13 and I had planned on getting through this verse last week but Jeremiah chapter 2 was just too interesting and I trust that the Lord had us in that passage and I trust that he has us here for today and I'm grateful for that. Jeremiah 13 We are continuing along this study trying to gain a solid foundation of what a crown means in scripture. And I think it is very important for us to always consider contextually, as we study scriptures, what did that mean to the original reader? When they saw that word crown in their language, what did that mean to them? Certain things, certain idioms mean certain things to us in the United States. But you've heard Brother Harris say that you cannot You cannot say those things in Mexico. They just don't translate. You know, the pot calling the kettle black just doesn't work in another language. They don't understand that. Or as Candace often tells me, her dad tried to say two peas in a house or something like that is how it came out in Hungarian, but it's two peas in a pod, right? How did it come out in Hungarian? Two green peas, the pea house. That just doesn't translate in another language, peas in a pod. And so what we're doing is we're trying to go through scriptures and find out when they heard this idea of a crown, what did that mean to them? And so when we get to the New Testament and Revelation and Paul's church epistles to see what it means that they were going to receive a crown. And so in Jeremiah chapter 13, look with me, if you would, at verse number, let's start in verse number 15. of Jeremiah chapter 13 verse number 15. The weeping prophet Jeremiah says this to the nation of Israel, Hear ye and give ear, be not proud for the Lord hath spoken. Verse 16, Give glory to the Lord your God before he caused darkness and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains. And while you look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death and make it gross darkness. But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret place for your pride, and mine eye shall weep sore and run down with tears, because the Lord's flock is carried away captive. Say unto the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down, for your principalities shall come down, even, here's our word, even the crown of your glory. Verse 19, The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none shall open them. Judah shall be carried away captive, all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive. Contextually, Jeremiah is prophesying here to Israel and telling them that if you don't change your ways, certain things will happen. He tells them that they had a choice in verse number 15. He gives them a choice. Hear ye and give ear. And you know, God has given all of us that choice. Has he not? He will not force feed you the word of God. He will not shove it down your throat. He will not knock on that door, break down that door, and come into your life, unless He's invited. And we believe that the sovereign God of the universe, the creator God of the universe, has given all mankind a free will to choose Him. And we are all predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. Those that accept Christ, that is our end result, that we will become like Jesus. Hopefully, it's sooner rather than later as we allow him to work in our lives here on this earth. But ultimately, when we get to heaven, we will become like him. We shall see him as he is. And I'm grateful for that. But he left them with a choice. They had a choice, which was to listen and to humble themselves. Notice that in verse 15, he says, be not proud. You can listen and be not proud. And you can listen and you can humble yourselves. The other choice that they had in verse number 16, is to give glory to the Lord. You see, what was Israel's problem? Israel's problem was they were proud. Israel's problem was they felt like they could live life apart from God. Israel's problem was they felt like they could live life on their own, doing their own thing. They felt like they did not have to listen to the counsel of the Word of God. They felt like they did not have to listen to the prophets that God had sent to encourage them and to admonish them and to chastise them. They felt like that they had achieved what they had achieved as a world standing apart from God. And Jesus, or excuse me, Jeremiah, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says to them, you have to give glory to the Lord. And so they had a choice, and they had a charge. They were tasked with doing something, challenged with doing something. In verse number 18, they were told if they would hear and give ear and give glory to God, that they then needed to say unto the king and to the queen, humble yourselves, sit down, for your principality shall come down, even the crown of your glory. Their charge was to tell those in control, those in political positions, to get right or deal with the consequences. That's what the nation of Israel was supposed to do. Go to your leaders and say, if we don't get right as a nation, this is what is going to happen. Sounds like something we should do here in the United States of America, does it not? If we don't get right as a people, as a church, as individual believers, if we don't make sure we're right, then our country is in for the consequences. They had a caution, dip down past our