THE UNITED STATES AND BRITAIN IN PROPHECY
Chapter 7
By Herbert W. Armstrong
1954, 1967, 1972, 1975, 1980 edition
Introduction
Chapter One - The Lost Master Key Has Been Found!
Chapter Two - Prophecies Closed Until Now
Chapter Three - National Greatness Promised Israel
Chapter Four - The Separation of the Birthright and the Septre
Chapter Five - The Davidic Covenant
Chapter Six - Children of Israel Become Two Nations
Chapter Seven - Jeremiah's Mysterious Comission
Chapter Eight - The Mysterious Breach
Chapter Nine - Israel's New Land
Chapter Ten - Birthright Withheld 2520 Years!
Chapter Eleven - Why Israel Lost Identity
Chapter Twelve - The Birthright - At it's Zenith - And Now
Chapter Thirteen - And Now What - The Prophecies for the Immediate Future
Chapter Fourteen - What's Prophesied to happen Now - To America and Britain?
Chapter 7
JEREMIAH'S MYSTERIOUS COMMISSION
WE COME NOW TO ONE OF THE most fascinating and gripping phases
of this strange story of Israel -- indeed, the very connecting link
between prophecy and present-day fulfillment -- yet totally
unrecognized by theologians.
After the house of Israel, the northern kingdom whose capital
was Samaria, was driven into Assyrian captivity, 721-718 B.C., the
Kingdom of JUDAH continued on in the southern part of Palestine
known as Judea. At that time Judah, as a nation, had not yet
rejected the government and religion of God. God had continued to
keep His covenant with David. David's dynasty had continued on the
throne over part of the Israelites -- the house of JUDAH -- the Jews.
But after Israel had become lost from view, Judah turned from
the ways and government of God, going after the ways of the Gentile
nations, sinning even worse than Israel, until finally the Eternal
drove Judah, too, into national captivity and slavery.
Before Judah's apostasy, God had said, through the prophet
Hosea: "Though thou, ISRAEL, play the harlot, yet let not JUDAH
offend ..." (Hosea 4:15). But later, the Eternal said to Jeremiah:
"Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, ISRAEL, how
she ... played the harlot? ... and her false sister JUDAH saw it. She
saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, ISRAEL, I
had sent her away with a decree of divorce; yet her false sister
JUDAH did not fear, but she too went and played the harlot ....
Faithless ISRAEL has shown herself less guilty than false JUDAH"
(Jer. 3:6-11, RSV).
Here, again, it is made distinctly plain that the 12 tribes of
Israel were divided into two totally separate nations. And yet
opponents of the truth revealed in this book deny these plain
scriptures -- and attempt to discredit those who reveal it.
Now see how Judah (the Jews) -- more than 130 years after
ISRAEL'S captivity -- also was removed from their land. They were
taken as slaves to Babylon -- not to Assyria, where ISRAEL had been
taken.
"And the Eternal said, I will remove JUDAH also out of my
sight, as I have removed ISRAEL, and will cast off this city
Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My
name shall be there" (II Kings 23:27).
And so, more than 130 years after Israel's captivity, the time
came when God caused the Jews also to be driven out of their land
in national captivity and slavery.
Jeremiah's Strange Commission
For this purpose God raised up a very special prophet whose real
call and commission few indeed understand. This prophet was
Jeremiah. Jeremiah played a strange and little realized role in
this captivity.
Something of the importance of this mission may be gleaned
from this significant fact: The Bible mentions three men only who
were sanctified for their respective offices before they were born-
-and of these three Jeremiah was the first. The other two were John
the Baptist and Jesus Christ!
The Eternal first spoke to Jeremiah when he was but a young
lad about, some evidence indicates, seventeen years of age. By the
time his mission was completed he was an aged, white-haired
patriarch.
This vital yet little-known call and commission is described
in the opening verses of the first chapter of the book of Jeremiah.
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you," the Eternal said to
him, "and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you
a prophet to the nations" (Jer. 1:5, RSV).
