Temporary repentance

And so we continue jumping through Jeremiah to somewhat keep our chronological order. 

It’s a bit unclear when these events happened, but it appears to be before Jeremiah was put in prison. (Chapters 32-33)

Jeremiah first warns Zedekiah that Nebuchadnezzar would triumph over Jerusalem, although Zedekiah would not be put to death by the sword.

While it’s not clear, it appears this caused at least some repentance on the part of Zedekiah and Judah. 

For years, they had broken God’s law against the Israelites keeping their own brother Israelites as slaves. 

According to the law, every seven years they were to release any Israelite serving them.  (Most of these people were forced into labor because of debt problems.) 

But instead of doing this, the Israelites forced their brothers to keep serving them as slaves.

With the Babylonians threatening to overrun them, however, and with all of Jeremiah’s warnings of what was to come, Zedekiah convinced the people of Israel to make a covenant with God in which they promised to release all the slaves. 

And they did.  But only for a short time. 

While the timing is not clearly stated, it appears that sometime after they had done this, Nebuchadnezzar withdrew his army from Jerusalem’s walls to fight against the Egyptians. (Jeremiah 34:21)

With the threat of Nebuchadnezzar now gone, the people had gone back on their promise to God and forced their brothers back into slavery. 

As a result, God pronounced judgment on them, telling them that Nebuchadnezzar would be back and would lay waste to Jerusalem.

What can we learn from this?  Sometimes people go through troubles in their lives and as a result turn to God.  God works in their lives and forgives them, bringing restoration to them. 

But when things go well, they forget the goodness of God in their lives, and start living their own way again.  As a result, they fall right back into a life of turmoil and destruction.

I’m not saying they will lose their salvation, but I am saying they will reap the consequences of their sin here on earth.

How about you?  Having been forgiven and restored, are you now turning back to your old way of life?

May our repentance from sin not be temporary.  Rather, let us always turn our face to God, fleeing from sin. 

Only in doing so will we find blessing.