In Jeremiah, chapter twenty-eight, verses six through nine, “Even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: the Lord do so: the Lord perform thy words which thou hast prophesied, to bring again the vessels of the Lord’s house, and all that is carried away captive, from Babylon to this place.” Jeremiah continues, “Nevertheless hear thou now this word that I speak in thine ears, and in the ears of thine people. The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both of many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence. The prophet which prophesied of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the Lord hath truly sent him.”
Jeremiah’s “Amen” shows he also desired the return of the captives; however, he prophesied further disaster for the people. Time would show Hananiah to be a false prophet and Jeremiah a true one. Jeremiah did not immediately give a new prophecy; he referred instead to the Word of God already given through the prophets who preceded him, such as Isaiah.
Sadly, Hananiah spoke a false prophecy. There was not a word of good counsel urging God’s people to repent and return to God.
Hananiah promises temporal mercies in God’s name, but makes no mention of the spiritual mercies which God always promised with earthly blessings. Jeremiah appeals to the event to prove Hananiah’s falsehood. The prophet who only speaks of peace and prosperity without adding that they must not sin to receive God’s favour will be proved a false prophet.
The prophets who do not declare the alarming as well as the encouraging parts of God’s word, and call men to repentance, faith, and holiness, tread in the steps of the false prophets.