The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 235: Lying Prophets (2024)

Episode Date: August 22, 2024

Fr. Mike focuses on the prophet Jeremiah’s continued sorrow and explains how lying prophets bring forth destruction. He invites us to examine what lies in our lives are bringing destruction. We also continue reading about Ezekiel’s vision, and see the glory of the Lord return to the temple. Today’s readings are Jeremiah 14-15, Ezekiel 43-44, and Proverbs 15:13-16. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation. Discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today, it is day 235. We're reading Jeremiah chapter 14 and 15, as well as Ezekiel 43 and 44 and Proverbs chapter 15 verses 13 through 16. As always, the Bible translation

that I'm reading from is the revised standard version, second Catholic edition. I'm using the great adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year. You can also subscribe to this podcast and receive daily episodes. As I said, this day is day 235. We're reading Jeremiah 14 and 15, Ezekiel 43 and 44, and Proverbs 15 verses 13 through 16. The book of the prophet Jeremiah, chapter 14, the great drought. The word of the Lord, which came to Jeremiah concerning the drought. Judah mourns, and her gates languish. Her people lament on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up. Her nobles send their servants for water.

They come to the cisterns. They find no water. They return with their vessels empty. They are ashamed and confounded and cover their heads because of the ground which is dismayed since there is no rain on the land. The farmers are ashamed. They cover their heads because of the ground which is dismayed since there is no rain on the land. The farmers are ashamed. They cover their heads. Even the deer in the field forsakes her newborn fawn because there is no grass.

The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights. They pant for air like jackals. Their eyes fail because there is no herbage. Though our iniquities testify against us, act, O Lord, for your name's sake. For our backslidings are many. We have sinned against you. O you, hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble, why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a wayfarer who turns aside to linger for a night?

Why should you be like a man confused, or like a mighty man who cannot save? Yet you, O Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name. Leave us not. Thus says the Lord concerning his people. They have loved to wander thus. They have not restrained their feet. Therefore the Lord does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins. The Lord said to me, Do not pray for the welfare of this people. Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and cereal offering, I will not accept them, but I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.

Denunciation of lying prophets and a prayer for mercy. Then I said, Ah, Lord God, behold, the prophets say to them, You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place. And the Lord said to me, The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds. Therefore thus says the Lord

concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, although I did not send them, and who say, sword and famine shall not come on this land. By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed. And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword, with none to bury them, them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their wickedness upon them. You shall say to them this word, let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease. For the virgin daughter of my people is struck down with a great wound, with a very grievous blow. If I go out into the field, behold those slain by the sword. And if I enter the city, behold the diseases of famine. For both prophet and priest

ply their trade through the land and have no knowledge. Have you utterly rejected Judah? Does your soul loathe Zion? Why have you struck us down so that there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came. for a time of healing, but behold, terror. We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against you. Do not spurn us for your name's sake. Do not dishonor your glorious throne. Remember, and do not break your covenant with us.

Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are you not he, O Lord our God? We set our hope on you, for you do all these things. Chapter 15, Anguish and Terror Foretold Then the Lord said to me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight and let them go.

And when they ask you, Where shall we go? You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord. Those who are for pestilence, to pestilence. And those who are for the sword, to the sword. Those who are for famine, to famine. And those who are for captivity, to captivity and those who are for captivity to captivity. I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, says the Lord, the sword to slay, the dogs to tear, and the birds of the air, and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. And I will make

them a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem. Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Or who will bemoan you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare? You have rejected me, says the Lord. You keep going backward, so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you. I am weary of relenting. I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land. I have bereaved them. I have destroyed my people. They did not turn from their ways.

I have made their widows more in number than the sand of the seas. I have brought against the mothers of young men a destroyer at noonday. I have made anguish and terror fall upon them suddenly. She who bore seven has languished. She has swooned away. Her son went down while it was yet day. She has been shamed and disgraced. And the rest of them I will give to the sword before their enemies, says the Lord. Jeremiah pleads again and is reassured. Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land. I have not lent, nor have I

borrowed, yet all of them curse me. So let it be, O Lord, if I have not entreated you for their good, if I have not pleaded with you on behalf of the enemy in the time of trouble and in the time of distress. Can one break iron, iron from the north and bronze? Your wealth and your treasures I will give as spoil, without price, for all your sins throughout all your territory treasures I will give as spoil without price for all your sins throughout all your territory. I will make you serve your enemies in a land which you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled which shall burn forever. O Lord, you know, remember me and visit me and take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In your forbearance, take me not away. Know that for your sake I bear reproach. Your words were found, and I ate them. And your words became to me a joy and the delight of my

heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord God of hosts. I did not sit in the company of merrymakers, nor did I rejoice. I sat alone, because your hand was upon me, for you had filled me with indignation. Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail? Therefore, thus says the Lord, if you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious and not what is worthless, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.

