Jer 40:1-16 The Lord Your God Hath Pronounced This Evil Upon This Place

[Study Aired May 29, 2022]

Jer 40:1  The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in chains among all that were carried away captive of Jerusalem and Judah, which were carried away captive unto Babylon.
Jer 40:2  And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said unto him, The LORD thy God hath pronounced this evil upon this place.
Jer 40:3  Now the LORD hath brought it, and done according as he hath said: because ye have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed his voice, therefore this thing is come upon you.
Jer 40:4  And now, behold, I loose thee this day from the chains which were upon thine hand. If it seem good unto thee to come with me into Babylon, come; and I will look well unto thee: but if it seem ill unto thee to come with me into Babylon, forbear: behold, all the land is before thee: whither it seemeth good and convenient for thee to go, thither go.
Jer 40:5  Now while he was not yet gone back, he said, Go back also to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon hath made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people: or go wheresoever it seemeth convenient unto thee to go. So the captain of the guard gave him victuals and a reward, and let him go.
Jer 40:6  Then went Jeremiah unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and dwelt with him among the people that were left in the land.
Jer 40:7  Now when all the captains of the forces which were in the fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed unto him men, and women, and children, and of the poor of the land, of them that were not carried away captive to Babylon;
Jer 40:8  Then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men.
Jer 40:9  And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan sware unto them and to their men, saying, Fear not to serve the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.
Jer 40:10  As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah to serve the Chaldeans, which will come unto us: but ye, gather ye wine, and summer fruits, and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that ye have taken.
Jer 40:11  Likewise when all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the Ammonites, and in Edom, and that were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan;
Jer 40:12  Even all the Jews returned out of all places whither they were driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, unto Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruits very much.
Jer 40:13  Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were in the fields, came to Gedaliah to Mizpah,
Jer 40:14  And said unto him, Dost thou certainly know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites hath sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to slay thee? But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam believed them not.
Jer 40:15  Then Johanan the son of Kareah spake to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, Let me go, I pray thee, and I will slay Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know it: wherefore should he slay thee, that all the Jews which are gathered unto thee should be scattered, and the remnant in Judah perish?
Jer 40:16  But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said unto Johanan the son of Kareah, Thou shalt not do this thing: for thou speakest falsely of Ishmael.

It is a sad day in the lives of God’s elect when the Lord uses evil men to rightly instruct His very elect. That is what we will see in this 40^th chapter of Jeremiah. Just as Pharaoh and Abimelech were used by the Lord to correct and instruct Abraham, when Abraham denied His wife to save his own life, and just as the Lord used Abimelech to instruct Isaac, when Isaac followed in His father’s footsteps and denied that Rebekah was his wife, even now a pagan ‘captain of the guard’ of Nebuchadnezzar’s army tells the prophet Jeremiah why the Lord delivered Judah into the hands of the king of Babylon.

Gen 12:18  And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?

Gen 20:9  Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.
Gen 20:10  And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?

Gen 26:9  And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife: and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.

Jer 40:1  The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in chains among all that were carried away captive of Jerusalem and Judah, which were carried away captive unto Babylon.
Jer 40:2  And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said unto him, The LORD thy God hath pronounced this evil upon this place.
Jer 40:3  Now the LORD hath brought it, and done according as he hath said: because ye have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed his voice, therefore this thing is come upon you.

The Lord is working all things after the counsel of His own will, and His will is to judge and destroy the marred vessel which He made first of clay. He made it to be destroyed though His judgments:

Psa 9:16  The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Jer 40:4  And now, behold, I loose thee this day from the chains which were upon thine hand. If it seem good unto thee to come with me into Babylon, come; and I will look well unto thee: but if it seem ill unto thee to come with me into Babylon, forbear: behold, all the land is before thee: whither it seemeth good and convenient for thee to go, thither go.
Jer 40:5  Now while he was not yet gone back, he said, Go back also to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon hath made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people: or go wheresoever it seemeth convenient unto thee to go. So the captain of the guard gave him victuals and a reward, and let him go.