But Jeremiah was frightened -- afraid! "Ah, Eternal God!" he
replied. "Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a
youth."
But the Eternal answered, "Do not say, "I am only a youth";
for to all to whom I send you you shall go, and whatever I command
you you shall speak. Be not afraid of them, for I am with you to
deliver you" (verses 6-8).
Then the Eternal put forth His hand and touched Jeremiah's
mouth. "See," said God, "I have set you this day over nations and
over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to
overthrow, TO BUILD AND TO PLANT" (verses 9-10). Or, as this
tremendous commission is worded in the Authorized Version: "to root
out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to BUILD,
AND TO PLANT."
Notice, Jeremiah was set over NATIONS -- more than one kingdom.
He was a Jewish lad, living in Judah. He was set a prophet over
Judah -- but not Judah alone. Over NATIONS -- over KINGDOMS! He was set
over these kingdoms to do two things: first, to "pluck up," or
"root out," to "pull down," or to "overthrow," and second, TO
BUILD, AND TO PLANT.
Not Realized Today
Look at it in your own Bible! Jeremiah was used of God as a prophet
to warn the nation Judah of their transgressions against God's
government and ways. He was sent to warn this rebellious nation of
impending punishment -- their invasion and captivity at the hands of
the Chaldean armed forces -- unless they acknowledged their guilt and
changed their ways. He was used as a go-between -- an intermediary --
between the kings of Judah and Babylon.
It is well known that Jeremiah was used in warning Judah of
the impending captivity, and the "pulling down" or "overthrowing"
of the throne of David in the Kingdom of Judah.
It is generally understood that the house of Judah was invaded
by the armies of King Nebuchadnezzar; that the Jews were taken
captive to Babylon; that they ceased from being a kingdom; that
there no longer existed a ruler of David's dynasty on the throne
over the Kingdom of Judah.
What, then, does this mean? Did God, at last, forget His
covenant promise to David that David's dynasty should never cease --
that David's throne was established in Solomon to continue through
ALL GENERATIONS FOREVER? Had God Almighty now forgotten that He had
sworn that He would not alter this promise -- even though the kings
and the people rebelled and sinned? The faithfulness of God is at
stake. The inspiration of the Holy Bible as His revealed WORD is at
stake!
But note it! See it in your own Bible! Jeremiah was divinely
commissioned to pull down and to overthrow that very throne of
David in Judah -- but notice the second half of the commission. TO
BUILD AND TO PLANT! To build and to plant WHAT?
Why, naturally, that which he was used in "rooting out" of
Judah -- THE THRONE OF DAVID which God swore He would preserve
forever! Jeremiah was set over not just the one nation, Judah -- but
over NATIONS. Over THE KINGDOMS -- the Kingdom of Israel as well as
Judah!
He was used in "rooting out" that throne from Judah. Then what
was Jeremiah commissioned to do in Israel? Notice the second half
of his strange and little-understood commission -- to BUILD and to
PLANT!
So far as the world knows, the last king to sit on that throne
of David was Zedekiah of Judah. He was thrown down off the throne
and the throne rooted out of Judah in the year 585 B.C. -- nearly 600
years before Christ!
What happened to that throne? Where was that throne between
585 B.C. and the time of Christ, 600 years later? We know Jeremiah
did not plant and REBUILD it in Babylon. God had promised that
David's throne should rule over ISRAELITES through all generations-
-not over Gentiles. We have the history of the continuance of the
Gentile throne in Babylon.
David's throne was never again planted or built among the
Jews! It was not reigning over the Jews in the time of Christ. The
Jews were then under the Roman rule. Jesus did not ascend any such
throne. The throne was not functioning in Judah -- it was not
existing at that place or over that people -- it was not there for
Jesus to take over. And Jesus said plainly that His Kingdom was not
of this present age! Yet He was born to sit upon this very THRONE
OF HIS FATHER DAVID (Luke 1:32)!
