> [!title|noicon] **Jeremiah 1** <br><br><font size=4>[[Isaiah 66|< Isa 66]] [[Jeremiah 2|Jer 2 >]] [\[Other passage\]](Bible%20Books%20Navigation.md)</font> ^top
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###### 🔸 Jeremiah Historical Context ^0
> Verses 1-3 tell us about the time Jeremiah was writing so we can get the context of the book of Jeremiah. [He began in Josiah's 13th year](Jeremiah%201.md#^2) (627BC) and [continued until Babylon conquered Jerusalem](Jeremiah%201.md#^3) in 587BC – and actually a little beyond because he also prophesied amongst some of the remnant of Jerusalem that had gone into Egypt. But essentially his prophecy had to do with the 40-year period between 627 and 587BC.
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> To get a picture of the historical situation, we go back to 2 Chronicles to the days of Josiah when Jeremiah began to prophesy in his 13th year. Manasseh, Josiah's grandfather, was a very wicked king. He introduced many terrible things into the nation of Judah. By this time Judah consisted of all 12 tribes of Israel, whereas before the days of Manasseh 10 of tribes were to the North in their own nation called Israel and 2 of the tribes were to the South in the nation of Judah. But Israel had been thoroughly conquered by the Assyrians, so the remnants from that nation came under the headship of the kings of Judah, and Manasseh was the principle king during this particular period. He reigned for about 52 years and was the son of a very fine king, Hezekiah -- but Manasseh was a renegade of the first order. He was followed by his son, Amon, who reigned only 2 years. And then his grandson, Josiah, began to reign as a child of 8 years of age when Amon was killed: [2 Chr 33:24](2%20Chronicles%2033.md#^24) - [25](2%20Chronicles%2033.md#^25); [2 Chr 34:1](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^1)
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> So here we have a very interesting genealogy of kings. We have Hezekiah, who was a very God-fearing king. Then we have his son, Manasseh, who reigned 52 years and was a very wicked king and brought in all kinds of idol worship into Judah. A grandson, Amon, who reigned 2 years and was also very wicked. And now comes the great-grandson of King Hezekiah, Josiah. And he was one of the finest, most God-fearing kings of the Old Testament ([2 Chr 34:2](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^2)). But, unfortunately, he came in too late. The damage had been done so grievously as Israel rebelled against the Lord, that even though Josiah came as a God-fearing king, nevertheless, God had already decided to bring judgment upon Judah. And that’s going to be the role of Jeremiah, to warn Judah that indeed judgment is coming.
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> So Josiah was only 8 years old when he began to reign and he reigned for 31 years: [2 Chr 34:1](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^1). That means Josiah was only 39 when he was killed, and he was killed in a futile battle with Egypt in what was basically his prime. We’ll get into this more later, but this was the precise time in history when God’s judgment had to fall on Judah. Everything that God has planned is in the fullness of time. So God removed this fine, good King in order to make way for judgment to fall.
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> And this sets the environment in which Jeremiah comes on the scene. Jeremiah’s official role as prophet began in the 13th year of Josiah. So we need to discover the condition of Judah when he was commissioned to bring the Word of the Lord to Judah.
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> And we find that Josiah had a heart to restore Judah to the Lord: [2 Chr 34:3](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^3). Josiah was still a young 16 years old in the 8th year of his reign. Then in the 12th year of his reign, when he was 20 years old, he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from all of their idolatry. And this is just _one_ year before Jeremiah was called into service. So we see that this young man was really a man of God.
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> It had only happened one time before where a king sought to eliminate all of the worship of false gods that had come into Judah. Josiah’s great-grandfather, Hezekiah, had done that, but then Manasseh reintroduced all of the pagan worship again into Judah to be even worse than it was before. And since Manasseh reigned for a long 52 years, he had ample time to put all of it in place. But now comes Josiah, a young man 16-20 years old. God has so laid His hand upon him that he destroys all of the high places: [1 Chr 34:4](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^4), [5](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^5), [6](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^6).
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> Then we read how Josiah repaired the temple and worship: [2 Chr 34:8](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^8). Now bear in mind that the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, here, would have been _after_ Jeremiah had received the call five years earlier, in the 13th year of Josiah. So by this time Jeremiah would have already been called a prophet of the Lord. And we will find that he also was a very young man.