While there are always rebels in every country, Judah and Jerusalem are at this point a part of the Babylonian empire, and Gedaliah, a friend of Jeremiah, is also a friend of this world. So, Jeremiah has made friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, and the Lord is making even His enemies to live at peace with him:

Pro 16:7  When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Luk 16:9  And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.

Jer 40:6  Then went Jeremiah unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and dwelt with him among the people that were left in the land.

This ‘Gedaliah’ is the grandson of a trusted scribe named Shaphan, who read the book of the law which Hilkiah the high priest found in the neglected house of the Lord. This all took place many years earlier at the beginning of the prophet Jeremiah’s service to the Lord for his own nation of Judah:

2Ki 22:8  And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.
2Ki 22:9  And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work, that have the oversight of the house of the LORD.
2Ki 22:10  And Shaphan the scribe shewed the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.

When King Josiah heard the words of the law, he was sorely distressed because he realized just how far Judah had drifted away from the words of the law of Moses. So, he sent Hilkiah the high priest and Shaphan the scribe’s son, Ahikam and Ahikam’s father, Shaphan and two other men, Achbor and Asahiah, to Huldah the prophetess who “dwelt in Jerusalem in the college” to “enquire of the Lord” concerning what Josiah had heard read from the book of the law by Shaphan the king’s scribe.

2Ki 22:11  And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes.
2Ki 22:12  And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the king’s, saying,
2Ki 22:13  Go ye, enquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.
2Ki 22:14  So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college;) and they communed with her.

Jeremiah had not yet been made manifest as the Lord’s certified prophet, but Huldah the prophetess delivered to the king the same message of judgment which Jeremiah would later deliver to his own people:

2Ki 22:15  And she said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me,
2Ki 22:16  Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read:
2Ki 22:17  Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched.
2Ki 22:18  But to the king of Judah which sent you to enquire of the LORD, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, As touching the words which thou hast heard;
2Ki 22:19  Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD.
2Ki 22:20  Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.

So, this ‘Gedaliah’, whom King Nebuchadnezzar has made governor over Judah, is a long-time friend of Jeremiah. It was ‘Gedeliah’s father, Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, King Josiah’s scribe, who had saved Jeremiah’s life when the people wanted to put him to death because He faithfully reported to the people what the Lord had told him to tell them. What the Lord told Jeremiah to tell the people was that if they did not repent of their rebellious ways the Lord would destroy the nation of Judah.

Let’s refresh our memory of what Jeremiah had prophesied nearly two decades before the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar:

Jer 26:1  In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word from the LORD, saying,
Jer 26:2  Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD’S house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD’S house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word:

This threat against the life of Jeremiah, the Lord’s prophet, takes place “in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim” who reigned eleven years:

2Ki 23:36  Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.

Jer 26:1  In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word from the LORD, saying,

Jer 26:7  So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD.
Jer 26:8  Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.
Jer 26:9  Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.

The patriotic people of Judah would have killed Jeremiah if he had not made to himself friends of the unrighteous mammon of this world in the person of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, the kings scribe:

Jer 26:24  Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

It is this ‘Ahikam’, who was prominent in the court of wicked King Jehoiakim, whose son, Gedaliah, has now been instituted by King Nebuchadnezzar as the governor of Judah, ending the physical Davidic line of succession to the throne of the kingdom of Judah.

Gedaliah was a friend of Jeremiah, but like King Josiah a few decades earlier, he did not see the need to inquire of the Lord in all of his ways, and as we will see in our next study, he paid with his life for not doing so.

Here is the story leading up to Gedaliah’s death:

Jer 40:7  Now when all the captains of the forces which were in the fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed unto him men, and women, and children, and of the poor of the land, of them that were not carried away captive to Babylon;
Jer 40:8  Then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men.
Jer 40:9  And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan sware unto them and to their men, saying, Fear not to serve the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.
Jer 40:10  As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah to serve the Chaldeans, which will come unto us: but ye, gather ye wine, and summer fruits, and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that ye have taken.