verse, verse number 19, the cities of the South shall be shut up. If they did not, if they did not heed the choice that they had, if they did not follow the charge that they had, then they had a caution. If you don't do this, In the verse 18, humble yourselves and sit down, for your principality shall come down, even the crown of your glory. The cities of the south shall be shut up, and none shall open them. Judas shall be carried away captive, all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive. Lift up your eyes and behold them that come from the north, which is the flock that give thee thy beautiful flock. What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? For thou hast taught them to be captains and chief over thee. Shall not sorrows take thee as a woman in travail? There was a caution. If you don't, this will happen. It's an if-then statement if you're interested in computer programming. It's that idea that it's a cause and effect. Is it not? It's the law of sowing and reaping. If they didn't humble themselves, if they didn't give God the glory, if they didn't tell those in charge that there would be consequences, then this is what was going to happen. And I will say this in regards to our verse. They were to tell the king and the queen that the crown of your glory, it shall come down. And I wrote it down this way. Pride is best handled immediately because later it will only become worse. Pride is best handled immediately because later it will only become worse. Notice what's happening here to the nation of Israel. Their pride was telling them to set forth the best image. That people must see that they were okay. And we kind of feel that way too, don't we? Like we always have to put that foot forward, that we're okay, that we've got everything under control. It kind of, we act and live our life at times like We are in control. We have everything under control, and it has to look that way. Pride causes us often to act in a pretense. This isn't really what's happening in my life, but I'm going to put this foot forward. And because of that, we begin to live as if everything is okay. and we turn from God and we turn from his provision and his direction in our life and pride causes us to steal the glory and claim it for our own. The admonition to them was to give glory to the Lord. The inference then is if they're not giving it to the Lord, what are they doing with it? They're keeping it for themselves. So what does that have to do with this idea of crown? Israel's crown here was literally, it was the image that they were putting forth to others. That image would soon tumble, crashing down to reality. The mighty would be fallen and they would fall into captivity. Jeremiah told them to tell the king and the queen, humble yourselves, sit down for your principality shall come down even the crown of your glory. I think, of course, there's this idea that the nation of Israel would be taken captive and we know that Babylon, Assyria first would come and then Babylon would come in 586 BC and would continue the conquest of the southern kingdom of Judah. And Israel would come down in terms of the royal crown, if you want to put it this way. But I think more specifically, we're talking about, again, this image. What is the image that we are putting forth? This idea that we are a-okay, this idea that we have achieved and we have attained, and that's what Israel was doing, and they were warned. The image that they were putting forth to others would soon come tumbling down. So we see from Jeremiah 13, verse 18, that this idea of a crown is an analogy. It's picturesque in this sense. It's the very highest thing that you can place in front of people, the very thing, that picture you place in front of people. Turn over to Jeremiah chapter 48. Jeremiah chapter 48. As we continue looking with the weeping prophet, Jeremiah chapter 48, verse number 45. Back up to verse number 42. Jeremiah 48, verse number 42. And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people because he hath magnified himself against the Lord. Fear and the pit and the snare shall be upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith the Lord. He that fleeth from fear shall fall unto the pit, and he that getteth out of the pit shall be taken in the snare, for I will bring upon it even upon Moab the year of their visitation, saith the Lord. They that fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of the force, but a fire shall come forth from the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones. Woe be unto thee, O Moab! The people of Kamosh perisheth, and thy sons are taken captive, and thy daughters captive. Verse number 45 we see this warning to the people of Moab and what was going to happen that the day that fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of the force. But a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon and a flame from the midst of Sihon and shall devour the corner of Moab and the crown of the head of the tumultuous sons. Jeremiah is telling Israel about the pending destruction not of themselves at this point but of their enemies, Moab. Pride, once again, is going to play a major role in the fall of this country. And I'm sure Israel was thrilled to hear about the fall of their enemies. I'm sure deep down inside they were finally like, it's about time. And Israel was happy