Jer 14:13 | KingComments | STEP | Jeremiah points out to the “Lord GOD” the opponents of the truth, which are the false prophets ( ). These are the ‘fair weather’ prophets. They preach pleasant things, things that lull the people to sleep and make them persist in their cherished sins. They dare to do this in the Name of the LORD. It is bad to preach lies, it is even worse to do so in the Name of the LORD. They speak of peace that the LORD would give, yes, even of “lasting peace”, a peace that always remains and is not taken away. By speaking in this way they encourage the people in their sinful behavior, as if they had no sinful behavior. The hallmark of a false prophet is that he completely leaves out the conscience and does not speak of repentance. Such false prophets are also many today. They are those people, theologians and church officials, who proclaim, for example, that gay and lesbian relationships are relationships of ‘love’. They are exposed when we see that they are not preaching Christ, but on the contrary are condoning sin. They pass on their own thoughts and not God’s Word. Sin always brings judgment, but false prophets do not speak of sin and therefore do not speak of judgment. People who live in sin and do not want to break with it, always follow people who give them room to do so and even encourage them in it. We see this in religion and also in politics. There the ‘enlightened’ thinking of mankind is the starting point. That thinking is darkness and quicksand. The LORD answers Jeremiah that those prophets are lying prophets and He did not send them ( ). He knows exactly what they are like, He knows their intent. They are self-serving. What they prophesy, is invented, it’s hollow talk, it doesn’t amount to anything. It is deceit that springs from their own depraved heart. The LORD will bring judgment on them by the sword and by famine, the very means they deny ( ). This is the irony of God. The judgments that the false prophets have denied will also come on the people ( ). The LORD will pour out their own evil on them. All of them will perish, they themselves, their wives and their sons and their daughters. They all perish. There is no one to bury them. The people may have been misled, but that does not make them any less guilty. How often have they been warned not to listen to false prophets. The blind people and the blind prophets both fall into the pit ( ). The people themselves are responsible for having listened to those prophets and not turning away from them. Thus the foolishness of the false prophets will be revealed, as with Jannes and Jambres ( ). Denying or falsifying and twisting what God has said has no bearing on what God has said. In these verses we see a serious picture of professing Christianity in which we find ourselves. The servants of satan turn the ear of their hearers away from the truth and turn it to fables. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They pretend to be servants of Christ, but they overthrow faith in the truth and the authority of Scripture. They ridicule it and trample on the great and holy truths of the atonement and the eternal judgment that awaits everyone “who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified” ( ). Those who listen to such preachers with approval will be judged with the judgment that comes on these false preachers.

‏ Jeremiah 14:13

Judgment on the False Prophets

Jeremiah points out to the “Lord GOD” the opponents of the truth, which are the false prophets (Jer 14:13). These are the ‘fair weather’ prophets. They preach pleasant things, things that lull the people to sleep and make them persist in their cherished sins. They dare to do this in the Name of the LORD. It is bad to preach lies, it is even worse to do so in the Name of the LORD.

They speak of peace that the LORD would give, yes, even of “lasting peace”, a peace that always remains and is not taken away. By speaking in this way they encourage the people in their sinful behavior, as if they had no sinful behavior. The hallmark of a false prophet is that he completely leaves out the conscience and does not speak of repentance.

Such false prophets are also many today. They are those people, theologians and church officials, who proclaim, for example, that gay and lesbian relationships are relationships of ‘love’. They are exposed when we see that they are not preaching Christ, but on the contrary are condoning sin. They pass on their own thoughts and not God’s Word. Sin always brings judgment, but false prophets do not speak of sin and therefore do not speak of judgment.

People who live in sin and do not want to break with it, always follow people who give them room to do so and even encourage them in it. We see this in religion and also in politics. There the ‘enlightened’ thinking of mankind is the starting point. That thinking is darkness and quicksand.

The LORD answers Jeremiah that those prophets are lying prophets and He did not send them (Jer 14:14). He knows exactly what they are like, He knows their intent. They are self-serving. What they prophesy, is invented, it’s hollow talk, it doesn’t amount to anything. It is deceit that springs from their own depraved heart. The LORD will bring judgment on them by the sword and by famine, the very means they deny (Jer 14:15). This is the irony of God.

The judgments that the false prophets have denied will also come on the people (Jer 14:16). The LORD will pour out their own evil on them. All of them will perish, they themselves, their wives and their sons and their daughters. They all perish. There is no one to bury them. The people may have been misled, but that does not make them any less guilty. How often have they been warned not to listen to false prophets. The blind people and the blind prophets both fall into the pit (Mt 15:14). The people themselves are responsible for having listened to those prophets and not turning away from them. Thus the foolishness of the false prophets will be revealed, as with Jannes and Jambres (2Tim 3:8-9). Denying or falsifying and twisting what God has said has no bearing on what God has said.

In these verses we see a serious picture of professing Christianity in which we find ourselves. The servants of satan turn the ear of their hearers away from the truth and turn it to fables. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They pretend to be servants of Christ, but they overthrow faith in the truth and the authority of Scripture. They ridicule it and trample on the great and holy truths of the atonement and the eternal judgment that awaits everyone “who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified” (Heb 10:29). Those who listen to such preachers with approval will be judged with the judgment that comes on these false preachers.