Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold, I will fulfill my words against this city for harm and not for good, and they shall be accomplished before you on that day. But I will deliver you on that day,” declares the Lord. “And you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. For I will surely save you. And you shall not fall by the sword, but you shall have your life as a prize of war because you have put your trust in me,” declares the Lord.
– Jeremiah 39:16–18
This verse tells the story of the fall of Jerusalem, just like God had promised.
Jeremiah 39:16–18 teaches us God will judge and save according to his Word.
One takeaway from this chapter and these verses that I just read is that when God decrees judgment, you can be sure judgment is coming. God says, “I will fulfill my words against the city for harm and not for good. They shall be accomplished before you on that day.”
And I think about what we know from God’s Word; all who sin against God and do not trust in Jesus for their salvation will experience eternal judgment. The judgment and justice of God are not to be toyed around or trifled with or treated lightly. God will judge according to his Word.
And God will save according to his Word. So the last part of what I just read is God’s promise to deliver Jeremiah from the people who are persecuting him, the people of whom he is afraid. God says, “Surely I will save you. You will not fall by the sword because you have put your trust in me.” You see the key decisive difference between the people of God who are experiencing judgment and Jeremiah who’s experiencing deliverance. Jeremiah trusted in God while the people of Jerusalem had turned from God.
Jeremiah 39:16–18 is a calling to trust in God alone.
And so we pray. God, help us to be counted among those who trust in you in every way; trust in you with all our heart, all our lives; to trust in your Word, not our ways; to trust in your salvation.
Oh God, make us a people of faith. People who walk by faith and live by faith and bank their lives on your promises. And as a result, experience your deliverance, you as our defender, as our helper, as our provider.
And God, we pray for people who right now are turning from you. God, we pray, change their hearts. We pray for people in our lives: family members, friends, co-workers, and neighbors who don’t know you. God, we pray for grace in our lives by the power of your Holy Spirit to share the gospel with them, the bad news of coming judgment, and the good news of salvation. Lord, help us to faithfully share this good news with people who right now are under your judgment, and who are on a road that leads to eternal judgment.
Prayer for the Badhai People
God, we pray for the Badhai people of Pakistan, 87,000 of them, not reached with the good news of your grace, God; they and others like them are under your judgment right now in their sin. God, we pray for the spread of your salvation to them. We know that the only way they can be saved is through the name of Jesus. We pray that the good news of Jesus, the truth about Jesus would spread to the Badhai people of Pakistan, and thousands of other people and groups like them.
And God, we pray that you would help us to be faithful, and to share your Word. Just like Jeremiah was in his day, help us to be faithful in our day, to spread the good news of your grace, your salvation from judgment, knowing that eternity, that heaven and hell lie in the balance.
God, we pray all this according to your Word in Jeremiah 39.
In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