that Moab is going to fall. But it never seems they quite caught on to the reasons that their enemies were finally being judged. They were happy that they were being judged, but they never quite caught on to why Moab was being judged. And it was actually the very same reasons that they themselves would be judged and fall. Moab was lifted up in Pride, verse number 42. You notice that it says, it tells us why Moab was going to fall. Moab shall be destroyed from being a people because he hath, what's the next word? Magnified. What had Moab done? Moab had lifted itself up and magnified himself against the Lord. We are great. We don't need God. And you know, those words don't really tend to roll from our lips. But sometimes our actions speak louder than our words. and Moab was in the same position that Israel was later gonna find themselves in, and even at this time was finding themselves in. Like an animal being hunted, Moab would experience the fear of destruction. In verse number 43, we see them running away. The pit of destruction, they were still trying to escape, and the snare of destruction, ultimately they would be caught. And Jeremiah paints this picture of somebody running away from the chastisement, someone running away from the destruction. and they think they're getting away, and then they fall into a pit, and then they finally get out of the pit, and they think they're getting away, and then they get caught in a snare, and it's just one thing after another, and after another. And the pride of Moab was going to catch up to them. And they ran into Heshbon, which was the capital of the Ammonites. They looked to others for protection. And rather than getting protection, they were consumed. These tumultuous ones, the brave Moabite warriors, even the strongest would be destroyed. And that's what pride does. That's what happens when we magnify ourselves, as verse 42 says, against the Lord. And we are told in verse number 45 that the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones. Again, it's this analogous, this picturesque idea that the very top of the strongest person, the warriors of the Moabites, would be destroyed. And when we lift ourselves up in pride, and it seems to be this common theme in Jeremiah of the proud, haughty look, that high and lifted up, that exalting self over exalting God, that placing that at the forefront of our lives, the crown of our lives, that that is going to be destroyed. going to be judged. Destruction would be complete, even to the crown of their head, the top. We've talked about from the toes down up to their head. The entirety of them, of Moabites, would be destroyed. You know, pride is a sure way to be thoroughly and utterly destroyed. And I wrote it down this way, just as conviction. The greatest demonstration of pride is to enter into eternity thinking that you can handle it on your own. Isn't that what pride is? I got this. I don't need him. I got this. I don't need this. That's what pride is. And ultimately, the greatest demonstration of pride will be when you darken death's door, and one steps into eternity, and you say, I got this, all the way to hell. And that's the ultimate form of pride. And may we pray that that's not true of our family members' lives. I trust that everybody in here is saved. But if something like that could take a person all the way to hell, because they would constantly reject and say, I don't need him. I don't need him. I don't want the Lord God of Israel as my God. I don't want to surrender. That's what Moabite said. That's what Israel would say. And that's the challenge we see here in Jeremiah when it talks about the crown. Eventually there will become ultimate, complete and total destruction. Because that's the end of sin. It's death. And death is separation, eternal separation from God in hell. If you aren't covered by the blood. Praise the Lord for the blood. I appreciate the pastor always talks about why he likes the hope program because scripture always presents us with the problem, but it always presents us with the solution as well. Yes, the problem is that we are sinful and that we are condemned to die because we are separated from God because of our sin. But the solution is that Jesus came to take our place and die on the cross. And he came to wash us and cover us by his blood. And that when God looks at us, when eternity comes, when God looks at us, as we stand there before him, and he says, Satan, where are your accusations? And he looks and says, they're covered by the blood. Those have been paid for. And it's up to us to do one thing. And that's submit in faith and receive Him as our Lord and Savior. And here we see that Moab was not interested and Israel was not interested in that. Lamentations chapter 5. Lamentations chapter 5, another prophecy by the weeping prophet Jeremiah here in Lamentations chapter 5, verse number 16. Scripture says, the crown is fallen from our head. Woe unto us that we have sinned. Jeremiah has warned the nation of Israel that this would happen. When they didn't heed the charge to repent and surrender to the Lord, He told them that this would happen. And the Lord allowed them to fall into captivity. Notice how it describes this situation in verse number 17. For this our heart is faint, for these things our eyes are dim. Because of the mountain of Zion which is desolate, the foxes