Have you ever been in a position where you share the gospel with someone with many challenges? Well Jeremiah and the other prophets experienced that frustration. God’s people in their stubbornness and rebellion, refused to listen to Jeremiah message.
Jeremiah 25:8 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words,
9 Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.
10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.
How does your own perseverance in ministry compare with Jeremiah’s? What kept him going for many years seems to lie in the knowledge of the one he was serving, he did not care to take the rejection as personal to himself, knowing he was not alone in this situation.
Even as in the days of Noah, God’s spirit will not contend with man for long. The message this time around seems to indicate that their period of grace is coming to an end, God’s judgment is final and captivity is inevitable. Also notice a severe impact on the people and community.
Note the time frame of the punishment of seventy years reveals God’s mercy. He will not abandon his people forever, he is a God that disciplined with love and compassion. You must and should never take God’s grace for granted.