Therefore, thus says the the LORD: ‘Behold I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it. And the Chaldeans who fight against this city shall come and set fire to this city and burn it, with houses on whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke Me to anger[.] Jeremiah 32: 26-29, NKJV.
Heavenly Father, how grateful we are that there are always two sides to Your messages, and they always end in love. May we allow the bad news to wake us up and make us ready to receive the Good News of salvation. This is our prayer in the blessed name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
This two-part message is the answer to the proverbial question, “I have good news and I have bad news; which would you like to hear first?” Most people respond, including myself at times, “Give me the bad news first.” So today let us look at the “bad news” that God sent to His people through the prophet Jeremiah: Your doom is imminent.
He then went on to remind them of their sins and tell them that the city of which they were so proud would be destroyed. That was really bad news. The God who had spoken those words was the God of heaven and earth. His words do not return to Him empty. They must fulfill what they are sent to do. The bad news would come to pass!
I can only imagine the distress that overtook the people of God when they heard these words. God had dealt patiently with them all these years. Obviously they had misinterpreted God’s grace for His approval. But now, they were being told, with no possibility of misunderstanding, that God would allow punishment to befall them for their sins. To make the veredict even more bleak were these words: ” ‘ “though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed” ‘ ” (5). Was not YHWH the God of Israel? Had He not defended them against their enemies in the past? How could He leave them now?
I am not sure where I read or heard the following, that the best way to give bad news is to sandwich it between two layers of good news. Well, there is nothing that we can teach the LORD. After all, He is the Source of Wisdom. The first layer of good news preceding this bad news was the following: “‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ” ‘ “Take these deeds, both this purchase deed which is sealed and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may last many days.” ‘ ” For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ” ‘ “Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land” ‘ ” (14, 15).( From “Just Do It! – Part I”)
Well, with our God, there is always good news in every story! Tomorrow we will talk about the second layer of Good News.