walks upon it. Everything that they held near and dear was gone. This beautiful land filled with milk and honey was now desolate. Other places, they would be told that lions would roam and would take over this land. In verse 19, I love this though. Thou, O Lord, remainest forever. Even in the midst of this utter desolation that would come upon the nation of Israel for rejecting the Lord. He is still there. He is faithful and true. He gave them chance after chance after chance after chance to repent. And ultimately, they said no. So many times, judgment ensued, and the crown was fallen from our head. I think it's interesting here that Jeremiah likens himself, he lumps himself into this statement. Jeremiah certainly had not rejected God. And yet, here he associates with his brethren. And it reminds me of that passage, I think it's in Corinthians where it talks about the body, right? When one weeps and when one rejoices, we all rejoice. And when one weeps and hurts, we hurt with it. And Jeremiah is weeping and it's hurting over the state of his nation, that this crown is fallen from their head. The thing that was picturesque to other nations, that they were a nation of Jehovah God. It was no more. All that they had, all that they were, was lost. This was not necessarily in relation to the throne, though the nation had indeed lost its sovereignty. This was about their image. To lose your crown was to lose your identity, to lose your position, to lose your place. In Israel, we're about to see it. They were about to go into 400 years of silence. They were about to go into captivity. They would come out of captivity and be able to in part, reoccupy the Holy Land, but the relationship with God was not the same. And if you turn over to Ezekiel chapter 16, we'll see, as we look forward, how Israel and the Lord are going to continue this relationship in Ezekiel chapter 16. This is a fascinating passage when you think about it in its greater context. But in Ezekiel chapter 16, we see in verse number 12, that a crown is described, and the Lord is here telling the nation of Israel, and I put a jewel on thy forehead and earrings in thine ears and a beautiful crown upon thy head. If you were to look at the overall context of Ezekiel chapter 16, God is talking to Israel like a bride. And in just a few short verses, it recaps the Lord's relationship with them from the time of their verse as a nation. We see in verse number four, the state that God found them in. It says in verse number four, it's for thy nativity, in the day that thou was born, thy navel was not cut, neither was thou washed in water to supple thee, thou was not salted at all, nor swatted at all. None eye pitieth thee to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee, but thou was cast out in an open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou was born. And God continues and he talks about how he gave to them as they matured and grew and he entered into covenant with them. Notice this in verse number eight. Now, when I passed by thee and looked upon thee, behold, the time was Does that not remind you of Boaz and Ruth? And God says to Israel that he was going to enter into a covenant with them. And we know that he did. And he paints this picture as if a groomsman and a bride in this, how they would enter into this marriage covenant and the spreading over of the garment. And you can read about that in the book of Ruth. And he was going to be their redeemer. and the Lord arrayed them like a bride, and you can continue along the passage, he washed and anointed, he clothed and covered, and the very finest was given to Israel, and there was no doubt to whom they belonged. Notice this in verse number 15, the crown that he gave them verse number 12, excuse me, the crown and he put a jewel on their forehead and earrings in their ears and a beautiful crown upon the head. We talked about that crown, that wedding crown a few weeks ago. And it's interesting that he gives that to the nation of Israel. And he's telling them that they are his and he is theirs. And this beautiful picture is painted. And so this crown then begins to symbolize the ownership. It begins to symbolize the relationship. It reminded them of all that he had done for them. And yet, if you read that passage, and you think of all that he did for the nation of Israel, if you read the Old Testament, and think of all that he did for the nation of Israel, notice verse 15. This might be the saddest statement in Scripture. But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and placed the harlot because of thy renown, and poured out thy fornication on every one that passed by, his it was. All that God had done for them. And they just, they gave it away. They rejected it. They spat in it. They stomped on it. God has given us an identity as children of his and God's hand of blessing and provision is upon our life. And yet they began to lose that hand of protection, that hand of provision. Now God has a plan for the nation of Israel, and it's going to come to pass. And I've been reading in Isaiah, and I'm in the middle of Isaiah chapter 24 and chapter 25. And chapter 24, it deals with what's going to happen during the time of tribulation. And chapter 25, it jumps into the time of the millennial rule of Christ and how he's going to deal with the nation of Israel and that restored