Jeremiah: God’s Prophet to a Dying Nation

Jeremiah 1:1-10

As the Babylonian armies marched through Palestine, the fortified cities built upon hills would communicate with each other through fire signals. One by one the cities’ fires would go out demonstrating the city had fallen to the advancing menace from the north. In July of 587 BC the fires of the great fortified Judean city of Lachish went out. Jerusalem was soon to fall.

While the fires of the cities were disappearing, the fire in the heart of Jeremiah to speak God’s words to the people could not be silenced. Not even by Jeremiah himself. Jeremiah told himself, “I will not make mention of Him, Nor speak anymore in His name. But His word was in my heart like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, And I could not” (Jer. 20:9). Sometimes a preacher just cannot help himself, he just has to share God’s words of warning.

Time of God’s Prophet

Jeremiah was chosen by God to be a prophet at conception, even though he was born to be a priest having come from a priestly family. The duties of a priest were clearly outlined in the Law of Moses and carried little risk to the priest. However, being a prophet of God tasked with warning of the coming destruction from Babylonians was filled with danger, and a loss of personal economic security and fame. This young prophet began his ministry of prophecy in the days of the great religious reforms of King Josiah. However, Josiah’s son revoked these and sent the nation of Judah in the opposite direction. This was common in the days of the kings of Judah. One king would rise up and remove idolatry and wickedness. The next couple of kings would reintroduce them. Things have not changed much among the nations. This still seems to be the pattern.

The time of God’s longsuffering with Judah had run out. The destruction of Judah by a more wicked nation like Babylon was at hand (see Hab. 1:5-7). Jeremiah’s warning of their coming was given over a span of forty years without success. His long ministry was not nearly the success of Jonah’s who preached for forty days, and Nineveh repented.

Tasking of God’s Prophet

Jeremiah tells of four actions of God when He selected him to be His prophet. First, God said, “I formed you in the womb.” From the same Hebrew word used for “formed” comes the nouns maker, creator and potter. God fashioned Jeremiah while he was still in his mother womb. Just as “the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Gen. 2:7). Job also recognized God’s role in his existence. Of God he said, “Your hands have made me and fashioned me, An intricate unity; …You have made me like clay …Clothe me with skin and flesh, And knit me together with bones and sinews?” (Job. 10:8-11).

The second action of God further shows the Creator had a relationship with Jeremiah before he was born. God said, “I knew you; Before you were born.” Which came first the body or the soul? Here God’s knowing of a person comes before his birth and conception. The word for “knew” is known with an intimate knowledge of someone in a close relationship it is not just to know of his existence as a fact.

“I sanctified you” is the third action of God in selecting Jeremiah to be His prophet. God from conception had set Jeremiah apart to be His spokesman.

Finally, God said, “I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” Not only was Jeremiah’s occupation determined by God, but the task he was to perform was chosen as well. Jeremiah did not have a choice in whether or not to volunteer for this mission. He was divinely drafted.

Trusting in God’s Presence

Like Moses and Gideon before him, Jeremiah protests God’s appointment of him as a prophet and begins to make excuse. He said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.” The Hebrew term for “youth” is used in a broad way including everything from Moses when he was a baby (Ex. 2:6) to that of Joshua when he was a seasoned soldier of about forty (Ex. 33:11). Perhaps Jeremiah was saying he was a young bachelor in his teens or early twenties. The time was about 626 BC during the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign. Moses thought he was too old for the task of speaking to Pharaoh and yet Jeremiah believes he is too young. Like Moses (Ex. 4:10), Jeremiah does not believe he has the experience or ability as a trained professional public speaker. Also like Moses, Jeremiah was sure he was not the man for this job. Perhaps, he thought God had mis-dialed or was looking for an older more able man named Jeremiah. But God chose him before he was born.

Just as God dealt with Moses’ excuses, He told Jeremiah, “‘Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ For you shall go to all to whom I send you, And whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you,’ says the Lord” (1:7,8). The fear factor related to speaking God’s message has always been an issue. Jesus told His Apostles at their Great Commission to go into all the Word preaching and making disciples “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20). God is our sufficiency (2 Cor. 3:5). We need no other. “One with God is a majority.” Alone a Christian is defenseless, but with God he can be victorious.

Touch of God’s Provisions

Next, Jeremiah said, “Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms” (1:9,10). This is not the only time God touched the mouth of a prophet. This He did to all four of the major prophets: Isaiah; Ezekiel (Ezek. 2:8; 3:3); and Daniel (Dan. 10:16). God did this each time to help equip this servant for the task at hand. Whom God calls to perform, God provides.

Tasks for God’s Prophet

God gives Jeremiah three tasks to perform. First, Jeremiah is “to root out and to pull down.” Second, he is “to destroy and to throw down.” Finally, he is “to build and to plant.” Using the metaphors of a builder and a farmer is to preach a message that is negative and positive. In order for God to plant anew, there must first be the uprooting of the old dead plants. Before God can rebuild for the future, their first must be the deconstruction of the old and dilapidated. Demolition comes before construction. Plucking up comes before planting. God is not giving up on His promises to be fulfilled through the people of Abraham. He is not taking back His commitments made to the house of David. God must remove the infection of idolatry and wickedness before He can cure the people.

