The Narrow Path: Why God’s Way is the Best Way

There’s a story in the book of the prophet Jeremiah where he delivers a word from the Lord to a few of the kingdoms of that time including Judah. Chapter 27 sets up this moment in history (588 BC) during King Zedekiah’s early reign. All of the surrounding lore and drama is given to us in 2 Kings 24, but basically nine years before this (597 BC) Babylon invades Jerusalem.

Jehoiachin, Zedekiah’s nephew, is the king at the time and gets taken along with a bunch of other people and treasure (just like God said would happen if everyone kept on being so evil). The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, takes Jehoiachin’s uncle, changes his name, and puts him in the throne of Judah.

     Zedekiah isn’t any better than his nephew, which usually warrants God sending a prophet to warn them of the consequences of playing the harlot with other gods and doing a lot of horrible things. Ambassadors from the surrounding kingdoms show up to meet Zedekiah, and God tells Jeremiah to put on an ox’s yoke and give them this message:

     “With my great strength and powerful arm I made the earth and all its people and every animal. I can give these things of mine to anyone I choose. Now I will give your countries to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who is my servant. I have put everything, even the wild animals, under his control. All the nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until his time is up. Then many nations and great kings will conquer and rule over Babylon. So you must submit to Babylon’s king and serve him; put your neck under Babylon’s yoke! I will punish any nation that refuses to be his slave, says the Lord. I will send war, famine, and disease upon that nation until Babylon has conquered it.”

—Jeremiah 27:5-8 NLT

     He goes on to warn that all their fake prophets and mediums and sorcerers are going to tell them that they’ll be fine, and nothing’s going to happen. God says not to listen to them because they’re liars, and whoever listens to them is essentially going to get whacked. However, those who listen to God and do what He says will be kept safe. Seems like pretty straightforward instructions.

     The summer of that same exact year (588 BC), all the priests and Jeremiah are hanging out in the Temple when this dude rolls up—Hananiah, a “prophet” from Gibeon—and publicly addresses Jeremiah, doing exactly what God predicted:

     “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will remove the yoke of the king of Babylon from your necks. Within two years I will bring back all the Temple treasures that King Nebuchadnezzar carried off to Babylon. And I will bring back Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the other captives that were taken to Babylon. I will surely break the yoke that the king of Babylon has put on your necks. I, the Lord, have spoken!’”

—Jeremiah 28:2-4 NLT

     Now this is far from the first time this kind of stuff has happened amongst the children of Israel. Reminds me of the time about three hundred years prior (853 BC) when King Jehoshaphat of Judah and King Ahab of Israel teamed up against Ramoth-gilead. Jehoshaphat, one of Judah’s good kings, told Ahab to inquire of the Lord first to see if it was a victory God was willing to grant them.

     “So the king of Israel summoned the prophets, 400 of them, and asked them, ‘Should we go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should I hold back?’

They all replied, ‘Yes, go right ahead! God will give the king victory.’

     “But Jehoshaphat asked, ‘Is there not also a prophet of the LORD here? We should ask him the same question.’

     “The king of Israel replied to Jehoshaphat, ‘There is one more man who could consult the LORD for us, but I hate him. He never prophesies anything but trouble for me!’”

—2 Chronicles 18:5-7a NLT

     That prophet would end up being Micaiah, and that story parallels this one in its own funny way. But the point is we see that amongst the Israelites, you’d get these phonies that just wanted the attention and adoration that came from delivering a favorable word they claimed arrived from the mouth of YHWH. Fast forwarding back to 588 BC, Hananiah was just another shmuck in a long line of fakers pining for the good graces of their king and country.

     So what does Jeremiah say in front of all these people? “Amen! May your prophecies come true! I hope the Lord does everything you say. I hope he does bring back from Babylon the treasures of this Temple and all the captives.” (Jeremiah 28:6 NLT)

     Hananiah is most likely feeling like he’d done it. He’d gotten even the true prophet of the Lord to endorse him. Now everyone will listen to him! Unfortunately, this is the part where Jeremiah busts out the classic Deuteronomy 18 smackdown, reminding him and everyone there that a prophet’s merit is judged based only on whether or not their prophecy actually comes true. Indeed speaking presumptuously, Hananiah starts shaking in his boots and doubles down on his false prophecy. He takes the yoke that Jeremiah was instructed by God to put around his own neck and breaks it.

     The Bible says soon after this confrontation, God comes to Jeremiah with another message about how the yokes He put around the nations are made of iron. That little display Hananiah put on meant nothing, but the people bought into it. So, because he deliberately rebelled against the Lord, Hananiah would die that year (also a callback to Deuteronomy 18). Jeremiah tells Hananiah all of this, and two months later homie dies. The next two years see Jeremiah’s prophecies coming true, and our boy is busted up despite the fact that he trusts God.

     Ok, so what we have here is very interesting. There’s probably a billion things we can learn and hold in our hearts from this story, but the thing that stood out to me almost immediately was this:

     We know well in America that fire-and-brimstone preaching is used to hold power over the people through fear. And here we see prosperity preaching is also used to hold power over the people through feel-good, empty encouragement and sycophantism.

     It seems to me that there’s only one way to live and preach the word of God; the narrow path that is His way. Doesn’t matter if it sounds pretty or scary or even counterintuitive. It’s the fact that we trust Him enough to tell the story of our lives that matters. 

     So next time you’re in church or watching a video where somebody’s talking like they just got back from sipping tea in the Most Holy Place, check if what they’re saying matches with God’s Word. Don’t just buy into it because it makes you feel good or scares you half to death. Always go to the Word. Test the spirits. And if what they’re saying is true, you’ll find it there. But “if the prophet speaks in the Lord’s name [and] his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the Lord did not give that message. That prophet has spoken without my authority and need not be feared.” (Deuteronomy 18:22 NLT)

     May His will be done :)