Biblical Characters - Jeremiah 1(Christ Ahnsahnghong&Jerusalem Mother-wmscog)

Jeremiah was a prophet of Judah, who proclaimed God's judgment on the Jews who had abandoned God's laws and delivered God's message to return to God's decrees.


Birthplace

He was a son of Hilkiah the priest.

He lived in Anathoth which was about 3 miles away from Jerusalem and proclaimed God's word to the people, having been called by God when young.

God Chose Him

Jer 1:5 『"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."』

As it is written above, Jeremiah was appointed as a prophet before his birth.


His Working Period

He began to proclaim God's words from the 13th year of King Josiah, and prophesied God's will for about 40 years until the destruction of Judah. Five kings ruled while he prophesied.


Historical Background

Tens of years passed after the northern kingdom of Israel, which had left God and worshiped idols, was destroyed by Assyria. When the rebelliousness of Israel was almost forgotten, the southern kingdom of Judah was following the same path Israel walked.

Jer 3:8 『I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery.』
For a long time, the priests and leaders had been corrupt, and the people followed them.

To make them realize how corrupt they were, God appointed King Josiah and recovered His decrees and laws through him.

However, after King Josiah died, the people of Judah began to worship idols and to gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion again. They stirred up God's anger.

They depended on the power of the strong countries rather than God, and followed the pagan faith rather than kept the faith in God. Judah became more corrupted by the false faith which was combined with the paganism.

However, they believed that they were believing in God in the right way, and ridiculed God's prophets. They practised lawlessness, not knowing that a great disaster and judgment was coming upon them.


God's Will

What was God's will when He appointed Jeremiah?

What God wanted was not judgment, but salvation. The fact that people left the law of God means that they worshiped other gods.

'We did nothing wrong, but we changed God's law just a little bit.'

'Will God bring judgment on us because we don't keep His law in the way He told us to keep it?'

It was the same as now that there were many people who neglected God's law. They worshiped other gods, leaving God. But they didn't think that they were worshiping other gods at all. They thought that they were worshiping God well.
When the Israelites worshiped the golden calf in the desert, they insisted that they were worshiping God who had brought them up from the land of Egypt, didn't they? (Ex 32:4)

Jeroboam king of Israel in the north also made two golden calves and said, 'Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.'

Jer 7:9-11 『"'Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, "We are safe" … Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you?'』

God rebuked the people of Judah severely through Jeremiah, but they still did evil even more and neglected God's law.

Jer 8:4-7 『"Say to them, 'This is what the LORD says: "'When men fall down, do they not get up? When a man turns away, does he not return? Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return. … Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of the LORD.』

If prophet Jeremiah had praised the leaders and the priests, he would have been acknowledged and respected by them.

However the priests and leaders, and even the people followed false doctrines and worshiped idols. Curse and disasters were proclaimed to come upon those who had left God's law through the lips of prophet Jeremiah.

Jer 6:18-19 『Therefore hear, O nations; observe, O witnesses, what will happen to them. Hear, O earth: I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their schemes, because they have not listened to my words and have rejected my law.』

♡ Christ Ahnsahnghong & Jerusalem Mother ♡

World Mission Society Church of God(WMS COG)

Christ Ahnsahnghong came to Korea, at the ends of the earth in the east, and restored the new covenant.

The truth of the new covenant has been spreading rapidly throughout the country. As a result, over 400 branch Churches have been established nationwide in the past half century.

All the Churches celebrate the feasts of God including the Passover of the new covenant, and speedily carry out the gospel work according to the prophecy of the Bible.

Biblical Knowledge - History of Israel 2(Church of God believe in God the Mother

▶ 5. Period of the Kings
In the period of Samuel, who was the last judge, the people asked God to set a king over them, and God set Saul, a Benjamite, as king (1 Samuel chapters 11-13).

After Saul was on the throne 40 years and died in a battle against Philistines (Ac 13:21, 1 Sa 31:1-13), David became king and ruled 40 years (2 Sa 5:4).

After David died, his son Solomon became king and ruled 40 years as well (1 Ki 11:42).


▶ 6. Period of the Separated Kingdoms

(ref. The Mystery of God and the Spring of the Water of Life chap. 8 「The Mystery of the Passover」)

After King Solomon died, Israel was divided into two, Judah in south ruled by King Rehoboam and Israel in north ruled by King Jeroboam (B.C. 975, 1 Ki 12:1-24).

(1) Israel in north

Israel indulged in idolatry from the beginning and incurred the wrath of God. It was destroyed by Shalmaneser king of Assyria in the 255th year after its establishment (B.C. 721, 2 Ki 17:1-18).

All the people were deported to a far area (2 Ki 17:6), and instead many other peoples moved in Samaria (2 Ki 17:24).

(2) Judah in south

Judah did not follow God's commandments faithfully, but it could be protected by God (2 Ki 18:21-19:37) by keeping the Passover in the period of King Hezekiah (2 Ch 30:1-27). Afterwards it was protected for about 100 years.


▶ 7. Time of the Babylonian Exile and Return From the Exile

Judah knew that Israel was destroyed because they treated God's decrees and laws with contempt. However, Judah didn't try hard to serve God and sometimes ignored God's decrees and laws. So God delivered it into the hands of King Nebuchadnezzar, and let it know God's true will.

(1) Time of the Babylonian Exile → When Judah was taken captives over three times (1st time in B.C. 606, 2nd time in B.C. 597, 3rd time in B.C. 586,) God prophesied through Jeremiah that they would be back to Judah after 70 years.

(2) Return to Jerusalem from Babylon → As God had prophesied, Babylon was destroyed by Media-Persia, and in the 70th year after the Jews became captives, God moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia, and Cyrus made a proclamation throughout his realm and put it in writing that the Jews might go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD. The Jews gave thanks and praises to the almighty God and returned to their home country to build the temple (1st time in B.C. 537, 2nd time in B.C. 457, Ezra chapters 1-3).

(3) Judah was a tributary to Media-Persia. It became a tributary to Ptolemy dynasty (of Egypt) due to Alexander's expedition to India and Greek disruption into 4 dynasties, and a tributary to Seleucid dynasty next. While they were a tributary to Seleucid dynasty, Greek idols were introduced into the temple, and the temple was almost trampled on. However, it got independence and secured the autonomous rights in the end. In B.C. 63, it became a tributary to Rome because it brought Rome in its internal dispute.

Rome set Herod as a king of Judah. When Herod was still king, Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judah.


▶ 8. Jesus' Birth and Jerusalem's Fall and Restoration

The Jews didn't receive the Christ who came to save them. They crucified Him on the cross and persecuted the Christianity.

They rose many revolts against Rome to be independent. However, Israel was destroyed in A.D. 70 by Titus, a general of Rome. One million and one hundred thousand people died; ninety-seven thousand people were taken captives; and the rest were scattered among the nations and became wanderers as a stateless people. It became independent by England's help in 1948 when the 2nd World War was over.

Israel's independence lets us know the time of Jesus' second coming and it also shows us that the time of the spiritual Israel to return home is very near.

♡ Christ Ahnsahnghong & Jerusalem Mother ♡

World Mission Society Church of God(WMS COG)

Christ Ahnsahnghong came to Korea, at the ends of the earth in the east, and restored the new covenant.

The truth of the new covenant has been spreading rapidly throughout the country. As a result, over 400 branch Churches have been established nationwide in the past half century.

All the Churches celebrate the feasts of God including the Passover of the new covenant, and speedily carry out the gospel work according to the prophecy of the Bible.