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> But we also see from this verse that Manasseh, during his evil reign, had allowed the temple to be desecrated and to be broken down, there were no repairs made. So now in Josiah’s zeal he sends men to make preparation to repair the house of God: [2 Chr 34:9](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^9). And we read here that Hilkiah was the high priest. And in our study passage in [Jeremiah 1:1](Jeremiah%201.md#^1), we read that Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah of Anathoth. Now, Anathoth was a little village about 3 miles northeast of Jerusalem. So it’s a very good likelihood that Jeremiah was indeed the son of this high priest, Hilkiah, as Jeremiah was also a very young man at this time.
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> And according to [2 Chr 34:9](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^9), they took offerings from all the tribes that still identified with Jerusalem (Judah and Benjamin and remnants of the 10 tribes that were left over from the North after being conquered by the Assyrians) and presented them to Hilkiah, to give to the workmen to repair the temple ([2 Chr 34:10](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^10)), which they performed faithfully ([2 Chr 34:12](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^12)).
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> But then in [2 Chr 34:14](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^14) we read something more intriguing. They found a book of the Law of the LORD. This actually tells us how bad the spiritual situation was in the days of Josiah. They did not have the Law of God – they effectively did not have a Bible. Here is Josiah who has come to reign, and the Bible had disappeared. Oh yes, it was in the temple – remember, everyone wasn’t literate in that day as many are today. The scribes would read what was in the copies that they had to the people of Israel. But apparently in the days of Manasseh, while the temple was desecrated, the Word of God was neglected and lost.
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> This was the mercy of God. Here is Josiah, he is now 26 years of age in the 18th year of his reign. And for the last 10 years he’s given evidence of really being a child of God. It wasn’t because every morning he was studiously reading a portion from the Bible. It was God’s mercy. And remember, his father and grandfather were the essence of wicked men. He certainly didn’t learn anything from them. Perhaps he was verbally taught by men such as Hilkiah the high priest. At any rate, here they found a copy of God’s Word. Now their Bible, of course, wasn’t completed as it is today. It may have just been the first 5 books of the Bible, or there may have been more to it by that time. But at least they found the first 5 books of the Law of God.
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> You wonder how the high priest could function without the written Word of God. Certainly the customs of offerings and rituals and so on had been memorized and handed down, and maybe they had access to commentaries. But Hilkiah certainly recognizes the supreme importance of the Word of God: [2 Chr 34:15](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^15) - [16](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^16).
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> Then in [2 Chr 34:19](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^19), [20](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^20), [21](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^21), we read the predictable reaction of a God-fearing king to the Word of God. This is the reaction of the child of God when we find _any_ Truth in the Bible. Here they suddenly find the Word of God that they had available at that time. What he had been taught previously had probably been very fragmentary, and now he has it all in front of him, _this is the Word of God_. And he is distressed beyond measure. So they go to a prophet, but they don’t go to Jeremiah.
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> Now there was a school of the prophets there, very much like what we would call a seminary today. And there was a woman there by the name of Huldah who was a prophetess: [2 Chr 34:22](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^22). And she brings the Truth of God confirming God’s curses against Judah that Josiah had read: [2 Chr 34:23](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^23) - [24](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^24). This declaration and these curses that she mentions came from Deuteronomy 28:14ff:
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> [Deut 28:14](Deuteronomy%2028.md#^14), [15](Deuteronomy%2028.md#^15), [16](Deuteronomy%2028.md#^16), [17](Deuteronomy%2028.md#^17), [18](Deuteronomy%2028.md#^18), [19](Deuteronomy%2028.md#^19), [20](Deuteronomy%2028.md#^20), [21](Deuteronomy%2028.md#^21), [22](Deuteronomy%2028.md#^22), [23](Deuteronomy%2028.md#^23), [24](Deuteronomy%2028.md#^24), [25](Deuteronomy%2028.md#^25), [26](Deuteronomy%2028.md#^26)
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> See the rest of Deuteronomy 28 as these curses continue on for many verses more, all the way to verse 68. It’s the most ugly language imaginable. It is not an idle thing when we rebel against God. And God is faithful. He does not make commitments of blessing or punishment idly. He carries out His Word.
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> Can you imagine King Josiah after reading these words? This is what God is saying! And this applies to the country Josiah is king over. And he knew how bad his grandfather Manasseh had been. He knew he had allowed all of the high places to flourish, he knew that the temple had been desecrated, he knew that the Word of God had disappeared because nobody cared, he knew how rebellious Judah had become. So he reads this and asks, “Is this _really_ going to happen?” No wonder Josiah rent his clothes! “Where _are_ we? Look what Judah has been doing for the 54 years before Josiah. They had been in terrible rebellion against God! Are all of these curses going to take place?” So we see what God answered through Huldah in [2 Chr 34:23](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^23) - [24](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^24).