Tree of God’s Performance

God now reassures Jeremiah that He will perform His will and keep His word through a vision of an almond tree. “‘Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘I see a branch of an almond tree.’ Then the Lord said to me, ‘You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My word’” (1:11,12). In Hebrew the word for “almond tree” is saqed. God then uses the word soqed meaning “watch” as a play on words. God is awake and watching for the right time when things are just ripe to fulfill His Words coming from the mouth of Jeremiah.

In Palestine it is the first sign of Spring when the almond tree blossoms in January. Jeremiah correctly observed the vision. God will proclaim His prophetic Word and then watch for the time to ripen for harvesting those words and fulfill them. God does not speak, give warnings or promises in vain. Words are cheap for men. God’s words are precise and perfectly productive. God said, “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10,11).

Targets for God’s Punishment

When God speaks to Jeremiah a second time, He informs him of the target of His wrath and the direction of the instrument He will use to punish. Again, God uses a vision to demonstrate His will. This time it is the vision of a boiling pot.

God says to Jeremiah, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, and it is facing away from the north.” Then the Lord said to me: “Out of the north calamity shall break forth On all the inhabitants of the land. For behold, I am calling All the families of the kingdoms of the north,” says the Lord; “They shall come and each one set his throne At the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, Against all its walls all around, And against all the cities of Judah. I will utter My judgments Against them concerning all their wickedness” (1:13-16).

Jeremiah sees the boiling pot tilting away from the north. Meaning that it is about to spill its scalding hot contents as it begins to boil over. It will thus flow from the north to the south. This could be the Assyrians. They had been used by God to punish Israel and then Judah during the time of king Hezekiah. However, God was raising up the Babylonians to conquer Nineveh and bring the Assyrian Empire to an end. The invading armies (with the exception of Egypt) normally came from the north to invade Palestine during this time period.

God gives three reasons for this punishment upon Judah. First, it is “because they have forsaken Me.” Next, God explains how they had forsaken Him. It was when they “burned incense to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands.” The boiling point of God’s wrath has come. The advanced stages of the national decay had reached the inevitable point of punishment. God is merciful and longsuffering, but He is just. Now is the time for His just judgment upon Judah.

Taking on God’s Plan

At this point God calls upon Jeremiah to prepare himself to proclaim the Divine prophetic warnings. “Therefore prepare yourself and arise, And speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed before their faces, Lest I dismay you before them.” The time is right for Jeremiah to roll up his sleeves and get to work.

There are three things he needs to prepare himself to do. First, the speaking of his message and then the quelling of his fears. Jeremiah was not just to be a fore-teller of the future of Judah, but a forth-teller of God’s message for the moment. He must expose the sins of the people and the government which has brought upon them a dark and bleak future. It will take a great deal of courage and self-control over his fears to speak this message. Like Joshua, he must “be strong and of good courage” (Joshua 1:6). If he is strong and brave he will not be demoralized before the people. Instead, he will be assured of God’s presence as he speaks. Where God sends His messengers, God goes with them.

Tough in God’s Protection

Back in verses nine and ten God wanted Jeremiah to be a weeder and a planter as well as one who tore down and built up through God’s Word. Now God will make him like a fortress, a pillar, and a wall. God reminds Jeremiah that He has made him strong for this task. Note that God reminds Jeremiah “I have made you this day” (1:18). Through his providential working in the life of Jeremiah, God has been preparing him from before birth to be able to fulfill his mission.

Using three metaphors of strength, God demonstrates how tough Jeremiah will be. First, he will be as “a fortified city.” He will be inaccessible and impenetrable. God has made him like “an iron pillar”. Jeremiah was the first Ironman. Finally, he will be like “bronze walls against the whole land.” This will be the opposite of what God will do to the fortified cities of Judah by the Babylonians. Remember, the name “Jeremiah” means “Jehovah establishes,”

Triumph Over God’s Protestors

God is sending Jeremiah out on a very dangerous mission fraught with opposition. God here promises that He will fight against Jeremiah’s enemies. “Against the kings of Judah, Against its princes, Against its priests, And against the people of the land. They will fight against you, But they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you,” says the Lord, “to deliver you” (1:18b,19).

Teaching God’s Word has and always will be dangerous. When Jesus sent out the twelve disciples in the limited commission, He warned them that He was sending them out as lambs among wolves. Jeremiah’s life would be threatened more than once. God is not going to candy coat things or mislead Jeremiah as to the difficulties and dangers he will face. God’s promise is that He will not be the General who commands from the safety of distance and a fortress while His troops are exposed to danger. God will be with us and fight for us. God would see to it that the opposition to Jeremiah would not prevail against him, because God would protect him. “For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’” (Heb. 13:5,6).

Jeremiah became one of the most unpopular prophets in Jewish history. He called for them to accept God’s Will concerning the Babylonian subjugation of Judah. But they brought upon themselves the destruction of the Temple and the city of Jerusalem. Including the cost of many more deaths and thousands taken into captivity.

Jeremiah is called the “weeping prophet.” But it was not his failure as a prophet, but the failure of the people to heed the message of God which he preached. They would not listen. Are we listening? God is still warning and pleading. Will our generation meet the same fate as Jeremiah’s?

– Daniel R. Vess