The Lord had given Nebuchadnezzar the wisdom to pick Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, the scribe of righteous King Josiah, to be governor over the people of Judah. It was indeed a good choice because all the people and their leaders rallied around him:

Jer 40:11  Likewise when all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the Ammonites, and in Edom, and that were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan;
Jer 40:12  Even all the Jews returned out of all places whither they were driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, unto Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruits very much.

It is part of our self-righteous, iniquitous nature to want to be near the things of the Lord, while at the same time refusing to submit to His words. Multitudes followed the Lord and listened to His parables, and ate His loaves and fishes and called Him ‘Lord’, but they still refused to do the things He told them to do.

The Lord’s words here are addressed to us and not to those who are not even given eyes that see or ears that hear:

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

One of the things the Lord requires of us is that we never lean to our own understanding and that rather we acknowledge Him in all our ways:

Pro 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Pro 3:6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Gedaliah typifies us after the Lord has begun His judgment upon His own house, because Judah has already been carried away to Babylon. Even then, he did not seek counsel from the Lord in His dealings with his subordinates:

Jer 40:13  Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were in the fields, came to Gedaliah to Mizpah,
Jer 40:14  And said unto him, Dost thou certainly know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites hath sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to slay thee? But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam believed them not.

Let’s not forget that all these “captains of the forces that were in the fields and all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the Ammonites, and in Edom, and that were in all the countries” are the very people who refused to obey the Lord’s words by the mouth of His prophet, Jeremiah:

Jer 38:17  Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon’s princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thine house:
Jer 38:18  But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand.

Going forth to the king of Babylon’s princes signifies that we have acknowledged our transgression, and that we now welcome the Lord’s impending judgment. Isaiah had prophesied of this stage of our walk over seven decades earlier:

Isa 26:8  Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

We are often self-righteously willing to forgo judgment on ourselves and on others. The Lord’s judgments just seem so lacking in mercy to us. However, the next verse of Isaiah 26 tells us what we will do if we are not judged in this present time:

Isa 26:10  Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.

The Lord has indeed shown favor to those who escaped their Babylonian captivity, but the fact remains that they must be judged:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

These Jewish refugees who fled their own judgment “will… not learn righteousness”, as Isaiah prophesied. Even “in the land of uprightness will [they… me and you] deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord” until the seven plagues of the seven angels have been fulfilled in our lives:

Isa 26:11  LORD, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.
Isa 26:12  LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.

“You have wrought all our works in us…” good and evil:

Gen 45:8  So now it was not you that sent me hither [“sold into Egypt” (vs 4)], but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Job 23:13  But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.
Job 23:14  For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.

Pro 21:1  The king’s heart [our hearts] is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.’

Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

If the Lord has predestinated us to be His first fruit elect, then there is simply no way we will be given to eat of the tree of Life, the doctrine and mind of Christ, without first going through the fiery sword which is in the hand of the Cherubims which are guarding the way of the tree of life:

Gen 3:24  So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Enduring the fiery trials the Lord has predestined for us is “the way of the Tree of Life”.

Luk 12:49  I have come to throw fire on the earth. I wish that it had already started!
Luk 12:50  I have a baptism to go through, and I will suffer until it is over. (GW)

1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

These Jewish refugees symbolize us while we live under the illusion that Christ’s sufferings take the place of ours, and we need not suffer the Lord’s judgments upon the kingdom of our old man. As such we see no need to inquire of the Lord because we think we have escaped His chastening hand.

As we will see in our next study, Gedaliah, a type of that part of our “experience of evil” paid with his life because He thought he could avoid the judgments of the Lord:

Jer 40:15  Then Johanan the son of Kareah spake to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, Let me go, I pray thee, and I will slay Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know it: wherefore should he slay thee, that all the Jews which are gathered unto thee should be scattered, and the remnant in Judah perish?
Jer 40:16  But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said unto Johanan the son of Kareah, Thou shalt not do this thing: for thou speakest falsely of Ishmael.

It is only when we come out of Babylon that we begin to develop the ability to discern spirits. Gedaliah is not capable of discerning the Truth in the words of Johanan, nor the murderous spirit in Ishmael. Johanan, as we will see, cannot hear the voice of the Lord, but the Lord has made him to know that Ishmael is in the service of the enemies of the people of the Lord.