But that throne was divinely commissioned to be planted and
REBUILT by the prophet Jeremiah -- during his lifetime! Jeremiah was
set over both Judah and Israel. To be used in rooting out David's
throne in Judah. But more! To plant and to build, then, of
necessity, among the house of ISRAEL, lo, these many days without
a king -- among LOST Israel, now supposing herself to be GENTILE!
Therefore the identity and location of the replanting must remain
hidden to the world until this time of the END in which we live.
Tearing Down the Throne
The life and work of Jeremiah is a most fascinating story. The
first chapters of the book of Jeremiah are devoted to his ministry,
warning of the impending captivity of the Jews. He warned the
kings, the priests, prophets and people of Judah, delivering God's
message. They threw him in prison -- and they refused to heed or obey
God. Then God caused their captivity.
It is generally known that Babylon took Judah in three
different stages. The first siege was in 604 B.C., a date about two
years later than has been commonly reckoned, but a date now firmly
established. The land did not completely pass into the hands of
these Gentile Babylonians, however, until a full time-cycle of 19
years later, or 585 B.C. You can read the part played by Jeremiah
in this captivity in the book of Jeremiah.
But now notice an interesting fact. The last and final king
recorded either in Bible or secular history as having sat on the
throne of David was King Zedekiah of Judah. Remember his name. Now
notice II Kings 24:18: "Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when
he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And
his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah."
Now notice briefly a description of the final tearing down and
rooting out of this throne of David: "In the ninth year of Zedekiah
king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of
Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it.
And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the
ninth day of the month, the city was broken up .... And it came to
pass, that when Zedekiah the king of Judah saw them, and all the
men of war, then they fled .... But the Chaldeans' army pursued
after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and
when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he gave judgment
upon him. Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in
Riblah before his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew all the
nobles of Judah. Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him
with chains, to carry him to Babylon" (Jer. 39:1-7).
In the 52nd chapter, first 11 verses, we find almost a word-
for-word description of the same events with the added phrase:
"... and put him [Zedekiah] in prison TILL THE DAY OF HIS DEATH."
These passages bring out these points:
1) The king of Babylon slew all the sons of Zedekiah who were
heirs to the throne of David.
2) He also slew all the nobles of Judah so as to leave no
possible heirs for that throne.
3) Finally, after putting out Zedekiah's eyes, the king who
sat on David's throne was himself taken to Babylon where he died in
prison.
4) Thus, as it appears, and as the whole world has believed,
the throne of David ceased, with no possible heirs, or sons, to
keep the dynasty alive. Certain it is that from that day on, the
throne never again has existed in Judah, in Jerusalem, or among the
Jews!
What About Jeconiah?
It is true that a former king of Judah was at that time in the
dungeons of Babylon -- and he had sons to continue David's line.
Former King Jeconiah (Jehoiachin), taken to Babylon in chains, was
restored to honor 37 years after the captivity (see II Kings 25:27-
30). He was even given the title "king" along with numerous other
captive, vassal "kings."
One of Jeconiah's sons was Salathiel, who was the father of
Zorobabel, the son of royal seed through whom Jesus Christ Himself
traced His royal ancestry back to David! (Matt. 1:12.) And
Zorobabel -- or Zerubbabel -- was the man God caused Cyrus, king of
Persia, to make a decree giving him the governorship -- not the crown
of a king -- to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the House of God, the
Temple, seventy years after the captivity.
Yet neither Jeconiah nor any of his sons or grandsons reigned
as king in Judah. Why?
If there was a descendant of the line of David who lived
through the captivity, why wasn't he restored to the throne when he
was returned to Jerusalem? Why? Simply because God would not permit
it!
It is God who makes kings -- and unmakes them! God was
determined to remove the crown of David from the ruling line of
Pharez and place it on the head of a son of Zarah. Yet a royal line
straight from David had to remain in the area so the Christ could
be born of David's seed yet hundreds of years in the future. And
God also had to keep His promise to David that he, David, would
never lack a descendant to sit on the throne! Many intricate and
fascinating prophecies had to be carried out -- some seemingly
contradictory -- a difficult job to perform, an awesome commission
from God to Jeremiah!