And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, says the Lord. I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless. The book of the prophet Ezekiel, chapter 43. The glory of the Lord entering the temple. Afterward, he brought me to the gate, the gate facing east. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the east, and the sound east. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the east, and the sound of his coming was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory. And the vision I saw was like the vision which I had seen when he came to destroy the city,

and like the vision which I had seen by the river Kabar, and I fell upon my face. As the glory of the Lord entered the temple by the gate facing east, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and behold, the glory of the Lord entered the temple by the gate facing east, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple. While the man was standing beside me, I heard one speaking to me out of the temple, and he said to me, Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel forever. And the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their harlotry and by the dead bodies of their kings, by setting their threshold by my threshold and their doorposts beside my doorposts, with only a wall between me and them.

They have defiled my holy name by their abominations which they have committed, so I have consumed them in my anger. Now let them put away their idolatry and the dead bodies of their kings far from me, and I will dwell in their midst forever. And you, son of man, describe to the house of Israel the temple and its appearance and plan that they may be ashamed of their iniquities. And if they are ashamed of all that they have done, portray the temple, its arrangements, its exits and its entrances and its whole form and make known to them all its ordinances and all its laws and write it down in their sight so that they may observe and perform all its laws

and all its ordinances. This is the law of the temple. The whole territory round about the top of the mountain shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple. The altar. These are the dimensions of the altar by cubits, the cubit being a cubit and a hand breadth. Its base shall be one cubit high and one cubit broad, with a rim of one span around its edge. And this shall be the height of the altar, from the base on the ground to the lower ledge two cubits, with a breadth of one cubit. From the smaller ledge to the larger ledge four cubits, with a breadth of one cubit. And the altar hearth four cubits, and from the altar hearth projecting upward four horns one cubit high. The altar hearth shall be square, twelve cubits long by twelve broad.

shall be square, twelve cubits long by twelve broad. The ledge also shall be square, fourteen cubits long by fourteen broad, with a rim around it half a cubit broad, and its base one cubit round about. The steps of the altar shall face east. And he said to me, Son of man, thus says the Lord God. These are the ordinances for the altar. On the day when it is erected for offering burnt offerings upon it and for throwing blood against it, you shall give to the Levitical priests of the family of Zadok, who draw near to me to minister to me, says the Lord God, a bowl for a sin offering. And you shall take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar and on the four corners of the ledge and upon the rim round about. Thus you shall cleanse the altar and make atonement for it.

You shall also take the bull of the sin offering, and it shall be burnt in the appointed place belonging to the temple outside the sacred area. And on the second day you shall offer a he-goat without blemish for a sin offering, and the altar shall be cleansed, as it was cleansed with the bull. When you have finished cleansing it, you shall offer a bull without blemish and a ram from the flock without blemish. You shall present them before the Lord, and the priests shall sprinkle salt upon them and offer them up as a burnt offering to the Lord. For seven days you shall provide daily a goat for a sin offering. Also a bull and a ram from

the flock without blemish shall be provided. Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and purify it, and so consecrate it. And when they have completed these days, then from the eighth day onward, the priests shall offer upon the altar your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, and I will accept you, says the Lord God. Chapter 44. The Closed Gate. Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east, and it was shut. And he said to me, This gate shall remain shut. It shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the Lord the God of Israel has entered by it, therefore it shall remain shut. Only the prince may sit in it to eat bread before the Lord.

He shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way. Those admitted to the temple. Then he brought me by the way of the north gate to the front of the temple. And I looked, and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord, and I fell upon my face. And the Lord said to me, Son of man, mark well, see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I shall tell you concerning all the ordinances of the temple of the Lord and all its laws, and mark well those who may be admitted to the temple and all those who are to be excluded from the sanctuary. And say to the rebellious house, to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, O house of Israel, let there be an end to all your abominations in admitting

foreigners uncircumcised in heart and flesh to be in my sanctuary, profaning it when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. You have broken my covenant in addition to all your abominations and you have not kept charge of my holy things, but you have set foreigners to keep my charge in my sanctuary. Therefore thus says the Lord God, no foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary. But the Levites, who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols, when Israel went astray, shall bear their punishment. They shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple and serving

in the temple. They shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall attend on the people to serve them, because they have ministered to them before their idols and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel. Therefore I have sworn concerning them, says the Lord God, that they shall bear their punishment. sworn concerning them, says the Lord God, that they shall bear their punishment. They shall not come near to me to serve me as priest, nor come near any of my sacred things and the things that are most sacred, but they shall bear their shame because of the abominations which they have committed. Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the temple, to do all its service and all that

is to be done in it. The Levitical priests. But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me, and they shall attend on me to offer me the fat and the blood, says the Lord God. They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach my table to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge. When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen garments. They shall have nothing of wool on them while they minister at the gates of the inner court

and within. They shall have linen turbans upon their heads and linen breeches upon their loins. They shall not clothe themselves with anything that causes sweat. And when they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall put off the garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments, lest they communicate holiness to the people with their garments. They shall not shave their heads or let their locks grow long. They shall only trim the hair of their heads.