Johanan, the son of Kareah, signifies our self-righteous old man who believes he can preserve the Lord’s kingdom without “going forth to the princes of Babylon” and without acknowledging his transgressions:

Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:14  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

‘Going forth to the princes of Babylon’ signifies that we understand that no man can enter the temple in heaven until the seven plagues of the seven angels is fulfilled:

Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

“No man was able to enter into the temple” means that all those who think they can escape the seven plagues of the seven angels, typified by the Lord’s judgment upon His people, are in for a rude awakening, as we will see in our next study. In chapter 41 we will see this unrepentant remnant has no intention of fearing the Lord more than they fear men. They are not given to hear the voice of the Lord through His servant and His proven prophet, Jeremiah.

These remnant Jews typify us while we presumptuously think we can avoid the Lord’s judgments upon us for our own rebellious ways. Whether it was our belief in the false doctrine of a so-called ‘rapture’ or a ‘place of safety’, both teach that we can avoid having the Lord to pour out the seven plagues of His wrath upon our rebellious sinful ways, and the Lord is having nothing to do with such lies:

Amo 3:6  Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?
Amo 3:7  Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
Amo 3:8  The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?

The Lord’s prophets all say the same thing. They all teach that the Lord is in the process of judging His creatures, beginning at His own house:

Jer 25:15  For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
Jer 25:16  And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.
Jer 25:17  Then took I the cup at the LORD’S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:
Jer 25:18  To wit, [first] Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;
Jer 25:19  Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;

All nations will drink of the cup of the Lord’s wrath, but He begins inwardly at His own house, “Jerusalem and the cities of Judah”. That inward beginning does not exclude an outward dispensational fulfillment of these words. Christ came in the flesh before He comes to us inwardly in the spirit:

1Ti 3:14  These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly:
1Ti 3:15  But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
1Ti 3:16  And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

Jeremiah 25 demonstrates that the Lord will judge and punish all nations on the face of this earth, but He will begin that judgment with “the city which is called by My name” and they “shall not be unpunished”. There will be no ‘rapture’ or ‘a place of safety’ from His wrath, and a million sermons from 40,000 plus Christian denominations will not deter His chastening scourging judgment upon those whom He loves:

Jer 25:28  And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.
Jer 25:29  For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.
Jer 25:30  Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.
Jer 25:31  A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Peter sums up the order in which the Lord will judge all mankind with these words:

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

The chapters of Jeremiah are telling us of the fate of those who think they can avoid the judgment of God by fleeing from that judgment. When we refuse to go out to the princes of Babylon, we will discover soon enough that “[we] shall surely drink of that cup” as we will see in the ensuing chapters of the Word of the Lord at the mouth of Jeremiah. We all, by nature go back into the world to avoid the Lord’s judgment, but the Lord will send “[His] servant” to find us there and see to it that “no man [can] enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels [are] fulfilled” (Rev 15:8). This is all repeating what the Lord told Jeremiah earlier in:

Jer 27:5  I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me.
Jer 27:6  And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.
Jer 27:7  And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him.
Jer 27:8  And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.
Jer 27:9  Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon:
Jer 27:10  For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish.
Jer 27:11  But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the LORD; and they shall till it, and dwell therein.

What we do and what we did when we believed in the false doctrine of a secret rapture or a place of safety was really nothing more than returning to Egypt. Returning to Egypt typifies returning to this world instead of being submissive to the instrument of the Lord’s judgments upon our transgressions. This is what happens to us when we do that:

Jer 46:19  O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant.
Jer 46:20  Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.
Jer 46:21  Also her [Egypt’s] hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation.
Jer 46:22  The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.
Jer 46:23  They [Nebuchadnezzar’s army] shall cut down her forest [the men of Egypt], saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable.
Jer 46:24  The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.
Jer 46:25  The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him:
Jer 46:26  And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the LORD.
Jer 46:27  But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.
Jer 46:28  Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee [with His elect]; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.