Isaiah 30:9-11 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: (10) Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: (11) Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
A good shepherd shows the flock the boundaries. A good shepherd leads the flock and redirects those that try to go off the path. A good shepherd does not tell the sheep to go in any direction because they will all go in different paths. A good shepherd will direct the flock away from harmful things no matter how much the flock may want the thing. The false prophets of Jeremiah’s time were content keeping the people happy rather than looking to make God happy by obedient to Him.
Jer 23:21-24 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. (22) But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. (23) Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? (24) Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.
Verses 22 and 23 are key here. God is declaring that if the false prophets had just listened to God (His counsel) and told the people God’s Words, then the people would have repented. Later on, when Ezekiel was prophesying in God’s name, the people of Israel had become even harder hearted and stiff necked.
Ezekiel 3:4-7 And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them. (5) For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel; (6) Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee. (7) But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.
God is telling Ezekiel that people in a foreign land who did not speak the same language as Ezekiel would listened to him better than the people of Israel. We see in Jeremiah 23:23 and 24 that God is a personal God. He knows everything that happens in the world and in men’s hearts. That is a blessing to know that God does care. What is not a blessing is those people who abuse God’s Word and falsely preach. This is the warning in Jeremiah 48:
Jer 48:10 Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully
A curse from God is not something that should be taken lightly. We will close with Jeremiah 23:28-29
Jer 23:28-29 The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD. (29) Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
If person has a word from God, then they should speak up. If they do not, then they should not speak. Verse 29 shows the power of God’s Word. It is the Word of God that breaks men’s hearts. In Ezekiel 36 we read:
Ezekiel 36:26-27 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. (27) And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
The Word of God is the hammer that breaks the heart of stone and reveals the heart of flesh that is sensitive to the things of God. It is the Word of God that reveals the false prophets for who they are. It is the Word of God that brings faith to hearer and comfort to the believer. God’s Word has endured when so many other things, inventions, and ideas have passed away.