The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 242: The Role of King Nebuchadnezzar (2022)

Episode Date: August 30, 2022

Fr. Mike explains why God asks his people to surrender to King Nebuchadnezzar even though it seems contradicting. We learn that God can use evil circumstances to win the hearts of his people back. In Daniel, as we read about the vision of the ram and the goat, Fr. Mike reminds us that prophecy is always shrouded in mystery. Today we read Jeremiah 26-27, Daniel 8-9, and Proverbs 16:9-12. 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 unfolds and how we fit into that story today. Speaking of today, it is day 242. We are reading today from Jeremiah chapter 26 and 27, also Daniel 8 and 9, and Proverbs chapter 16 verses 9 to 12. 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 by clicking on subscribe in whatever place you listen to an app, unless it doesn't allow you to do that, in which case you are out of luck. But nonetheless, here we are on day 242 with Jeremiah 26 and 27, Daniel 8 and 9 in Proverbs 16 verses 9 through 12.

The book of the prophet Jeremiah, chapter 26. Jeremiah threatened with death. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord. Thus says the Lord, Stand in the court of the Lord's house and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the house of the Lord, all the words that I command you to speak to them. Do not hold back a word.

It may be they will listen and everyone turn from his evil way that I may repent of the evil which I intend to do to them because of their evil doings. You shall say to them, thus says the Lord, if you will not listen to me to walk in my law, which I have set before you and to heed the words of my servants, the prophets whom I send to you urgently, though you have not heeded, then I will make this house like Shiloh. I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth. The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him saying, you shall die. Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying,

This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without inhabitant? And all the people gathered about Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of the Lord and took their seat in the entry of the new gate of the house of the Lord. Then the priests and the prophets said to the princes and to all the people, this man deserves the sentence of death because he has prophesied against this city as you have heard with your own ears. Then Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and all the people saying, the Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city, all the words you have heard.

Now therefore, amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will repent of the evil which he has pronounced against you. But as for me, behold, I am in your hands. Do with me as it seems good and right to you. Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants. For in truth, the Lord sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears. Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, this man does not deserve the sentence of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God. And certain of the elders of the

land arose and spoke to all the assembled people, saying, Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and said to all the people of Judah, Thus says the Lord of hosts, Zion shall be plowed as a field, Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height. Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord, and did not the Lord repent of the evil which he had pronounced against them? But we are about to bring great evil upon ourselves. There was another man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Uriah the son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-Jerim. He prophesied against this city and against this land in words like those

of Jeremiah. And when Jehoiakim, with all his warriors and all his princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But when Uriah heard of it, he was afraid and fled and escaped to Egypt. Then King Jehoiakim sent to Egypt certain men, Elnathan, the son of Achbor, and others with him. And they fetched Uriah from Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, who slew him with the sword and cast his dead body into the burial place of the common people. But the hand of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, was with Jeremiah, so that he was not given over to the people to be put to death. Chapter 27. The Sign of the Thongs and Yokebars

In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord. Thus the Lord said to me, Make yourself thongs and yokebars, and put them on your neck. Send word to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the sons of Ammon, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon by the hand of the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. Give them this charge for their masters. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, this is what you shall say to your masters. It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth with the men and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever it seems

right to me. Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him. All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson until the time of his own land comes. Then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave. But if any nation or kingdom will not serve this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine and with pestilence, says the Lord, until I have consumed it by his hand. So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers,

or your sorcerers who are saying to you, you shall not serve the king of Babylon. For it is a lie which they are prophesying to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land, and I will drive you out, and you will perish. But any nation which will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave on its own land, till it and dwell there, says the Lord. To Zedekiah, king of Judah, I spoke in like manner. Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people and live. Why will you and your people die by the

sword, by famine and by pestilence, as the Lord has spoken concerning any nation which will not serve the king of Babylon? Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are saying to you, you shall not serve the king of Babylon, for it is a lie which they are prophesying to you. I have not sent them, says the Lord, but they are prophesying falsely in my name, with the result that I will drive you out and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying to you. Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus says the Lord, Do not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the Lord's house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon, for it is a lie which they are prophesying to you. Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon

and live. Why should this city become a desolation? If they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, then let them intercede with the Lord of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem, may not go to Babylon. For thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, the sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels which are left in this city, which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, did not take away when he took into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, chapter 8, Vision of a Ram and a Goat

In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first. And I saw in the vision, and when I saw, I was in Susa the capital, which is in the province of Elam. And I saw in the vision, and I was at the river Ulai. I raised my eyes and saw, and behold, a ram standing on the bank of the river. It had two horns, and both horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last.

