Salvation Still Possible

Read Jeremiah 37-38
 
Jeremiah 38:14-15 One day King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah and had him brought to the third entrance of the LORD’s Temple. “I want to ask you something,” the king said. “And don’t try to hide the truth.” 15 Jeremiah said, “If I tell you the truth, you will kill me. And if I give you advice, you won't listen to me anyway.” …17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the Babylonian officers, you and your family will live, and the city will not be burned down…21b Your life will be spared, and all will go well for you.”
 
YES, Jeremiah was faced with a huge challenge. The three previous times he had spoken God’s messages to Zedekiah, Jeremiah had been threatened and/or jailed. Zedekiah had cut God’s scroll. He had pompously denied the Living God of Israel, putting idols and evil before the LORD. But suddenly with the shadow of Babylon’s army over Jerusalem, he wanted a new message from Jeremiah.
   What would Jeremiah do? Surely he was afraid of Zedekiah’s response to the true Word from God. But Jeremiah feared God more than the man who stood before him. The faithful, persecuted prophet declared one more message from God to the carnal king.
   The king should have been relieved and excited with such a gracious message! Here suddenly was a sign of freedom from the destruction Jeremiah had prophesied over Jerusalem and the Temple. All he had to do was surrender to Babylon. If he did, God would preserve the physical city. Although Zedekiah would be imprisoned in Babylon, he and his family would live and not be harmed!     In another act of remarkable grace, God was willing to save the king and his family from death if Zedekiah would do this one simple thing. The LORD would set them apart and protect them in the exile.
   But it seems Zedekiah feared man more than God. He was afraid of the Jews who had defected to Babylon. His choice condemned himself, his city, the Temple and his family. All would be destroyed because Zedekiah put fear for his own life above faith in the Holy God of Israel. Salvation requires submission to the Word.
   Jeremiah’s and Zedekiah’s ultimate positions under Babylon will be dramatically different. The prophet will be honored. Zedekiah will be disfigured and humiliated. Obedience and disobedience under God’s Word does mean life and death.