in prison for 37 years notice what happens
Jehoiachin Released from Prison
2 Kings 25:27 Now it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison.
2 Kings 25:28 He spoke kindly to him, and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylon.
2 Kings 25:29 So Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, and he ate bread regularly before the king all the days of his life.
2 Kings 25:30 And as for his provisions, there was a regular ration given him by the king, a portion for each day, all the days of his life.
Yet neither Jeconiah nor any of his sons or grandsons reigned as king in Judah. He was merely a vassal king, ruling within the confines of the Assyrian kingdom.
“As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah [Jeconiah] the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence”! (Jer. 22:24.) God had determined an end for this line of kings. He was removing the crown – not permitting Jeconiah’s sons to reign on Judah’s throne! God was turning over (overturning) the throne to another branch of Judah’s family.
Jeremiah 22:24 “As I live,” says the LORD, “though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet on My right hand, yet I would pluck you off;
nâthaq [naw-thak‘]: pluck
nâthash [naw-thash’] Jer 1:10 root out [part of jeremiahs commisssion]
Jeremiah 22:25 and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those whose face you fear—the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of the Chaldeans.
Jeremiah 22:26 So I will cast you out, and your mother who bore you, into another country where you were not born; and there you shall die.
Jeremiah 22:27 But to the land to which they desire to return, there they shall not return.
Jeremiah 22:30 Thus says the LORD: ‘Write this man down as childless, A man who shall not prosper in his days; For none of his descendants shall prosper, Sitting on the throne of David, And ruling anymore in Judah.’ ”
The second part of Jeremiah’s Commission
Jeremiah was among these captive Jews and he was given the special protection that God had promised to him.
Jeremiah 39:11 Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying,
Jeremiah 39:12 “Take him and look after him, and do him no harm; but do to him just as he says to you.”
Jeremiah 40:2 And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him: “The LORD your God has pronounced this doom on this place.
Jeremiah 40:3 Now the LORD has brought it, and has done just as He said. Because you people have sinned against the LORD, and not obeyed His voice, therefore this thing has come upon you.
Jeremiah 40:4 And now look, I free you this day from the chains that were on your hand. If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you. But if it seems wrong for you to come with me to Babylon, remain here. See, all the land is before you; wherever it seems good and convenient for you to go, go there.”
Jeremiah 40:5 Now while Jeremiah had not yet gone back, Nebuzaradan said, “Go back to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people. Or go wherever it seems convenient for you to go.” So the captain of the guard gave him rations and a gift and let him go.
Jeremiah 40:6 Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, to Mizpah, and dwelt with him among the people who were left in the land.
Jeremiah 40:7 And when all the captains of the armies who were in the fields, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed to him men, women, children, and the poorest of the land who had not been carried away captive to Babylon,
Jeremiah 40:8 then they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men.
Jeremiah 40:9 And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, took an oath before them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.
Jeremiah 40:10 As for me, I will indeed dwell at Mizpah and serve the Chaldeans who come to us. But you, gather wine and summer fruit and oil, put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken.”
Jeremiah 40:12 then all the Jews returned out of all places where they had been driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruit in abundance.
Gedaliah is warned by Johanan that Ishmael wants to kill him.
He does not heed that warning and is killed by Ishmael.
Jeremiah 40-43 for the whole story
Jeremiah 41:10 Then Ishmael carried away captive all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah, the king’s daughters and all the people who remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive and departed to go over to the Ammonites.
These were the daughters of Zedekiah [as we will see that they have to be later], king of Judah, and of David’s lineage
This is why Jeremiah went to Mizpah—it had to do with his commission
Now as we continue with the story, Johanan puts an army together and intercepts Ishmael
Jeremiah 41:16 Then Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, took from Mizpah all the rest of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah after he had murdered Gedaliah the son of Ahikam—the mighty men of war and the women and the children and the eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Gibeon.
Jeremiah 41:17 And they departed and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham, which is near Bethlehem, as they went on their way to Egypt,
Jeremiah 41:18 because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had murdered Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had made governor in the land.
Johanan, THEN, beseeches God through Jeremiah in chapter 42 to “seek God’s will” really just hoping that it matches his own – but it doesn’t. And he takes everyone down to Egypt and does not stay in Judah where God said it would be well with them.
Jeremiah 43:5 But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to dwell in the land of Judah, from all nations where they had been driven—
Jeremiah 43:6 men, women, children, the king’s daughters, and every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah.
Jeremiah 43:7 So they went to the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the LORD. And they went as far as Tahpanhes.
Jeremiah 44:12 And I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to dwell there, and they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine. They shall die, from the least to the greatest, by the sword and by famine; and they shall be an oath, an astonishment, a curse and a reproach!
Jeremiah 44:13 For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence,
Jeremiah 44:14 so that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone into the land of Egypt to dwell there shall escape or survive, lest they return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return and dwell. For none shall return except those who escape.’ ”
Because God has to fulfill his promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and Jeremiah
Jeremiah 44:28 Yet a small number who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah; and all the remnant of Judah, who have gone to the land of Egypt to dwell there, shall know whose words will stand, Mine or theirs.
