Jeremiah 1-12: Jeremiah, the prophet, introduces himself as “the son of Hilkiah,” a priest who lived “in the land of Benjamin” (1:1). “The word of the Lord came” to Jeremiah during the 13th year of the reign of the godly king of Judah, “Josiah” about 627 B.C. (1:2). Jeremiah’s prophetic ministry spanned the reigns of king Jehoiakim and Zedekiah until the inhabitants of Jerusalem were carried away as captives to Babylon about 586 B.C. (1:3). After God told Jeremiah that He had called him to his prophetic ministry “to the nations” before he was even born, Jeremiah protested because he was too young and had not learned to speak effectively (1:4-6). God told Jeremiah it did not matter that he was young and inexperienced because the Lord had called him to go wherever He commanded and to say whatever God told him to speak (1:7). The prophet was not to fear the peoples’ responses because God would be with him and deliver him from their threatening reactions (1:8). The Lord stretched out His hand and touched Jeremiah’s mouth, signaling the transfer of His words to Jeremiah’s mouth so that when God spoke, Jeremiah spoke (1:9). Jeremiah’s message was “to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant” (1:10). The Lord gave Jeremiah two visions concerning the nature of his calling: “the branch of an almond tree” conveyed the imminency of God’s coming judgment and a “boiling pot” represented the overflow of evil that would come upon Judah from the north because she had “forsaken” the Lord and turned to “other gods” (1:11-16). God tells Jeremiah to arise and start preaching His message to His people and not to fear the people lest the Lord really gives him something to fear (1:17). God assures Jeremiah that though the people will “fight against” him, He will protect his messenger (1:18-19). Jeremiahs first sermon is a plea for “backslidden” Judah to return to the Lord (2:1-3:5). The prophet’s second sermon consists of the Lord’s promise of the imminent destruction of Judah by invading armies from the north because of the depths of Judah’s sins (4:5-6:30). His third sermon confronts Judah’s hypocritical worship which mixed the worship of the true God with the worship of Baal and other false gods, and would bring God’s judgment on His people if they did not repent (7:1-10:25). Jeremiah’s fourth sermon addresses Judah’s breaking of her covenant with God through disobedience and Jeremiah’s complaint to God when his life is threatened (11:1-12:4). God responds to his complaint by saying that Jeremiah’s problems are minor compared to His which involved turning the nation (Judah) He loved over to her enemies (12:5- 17). Application: 1. The way to keep going when presenting an unpopular message to a rebellious and resistant people (like Jeremiah had to do) is to know God has called you and promises to provide His presence, His protection, and His promises for the ministry to which you are called (1:1-19). 2. The world needs Jeremiahs who know and love God intimately, who remain true to God’s Word in the midst of opposition, and love His people enough to tell them what is hard to hear (2:1-12:17).
Posted on: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 03:05:46 +0000
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