Jeremiah -- Faith - Full
Text: book of Jeremiah
God Chooses Jeremiah
Chosen before birth (1:5)
Commanded to speak for God (1:)
Empowered by God with authority and power (1:9-10)
Commanded to speak God’s words of judgment (1:16-17)
Protected by God (1:19)
Footnotes:
1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” 1:7-8 everywhere I send you, you shall go, And all that I command you, you shall speak. 8 “Do not be afraid of them,For I am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord. 1:9-10 “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. 10 “See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” 1:19 They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord.
The National Culture
You shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will not answer you. (7:27)
“Were they ashamed because of the abomination they had done? They certainly were not ashamed, and they did not know how to blush! (8:12)
Jeremiah says to God, “You are near to their lips but far from their mind.” (12:2) God says, “I have come to hate her.” (12:8)
Footnotes:
“For My people have committed two evils:they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (2:13)
“An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule on their own authority; and My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it? (5:30-31) Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’ Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward. (7:23-24)
Judgment Must Come
The Lord does not accept them; now He will remember their iniquity and call their sins to account…I am not going to accept them. Rather I am going to make an end of them by the sword, famine and pestilence.” (14:10-12)
‘You too have done evil, even more than your forefathers; for behold, you are each one walking according to the stubbornness of his own evil heart, without listening to Me. (16:12)
This whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. (25:11)
The Cost to Jeremiah
His message ignored
He was imprisoned and beaten (20:2)
‘When Jeremiah finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You must die!”’ (26:9
Footnote:
0:2 Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put him in the stocks
A Word of Hope
Jeremiah encourages the people to accept their bondage and exile. “Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. He who dwells in this city will die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence; but he who goes out and falls away to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live.” (21:8-9)
Jeremiah shares God’s heart for restoration (Jer. 29:11-14)
Footnotes:
Jer 29:11-14 For I know the plans that I [h]have for you,’ declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will restore your [i]fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’
An Act of Faith
Jeremiah imprisoned while Jerusalem is under siege. (32:2)
God directs Jeremiah to buy real estate in Judah (32:6-15)
God’s reason to make the purchase (32:36-44)
A sign of His promise to restore them from captivity, and return them to this land.
“(I) will faithfully plant them (Israel and Judah) in this land with all My heart and with all My soul.” (32:41)
“Fields will be bought in this land…Men will buy fields for money ..for I will restore their fortunes,” declares the Lord. (32:43-44)
Footnotes:
32:2 the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, 32:8 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,7 ‘Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle is coming to you, saying, “Buy for yourself my field which is at Anathoth, for you have the right of redemption to buy it.”
32:14-15 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Take these deeds, this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, that they may [c]last a long time.” 15 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land
Lessons from the Word
God is sovereign over nations, individuals, and history
God desires obedience even when we do not fully understand
Obedience is often costly, but disobedience yields bondage and death
God keeps His promises to judge, to love, to forgive, and to restore.