Fear is a subject that the Bible talks about over and over again.
In fact, just the word fear, afraid, fright, or variations thereof, that word appears 727
times in the Bible.
So over and over again when you're reading the Bible, you're reading about fear.
And the Bible is very consistent in its teachings on fear, that God has not given us the spirit
of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
In fact, out of all these hundreds and hundreds of times that fear is mentioned, whenever
it's fearing God, it's always a good thing.
It's always positive when we're fearing the Lord.
But when we fear anything else, or anyone else, it's wrong.
And God's constantly telling us, "Be not afraid, do not fear."
And in this story, we see how a man is afraid to do what's right, and ends up not only destroying
his own life, but destroying the lives of everyone around him, because of his fear to
obey the voice of the Lord.
Now, beginning in verse 17, let's look at what Jeremiah told Zedekiah.
It says, "Then said Jeremiah to Zedekiah, 'Thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the
God of Israel, 'If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon's princes,
then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and thou shalt live
and thine house.
But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then shall this city
be given in the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt
not escape out of their hand.
So the message is crystal clear.
There's no question as to what God wants Zedekiah to do.
He says, "Look, you need to surrender to the king of Babylon.
You're done.
You've lost.
Just surrender.
And if you surrender, everything's going to be fine.
The city won't be destroyed.
You're going to be okay.
Your wife's going to be okay.
Your kids are going to be okay."
But look at the answer in verse number 19.
"And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, 'I'm afraid, I'm afraid.'"
So he knew what's right, but he's afraid to do what's right.
He says, "I'm afraid of the Jews that are falling to the Chaldeans lest they deliver
me into their hand and they mock me."
So what's he afraid of?
He's afraid of the fact that when he surrenders unto the Babylonians, the Jews that have already
gone over to the Chaldeans are going to make fun of him, maybe torture him or do bad things
to him.
So he's just afraid of the fate that will befall him.
But Jeremiah reassures him and tells him in verse 20, Jeremiah said, "They shall not deliver
thee.
Obey, I beseech thee the voice of the Lord, which I speak unto thee.
So it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live.
But if thou refuse to go forth," and he explains all the bad things that are going to happen.
Flip over to chapter 39, let's see what happens.
He's afraid to do what's right.
Look at what happens starting in verse 6 of chapter 39.
"Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Ribla before his eyes.
Also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah.
Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes and bound him with chains to carry him to Babylon.
And the Chaldeans burned the king's house and the houses of the people with fire and
break down the walls of Jerusalem."
All the things that God said would not happen if Zedekiah would have obeyed.
None of those bad things would have happened.
Now just imagine how horrible it would be for you to be taken captive of a foreign nation
and they kill all your children in front of you while you watch and then they punch out
your eyes so that's the last thing that you ever see before they poke out your eyes and
put you in chains and take you off to live and die in a foreign country.
Now think about another guy in the Bible who had his eyes poked out.
Who was it?
Samson, right?
And what did they do with Samson after they poked his eyes out?
They mocked him.
They made fun of him.
They made him work like an animal.
They treated him poorly.
Look, what Zedekiah was afraid of was being mistreated and mishandled if he obeyed God.
He said, "Look, if I obey God, I'm afraid of what the Jews are going to do to me on
the other side."
And what happens?
He disobeys God because of fear and what comes upon him?
The exact thing that he was afraid of is actually what ends up happening to him, and maybe even
worse than he could have imagined.
Just children being killed, his eyes are poked out, etc., etc.
Go to Proverbs chapter number three.
Proverbs chapter number three, and this is a very famous scripture, beginning in verse
number five.
I'll start reading it while you turn there.
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Be not wise in thine own eyes, fear the Lord, and depart from evil."
So sometimes we, like Zedekiah, think that we have it all figured out.
Well, if I obey God, then these bad things are going to happen to me.
You know, if I disobey God, then everything's going to be okay.
When in reality God says, "Look, don't lean on your own understanding.
Don't fear what man's going to do unto you.
Just obey what I'm telling you to do.
Fear the Lord.
Keep his commandments."
And he says, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding."
And Zedekiah thought that he had it all figured out, what the best course of action is going
to be, instead of obeying God, and he was afraid to do what God told him to do.
Instead of fearing the Lord, like this passage tells us, he's fearing man.
He's fearing the consequences of what man did.