I saw the ram charging westward and northward and southward. No beast could stand before him, and there was no one who could rescue from his power. He did as he pleased and magnified himself. As I was considering, behold, a he-goat came from the west across the face of the whole earth without touching the ground, and the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. He came to the ram with the two horns, which I had seen standing on the bank of the river, and he ran at him in his mighty wrath. I saw him come close to the ram, and he was enraged against him, and struck the ram, and broke his two horns. And the ram had

no power to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled upon him. And there was no one who could rescue the ram from his power. Then the he-goat magnified himself exceedingly, but when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and instead of it, there came up four conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven. Out of one of them came forth a little horn, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the glorious land. It grew great even to the host of heaven, and some of the host of the stars it cast down to the ground and trampled upon them. It magnified itself even up to the prince of the host, and the continual burnt offering was taken away from him, and the place of his sanctuary was overthrown.

And the host was given over to it together with the continual burnt offering through transgression, and truth was cast down to the ground, and the horn acted and prospered. Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one that spoke, For how long is the vision concerning the continual burnt offering, the transgression that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and host to be trampled underfoot? And he said to him, For two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings, then the sanctuary shall be restored to its rightful state. Gabriel interprets the vision.

When I, Daniel, had seen the vision, I sought to understand it, and behold, there stood before me one having the appearance of a man, and I heard a man's voice between the banks of the Ulai, and it called, Gabriel, make this man understand the vision. So he came near where I stood, and when he came, I was frightened and fell upon my face. But he said to me, Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end. As he was speaking to me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face to the ground, but he touched me and set me on my feet. He said, Behold, I will make known to you what shall be at the latter end of the indignation,

for it pertains to the appointed time of the end. As for the ram which you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Medea and Persia, and the he-goat is the king of Greece, and the great horn between his eyes is the first king. As for the horn that was broken, in place of which four others arose, four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power. And at the latter end of the rule, when the transgressors have reached their full measure, a king of bold countenance, one who understands riddles, shall arise. His power shall be great, and he shall cause fearful destruction, and shall succeed in what he does, and destroy mighty men and the people of the

saints. By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall magnify himself. Without warning he shall destroy many, and he shall even rise up against the prince of princes, but by no human hand he shall be broken. The vision of the evenings and the mornings which has been told is true, but seal up the vision, for it pertains to many days hence. And I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for some days. Then I rose and went about the king's business, but I was appalled by the vision and did not understand it. Chapter 9. Daniel's Prayer for the People. In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, by birth Amid, who became a king over the realm of the Chaldeans, in the first year of

his reign I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years which, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the des the number of years which, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely seventy years. Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, saying, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and merciful love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and ordinances.

We have not listened to your servants, the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us confusion of face, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those that are near and those that are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery which they have committed against you. To us, O Lord, belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To us, O Lord, belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, because we have rebelled against him, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by

following his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath which are written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out upon us because we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done the like of what has been done against Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us. Yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our

iniquities and giving heed to your truth. Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us. For the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made you a name, as at this day we have sinned, we have done wickedly. O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city, Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are round about us.

Now, therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his supplications, and for your own sake, O Lord, cause your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and behold our desolations and the city which is called by your name. For we do not present our supplications before you on the ground of our righteousness, but on the ground of your great mercy. O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive.

O Lord, give heed and act. Delay not for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name. The Seventy Weeks While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. He came and he said to me, O Daniel, I have now come out to give you wisdom and understanding. At the beginning of your supplications, a word went forth, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly beloved.

Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision. Seventy weeks of years are decreed concerning your people and your holy city to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and profit and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after sixty-two weeks an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.

Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed, and he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall cause sacrifice and offering to cease. And upon the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator. The book of Proverbs chapter 16 verses 9 through 12. A man's mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. Inspired decisions are on the lips of a king. His mouth does not sin in judgment. A just balance and scales are the Lord's. All the weights in the bag are his work. It is an abomination to kings to do evil, for the throne is established by righteousness.

Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. Thank you so much. It is true that we plan our own ways, but you direct our steps. And when we belong to you and we're open to you and we listen to you and we obey your word, even when we're just own ways, but you direct our steps. And when we belong to you, when we're open to you, when we listen to you, when we obey your word, even when we're just simply humble, Lord, there's almost nothing that we can replace just a humility before your voice,

a humility before your will and before your word. And so, yes, we plan our ways, but you direct our steps, Lord God. Help us to continually follow you, to be guided and shaped by your word, and for every step we take to be done in faith, every step we take to be done in hope, and every step we take to be done out of love for you and for our neighbor, for your love. And you call us to love you and to receive your love, to love our neighbor

and to be your love for them. Help us to do this. Help us to be this. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. That's one of my favorite proverbs. I think I've said that probably 20 times so far. But you know, the mind of the human being plans his own way, but the Lord directs his steps. So good. And what a gift. So in Jeremiah, we kind of flipped around a little bit. What I mean by that is time-wise. I mentioned this, I think yesterday, where Jeremiah 20 to 21 is this like fast forward to basically the final deportation to Babylon. And we go back then in chapter 26, it's the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah. So remember, Josiah was the first king that

Jeremiah served underneath. And now we're back there to the second, you know, so Josiah's son, Jehoiakim. And then we jump up to Zedekiah and that's going to happen, you know, coming up kind of soon. But this recognition is here is one of the things that marks Jeremiah's life is that he's threatened with death because he's willing to tell the truth. And in this chapter, in chapter 26 of Jeremiah, where Jeremiah is telling the truth and the people and the priests and the prophets and all the land they'd hold of him saying, you shall die. And then when the princes of Judah hear this, they came up from the king's house, it goes on to say, but then they make this appeal.

And this is in verse 16 of chapter 26. The princes and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, this man does not deserve a sentence of death for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord, our God. And they talk about Micah and we know the prophet Micah. In fact, they quote the prophet Micah, who also remember came before King Hezekiah and told him he needed to repent and that all of Jerusalem and Judah needed to repent. And they did that. And so here are the princes and all the people saying,

listen, this has happened before. We had a prophet prophesy in God's name, the truth that we need to repent. And so it's remarkable. I think just what a gift that we have this account of people defending Jeremiah. This might be one of the only times we have someone defending the

prophet Jeremiah, because even we go ahead to the next chapter, chapter 27, as I said, goes to the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah. And Zedekiah is the final king of Judah before that final deportation. If you remember Zedekiah, I believe this is in second Kings. It describes how when the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, had come down to Jerusalem, the last thing he did to Zedekiah was he killed Zedekiah's sons in front of him and then gouged out Zedekiah's eyes before he exiled him. So that the last thing Zedekiah saw was his sons being murdered in front of him. Remember, Nebuchadnezzar is not a great guy, right? He's not a hero. At the same time, once again, we hear the word of God say that Nebuchadnezzar is my servant. And that's in chapter 27, verse 6.

That Nebuchadnezzar, my servant, I have given him also the beast of the field to serve him. All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson until the time of his own land comes. And this is really remarkable. That in verse 8, it says, but if any nation or kingdom will not serve this Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will, here's God talking, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine and with pestilence until I have consumed it by his hand. And this is, again, remember, this is Nebuchadnezzar in the role of Judas here, right? So that this is not God's, I would say, follower.

