Jeremiah 21:8-10 – Yielding to divine chastening

In Jeremiah 21:1-7, we saw how King Zedekiah, hoping for deliverance from the Babylonian siege, sent men to Jeremiah to inquire of God. He wanted to know if the Lord would deliver them from the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. The reason for the siege on Judah was because as a vassal state, she had rebelled and refused to pay the tribute that was due to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar then sent his army to besiege Jerusalem. Instead of being assured, Jeremiah’s words from the  Lord to him spelled doom. Zedekiah and Judah not only had to face the wrath of Nebuchadnezzar but would also have to face the fierce anger of God. For He, Himself was against them. He was giving them into the hand of Babylon and their enemies for destruction. As Hebrews 10:31 has declared, “It is indeed a fearful thing  to fall into the hand of the Living God.”

Having given God’s message to Zedekiah, Jeremiah added some words from the Lord to the people of Judah in verses 8-10. To the king, God did not offer any hope but to the people of Judah, God’s message contained a glimmer of hope. He gave them two ways to choose. They had to choose one way or the other. One offered life but they had to surrender themselves and become the booty of war to the Babylonians. The other meant absolute death if they would not surrender.  Perhaps God was reminding them of the covenant condition that he had set before in Deuteronomy 11 and 30. Since Nebuchadnezzar was merely an instrument in God’s hand, surrendering to him would be surrendering to God. It would be as good as yielding to God’s plan for their life. It would mean humbling oneself to accept the purpose of God for divine chastening at the hand of the enemy.  

Realize it or not, as followers of Christ whom He loves, we will be disciplined to help us to become more conformed to Him. Hebrews 12:6 explicitly said that “For whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He punishes every son whom He accepts.” Like the early Christians, we today also need to make the choice of yielding to God and submitting to His divine chastening.  It is the only appropriate and logical response to become the person He intends for us to be. When He is through with us, we shall come forth truly refined. Like Job 23:10 had declared, be assured that God knows the way that we will take and when He has put us through the test, we will come forth pure as gold.