Prayer: Father, I ask for understanding of the perils of having a yoke placed upon you. What did it mean to the nation of Israel? What does it mean to me? Amen.
Reading: Jeremiah 27 key: vs. 1-2 “In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word to Jeremiah from Adonai, saying— thus says Adonai to me— “Make straps and yoke-bars, and put them on your neck.” TLV
Attention: First, what is a yoke? According to the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary: A “wooden frame placed on the backs of draft animals to make them pull in tandem. The simple yoks consisted of a bar with two loops either of rope or wood that went around the animals’ necks.”
Jeremiah was to build and distribute yokes to selected kings (of Edom, of Moab, of Ammon’s children, to Tyre, and of Zidon), and King Zedekiah of Judah. Scripturally, Yokes are spoken of in terms of forced servitude (slavery, bondage, and hardship).
Jeremiah was to display himself publicly with yoke about his neck and declaring the word of God, that He in His Supremacy brings kings into and out of each other’s hands. Adonai declares to Jeremiah, “I give it to whom it seems right to Me. So now I have given all these lands into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, My servant. I have even given the beasts of the field to serve him.” Adonai is His own Arbiter. He answers to no one. He is placing all these kings under the authority and rule of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
What Adonai declared by Jeremiah’s voice was not a judgement they as a nation were going to be able to avoid. His declaration was not repent or else judgement will come. Judgement was unavoidably coming.
We are facing future judgement by the hand of Adonai. Is the judgements we are facing avoidable according to Ezra, “when My people, 0ver whom My Name is called, humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14).” Or are we facing (unknowingly) unavoidable judgement in the variety declared through Jeremiah?
Regardless of the source of judgement, God is supreme. Either He orchestrated or allowed it. He is not clueless or taken by surprise. As an interesting sidelight. As I am writing my journal today, all social media is down. Last week a major mobile carrier was down. Are you noticing the frequency of activity as an election is approaching? It is not accidental or coincidental. Take notice my friends.
Action: I choose to acknowledge Adonai as the Supreme King of the Universe.
Yield: I choose to yield to the Supremacy of Yeshua.
Engage: I choose to engage in the acknowledgement of Adonai.
Relationship: I choose to live in obedient, holy relationship with Adonai.
Prayer: Father, there is an acceleration of Your plan by the proliferation of evil and the evil intentions of man. Even so, come Messiah Yeshua, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Memory Verse: 2 Chronicles 7:14 “when My people, 0ver whom My Name is called, humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” TLV
Music Video: Jimmy Owens—If My People https://youtu.be/MPY-CrPtdKw?si=OK30rO955s-S4Bic
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”