This is not someone doing the right thing, but this is God saying, I'm willing to use these people doing evil things. Not that he's making them do evil things, but he's allowing them to do these evil things in order to get his people back, in order to win his people back to him. And that's why here is Jeremiah who says one of the least popular things he's ever going to say as a prophet, which is he's calling the people to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar. That'd be basically saying, remember the basket of good figs and bad figs we heard about the other day? He's saying, it will be good for you, better for you, in fact,

for you to be brought to Babylon than to stay here. Do not turn, do not flee to Egypt, do not try to stay here in Jerusalem, but allow Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to take you into custody because that is actually what you need to do. You need to surrender, which is, I mean, imagine any public figure saying, okay, I know we have this hostile country trying to invade us.

The best thing you can do, because you cannot win, the best thing you can do, because God is on their side in some ways, and God is using them to punish us, to correct us, to heal us, the best thing you can do is to surrender to them. That would not be an incredibly popular thing. And yet, that's what Jeremiah says. Jeremiah 27, verse 17, do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city become a desolation? And so that's probably Jeremiah's least popular prophecy. And it pains Jeremiah to have to say this because no one listens to him. Now, if we go to Daniel, Jeremiah gets a little shout out from Daniel here in chapters, in chapter eight and nine,

we have the vision of a ram and a goat. And that can be, again, these visions. When we get to the book of Revelation at the end of this 365 days of walking through the Bible in a year, we're going to have a lot of similar visions like this where it's, what does that mean? There's two horns. There's all these things. So the ram with the two horns, one is bigger, one is smaller, is the Medo-Persian Empire. This is very important.

So the Medo-Persian Empire, This is very important. So the Medo-Persian Empire, which were, you know, two nations essentially uniting their forces, one horn is bigger than the other. Well, the Persians were more powerful than the other nation. And so that's the ram with the two horns. And yet there was, as he was looking at this, this powerful nation, considering, behold, a he-goat came from the West across the face of the whole earth without touching the ground, had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. And this is the nation of Greece, right? This is Alexander the Great, which completely destroyed, flattened quickly, quickly took over all of the known world there

in the Middle East and throughout all that Alexander the Great took over. And so again, we have this like he-goat and a ram and like why these things instead of just saying, here's the Medo-Persian empire and here is the Greek empire under Alexander the Great. Well, because it's prophetic and because that is what we've got when it comes to prophecy is that it is always shrouded in mystery and it's always shrouded in imagery because it almost always means something more than we just see on the surface. Now, at the same time, it also means what we see on the surface, which is here are these empires, nations, as we've mentioned many times, rising and falling. But also God gives this word of hope. And that word of hope is

that this power, whether the Medo-Persian empire or whether the Greek empire, or doesn't mention Rome in these sections, but we have already heard about that. They're going to come to an end. And when they come to an end, God actually gives a timeline at this point. And the timeline talks about the 70 weeks, talks about the almost 500 years, and then the anointed one is going to come. And there has been so many biblical scholars who have dived deeply into this that have demonstrated, okay, so 70 years, the people of Israel are exiled for 70 years. And then the king of Persia, Cyrus, the king of Persia, who came on after Nebuchadnezzar, right?

He sends the people of Israel, whoever wants to go back, back to Jerusalem, back to Israel. And we're going to hear about that in some books coming up, book of Nehemiah, Ezra, that kind of thing. But then there's also this prophecy about almost 500 years after this, an anointed one is going to come. And again, this is one of those things where we're like, wait a second, is that Jesus? Because the timeline actually, depending on how you interpret it, right? And depending on how you say, okay, when did this almost 500 year start?

And when did it end exactly? Is a prophecy of the anointed one, not just an anointed one, but the one who would come and establish a kingdom without end. And so Daniel has some incredible prophecies for Jesus, just like Isaiah had prophecies of the anointed one who would come. And Ezekiel talked about, you know, that, that heart in us and same with, with Jeremiah, but that is diving kind of deeper into the rabbit hole than we're going to do today. Since this is already, you know, these chapters, I don't know if you've noticed that chapters in Daniel are quite a bit longer than they are in

some of the other books. So that being said, we're coming to an end of our time together today. And so I just want to please invite and just ask for, maybe even beg for your prayers. I am praying for you every single day. Every single day I'm lifting you up in prayer. And I know, I trust that you're praying for me and praying for each other. What a great gift to be able to walk together. It's amazing. My name is Father Mike.

I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.