Is, Was and Will Be – The Unknown Character of Christ and His Word » Revelation 1:8 "I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty » The Book of Jeremiah – Jer 24:1-10 We Are Sent Into Babylon for our Good

The Book of Jeremiah – Jer 24:1-10 We Are Sent Into Babylon for our Good

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Mike Vinson
3 years ago

Jer 24:1-10 We Are Sent Into Babylon for our Good

[Study Aired November 21, 2021

Jer 24:1 The LORD shewed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
Jer 24:2 One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
Jer 24:3 Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
Jer 24:4 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Jer 24:5 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.
Jer 24:6 For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
Jer 24:7 And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
Jer 24:8 And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt:
Jer 24:9 And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.
Jer 24:10 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.

For many years this chapter about the good and bad figs was nothing more than a history lesson for me. Jechoniah and those who had come out to the king of Babylon and had surrendered to him, as the Lord through Jeremiah had admonished them to do, were promised to be shown the Lord’s favor.

2Ki 24:10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
2Ki 24:11 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it.
2Ki 24:12 And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.

Notice that there are “two baskets of figs” associated with only one “temple”. There is not a temple with good figs and another temple with bad figs. There is but one temple, and you and I ought to, by now, know who and what that one temple is:

1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

Jehoiachin and his family and servants who were obedient to the Lord and surrendered to the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, were “the good figs”.

Jer 29:16 Know that thus saith the LORD of the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, [King Zedekiah] and of all the people that dwelleth in this city, and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity;
Jer 29:17 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
Jer 29:18 And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them:
Jer 29:19 Because they have not hearkened to my words, saith the LORD, which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but ye would not hear, saith the LORD.

The “good figs” were first “naughty figs” as all men are:

Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Jehoiachin was an evil king who repented enough to obey the Lord’s commandment to submit to Nebuchadnezzar.

Here now is the meaning of the name Jehoiachin:

H3078
יְהוֹיָכִין
yehôyâkı̂yn
yeh-ho-yaw-keen’
From H3068 and H3559; Jehovah will establish; Jehojakin, a Jewish king: – Jehoiachin. Compare H3112.

Jehoiachin was an evil king who repented and obeyed the Lord. This is the theme of the parable of the man who had two sons who both disobeyed their father:

Mat 21:28 But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.
Mat 21:29 He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went.
Mat 21:30 And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.
Mat 21:31 Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.
Mat 21:32 For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him [the good figs]: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him [the bad figs].

“The bad figs” signify Zedekiah and those with him who had rebelled against the Lord’s commandment to surrender to their Babylonian captors. Zedekiah is contrasted with Jehoiachin, and those who submitted to Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah typifies us while we are the servants of our father the devil. Zedekiah signifies our denial of our spiritual blindness:

Joh 9:39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
Joh 9:40 And some of the Pharisees [types of us while we are in Babylon] which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
Joh 9:41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

When we cannot see our own spiritual blindness, we are being punished by the Lord and have refused to surrender to the king of Babylon, as the Lord through Jeremiah had admonished the kings of Judah. These are the “bad figs” which will “be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither [the Lord] shall drive them.” Even there, in their scattered and despised position, the Lord tells them “I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.”

As we will soon see there is much more history to this story, and while it is all very interesting, it remains nothing more than a history lesson to “carnal babes in Christ”, who are not given to see “the things of the spirit” which “things of the spirit” are right here in the Lord’s words through the prophet Jeremiah.

1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

“We speak not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but [we speak in words] which the holy spirit teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” Notice closely that the holy spirit has inspired the apostle Paul to tell us that “the holy spirit teaches comparing spiritual things with spiritual”. Therefore, the true lesson for us in this story of the two baskets of figs is that only those who are given to acknowledge that the Lord has spiritually, in “this present time”, sent them into Babylon will also be given to spiritually “come out of her”.

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 [Dan 4:17].
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: [“The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Gen 15:16)] 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:

The churches of Babylon, and those who support those churches and religions, refuse to see themselves as being a harlot or the daughter of a harlot. Therefore, they can see no reason to “come out of her”. That is where we all were when the Lord’s words came to us:

Rev 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rev 18:5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

This prophecy of Jeremiah is “another voice from heaven”, but if we still think of the whore and her daughters, “the historic Christian Church” or any other religion of men as the family, body, and church of Christ, then we are in the position of king Zedekiah who refused to submit to the Lord’s chastening grace and to acknowledge that we have been deceived by the harlot and that we need to be dragged out of Babylon. It is, of course, our old man who goes into Babylon, and it is our new man who is given to begin to “come out of her.”

Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

That is the message of this chapter of Jeremiah, and that is a theme of this entire prophecy. It is each of us, while we are in Babylon who must begin to “drink of the wine of the wrath of God”. In Revelation 15 we are told ‘the seven angels have the seven vials full of the wrath of God’:

Rev 15:6 And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.
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” includes the seven angels themselves. The reason these seven angels are given the seven vials of the wrath of God to pour out on “the earth… the sea… the rivers and fountains of waters… the sun… the seat [Greek: thronos, ‘throne’] of the beast… the great river Euphrates… and the air”, which is the spirit of Babylon, is that these seven angels are those who have already been or are already being judged by “the things that are written [here]in”, and these seven plagues have already been working their work in the lives of these seven angels who are keeping the things written in this book:

Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

These seven angels who have the seven vials full of the wrath of God are already in ‘this present time’ having these seven plagues poured out upon their ‘earth… sea… rivers and fountains of waters… sun… the throne of their beast… their great river Euphrates… and their air’, which is their “great Babylon” (Rev 16:19). Their fiery judgment has already begun in “this present time” and therefore they are chosen to prophesy of these judgments which are coming upon all the earth, first and foremost upon the Lord’s elect who are being judged in “this present time”.

The scriptures reveal these seven angels with the seven last plagues are “the good figs” of Jeremiah 24:

Rev 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

Chapters 17 and 18 reveal this great whore for who she is, and then in the 19^th chapter we are told who these seven angels signify:

Rev 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

These seven angels who have the seven plagues, and who pour out these plagues on the earth, are the Lord’s elect “that have the testimony of Jesus”! They are “[our] fellow servant[s]”! Lest we miss this point, it is repeated in:

Rev 22:8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things (Rev 17:1).
Rev 22:9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

“The angel who showed [John, you and me] these things” is signified by these words:

Rev 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

In chapter 15 we are told that it was “one of the four beasts” who gave the seven vials to the seven angels:

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.

Just like the angel who shows us these things, the four beasts and the four and twenty elders also reveal to us who they signify:

Rev 5:8 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
Rev 5:9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
Rev 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

These four beasts, and these four and twenty elders proclaim that they signify those who ‘have been redeemed to God out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation’. Furthermore, they also proclaim “we shall reign on the earth”.

That is the very same promise which is given to those who “read, hear and keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book”:

Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
Rev 1:4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;
Rev 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
Rev 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

It is obvious that the seven angels with the seven plagues, the four beasts and the four and twenty elders, are one and all those whom the Lord has “loved… and washed from [their] sins in His own blood”.

Notice the imminent urgency to be vigilant to keep what is written in this book, which the holy spirit wants us to have in every generation of “this present time”:

Mat 24:32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Rom 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

Peter has the same spirit of urgency which all the prophets of God always have in their writings:

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?
1Pe 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God [in “this present time”] commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

The holy spirit consistently admonishes us in every generation “the time is at hand”. Even in the book of Revelation we are told ‘the time is at hand to read, hear and keep the things written in this prophecy’:

Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Our old man cannot see the words of this verse because he is told by the great harlot that this is a prophecy of future ‘end time events’ with no application to the people of the apostle John’s day. The Truth is that Christ and His words are fulfilled in every generation and will not pass away:

Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation [reading these words, vs 15] shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand: )

But the Lord has given us eyes to see that “the time is at hand” for His elect in every generation since Christ to ‘read, hear, and keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book’. That phrase is found at the beginning and the end of this prophecy:

Rev 22:7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

Rev 22:10 And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.

