Jeremiah 27

“But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers who say to you: ‘Don’t serve the king of Babylon!’ for they prophesy a lie to you, so that you will be removed from your land. I will banish you, and you will perish. But as for the nation that will put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave it in its own land, and that nation will till it and reside in it. This is the Lord’s declaration.” Jeremiah 27:9-11 (HCSB)

False prophets are still alive and well in our culture. Sadly, there will be false prophets masquerading among us all the way up to the Messiah’s second coming. By perverting God’s Word and denying its authority, false prophets establish their own “word from God.”  By doing this, they establish themselves as the sole experts of their own “Messianic-themed” false religions.  

“But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them and will bring swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their unrestrained ways, and because of them, the way of truth will be blasphemed. Their condemnation, pronounced long ago, is not idle, and their destruction does not sleep.” 2 Peter 2:1-3 (HCSB)

Since Judah had followed the counsel of false prophets and rejected God’s Word, the Lord allowed Nebuchadnezzar to rule over them. This is so they could know the difference between the “yoke” of the Lord and that of a pagan ruler.  

“By My great strength and outstretched arm, I made the earth, and the people, and animals on the face of the earth. I give it to anyone I please. So now I have placed all these lands under the authority of My servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. I have even given him the wild animals to serve him. All the nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until the time for his own land comes, and then many nations and great kings will enslave him.” Jeremiah 27:5-7 (HCSB)

Knowing this era of Israel’s history brings context to Jesus’ statement:

“At that time Jesus said, “’I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, because it was Your good pleasure. All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son desires to reveal Him.  Come to Me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. All of you, take up My yoke and learn from Me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for yourselves. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:25-30 (HCSB)

Serving God’s anointed One leads to peace & deliverance. God chose Nebuchadnezzar to rule for a season, but Jesus is Lord for all eternity, so whose “yoke” would you prefer?