A Prophet’s Truth Equated With Treason

Living by and speaking for God’s truth will ultimately bring about the Lord’s abundant blessings in many different ways for anyone who is committed to God. Experiencing the peace, joy, and comfort in one’s spirit knowing that you are doing the right thing are among those many benefits. But pushback from worldly-minded people for having such godly commitments is to be expected at some point. Take some kind of stand for the Lord in a secular corporation and you may be falsely labeled as trying to undermine their work environment. Take a stand for God in the public square and you could be falsely accused of committing treason or being a threat to society. That’s obvious by all the court cases in the last decade that have popped up against people praying outside abortion clinics, or who criticized Islam, or who refused to condone “gay marriage” in various parts of the world. This type of persecution against God’s anointed is nothing new. The prophet Jeremiah is one of many who experienced such false accusations in Jeremiah 26.

In that chapter, Jehovah sent Jeremiah to speak to a huge crowd of people gathered for a church service at his temple in Jerusalem. Jeremiah prophesied Jehovah’s words, preaching to the congregants that they should “turn every man from his evil way” or else face the Lord’s judgment by being destroyed just like God allowed the Assyrians to destroy the city of Shiloh, the “religious center” of Israel’s northern kingdom. When the crowd heard Jeremiah speak God’s words in God’s house, their reaction exposed just how vile they were and that they were gathered there to fulfill manmade tradition instead of truly worshiping Jehovah. The priests and false prophets, “religious leaders”, stirred up the crowd to mob Jeremiah and to call for his execution. They falsely accused Jeremiah of treason, claiming, “This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city…” (v. 11).

Fortified by God’s spirit on him, Jeremiah stood his ground and reaffirmed and reiterated he was preaching God’s words–words which he previously stated were in his heart like fire shut up in his bones (Jeremiah 20:9). After repeating that they should change their wicked ways, Jeremiah said,

¹⁴ As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you. ¹⁵ But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the Lord hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears. Jeremiah 26

Talk about unwavering faith and commitment. The following verses show that many of the people and government officials (princes and elders) told the priests and false prophets to stand down, giving historical precedent how other prophets who prophesied against kings weren’t worthy of execution. Thus, Jeremiah was delivered from their deadly intent. Nevertheless, while falsely accusing Jeremiah of treason, they themselves were the ones committing treasonous acts and doing harm to society. Among the many evils they committed were:

• Sacrificing their kids in fire to false gods (Jeremiah 7:31), which greatly diminished their posterity and continuation of their nation.
• Rulers using corrupt means to expand their mansions, like refusing to pay workers a just wage, which hampered self-sufficiency and the nation’s economy (Jeremiah 22:13).
• Letting criminals off with no punishment, especially refusing to protect the fatherless and widows from criminal oppressors (Jeremiah 5:28-29; 22:3).
• Selling out to foreign allegiances with heathen nations like Egypt to acquire power and protection instead of trusting in God’s power (Jeremiah 2:36). Doing so weakened their national identity.

Like Jeremiah, when we stick to God’s plan we will see his “expected end” for us (Jeremiah 29:11). Our spiritual enemies will fight against us (like they did against Jeremiah), but they will not prevail against us since Jehovah is with us to deliver us (Jeremiah 1:19). Jeremiah lived to see God’s prophecies and judgments unleashed on his enemies as they lost their lives or went into captivity, demonstrating that despite the hardships, God makes it well worth it for us to serve him.

(Featured image AI-generated by instructions I entered into Microsoft Designer.)