Jeremiah 27

A Lesson in Submission - Part 2

Debra Isenbletter

Jeremiah Addresses Five Kings (vs. 3-11)

V. 3: “And send them to the king of Edom and the king of Moab...” In this verse there are five kings named and each of those kings could be taught as a type. Edom a type of the old creation, Moab a type of the worldly professor; Amon a type of a religious professor, Tyrus a type of pride, rebellion and strength apart from God and Zidon, a type of the commerce and greed of the world. But apart from the types, you see a rebellious alliance. These were in Jerusalem for a reason, possibly to meet with Zedekiah and try to form an alliance so they all could avoid wearing this yoke Jeremiah speaks of.

Zedekiah pays a terrible price when he goes to these men for help for he is going to the world instead of the Lord. God’s people cannot form an alliance with the world. These men would only draw Zedekiah farther away from the Lord and he will end up losing everything. We cannot fellowship the world or try to avoid trials by going to the world or forming alliances with the world. The Lord’s purpose for His people is separation. In this alliance is seen a hint of the terrible alliance that will be made in the last days (Is. 28:15-18).

V. 4: “And command them to say unto their masters...” In this verse we see A Message for the Messengers. The Lord gives Jeremiah a message for these men that have come to Jerusalem and the name by which the Lord identifies Himself to these nations is “The Lord of hosts.” He is the Lord of all heavenly and earthly armies. His message to them is that He controls all the armies of the world, and He controls Babylon. This is how He will reveal Himself to the rebellious nations in the last days.

Jeremiah’s Explanation To These Nations (vs. 5-7)

V. 5: “I have made the earth...” In this verse The God of Creation is seen. Jeremiah states that the One he is speaking for is the One who has created all things and he gives three testimonies of His power: He created the earth, He created man, He created the beasts. There is a reason Jeremiah describes the Lord in this way, it is because the nations have forgotten this. They have forgotten the God of Creation and are worshiping “the creature more than the Creator” (Rom. 1:23-25).

Once the Lord declares what He has created, He then declares how He created everything. He did so by His great power and by His outstretched arm. God’s power is seen in His Word, it is what He used to create all things, and that Word is Living and seen in the person of Jesus. His arm stretched out shows how far His power reaches. How far does His arm reach? There is no limit to how far His arm reaches and to what He can do. (Jer. 32:27). This outstretched arm speaks of His power to do two things. It speaks of His power to deliver (Ex. 6:6; Deut. 26:8) and His power to judge. What His people will learn is that His judgment is always measured, it is never too much (Lam. 3:22; Mt. 24:22).

In the last days, God’s Arm is made manifest in the Person of His Son. Jesus will both deliver and judge. The nations will see God’s Arm stretched out in defense of His people (Is. 52:10) and we have already seen His Arm stretched out in love at Calvary. The final message to these kings is that since He created all things He has the right to share His power. He has “given it unto whom it seemeth meet (fit).” The Lord has the sovereign right to give His power and authority to whomsoever He wants. He has turned over this power to the Gentile nations so they might discipline His people and in each case it is always for a limited time. We have seen in history how they have misused this power, so the Lord brings that nation down and raises up another. We look forward to the day when the Lord Jesus will receive from the Father this authority to rule and reign.

V. 6: “And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar...my servant.” This verse shows God’s servant, the king of Babylon. He has given to this man, this title, and with this title goes all the authority and power to reign. Everything belongs to him, from the smallest animal on earth to every individual living on the earth. What man has forgotten is that this is the Lord’s sovereign right, He can choose to do whatever He wants with what is already His, and the one He chooses to give (or entrust) these things to is Nebuchadnezzar.

The lesson we see beginning is that this man is the first world ruler. Nebuchadnezzar’s name means both “prophecy” and “the earthen vessel is preserved.” You can see in the meaning “prophecy” there is the fulfillment of the beginning of Jeremiah’s prophecy and in the meaning “an earthen vessel preserved” that this man is preserved by God for a specific purpose (to judge His people) and he also is used to ‘preserve” a Remnant. Daniel also reveals this same revelation of Israel’s submission to the Gentiles, although he may not have fully understood all that this dream meant. Daniel under Holy Spirit anointing gave the interpretation for the image of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Dan. 2:1-43).

This image pictures four world empires that will have dominion over God’s people. Nebuchadnezzar dreamed the dream but could not remember it. It is significant that he forgot his dream. Nebuchadnezzar stands for all Gentile rulers and that he has forgotten where his power came from and Who gave him his authority. So all succeeding nations have forgotten the God of Creation and the One who gave them their authority to rule over His people. The dream is a reminder that the authority to reign is given to Nebuchadnezzar and his reign is only for a limited time. The same principal holds true for every nation that rises up afterwards, it is the God of Creation and the One who rules the nations of the earth who allows them to rule until the time of the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, his Perfect Servant.