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> Could an answer have been more negative, more awful for Josiah to hear, than this? There’s no relief, no mercy, no escape. The damage has been done. Too long has Judah been thumbing its nose at God, that they have countenanced the high places. And now God is saying, “I _will_ bring this to pass.”
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> Keep in mind that this is the fifth year after Jeremiah had been called to prophesy. And this will help us understand his reaction to what God has told him to do. This is the situation in the land. We have a young king of 26 years old who dearly loves the Lord. We have a high priest who obviously must be a child of God. As soon as the book of the Law of God is found he made sure that they would hear from it all that was going on. We have Huldah the prophetess who obviously is a child of God who very correctly and rightly declares what God will do. And yet we have a nation that has been extremely wicked, that has countenanced the high places and allowed the temple to be desecrated. So it’s time for judgment, as we read in [2 Chr 34:25](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^25).
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> God is a jealous God. If only we could understand how awful it is to ever say, “Thus saith the Lord” when the Lord has not said it. How many doctrines do not come from the Bible but come from the lofty ideas of men? It is like they are worshiping themselves rather than God. They are those who are worshiping on the high places. God tolerated that with Judah for a long, long time. All through the reign of Manasseh God tolerated that. And then comes Josiah, and God says, “No more! The time has come when nation of Judah has to face the penalty, there’s going to be judgment.”
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> This helps us to see why the churches and congregations of our day are under the judgment of God. We may think all is well in Zion, but we have to look at our situation very honestly, very factually, not putting on any rose colored glasses that it’s not that bad. We have to be very candid because we’re going to find that the situation we’re reading about here is very parallel to our day. These are insights into where we are today.
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> Just because God is patient, just because He doesn’t just come down and strike us dead does not mean that can’t be under the anger of God. And that anger is finally going to break out on all the inhabitants of the earth on Judgment Day. They’re going to know the righteous fury of God because mankind has rebelled. And those who claim to be Christians, to have a relationship with the Lord, are going to more than ever feel the righteous anger of God. This ought to make us tremble in our shoes. We should be shaking in our boots like Josiah. How does this apply to me? How do I relate to this God Who is the same God we’re talking about here. Am I under the anger of God? Maybe He will have mercy on us. But we’re being shown how God is looking at the churches and congregations in our day:
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> _...my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be quenched._
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> This is a final thing. He’s talking about the end of the world, it shall not be quenched. And what we’ll find is what Jeremiah is prophesying didn’t only happen to Judah back in 587BC but he’s also prophesying what is going to happen to the churches and congregations in our day. There’s a direct correlation between the two.
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> So this is the situation when Jeremiah comes on the scene. There are just a few faithful leaders left, but not much more. We will find Ebedmelech, an Ethiopian man; the Rechabites, a nomad family; and Baruch, the secretary of Jeremiah were faithful. The 4 men in the book of Daniel who were taken captive into Babylon were faithful, and a few others, but not many more. It is a time of great rebellion against God.
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> Now looking again for a moment at the opening verses of Jeremiah 1, we read in verse 3:
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> _It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month._
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> If we go into 2 Kings or 2 Chronicles, we find that when Josiah was killed in battle, one of his sons, _Jehoahaz,_ _was_ made king. He only reigned for 3 months and then was deposed by the Egyptian rulers who began to assault Judah. A brother, Jehoiakim, was made king. He reigned for 11 years and then was deposed by the king of Babylon. When Jehoiakim was deposed, his son Jehoiachin reigned for a couple of months, very briefly. Then he was taken captive into Babylon and then Zedekiah ruled for 11 years until the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in the 5th month in 587BC.
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> So this time that God declares that Jeremiah prophesied encompassed a period of 40 years, from 627BC in the 13th year of king Josiah until Jerusalem was destroyed in 587BC. And this 40-year period was a time of testing when God was coming to Judah again and again, and there was no repentance. They were being tested and tried – but were really under judgment and were altogether destroyed.
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###### 🔸 Jeremiah Spiritual Context ^100
> In many ways we’ll see that the book of Jeremiah is the spiritual newspaper for today. We’re living in the same situation, only about 2,500 or so years later. Jeremiah was living in the day of types and figures and we are living now in the days of fulfillment. We will see ample proofs of this as we continue throughout the study of Jeremiah.