relationship. And they're all going to come back to him, and he's going to gather them together. And what a beautiful picture of that Once you're His, you're His. And I'm grateful for that. Once you're His, you're His. But they rejected the benefits of that relationship. Do we understand that? He had placed on them this crown and saying, I've entered into covenant with you. And they just turned around as Hosea and Gomer in that same picture. And they just turned around and they stomped on it. And oh, that that not be the place that we find ourselves. And so for them, that losing of the crown, it was that rejection of God's hand of blessing and provision. It would be removed from them because they had rejected him as the Lord. Ezekiel chapter 21, it says this in verse number 26, as we continue along. Ezekiel 21, 26, Thus saith the Lord God, Remove the diadem, and take off the crown. This shall not be the same. Exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. Contextually here in Isaiah chapter 21, if you wanted to understand a little bit more what's going on here, I would challenge you to read 2 Kings chapter 25. In 2 Kings chapter 25, we see that King Zedekiah is removed, and the high priest is also removed. And this, in Ezekiel chapter 21, where he talks about the diadem and the crown, and that diadem is representing the removal of the high priest, and the crown then is representing the removal of the king in his position of authority. And specifically, Judah, the southern kingdom, had reached the end of the line. Because of their sin, judgment had come via Babylon in 586 BC. And now Israel, Judah, they were the holdout, right? We know that the northern kingdom, Israel, the ten tribes had been overtaken by Assyria in 712. And then Babylon comes and they take over Assyria and consequently the northern nation of Israel under captivity. And then they come and they take over Judah in 586 BC. And God says, the crown, you've got to take it off now. It's going to be removed. As much as the crown indicates a position of power and authority, the loss of it represents the surrender of such a position. So when we think of crowns and we think of, as we're going to get into the New Testament here next week, we think of what it means and what it's going to mean to believers, that they're representative of that position, that authority that God had placed them in, and yet they were taken away in this particular instance. So we see in Ezekiel chapter 21 that Israel was going to lose this position and they were going to be surrendered to the nation of Babylon under consequences of their pride. Turn over to Zechariah chapter 9, 16, the last mention of the word crown here in scripture. Zechariah chapter 9, verse number 16. Let's see if I can find Zechariah. Go to Matthew and turn left. That's how you can find Zachariah. All right, Zachariah, I lost my place. What did I tell you? Nine, Zachariah 9, 16. All right, my notes decided to scroll on their own. Zechariah 9.16, And the Lord their God shall save them in that day as a flock of his people, for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign unto his land. You know, one day, as we see in Isaiah chapter 25, the Lord will place Israel in a place of prominence again. And he will judge the nations that have been enemies of Israel, and Israel will be protected by the Lord Believers in Christ will have been removed from the rapture, and God will go on with the rest of his plan for Israel. The pause button will be unpaused, and he will continue to address his relationship with Israel. And one day, they will be placed in that prominence as stones in his crown. You think of the stones, we mentioned it when we studied the high priest's crown, of the stones that were placed in his crown. What a place of honor. What a place of regal royalty to be placed as a stone in the crown. And we look forward to that day. You know why I look forward to that day? Because that means Christ will have come back for us. We won't be here. And so we see this conclusion as we finish the New Testament, that a position in a crown is a place of honor. It's a place of respect, and it's a place of prominence. If you were to tell an Israelite that Something that they possessed got to be in the possession of the high priest. Something that they had perhaps created or that they had made got to be in the temple. It got to be with the high priest. That would be the highest place of honor. And yet God is now saying to them that one day they will be as a stone in his crown. What a significant place of honor. And so that crown then represents to them just the most sacred of places. the most sacred of privileges. And I'm grateful for the Lord that he has given us that most sacred of privileges because today, even this morning, we came before his throne. We have access to God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son, and I'm grateful for that. And so we conclude our study, at least here in the Old Testament. Next week, we will jump into the New Testament, and there are not nearly as many verses in the New Testament, and that will kind of head us on the downward slope as we get towards the crown of life and the crown of glory and the crown of righteousness. And we begin to look at all of these things the incorruptible crown that we see mentioned in first Corinthians. And so let's pray and