Great Bible Truths Podcast Episode 148
Lessons from their lives Talk 14 – Jeremiah
Welcome to Talk 14 in our series, Lessons from their lives. Today our subject is Jeremiah. If you can, please have your Bible open at Jeremiah chapters 1 and 2. We will be considering:
- The people to whom he was called to minister
- The privilege he enjoyed in this situation
- The preparation he received for this formidable task
- The pronouncements of judgement he was called to deliver
- The protection he was given from those who would oppose him.
The people to whom he was called to minister
Jeremiah was a prophet who lived in Jerusalem approximately 600 years before Christ. The task to which God called him was by no means easy. The people to whom he was called to minister were particularly rebellious.
This is made clear in chapter 2 of his prophecy where God complains that, despite all his goodness to them in the past (6-7), the nation has changed its gods (11).
They have exchanged the glory of God himself for worthless idols.
They have committed two sins (12):
- They have forsaken God, the spring of living water
- They have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
The fundamental problem was that they did not ask, Where is the Lord? (6).
What’s more, even the religious leaders did not ask, Where is the Lord? The lawmakers did not know him and the leaders rebelled against him (8).
What a picture of modern society!
Now back to chapter 1.
The privilege Jeremiah enjoyed in this situation
The word of the Lord came to him! And not just once. It kept on coming. What a privilege it is to know specifically when God has spoken to us.
- The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin.
- The word of the Lord came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah,
- and through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.
- The word of the Lord came to me…
- But the Lord said to me…
- The word of the Lord came to me…
- The Lord said to me…
- The word of the Lord came to me again…
- The Lord said to me…
The preparation he received for this formidable task
Before his birth
- ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.’
Before Jeremiah was born, God was creating him in his mother’s womb
Before God created him he knew his purpose for Jeremiah’s life
He set Jeremiah apart for this purpose and appointed him to fulfil it.
We might say that God genetically programmed Jeremiah specifically for the task to which he would call him.
This is true for all of us. Discovering God’s will for our life involves recognising the natural talents and strengths he has built into us.
Have you discovered God’s purpose for your life yet? Are you willing to fulfil it?
At his call
- ‘Alas, Sovereign Lord,’ I said, ‘I do not know how to speak; I am too young.’ 7. But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am too young.” You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.
- Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,’ declares the Lord.
- Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, ‘I have put my words in your mouth.
- See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.’
God’s command
- ‘Do not say, “I am too young.” You must go…
God’s presence
- I am with you and will rescue you
God’s word
- Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, ‘I have put my words in your mouth.
- The word of the Lord came to me: ‘What do you see, Jeremiah?’ ‘I see the branch of an almond tree,’ I replied.
- The Lord said to me, ‘You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.’
God’s authority
- See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.’
The authority God gave here was specific to Jeremiah. The lesson for us is that God gives us authority for whatever task he calls us to do.
Compare what God says to Jeremiah in these verses with what he says to his disciples in Matthew 28:18-20:
Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’
Note Jesus’ authority, his command, his word and his presence.
The pronouncements of judgement he was called to deliver
- The word of the Lord came to me again: ‘What do you see?’ ‘I see a pot that is boiling,’ I answered. ‘It is tilting towards us from the north.’ 14. The Lord said to me, ‘From the north disaster will be poured out on all who live in the land.
- I am about to summon all the peoples of the northern kingdoms,’ declares the Lord. ‘Their kings will come and set up their thrones in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem; they will come against all her surrounding walls and against all the towns of Judah.
- I will pronounce my judgments on my people because of their wickedness in forsaking me, in burning incense to other gods and in worshipping what their hands have made.
The message God gives us may well be different from that which he gave to Jeremiah. However, the principle remains true. God will not tolerate sin. As Christians we must not be afraid to deliver God’s message of judgement as well as the glorious opportunity of salvation.
The protection he was given from those who would oppose him
- ‘Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them.
- Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land – against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land.
- They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,’ declares the Lord.
God reassures Jeremiah of his protection, but this does not mean that he would not face considerable problems as he fulfil God’s will for his life. But God saw him through, and he will see us through if we surrender to his will. In the words of the apostle Paul:
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.
So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
It is written: ‘I believed; therefore I have spoken.’ Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself.
All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:7-18