"As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah [Jeconiah] the son
of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet
would I pluck thee thence"! (Jer. 22:24.) God had determined an end
for this line of kings. He was removing the crown -- not permitting
Jeconiah's sons to reign on Judah's throne! God was turning over
(overturning) the throne to another branch of Judah's family.
God told Jeremiah forcefully, "Thus saith the Lord, Write ye
this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for
no man of his seed shall prosper, SITTING UPON THE THRONE OF DAVID,
AND RULING ANY MORE IN JUDAH"! (Jer. 22:30.)
God spoke! Jeremiah wrote! History was designed and done as
God said! Jeconiah had children -- God Himself caused this fact to be
recorded (see I Chron. 3:17; Matt. 1:12), but as far as the THRONE
OF DAVID was concerned HE WAS CHILDLESS -- none of his children ever
occupied that throne!
The crown had now been removed from the Pharez line, uprooted
from Judah, any immediate candidates to the throne killed, and
Jeconiah incarcerated in a Babylonian prison, written childless as
far as the throne was concerned by the command of God Almighty!
Jeremiah had now accomplished the first part of his great
commission. The throne had been rooted out, the kingdom torn
completely down. Judah was now beginning HER national punishment.
Where Did Jeremiah Go?
But what about the second part of Jeremiah's important commission?
Jeremiah was among these captive Jews. He must be free to
carry out the second part of his commission.
So, "Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning
Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying, Take him,
and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do unto him even as
he shall say unto thee" (Jer. 39:11-12). "And the captain of the
guard took Jeremiah, and said unto him ....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 .... So the
captain of the guard gave him victuals and a reward [money], and
let him go" (Jer. 40:2-5).
So Jeremiah was left absolutely free to do as he pleased,
supplied even with expense money, and given complete freedom, so
that he might perform the second half of his mission. Where did he
go?
We come now to an amazing, fascinating, thrilling part of the
book of Jeremiah which has been almost entirely overlooked. "Then
went Jeremiah unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and dwelt
with him among the people that were left in the land" (verse 6).
Now this Gedaliah had been made governor over a remnant of
Jews in the land by the king of Babylon, and since Jerusalem was
destroyed, he had made Mizpah his headquarters. But the king of
Ammon plotted with a Jew named Ishmael to assassinate Gedaliah. The
plot was executed; the governor and part of the Jews were slain.
Jeremiah was among the survivors.
"Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the
people that were in Mizpah, even the king's daughters, and all the
people that remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the
guard [from Babylon] had committed to Gedaliah ... and carried them
away captive, and departed to go over to the Ammonites" (Jer.
41:10).
Ah! Did you catch it? Read that passage again. Among these
Jews were the king's daughters! Daughters of Zedekiah, king of
Judah, and of David's dynasty!
King Zedekiah had died in prison in Babylon (Jer. 52:11). All
his sons had been killed. All the nobles of Judah had been killed.
All possible heirs of Zedekiah to David's throne had been killed --
except the king's daughters! Now we see why Jeremiah went to
Mizpah!
Jeremiah Escapes
Soon a man named Johanan replaced Ishmael as leader. And in fear of
reprisals from Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldean army, Johanan and
the captains appealed to the prophet "and said unto Jeremiah the
prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before
thee, and pray for us unto the Lord thy God ... that the Lord thy God
may shew us the way wherein we may walk" (Jer. 42:2-3). They were
like so many professing Christians today. They come to God's
minister with solemn assurances that they surely do want to know
God's will; they promise, as did these, "we will obey the voice of
the ETERNAL our God" (verse 6).
But did they mean it? Such people seldom do. Human nature
wants to be good -- or think it is good -- but it does not want to do
good.
