Jeremiah 38:19 “And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me.”

What you’re reading is the reason why Zedekiah did not obey God’s word and save himself and the city of Jerusalem from Babylonian destruction.

… He was scared of what other people would think of him.

Hello readers, welcome to another blog, I haven’t been as active of late on here, but hopefully this is worth it. I want to briefly consider a man called Zedekiah in the Bible, and learn some lessons from when he was offered salvation by God through the prophet Jeremiah.

Who was Zedekiah? Well he is known as the last king of Judah (although there’s one more king to come! The King of kings!).

And Zedekiah was king of Judah (the southern kingdom of divided Israel) when Jerusalem fell and was destroyed by the Babylonians. But here in chapter 38 of Jeremiah just beforehand, he was offered salvation and did not take it.

He could have saved himself and his people by obeying what God told him to do through his prophet Jeremiah… but this was the reason he cited for not doing so… it seems pretty weak now doesn’t it.

But as we examine this a bit further, we will find that we are more like Zedekiah than we think? Are we like Zedekiah in terms of the state we are in, how we are a living, and how we respond to God’s word? This is quite a remarkable picture of salvation, or rather, refusal of the offer of salvation found in the Old Testament, and it parallels amazingly well to how a lost man is given the gospel but refuses it to his own destruction.

Anyway let’s get some more context. So we know that Zedekiah is king of Judah… but if you read and found out, you’ll discover that his nation is facing the judgment of God for their consistent, persistent and insistent sin and wrongdoing. They’ve heard many prophets of God… and persecuted just as many also… who’ve warned them ad nauseum about this coming judgment and what they can do to avert it or survive it.

In the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah is a key prophet of God whose ministry has correlated with the time of king Zedekiah. God’s got the right guy for the right time! And Jeremiah’s been telling the people that God has said that Babylon is coming, and all nations including Judah have been given into his hand and they have to submit to his yoke… or else. But either way… Babylon is going to rule and reign.

But Zedekiah is a rebel, he leads a rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar and refuses to serve him, and for eleven years this goes on, as he leads the nation in defiance to Babylon but ultimately God’s word. And people like Jeremiah are a thorn in his side! … those pesky prophets of God. Always spoiling our fun!

So in the verse quoted above, Zedekiah is speaking to Jeremiah, and he’s looking for some information, he’s looking for a “word”… and Jeremiah according to God’s word has presented him with what the future will hold based on what decision he makes next.

So we are at big decision time in Zedekiah’s life!

To his credit somewhat, Zedekiah has asked Jeremiah for the counsel of God’s word, so that’s good? But in life, just like Zedekiah here, many people are willing to listen, they’re interested in the things of God and they flirt with God’s word and even entertain obeying God’s word in their lives… but don’t end up doing it.

We find that Zedekiah is basically given two options by Jeremiah according to God’s word… he can surrender to the Babylonian army and trust God’s promise that everything will be fine if he does so… or he can keep resisting and fight the Babylonians as he’s been doing… but if he continues to do so the city will be captured, destroyed and there will be much loss of life.

God had promised him that everything would be fine if he just obeyed. And salvation is a promise. What do we have? The promises of God, and that God is good for what he has promised, because he is a man of his word. But will you trust God’s promise of forgiveness of sins and eternal life through Christ? And God has made a lot of promises to us in his Son Jesus Christ, but yet so many people do not obtain them by faith.

Zedekiah was promised it would be ok if he surrendered… but if you think about it, it’s a risky sort of option, because he would be entirely trusting God’s word… and it wasn’t a very “sexy” option either was it. For a king to go out the city, open the doors, hands on head throwing himself at the mercy of the opposing army.

After all Zedekiah had rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar. Maybe when he surrenders, Nebuchadnezzar just lops his head off? And it would be pretty humbling and scary surrendering to an opposing army, not knowing what they’re going to do with you and how they’re going to treat you.

Ironically, Zedekiah was most scared of what the other Jews would think who had already surrendered. But God also made him a promise not just about Babylonian treatment of him, but Jewish treatment of him. And we shouldn’t be too proud to admit we were wrong. But pride doesn’t like to be humbled!

So after Jeremiah gives him the “gospel”… the good news that there is a way of salvation that God has provided to him… his whole future depends on what he does with it. Just like us today.

When you think about it, this should have been quite a straightforward decision to make. And salvation really is a straightforward decision to make… because what really do you have to lose? You’re already a loser, as are we all. Jerusalem was LOSING at this point in history make no mistake.

Zedekiah had nothing that much to lose, other than his own pride as already mentioned. Because if you read around and get more context from the Bible, the city had been under siege for quite some time, they were being starved out. Although Zedekiah is king and he has it better than most, the city is in a famine. And when you’re in a famine, you’re hungry, you’re being deprived of the most basic necessity of life… food.

When you think about it, every lost person is in a famine before salvation. Famine is the state of every lost person, that’s where our sin takes us… emptiness… besieged by the consequences of our litany of poor choices in life. Salvation is offered under siege though! Are you under siege in your life? Maybe God is trying to get your attention, maybe he’s wanting to save your soul now!

The thing is, Zedekiah had done plenty of evil to date. This isn’t a good guy, he’s been anti God the whole way. And it’s time we don’t just call them poor choices or console ourselves that we are essentially good. We are all sinners. And we all are dead in our sins, lost and in darkness, we cannot save ourselves, we cannot do better, we cannot do enough. There was no pathway out of this mess through Zedekiah’s ability, military might, alliances… everything. God’s going to get you to a complete state of helplessness, that you see, in order to save you. Zedekiah was quite helpless and hopeless.

