[Faithwalker012]

Jeremiah 12:9 "Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour."

This speckled bird has been interesting and at times confused in God's Word. There are some more modern translations that even use the word hyena which is actually something very different and unfortunately takes away from the word. The Hebrew did make a comparison to a hyena in the description of speckled.

6641.
[wbc tsabuwa`, tsaw-boo'-ah; passive participle of the same as 06648; dyed (in stripes), i.e. the hyena:--speckled.


But it is talking of a bird and not a hyena. The speckled bird actually would be a bird of prey. But it's a bird that in being born or hatched, it looks different than all the other birds, and they actually attack it because of that fact. It doesn't have a friend in the world or bird kingdom basically.

So what God is saying is He's turning his inheirtance, which is to say His very people over to the world so they can kind of have their way with them. Why? Well, number one they turned their back on Him and would not listen to Him, so they bring it on themselves. But number two, hopefully after the world kind of abuses them, they'll wise up and say, "Wait a minute, I need some help here. I need to get back to God." He will take them back upon true repentance.... although at the end when one actually jumps in bed with Satan, that's a little different. It is still not our place to judge, especially when some are perhaps even blinded for their own protection. But God will let the world work over some people for a while.

Jeremiah 12:10 "Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness."

It is a sad thing that it pastors do this, but this is why it is so key that if one believes they are meant to be a pastor, they'd better teach God's Word and nothing else. If you start mixing in man's word and other religious doctrine in with it, you've got a mess. More than that, in this generation especially you lead people straight to Satan. Whenever you see this word desolate in God's Word, you can almost always connect it to Satan and it should raise your attention to the time period we're talking about. We're talking about the time of the end, or The Tribulation. What comes out of a vineyard? Well, grapes do but of course what we usually connect with a vineyard is wine. Christians in taking Holy Communion drink wine or grape juice. This is a personal and solemn thing in that it of course is a remembrance of Christ's sacrifice. When Satan comes he's going to put an end to that because he's going to falsely assume the role of Christ.

Daniel 9:27; "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifices and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."


So when Satan does this it pretty much is the height of abomination and it is the good little Christian ministers who help him along. Out of ignorance, yes... but it is still a terrible thing.

Jeremiah 12:11 "They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart."

Even though God made man superior over the rest of His creation in the flesh, sometimes man is a little slower to realize something is wrong. In this instance most of mankind thinks this abomination who causes desolation is actually Jesus, even while creation or the land itself is in mourning. For those deceived, it's going to be a happy time for a while, as weird and as sad as that sounds. Of course, when the true Christ does return that's when those same people will be asking hills and mountains to cover them, for they will be greatly ashamed. What does no man layeth to heart? The Word of God! I would ask, do you? Do you actually work at it, study it and meditate upon it to try to learn from it? Do you like studying in more depth than most? If so, guess what? God really loves you for that! He truly does, and you will quite likely not be in that crowd. Doesn't mean you're going to be "raptured away". It just means you know the truth and can actually make a stand for it.

Jeremiah 12:12 "The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the LORD shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh shall have peace."

I don't know, have you looked around the world today? There's not a lot of peace and security to be found in too many places. You have corrupt governments, you have it seems like a different government or change in leadership in government seemingly at times on a monthly basis. That's not necessarily literal, but the point is we've got a lot going on in this old world today. What about in this nation? We've got a president who as I said at the start seems to want to tell the churches to violate their conscience under the pretense of "reproductive rights and women's health." He's told military chaplains what they could and could not say in regard to his administration. He's used God's Word incorrectly to justify his goal of taking money away from those who worked for it and spreading it around to those who did not. He continues to spend and spend and spend money we don't have. Gas prices just took another huge jump upward. If you don't have a knowledge of and relationship with God and a good working knowledge of His Word to know and understand what's going on and why it's going on, yeah it's hard for you to have peace of mind. But guess what? God is still in control! When it gets tough, remember that.

Jeremiah 12:13 "They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they have put themselves to pain, but shall not profit: and they shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the LORD."

They work hard at what they do. That is to say these spoilers and also these pastors. They work night and day but the results aren't there. I'm going to focus on these pastors as I believe that is the main focus in this verse. They teach and preach and give their lengthy sermons, but it's a little bit of God's Word, a little bit of Pastor Dan's word, a little bit about last night's football game, and a little bit about where are we going for lunch after the service is over. Then they look maybe down the road a ways at this little old country church that people flock to. Why is that? Because that church teaches the Word of God! Again, I'm just stating hypothetical examples, but the key is do you focus on the Word or do you focus on something else? If you focus on the Word, your work, your ministry, your life will be blessed. If you don't, well maybe you're the one looking at other people and wondering why they're successful and blessed and you're kind of left out.

Jeremiah 12:14 "Thus saith the LORD against all mine evil neighbours, that touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit; Behold, I will pluck them out of their land, and pluck out the house of Judah from among them."

This, as we will hopefully see in the next couple of verses is the process of God separating the haves from the have nots spiritually speaking, or the sheep from the goats.

Jeremiah 12:15 "And it shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them out I will return, and have compassion on them, and will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land."

God is very fair and truly does love His children. After He separates out those who would do evil and cause mischief, He will restore to those who do right what was temporarily taken from them.

Jeremiah 12:16 "And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, The LORD liveth; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built in the midst of my people."

Again friends, salvation is open to all people as is grace and forgiveness upon repentance. But there is a condition to all that. IF they will DILIGENTLY learn the ways of My people. What happens if they don't?

Jeremiah 12:17 "But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the LORD."

God is going to give and does give people every chance to get it right. But it is on them. If they obey and love Him, then every sin that they committed is gone, never to be remembered again by Him. If they don't, then they will be brought down to nothing... even in a final literal sense in the lake of fire. But the thing is again, if a person works at it, if they try... no one is perfect, but if they try to get it right and repent when they don't, guess what... they're forgiven. That's a much better way to live than the alternative for sure.

Jason