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, and He told them not to
fear, that He would protect and deliver them. But the people wanted
to flee to Egypt. This the Lord warned them not to do. If they did,
the sword of Nebuchadnezzar which they feared would overtake them
there, and they would die. "If ye wholly set your faces to enter
into Egypt," God said, "and go to sojourn there; then it shall come
to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you
there ... and there ye shall die" (Jer. 42:15-16).
But, as people usually do, they rejected God's warning. "Thou
speakest falsely," Johanan answered, "the ETERNAL our God hath not
sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt" (Jer. 43:2-3). "So
Johanan ... and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the ETERNAL
(verse 4). People who loudly profess to want to do God's will
usually will not accept God's Word as being His will, unless it is
their will!
And so Johanan "took all the remnant of Judah ... even men, and
women, and children, and the king's daughters ... and Jeremiah the
prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah [Jeremiah's scribe, or
secretary]. So they came into the land of Egypt" (Jer. 43:5-7).
On reaching Egypt, God warned these Jews again through
Jeremiah that they should die there by the sword and famine, and
"none shall return but such as shall escape"! (Jer. 44:12-14.) Yes,
a few in this company are under divine protection. A divine mission
is to be performed. They shall ESCAPE! The Eternal continues: "Yet
a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land
of Egypt into the land of Judah" (Jer. 44:28).
Under Divine Protection
Baruch was Jeremiah's constant companion and secretary. It is
important to note here God's promise of protection to him: "Thus
saith the Lord, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch .... Behold,
that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have
planted I will pluck up, even this whole land ....but thy life will
I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest" (Jer.
45:2-5). Baruch's life, like Jeremiah's, was under divine
protection!
Now previously the Eternal had said to Jeremiah, "Verily it
shall be well with thy REMNANT." The only "remnant" left for
Jeremiah's mission of transplanting the throne was the king's
daughters. "Verily," continued the Eternal, same verse, "I will
cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the
time of affliction" (Jer. 15:11). This God literally did, as
described in chapter 39:11-12 and chapter 40:2-6, which I have
covered previously.
Notice, it is to be well with the royal material given to
Jeremiah with which to build and to plant -- and Jeremiah is to be
protected and to go to a land that he knows not! Who else was to go
to a land they knew not? The ten-tribed birthright kingdom, Israel!
So Jeremiah and his little royal remnant are to escape out of
Egypt, return to Judah, and then -- where? To the place where the
"lost ten tribes" had gone, as we shall see!
Now let Isaiah complete this prophecy: "For out of Jerusalem
shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion:
the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this. And the remnant that
is escaped of the house of Judah shall AGAIN TAKE ROOT DOWNWARD,
AND BEAR FRUIT UPWARD" (Isa. 37:32, 31).
This same prophecy is found also in II Kings 19:30-31. It is
a prophecy given through Isaiah in the 14th year of the reign of
King Hezekiah of Judah, when King Sennacherib of Assyria threatened
invasion of Judah. It was a prophecy to happen later -- not during
Hezekiah's reign. Some critics, seeking to overthrow this basic and
important truth, argue that this same remnant is mentioned also in
II Chronicles 30:6. But that event is not a prophecy, but a
historic account of an event in the first year of Hezekiah -- and
that remnant did not escape from Jerusalem, but they were Jews who
escaped from Sennacherib's forces threatening invasion of Judah --
they escaped into, not out of Judah. And nothing is said here about
"taking root downward, and bearing fruit upward," as in both Isaiah
37 and II Kings 19.
This prophecy is so important it is recorded twice! It does
refer to the remnant to escape later -- to Jeremiah's escape. This
remnant with Jeremiah -- at least one of the king's daughters -- shall
take root downward! That is, BE REPLANTED!
And then bear fruit upward! Be built! Has God failed in His
solemn covenant to keep alive David's throne? Where was this
planting and building? Can we find it in God's Word? We can! The
place and the people among whom the throne was reestablished are
clearly identified!