34 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, with all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his dominion and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and against all its cities, saying, 2 “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and say to him: “Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire. 3 You will not escape from his hand, for you will surely be captured and delivered into his hand; and you will see the king of Babylon eye to eye, and he will speak with you [a]face to face, and you will go to Babylon.’”’ 4 Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus says the Lord concerning you, ‘You will not die by the sword. 5 You will die in peace; and as spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they will burn spices for you; and they will lament for you, “Alas, lord!”’ For I have spoken the word,” declares the Lord.
6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem 7 when the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the remaining cities of Judah, that is, Lachish and Azekah, for they alone remained as fortified cities among the cities of Judah.
There’s a saying by a certain sci-fi character that we like to joke about, where the guy says “I have spoken.” He doesn’t say it with a lot of fanfare, but when he says it, there’s no more discussion, no arguing, you just go with it, or you part ways. In this passage, God says something similar (v. 5), but there is even more finality to it. Because when God says it, you can disagree, go your own way, or whatever, but you still cannot change what God has said He will do.
Now, that can be looked at negatively, and we can get frustrated, but there’s another side to this also. Which is that when God says He is going to do something, we can count on it. There is no second-guessing, thinking “maybe He will, maybe He won’t…” No, whatever God says is firm, and I’m reminded of when God made the original covenant with Abram (Abraham).
There were covenants made in that day, where if one party broke it, then blood would be required of them. But in this case, God effectively said, “I’m making you this promise, and even if you don’t keep your end, I will make it right.” God was putting Himself on the chopping block if things went sideways, and we already know they did, for here Israel is about to be utterly defeated.
Ultimately, God would fulfil that covenant in His Son, who literally came to this earth to die. Jesus did a lot more than that, but that was the end goal, and nothing could change it. So it is with God’s promises throughout the Bible. That doesn’t mean we can strip away context and try to hold God to something He never said. But regardless, God’s promises are sure.
He has promised us a peace that passes understanding, joy unspeakable, life eternal, and rest for the weary. Take Him at His word, and know that it is sure, unshakeable, and everlasting. When life gets tough, and it will, we can depend on God to lead us through the storm. I’m reminded of the old hymn:
I’ve anchored in Jesus, The storms of life I’ll brave,
I’ve anchored in Jesus, I fear no wind or wave,
I’ve anchored in Jesus for he hath pow’r to save,
I’ve anchored in the Rock of Ages.