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> In Jeremiah, God gives us 3 main proofs that Judah and Jerusalem spoken throughout really point to the churches and congregations of today. This will help us understand the nature of Jeremiah and why God has really placed this information in the Bible.
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> Beginning in Jeremiah 2:2 God gives us some *definition*. There, God says to Jerusalem [Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land [that was] not sown. ](Jeremiah%202.md#^2)
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> We know that the nation of Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness after they came out of Egypt. Before that, you don’t see language that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob dwelled in the wilderness, they dwelled in the promised land. And Israel hadn’t become a real nation until after they left Egypt. So we read in many places how they were in the wilderness during that 40 year period after the exodus. So that is where we would expect to see what God is talking about here in Jeremiah 2:2 *“...I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness...”*
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> But do we see anything in the Bible about the love that Israel had for God while they were in the wilderness? We read plenty of statements of their murmuring and rebellion against God, and of plagues coming up on them and so on.
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> But in Exodus 19:6-8, in the 3rd month after Israel had come out of Egypt and [God was making certain promises unto them](Exodus%2019.md#^6), we do read that [Moses declared the words of the Lord to them](Exodus%2019.md#^7) and they [declared their faithfulness to God](Exodus%2019.md#^8).
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> But we don’t find any action on their part that backs up this statement that they will do the words of the Lord. It wasn’t long at all that they rebelled, and already at Mount Sinai they were saying they don’t want to hear from God.
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> In Hebrews 3:17-19, God talks about this time of Israel in the wilderness: [Heb 3:17](Hebrews%203.md#^17), [18](Hebrews%203.md#^18) and [19](Hebrews%203.md#^19).
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> Everyone that was 20 years and older that came out of Egypt except for Joshua and Caleb perished in the wilderness because of unbelief. So this doesn’t talk about kindness.
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> So when they said in Exodus 19, “All that the LORD hath spoken we will do,” that’s an assertion on their part that they will please God. But they aren’t like those who are waiting upon the Lord to save and guide them, it is like those who flippantly think they can just easily believe and be saved without a new heart. They are still in the pride of their heart, “Yeah, we will do this and that.” But then the next thing we see they are in rebellion, they are not about to do it. They should have said, “All these things we would like to do, oh, please give us Your mercy that we might do it.” *Then* we might see something that would indicate kindness toward God.
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> One other passage we might review is Exodus 35, at the time they were called upon the provide the gold and silver to build the tabernacle. There we read in verses 4-28 how the Lord commanded the people to bring all that was required for the service of the tabernacle, everyone who was of willing heart. And finally in verse 29 we see the language of [how willing the children of Israel were to bring for the work](Exodus%2035.md#^29).
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> Again, on the surface, this looks like a time when they really loved the Lord and are really God’s people, as when He said in Jeremiah 2, “I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth…”
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> But again this isn’t salvation, it doesn’t mean that their hearts were broken before God. It is not the love of a child of God, as we know from the rest of the Scriptures that they were not saved. And in Jeremiah 2 we have the language of true love for God. Love has to do with a relationship with God. And unless we are truly saved, we have no love for God. So the Israelites perished in the wilderness because they had no love for God, regardless of the fact they were doing good things to build the tabernacle. This is much like today when some congregation plans to build a glorious new building so people are willing to contribute a little extra in order to have that beautiful new building, but it doesn’t have any relationship to whether they have truly become saved or not.
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> So what can we find that applies to Jeremiah 2:2, where God says, [I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land [that was] not sown.](Jeremiah%202.md#^2)?
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> If we now go to another Jerusalem, the New Testament church, can we identify that with this verse? Let’s look at Galatians 4.25-26:
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> *25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.*
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> What God is saying here is that there are 2 Jerusalems, spiritually speaking. There is a Jerusalem that is below that is in bondage with her children, that is, they are still under the Law of God, they are not actually saved. They are trying to get to Heaven by their good works or they think they’re saved but they are actually not free. They’re still in bondage to their sin and to the Law of God. And every congregation of the New Testament ever since the beginning had a good percentage of people that were this kind, those who thought they were saved but actually had not become saved. In a moment we’ll look at the churches of Revelation where they had a Jezebel and other false prophets who claimed they were saved but altogether were not. That is like Jerusalem below.
