Week 24 Jeremiah
The Lord told Jeremiah: if I announce that a certain nation…is to be uprooted…but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I planned. And if I announce that I will build up…a certain nation…making it strong and great, but then that nation turns to evil…I will not bless that nation as I said I would.
It’s a helpful bit of insight about how the system works.
The Lord sees that Nation A is evil so he plans to eliminate Nation A. If Nation A makes no adjustments it will be eliminated. But if it turns to the Lord then Nation A can sidestep annihilation.
And the reverse is true. Nation B is good. The Lord plans to back-up Nation B. But if Nation B turns around and rejects the Lord then Nation B will experience negative consequences.
This is a useful thing to keep in mind reading the prophets. The prophets give messages that are future-predictive. The Lord tells them something is going to happen. What that could mean is something is absolutely going to happen no matter what. But it could also mean something is definitely going to happen (unless something else changes).
Tracking prophecies to see if they’re qualified or unqualified would take too much time right now.
But I’ll keep in mind that not everything that sounds like it’ll definitely happen will.
Note: quote from Jeremiah 18:7-10 (NLT)