Jeremiah

     Israel has fallen to the Assyrians.  Judah is facing the same fate at the hands of the Babylonians when God sends Jeremiah to prophesy to the southern kingdom during the reigns of Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah.
     Although Josiah makes reforms, 2 Kings chapter 23 tells us that his son Jehoahaz is evil and is carried away by the Egyptian Pharaoh Neco after only three months.
     Jehoiakim, another son of Josiah, is placed on the throne.  Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon takes control of the area, but the Judean king rebels against him after three years.
     When he dies he is replaced by his son, Jehoichin or Coniah.  After three months Nebuchadnezzar removes him to Babylon and makes his uncle Zedekiah king.  Zedekiah is also rebelling against the Babylonians when Jerusalem is finally destroyed and most of the people are carried into exile.
     It is in the atmosphere of these tumultuous times that God tries through Jeremiah to talk some sense into the people and their rulers.
     As if the period of time itself does not cause enough confusion, we should also note that the book of Jeremiah is not known for its logical organization.  Events and speeches are mixed up and do not follow chronological order.  So our best approach is to consider the general message of the book and to not get lost in trying to unravel the arrangement.
     In verses 11-19 of the first chapter God sets the stage for the rest of the book.  The first of these verses point out that God is watching over His word to do what He has said. In the following verses He reveals that an army will come from the north to surround Jerusalem.
     "And I will pronounce My judgments on them concerning all their wickedness," the Lord explains in verse 16, "whereby they have forsaken Me and have offered sacrifices to other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.
     The final three verses of the chapter contain a promise directed to Jeremiah.  Before everything is all over, this promise proves to be of great importance.
     "Now, gird up your loins, and arise," God says, "and speak to them all which I command you.  Do not be dismayed before them, lest I dismay you before them.
     "Now behold, I have made you today as a fortified city, and as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land, to the kings of Judah, to its princes, to its priests and to the people of the land.  And they will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you."
     The first thing that God does is remind the people of how things should have been from the beginning.  Then he presents a very thought provoking question.
     "What injustice did your fathers find in Me," He asks in Jeremiah 2:5, "that they went far from Me and walked after emptiness and became empty?"
     "The priests did not say, 'Where is the Lord?'" God remembers in verse 8.  "And those who handle the law did not know Me; the rulers also transgressed against Me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal and walked after things that did not profit."
     Although we are looking at words from Old Testament prophets relating to events that took place dozens of centuries ago, we should not loose sight of the fact that we can learn important lessons.
     "Has a nation changed gods," the Lord wonders in verse 11, "when they were not gods?  But My people have changed their glory for that which does not profit."
     "For My people have committed two evils:" God adds in verse 13, "they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water."
     Do we really have to stretch the application too much to see how it fits with the religious situation today?  Do we have so many religious groups because they are all following what God has said, or because most have left the fountain of living waters to hew for themselves broken cisterns than can hold no water?
     In Isaiah we noticed the almost humorous scene of people cutting down a tree, cooking supper over one half of it and then falling down to worship an idol carved from the other half.
     "Who say to a tree, 'You are my father,'" God says of the same people in Jeremiah 2:27, "and to a stone, 'You gave me birth.'"
     It's easy, isn't it, to abandon God when it is convenient and turn to worship our idols of money, power and physical gratification.  We aren't all that different from the people of Jeremiah's day.
     "But in the time of their trouble they will say, 'Arise and save us,'" the rest of verse 27 observes.
     "But where are your gods which you made for yourself?" God inquires in verse 28.  "Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble; for according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah."

     The people have sinned greatly against God.  But His desire for them is salvation and not destruction.
     "Return, faithless Israel;" the Lord declares in Jeremiah 3:12, "I will not look upon you in anger.  For I am gracious, I will not be angry forever."
     "Only acknowledge your iniquity," He requests in the following verse.
     In chapter five Jeremiah is told to roam the streets of Jerusalem in search of a single faithful person.  Jeremiah looks first among the poor and then among the great, but all is in vain.
     "Thou hast smitten them," verse three observes, "but they did not weaken; Thou hast consumed them, but they refused to take correction.  They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent."
     "They are well-fed lusty horses," verse eight notes, "each one neighing after his neighbor's wife."
     One of the main obstacles that Jeremiah faces as he tries to warn the rulers and the rest of the people is the opposition of false prophets.  These are men who tell the people what they want to hear instead of what God wants them to hear.  For example, while Jeremiah foretells of the conquest of a northern army, the false prophets promise peace.
     "The prophets prophesy falsely," Jeremiah 5:31 states, "and the priests rule on their own authority; and My people love it so!  But what will you do at the end of it?"
     "And they have healed the wound of my people slightly, saying, 'Peace, peace,'" Jeremiah 6:14 says, "but there is no peace."
     "Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done?" the next verse asks.  "They were not even ashamed at all; they did not even know how to blush."
     Is there no message, here, for us?
     Are we ever tempted to do something and assume that we will not be discovered?
     "Am I a God who is near," the Lord asks in Jeremiah 23:23-24, "and not a God far off?  Can a man hide himself in hiding places, so I do not see him?  Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?"
     Are we ever tempted, as Jeremiah is, to look at those around us with envy?
     "Why has the way of the wicked prospered?" Jeremiah 12:1 asks.
     "Thou art near to their lips," the next verse concludes, "but far from their minds."
     Do we have any people in our society today who fit this description?
     While the message is obvious for those who reject God, it is equally clear for those who turn to Him.
     "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord," we read in Jeremiah 17:7-8.  "For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit."
     Chapter 31 talks of a time when this is a reality.
     "Behold, days are coming," the Lord declares in verses 31-33 about the church and the New Testament, "when I will make a covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them.
     "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
     How can we participate in this covenant?  Can we do it through our own wisdom or through the teaching of those around us?
     "Lies and not truth prevail in the land;" Jeremiah 9:3 warns, "for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know Me."
     "Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom," God advises in verses 23-24, "and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things."
     "I know, O Lord," Jeremiah 10:23 recognizes, "that a man's way is not in himself; nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps."
     Oh, we can look wherever we like in our search for the Lord.  But He can be found in only one way.
     "The wise men are put to shame," Jeremiah 8:9 reports, "they are dismayed and caught; behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord, and what kind of wisdom do they have?"
     Does it really matter how we respond to God's instruction?  King Jehoiakim's reaction in chapter 36 is to cut the scroll into pieces with a knife and throw it into the fire.  If we are tempted to continue doing things our way instead of heeding God, we should take note of Jeremiah 8:20.
     "Harvest is past, summer is ended," this verse notes, "and we are not saved."
     "Is there no balm in Gilead?" verse 22 asks.  "Is there no physician there?  Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people been restored?"
     We know the answer, don't we?  These people are following falsehood.  And only the truth will heal them and set them free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.lockman.org)