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> The Jerusalem above consists of those who have become saved. The moment that we become saved our citizenship is in Heaven, we are seated with Christ even as we’re dispatched to served as an ambassador to God to this sin-cursed world. But we are citizens of the Jerusalem above. And so, when we look at the corporate, visible church as we find it represented throughout the world, we find it is made up of 2 kinds of people: Jerusalem above which identifies with the gold, silver and precious stones of 1 Corinthians 3, and there is the Jerusalem below that identifies with the wood, hay and stubble of 1 Corinthians 3. That is the Jerusalem that exists in this world. And is that the Jerusalem that Jeremiah has in view?
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> Well, let’s look at the beginning of this Jerusalem that consists of the churches and congregations that have existed throughout the world. In Revelation chapter 2 God tells us about the beginning of the New Testament church. The actual beginning would have been the time of Pentecost when about 3,000 people were saved. So that already meant there were 3,000 people that had an intense love for God, right at the very outset. But after some years had gone by, God gives us a look at 7 churches that existed and we will see that within these churches the language of Jeremiah 2:2 does fit.
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> Look, for example, at the church at Ephesus in [Revelation 2:1](Revelation%202.md#^1), [2](Revelation%201.md#^2) and [3](Revelation%202.md#^3). That’s beautiful language. The the language of Jeremiah 2:2, *“I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness….”* In other words, the honeymoon is still going on and there’s an intense love going on in the church at Ephesus because there are true believers there.
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> Then look at the church at Smyrna in [Revelation 2:9](Revelation%202.md#^9) and [10](Revelation%202.md#^10). Again, beautiful language that could apply to any church that loves the Lord. It identifies again with Jeremiah 2.2, “I remember your kindness, your espousals, the love that you had for Me during the honeymoon period when you first began to have within you the bride of Christ which consists of true believers.”
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> Next look at Thyatira in [Revelation 2:18](Revelation%202.md#^18) and [19](Revelation%202.md#^19). Could you think of a more lovely statement than that? This is the early church. It all began with love toward God.
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> Then we look at the church at Philadelphia in [Revelation 3:7](Revelation%203.md#^8) and [](Revelation%203.md#^8). There again, you see, lovely language. So what does this tell you? God is declaring to us what the book of Jeremiah is all about. God remembers in Jeremiah chapter 2 *"the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land [that was] not sown."*
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> Was the New Testament church in the wilderness like this? Read [Revelation 12:5](Revelation%2012.md#^5) and [6](Revelation%2012.md#^6]. The New Testament church is typified by this woman and the world that we live in is a wilderness. We’re spiritually like the Israelites that came out of Egypt during the 40 years on the way to Canaan, it’s a wilderness sojourn under the care and keeping of God. And Jeremiah 2:2 speaks of the wilderness as a *land not sown*. And that's speaking of a time early on before the seed of the Gospel has been spread. It’s early on the wilderness of the world where the Gospel had to be sent for an abundance of harvest to come forth. It’s at the very beginning so that it matches the language of Jeremiah 2:2 beautifully where there was great love for God.
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> So the book of Jeremiah is not an indictment against Israel of old in the first instance, where it speaks of Judah and Jerusalem. It is against the New Testament church. So God is instructing us that as we look at the book of Jeremiah, we can’t pull our holy rags around us like those people of ancient Jerusalem were so bad. We have to look in the mirror because God is talking about the church in our day. So it becomes intensely personal and sharp in the hearts of us living today.
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> So here we have the setting of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is speaking about God’s judgment on the churches and congregations in our day during the great tribulation. And as we go verse-by-verse in Jeremiah we will see how this develops, how it is proven repeatedly that we are on the right track.
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> So in Jeremiah 2:2 where God declares, *“Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land [that was] not sown”* it is to the churches and congregations that this is to be declared, to the Jerusalem of today.
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> The second proof we can find of this is in [Jeremiah 3:3](Jeremiah%203.md#^3). There the Bible speaks of the latter rain, or rather, the fact that there was no latter rain. And the idea of rain comes from [Deuteronomy 32:2](Deuteronomy%2032.md#^2), where God equates the rain with His doctrine and His Word. The Gospel comes down to us like rain, from heaven, and it brings forth vegetation as we read in Deuteronomy 32:2.
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> We see this again in [Deuteronomy 11:14](Deuteronomy%2011.md#^14) and [15](Deuteronomy%2011.md#^15), where the latter rain brings in the corn, wine and oil, and sending grass in the field for their cattle and that they my eat and be full. All of this spiritually has to do with the salvation of people that are blessed by the Gospel, by the rain.