Isaiah adds more
Isaiah 37:31 And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah Shall again take root downward, And bear fruit upward.
Isaiah 37:32 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, And those who escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
Ezekiel adds more
This prophetic message is addressed, NOT to Judah (that is the Jews) but to the house of ISRAEL. It is a message to give to the lost ten tribes of ISRAEL in the end time!
Ezekiel is told to speak a riddle in Ezekiel 17:3-10
Focus on one part of it
Ezekiel 17:3 and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “A great eagle with large wings and long pinions, Full of feathers of various colors, Came to Lebanon And took from the cedar the highest branch.
Ezekiel 17:4 He cropped off its topmost young twig And carried it to a land of trade; He set it in a city of merchants.
Ezekiel 17:12 “Say now to the rebellious house [Israel to whom Ezekiel was sent]: ‘Do you not know what these things mean?’ Tell them, ‘Indeed the king of Babylon went to Jerusalem and took its king and princes, and led them with him to Babylon.
So then he explains how the riddle refers to the captivity and Zedekiah and what happened to him and his sons
A great eagle [King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon] came to Lebanon and took the highest branch of the cedar [Zedekiah, king of Judah]. The cropping off of the cedar’s topmost young twigs is the king’s sons.
Thus the riddle covers the first part of Jeremiah’s commission. Now notice that the second part is covered as well
Ezekiel 17:22 Thus says the Lord GOD: “I will take also one of the highest branches of the high cedar and set it out. I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and will plant [Jeremiah; Isaiah; now Ezekiel] it on a high and prominent mountain.
Ezekiel 17:23 On the mountain [symbol for a nation] height of Israel I will plant it; and it will bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a majestic cedar. Under it will dwell birds of every sort; in the shadow of its branches they will dwell.
Ezekiel 17:24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I, the LORD, have brought down the high tree and exalted the low tree, dried up the green tree and made the dry tree flourish; I, the LORD, have spoken and have done it.”
These are Zedekiah’s offspring, but we know that ALL of his sons were killed before his eyes. So this reconciles the question of which king’s daughters were in Mizpah or Judah with Jeremiah and also who escaped and now how the planting part of Jeremiah’s commission would be accomplished.
Where did Jeremiah go?
So where did Jeremiah have to go to transplant?
The exact, precise location is revealed in Bible prophecy!
We have to reverse engineer it
Amos 1:1 The words of Amos…which he saw concerning Israel
Amos 9:8 “Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom (has to be Israel because Judah had not gone astray yet), And I will destroy it from the face of the earth; Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” Says the LORD.
Amos 9:9 “For surely I will command, And will sift the house of Israel among all nations, As grain is sifted in a sieve; Yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.
This prophecy shows that Israel would lose their identity but God would always know where they were and look after them.
From the Northwest
Hosea 3:4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince….
2 Samuel 7:10 Moreover I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more; nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them anymore, as previously,
2 Samuel 7:11 since the time that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel, and have caused you to rest from all your enemies. Also the LORD tells you that He will make you a house.
It was also prophesied that once they were planted they would move no more until the end time.
Israel had already gone into captivity some 130 years before and had not returned
In chapter 49, it is Israel that is being addressed:
Isaiah 49:3 “And He said to me, ‘You are My servant, O Israel, In whom I will be glorified.’
Isaiah 49:6 Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”
Then in :12
Isaiah 49:12 Surely these shall come from afar; Look! Those from the north and the west, And these from the land of Sinim.”
In the Hebrew there is no word for “northwest” so this is how it is said “the north and the west.”
There are many other scriptures that say the same.
In the Sea/Coastlands
Psalms 89:25 I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.
The throne is to be set and planted, “in the sea.”
Isaiah 49:1 “Listen, O coastlands, to Me, And take heed, you peoples from afar (Israel :3)! The LORD has called Me from the womb; From the matrix of My mother He has made mention of My name.
Many other scriptures that say the same
When we look for modern day Israel and where Jeremiah had to go to plant the throne of David, it was in a place to the Northwest and an isle
Take a map of Europe – it’s the United Kingdom, British Commonwealth! And of course this makes the United States, which came out of the UK, Manasseh! God keeps track of His people just as He had promised (Genesis 28:15).
When we combine this with the all the other scriptures and unconditional promises passed down from Abraham, the criteria undeniably points here!
- His younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”Genesis 48:19
- Your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Genesis 28:14
- your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies Genesis 22:17
- In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed Genesis 22:18
- Of the dew of heaven, Of the fatness of the earth, And plenty of grain and wine Genesis 27:28
- Let peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, And let your mother’s sons bow down to you Genesis 27:29
- “Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh) is a fruitful bough, A fruitful bough by a well; His branches run over the wall. [they were to be a colonizing people] Genesis 49:22
- By the God of your father who will help you, And by the Almighty who will bless you With blessings of heaven above, Blessings of the deep that lies beneath, Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
The blessings of your father Have excelled the blessings of my ancestors, Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph, And on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers. Genesis 49:25-26