No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court. They shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but only a virgin of the stock of the house of Israel or a widow who is the widow of a priest. They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. In a controversy, they shall act as judges and they shall judge in according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes and all my appointed feasts, and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy. They shall not defile themselves by going near to a dead person. However, for father or mother, for son or daughter, for brother or unmarried sister, they may defile

themselves. After he is defiled, he shall count for himself seven days, and brother or unmarried sister, they may defile themselves. After he is defiled, he shall count for himself seven days, and then he shall be clean. And on the day that he goes into the holy place, into the inner court to minister in the holy place, he shall offer his sin offering, says the Lord God. They shall have no inheritance. I am their inheritance. And you shall give them no possession in Israel, for I am their inheritance. And you shall give them no possession in Israel, for I am their possession. They shall eat the cereal offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. And the first of all the firstfruits of all kinds, and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings, shall belong to the priests. You shall also give to the priests the first of your course meal, that a blessing may

rest on your house. The priests shall not eat of anything, whether bird or beast, that has died of itself or is torn. The book of Proverbs chapter 15 verses 13 through 16. A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken. The mind of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly. All the days of the afflicted are evil, but a cheerful heart has a continual feast. Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with it. Father in heaven, we give you praise and thank you so much. God, please receive our praise today. Please receive our voice. Receive our heart. Receive, just God, our gift of thanksgiving. Because this day, none of us did anything to

deserve it. It's just your gift to us. And so we give it back to you. We give it back to you in praise. We give it back to you in thanksgiving, and we give it back to you with humble hearts, because Lord God, we did nothing to deserve it. So may it be praised this day and every day. In Jesus' name, amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. That last proverb, man, bitter is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with that, you know, trouble with it. That, um, so much is packed up into that. Isn't that so many of these, of these Proverbs, they have such potency, right? They have such wisdom. And yet we can just pass on by them really, really simply. But better is little,

as long as we have fear of the Lord. I can be in want immaterially. I can have a short life even. But if that life is marked by the fear of the Lord, that good fear of the Lord, right? That sense of awe, that sense of, I realize who God is and who I am, versus great treasure and trouble, like great treasure and not having the fear of the Lord, that would be a tragedy. And that is the tragedy that marks so many of our lives. And maybe it marked our lives leading up to this Bible in a year. Maybe our lives are marked by not really knowing who God is until here we are on day 235 and God reveals himself to us. And we realize, my gosh, Lord, every day I learn a little bit more about you. And every day you just

show me who you are. So gosh, this is what a gift. I'm going back almost back to the prayer. I thought I was praying again because it just is one of those, one of those gifts of recognizing that this has been a gift, 235 days worth of gift every single day. And what are we going to do with that gift? You know, in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, remember, keep in mind the context. Jeremiah, he's got to preach for another 40 years or so. Ezekiel, he's coming to the end of this book of Ezekiel. And the same call is the same, right? It's to come back to the Lord. It's to recognize that at some point time is running out. I love this. You know, in chapter 14 of Jeremiah, the word of the Lord comes to Jeremiah

and he says, here's Judah mourns, right? Remember Judah, here's Jerusalem, here's the South, this kingdom that lasts, that's still present, that's going to be attacked. The Babylonians are going to conquer it. They're going to bring the people into exile. And yet it says this, it says, her nobles send their servants for water. They come to the cisterns, but they find no water. They return with their vessels empty. And that's the thing is like this, that sense of, because we've been faithless to the Lord, there is no fruit to find, you know, because, because gosh, how many times has God said, if you're faithful to me, come back to me and there'll be fruitfulness in the land. There'll be strength in the land. There'll be abundance in the land. And what have the people chosen to do? They've chosen, as it goes on to say in this very, very same chapter, it talks about the false prophets and the lying prophets.

Here's what Jeremiah says. He says, ah, Lord God, behold, this is chapter 14, verse 13. It says, Lord God, behold, the prophets say to them, you shall not see the sword. You won't have famine. I'll give you assured peace in this place. And God is saying, no, those are lies. Now, I wonder how many false prophets we have in our world. All right. And let's, you know, that's easy to say, like when it comes to culture, well, this person on TV and that person on the radio, how many false prophets do we allow in our life, like in my life? How many false prophets do I allow in our life, in our life, like in my life? How many false prophets do I allow?