The four beasts and the four and twenty elders are types and shadows of the Lord’s elect. That is why it is the Lord’s elect… “one of the four beasts”, who give God’s elect… “the seven angels” the seven vials which fill up the wrath of God. This is the symbiotic relationship by which the body builds itself up in love:

Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Rom 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time [the seven last plagues] are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

Eph 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Eph 4:16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

These ‘seven angels’ are the Lord’s elect who are being judged now in “this present time”:

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 end of them that obey not the gospel of God’ is to be judged in the great white throne judgment by having the wrath of God poured out upon them by the seven angels who have had the wrath of God poured out upon themselves by Christ and His Christ in “this present time” down through all the generations since Christ:

Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

Mat 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, [the seven last plagues] such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Mat 24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

“The time is come” in “this generation [of] him that reads and understands” to be judged in “this present time”. That judgment includes being brought to acknowledge that “for our good” each of us have been seduced by that great whore, and that judgment entails our being dragged out of her.

Now let’s read and understand what the blessings are of acknowledging that we have been carried away by this great whore, and what the curses are for refusing to acknowledge that we are just whores and whoremongers.

The reason the Lord “acknowledges them that are carried away captive of Judah” is that they were given to “acknowledge [their] self-righteous transgressions”].

As is always the case, the scriptures are counterintuitive to the mind of the natural man. It is “for [our] good” that the Lord has us carried away by all the false doctrines of Babylon. The Lord has inspired Jeremiah to say this from the very beginning of this prophecy:

Jer 3:12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, [toward Babylon, the land of our judgment (Eze 9:2)] and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.
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:
Jer 3:15 And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
Jer 3:16 And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.
Jer 3:17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.

Until we are given to “come out of her” we cannot “acknowledge [our] iniquity [or] that [we] have transgressed against the Lord [our] God”. In that state we remain “evil figs, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil”.

These good figs typify the Lord’s elect of “this present time”:

Jer 24:6 For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
Jer 24:7 And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.

It is physically painful to come out of Babylon in “this present time”, but the Lord assures us the reward is well worth any suffering we might endure if we are granted to be judged in this present time:

Rom 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

1Pe 4:16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
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?
1Pe 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

Zedekiah, signified by the evil figs, typifies us while in our own blind state, and he also signifies the vast majority of mankind who simply are not given to be judged in “this present time”:

Jer 24:8 And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt:
Jer 24:9 And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.
Jer 24:10 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.

Notice that Zedekiah goes through the same suffering as Jehoiachin, but he is not judged by that suffering. We are explicitly told their suffering is “for their hurt” as in “hurt of the second death”:

Rom 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now [the good and the bad figs].
Rom 8:23 And not only they [the bad figs], but ourselves also [the good figs], which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. [“The redemption of the purchased possession”]
Rom 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise [“saved by hope”],
Eph 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory [“with patience, wait for it”].

Rev 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh [in “this present time”] shall not be hurt of the second death.

It is just natural to flee back into this world, typified by ‘Egypt’, which is where many fled to escape the invading Babylonian armies. When the world lets us know how much it hates the doctrines of Christ, we are also tempted to just give up and go back into the world. These ‘bad figs’ signify both those who refuse to submit to Babylon and are destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar as well as any who flee to Egypt for safety. The hand of the Lord is not restrained by Pharaoh. He has no problem sending “the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that [He] gave unto them and to their fathers.”

While we are all first taken in by the lies and false doctrines of Babylon, the ultimate signification of the good and bad figs is that those who are not given eyes that see or ears that hear in this present time are the bad figs which will be destroyed by the Lord in the great white throne judgment, while those who are given eyes that see and ears that hear and to rejoice in the Lord’s judgments in this present time, are signified by the good figs who are sent into Babylon “for their good”. In other words, these good figs are given to see and hear and appreciate the chastening, judging work of the hand of the Lord in their lives:

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.

“The way of the Lord’s judgments” is “the way of the Tree of Life”… the way of Christ. Next week, Lord willing, we will be looking at Jeremiah 25, which explains why all mankind must first be dominated by the great whore, Babylon.

Here are the verses of our next study:

Jer 25: 1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;
Jer 25:2 The which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,
Jer 25:3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.
Jer 25:4 And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.
Jer 25:5 They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:
Jer 25:6 And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.
Jer 25:7 Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.
Jer 25:8 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words,
Jer 25:9 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.
Jer 25:10 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.
Jer 25:11 And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
Jer 25:12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.
Jer 25:13 And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.
Jer 25:14 For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.