Young children sometimes wish that they could be invisible. That way they could sneak around, get into some mischief, and their parents or teachers wouldn’t see them. Without that invisibility power they always seem to get caught when they do something they’ve been told not to do. That desire doesn’t always leave when we get older. Employees often look over their shoulder to see if the boss or supervisor is around, checking what they can get away with. Motorists are always checking for the police to see if it’s safe to speed up. Do we wish we could be invisible to God? Some of the religious leaders and people of Israel during the days of the prophet Jeremiah felt they were unseen by God, and could do and speak as they wished. However, God had a response for them.
Nobody likes to hear bad news, nor do they like to hear any criticism or scolding for their actions and behavior. They don’t like hearing it from their boss, their friends, or their spouse. Knowing this about people, many preachers have tailored all of their sermons for their congregations to be positive, feel-good messages. This is not only true today, but was also in the days of the prophets. The true prophets of God, who proclaimed His Word faithfully, would often call the people out on their sins and when they strayed into worshiping idols. However, the false prophets preferred to gain the people’s favor, particularly royalty and political leaders, so they only spoke positive messages. They told the people lies, saying that Yahweh didn’t mind what they were doing, and that depending on where they were, He couldn’t see them. These false prophets preached that the messages of judgment that the true prophets spoke were wrong, and that Yahweh would not judge or punish them, as after all, they were His children. These false prophets even claimed to have special revelations from God through dreams and visions.
Yahweh had a message for these false prophets and religious leaders who had forsaken His Word in Scripture, and His messenger Jeremiah was ready to give it. As our passage opens, Jeremiah tells these false prophets and the people that Yahweh can see all that they do (vs. 23-24). He is not stuck just inside the Temple in Jerusalem. He sees what is going on nearby, and also far off. He is also not a remote God that is not interested in what is happening. No one can hide what they are doing from God. He is omnipresent and omniscient, seeing and knowing all. God is always at hand, noting all that is being done, whether good or bad. No one can hide from Him.
When religious leaders and preachers do not faithfully preach the Word of God, exactly as it is written, they are then speaking lies. Preaching only messages that the people want to hear, ones that make them feel good, and not ones that bring repentance and a change in their lives, is preaching lies in God’s Name (vs. 25-27). Jeremiah, Isaiah, and other faithful men of God preached against the sins of the people, calling them back to the Lord. They preached that if the people continued in their sins and worshiping the false pagan gods, that the judgment of Yahweh would come. The people, religious, and political leaders did not want to hear that. They only wanted feel-good messages, and this is what the false prophets gave them. They claimed that they had special mystical and divine messages from dreams.
Many of today’s preachers, including many well-known ones on TV, are the same. They are not faithfully preaching God’s Word, but instead only fluffy, feel-good messages. They feel that preaching anything about sin makes people feel bad. They even claim that God’s Word, the Bible, is wrong about what is or isn’t sin, that God’s Word is outdated, He doesn’t see, or doesn’t care.
True, godly preachers and teachers, and the false ones are as different from each other as grain is from chaff or straw (vs. 28). These false preachers are deceptive, and have nothing compared to God’s Word. God’s Word is like a hammer and a fire, and will prevail against the false messages (vs. 29). The Word of God lasts forever, and always accomplishes His will (Isaiah 55:11). His Word will also destroy the false prophets, preachers, and teachers who twist His Word for their own evil purposes. It will destroy them just as fire does when it is mishandled.
Who are we listening to? Are we only wanting to follow those who tell us what we want to hear? Who only gives us cotton-candy messages to make us feel good? Or will we follow those who give us the true Word of God from the Bible, messages that bring us to repentance, and help us grow as believers? God wants us to be careful as to who we listen to and follow.
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