And remember, back at the start of his reign, Zedekiah had rebelled against and from then on resisted Nebuchadnezzar… but ultimately God… and so is each of our own personal state before God. The Bible clearly teaches before we are saved, we are enemies of God, we are at war with God, and that state can be for a long time, even our whole lives. But it is in that state that God sends a messenger into our life…

Because then… along came a preacher! And the Bible teaches that it is preaching that God uses to save people. God had a Jeremiah in Zedekiah’s life, who’s he put in your life? If you hate preaching and don’t like being preached at… you’ll never be saved. Because it’s through preaching that you will get saved. Because preaching isn’t a debate or a discussion or a dialogue… it’s the declaration and proclamation with authority of what God has said… and that’s what Jeremiah did… he said what God said.

Jeremiah had preached repentance of sin and salvation to this man and his nation for many years, both in public and in private… but Zedekiah, like many of us, hardened his heart to the message, he thought he knew better, he thought he was going to write his own script for his life rather than submit to scripture.

Newsflash: You’re not going to write your own script. There is no script where you reject Jesus Christ and go to heaven. You may be writing that, but that script is going to burn in the fire… there’s only one script that is forever… and reigns forever… and that is the scripture, the Holy Bible, the word of truth.

And so lets get the facts straight based on what the Bible teaches about Zedekiah. He was a rebel. He rebelled against the king of Babylon. He rebelled against God’s word. He rebelled against God’s authority. He didn’t want to submit. He didn’t want to surrender. He hardened than humbled, he resisted rather than repent.

And for eleven years this went on, and he holed himself up and he held out against Nebuchadnezzar, against God, against truth. Isn’t that the state of every lost sinner? Isn’t that a state even us Christians get ourselves into? We hole up and hold out even though rejection of God’s word is damaging our life so. We corner ourselves but we still don’t give up the resistance!

It’s worth noting that Zedekiah’s rebellion and resistance didn’t just impact himself… it was hurting other people also… the whole nation was suffering. Our sin affects those around us. The decisions you make in relation to God’s word will affect others also. Positions of leadership are positions of influence… how are we influencing other people’s lives?

But though he resisted, we also know that Zedekiah’s resistance was futile… dear reader if you are holed up and holding out against God’s word… know that you will lose… who can stand against God? Yes I know each person always thinks they are going to win against God, we all think we are the exception… but there is no exception to the authority and mandate of God’s word.

It’s also significant that Zedekiah was a king. We all live like kings today. It’s fun being the “king” of our lives isn’t it. We have our way, we have our truth, we live life our way… that’s kind of like what a king does. We think we have dominion over our soul and spirit and destiny. But all the time we think we are king and live like kings… yet Jesus Christ is the King of kings. You are coming under his rule one day whether you like it or not, as Zedekiah did in the end. If you did think you were writing your own script… if you do think you can write an “alternative ending”… it’s ending the way God wrote it.

In all this, I’ve been thinking about how life boils down to decisions we make at crucial junctures or crisis points in our lives. And this was Zedekiah’s. But when the Bible says “that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” it is not joking. It’s easy to get saved, but for most people salvation is accompanied by the toughest times of their lives. It is a strait gate that we must strive to enter in at as Jesus said. There’s plenty of strife within and without at the time of salvation.

Just think about it, he’s pretty desperate if he’s turned to Jeremiah after years of rejecting God’s word. But here he was still offered a way out by God! God is pretty good huh. He doesn’t owe us salvation, but he offers us it. And he offered us it while we hated him, while we rejected him, while we spoke evil of him, while we live our own vain wicked lives.

But Zedekiah would not take it. And it was because he was scared what the Jews already captured would think of him. They’ll mock me! Ironically, maybe you won’t get saved because what you think Christians who are already saved, maybe even long ago, will think of you. That’d be pretty crazy huh. But imagine if you’ve lived a whole life anti God, anti Bible… would be pretty humbling to get saved and become a Christian after so emphatically positioning yourself in defiance to Christ all those years right?

Note how there was only one way though presented by God for Zedekiah. Surrender. No terms and conditions of surrender either… unconditional surrender. That’s what salvation is. It’s a white flag to God. And there is no other option. Jesus Christ is the only way. But the way he was offered wasn’t a way that Zedekiah liked, because it risked embarrassment to self. It wasn’t even going to be embarrassing for him, just he thought it was. It’s amazing how our perceptions and imaginations can stop us from doing what we should do in life.

Anyway I’m going to leave it there because the word count has gotten high! But I would encourage you to read it for yourself. Because Zedekiah doesn’t obey God’s word, he continues fighting until he turns to fleeing as if he could possibly escape the judgment of God. I’m sure later on in his life, after he was blinded, and with the last thing he ever saw being the death of his sons before his eyes… I’m sure he wished he would have made a different decision right here. The Bible is written so we don’t have to have “if only” in our life, we can know beforehand so we can make the right decisions now… by faith in obedience to God’s word.

If you’re thinking about being saved, or curious or whatever, just go ahead and pray for God to save you from your sins through Jesus Christ. Maybe if you’re going through some stuff in life, maybe there is a silver lining of redemption in this time… maybe God is leading you to saving faith in Christ, maybe he’s got your attention in a way he would not have otherwise. I hope you are saved, but if not, I hope you will be saved, don’t follow the example of Zedekiah! He made a really bad decision here, but it wasn’t God’s fault, it was entirely his own. God was so good to him despite how bad he really was, what a golden opportunity he let slip. Don’t let it slip, dear reader! Now is the accepted time, today is the day of salvation!

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