People who, maybe they speak words that I find compelling. Maybe they speak words that I really like to hear. Maybe they even give me consolation, right? Maybe they even give me some comfort. But if it's not true, if it's not true, then that's a false prophecy, right? If it's not true, then it's not something I need to give my attention to because, you

know, I have this paraphrase of C.S. Lewis and the paraphrase is something along the lines of the only reason to believe anything is because it's true. We don't believe something because it makes us happy. We don't believe something because it makes us behave well. The only reason to believe anything is because it's true. And so one of the things we want to be as men and women who are convicted by the truth that's uttered by the Lord, and even the truths of God that are uttered not by God,

but uttered by instruments of God. But that means we have to be on the fence against those false prophets, right? Those lies that we've allowed to creep into our hearts. Again, it's so easy to go to, let's go to the news. Let's go to the people who have a big platform. But what are the lies that I've allowed to take up root in my life? What are the lies that I've given power to in my life? And those lies can be lies of condemnation, right? They can be lies of destruction, but they can also be lies that offer me comfort

when it's not time for comfort. They can be lies that say, hey, you know, just wait later. You know, yeah, I know God's calling you to change, but you know, there's time later on to change. What are some of those false prophets that are in my life that like Jeremiah, I just have to say say I'm intolerant of those lies. You know, Jeremiah goes on to say, this is so powerful. He says, and this is in still chapter 14, he says, let my eyes run down with tears night and day. Remember, Jeremiah is the weeping prophet.

Let my eyes run down with tears night and day and let them not cease. For the virgin daughter of my people is struck down with a great wound, with a grievous blow. And he goes on to say, if I go in the field, there's those things by the sword in the city. There's people who die of famine, that even the prophet and the priest, they ply their trade in the land and have no knowledge. That's, that's a picture of devastation. Those people who should know, they don't know people who should have life. There's no life. And so here is know, they don't know. People who should have life, there's no life. And so here is Jeremiah, who is the true prophet, right? He's speaking truth and his heart is broken because of this. And so here's the call for all of us, right?

What are those false prophets in my life that are either speaking words of condemnation that are false or words of comfort that are false. But also, where in my life am I called to be like Jeremiah and weep for what needs to be wept for, right? Those injustices that need to be stood up against and spoken against. Where do I need to be? That prophet Jeremiah, who speaks the truth, right? Speaks words of consolation when those are needed, words of comfort when they're needed, but also words of conviction when those are needed. consolation when those are needed, words of comfort when they're needed, but also words of conviction when those are needed. One last note of Ezekiel. You know, we're coming to the end of this vision of the incredible vision of this new temple in the book of the prophet Ezekiel. Remember,

this is, we're getting to the end. We only have a couple of chapters left when it comes to the prophet, book of the prophet Ezekiel. But what does he see? He says the glory of the Lord that comes back to this new temple. Remember, one of the most devastating visions that Ezekiel had earlier on was he saw the glory of the Lord depart from the temple because the people were false. Because the people were false to temple worship, they were turning to false gods. And he said this tragic, tragic image where he saw the glory of the Lord rise up and then leave. But here in these chapters, we see this. We see that the glory of the Lord rise up and then leave. But here in these chapters, we see this. We see that the glory of the Lord comes back to the temple,

which is such an incredible gift of God. And it's what we need to pray for. We need to pray for God wherever there's dead parts of our lives. There are places in my life where the Spirit of the Lord has departed. Remember when Samson, his hair was cut by Delilah, and it said the Spirit of Lord departed from him and he didn't realize it. But later on he prayed, he prayed, Lord, let your spirit come upon me one last time that I may perish with the Philistines. This is almost an image like that, where the spirit of the Lord had departed and they didn't even realize it. But here Ezekiel is saying the day is going to come when the spirit of the Lord comes back.

And will you realize it then the spirit of power and of love and of self-control. And in Jesus Christ, he gives us that Holy spirit. And right now you are a temple of the Holy spirit. And that spirit of God does rest upon you. And he acts and works within you. What an incredible, incredible gift on this day. Wow, I just, this is amazing. Just so amazing. I'm praying for you because you're a temple of the Holy Spirit. And so often we live without the Spirit, right?

So often we live without the power that God gives us, the power of Jesus Christ risen from the dead that dwells inside of us. And yet so often we don't walk in that power. We don't speak in that power. We don't speak in that power. We don't love in that power. We just try to speak and walk on our own power and love on our own power. And yet you have more than that. You have Jesus, you have his spirit. So I'm praying for you that you walk in that spirit, that you speak in that spirit, that you love in that spirit. And please pray for me that I can do the same thing. Yeah. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

God bless.