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> So when the Bible is speaking about the early and latter rain, it’s talking about bringing the Gospel to earth. But in Jeremiah 3:3 it is saying sadly there is no latter rain. And we see this precedent in the following verses in [Deuteronomy 11:16](Deuteronomy%2011#^16) and [17](Deuteronomy%2011.md#^17). There God warns if they turn aside to wickedness that he will shut off the rain, that is, He will shut off the Gospel, of hearing the Words of the Lord, to them.
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> This idea is what we read about in [Joel 2:23](Joel%202.md#^23). God sent the former rain until Christ came. Then there was a break of 3 ½ years years before the New Testament latter rain. But then this takes us back to Jeremiah 3:3 where God instead says there has been *no* latter rain, implying the early rain has come but there is no latter rain after all. It has become a time of spiritual famine because there is wickedness, God has shut off the rain as we read in Deuteronomy 11:16-17.
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> The third proof is in [Jeremiah 25:11](Jeremiah%2025.md#^11) and [12](Jeremiah%2025.md#^12), where it speaks of "these nations" serving Babylon for a period of 70 years. The historical 70 years God wrote about had to do with the time Josiah died in 609BC to 539BC when Judah was taken into captivity to Babylon. But that isn’t the actual focus of chapter 25. The focus is the end of the world. We read in [Jeremiah 25:15](Jeremiah%2025.md#^15), [16](Jeremiah%2025.md#^16) and [17](Jeremiah%2025.md#^17) where God is speaking about *all* the nations drinking of the cup of His wrath. And we might initially think these are just all the nations that existed at the time of Jeremiah. But that can't be as we know that there were nations, like China, for example, that were not given over to servitude to Babylon. And continuing through Jeremiah 25 we find that indeed God is speaking about *all* the nations in the whole world ([Jeremiah 25:19](Jeremiah%2025.md#^29) - [30](Jeremiah%2025.md#^30)), to all the inhabitants of the earth. So the 70 years of captivity to Babylon is a type or a figure of the end of the world when the churches and congregations, the Jerusalem and Judah of today, are taken captive to the kingdom of Satan as God brings judgment upon them and finally, upon the whole world.
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###### 🔸1 THE words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that _were_ in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: ^1
> Verses 1-3 tell us about the time Jeremiah was writing. [It's important to read the intro notes to this chapter to get the fuller context of the book Jeremiah.](Jeremiah%201.md#^0)
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> We read here in verse 1 that Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, of the priests in Anathoth. And we read in [2 Chronicles 34:9](2%20Chronicles%2034.md#^9) that Hilkiah was the high priest in the days of King Josiah. Now, Anathoth was a little village about 3 miles northeast of Jerusalem. So it’s a very good likelihood that Jeremiah was indeed the son of this high priest, Hilkiah.
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###### 🔸2 To whom the word of the $L{\small ORD}$ came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. ^2
> Verses 1-3 tell us about the time Jeremiah was writing. [Again, it's important to read the intro notes to this chapter to get the fuller context of the book Jeremiah.](Jeremiah%201.md#^0)
>
> So we see here in verse 2 that Jeremiah began to prophesy in Josiah's 13th year (627BC).
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###### 🔸3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month. ^3
> Verses 1-3 tell us about the time Jeremiah was writing. [Again, it's important to read the intro notes to this chapter to get the fuller context of the book Jeremiah.](Jeremiah%201.md#^0)
>
> So Jeremiah continued until Babylon conquered Jerusalem in 587BC – and actually a little beyond because he also prophesied amongst some of the remnant of Jerusalem that had gone into Egypt. But essentially his prophecy had to do with the 40-year period between 627 and 587BC.
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###### 4 Then the word of the $L{\small ORD}$ came unto me, saying, ^4
> See note under verse 5.
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###### 🔸5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, _and_ I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. ^5
> We understand from this that Jeremiah was a very special individual whom God had laid His hand on from before the foundation of the world. He had been named and set apart to be a prophet of God from before the womb. This is the same today – every true believer is a prophet of God ordained from before the foundation of the world. We have been known and named by God before we were ever conceived in the womb of our mothers, we are named in the Lamb’s book of Life from before the foundation of the earth. And because we have been named in the Lamb’s book of Life then it means that God had already ordained that we are to be a prophet. Remember that a prophet is someone who declares the Word of God, as we read in [Acts 2:18](Acts%202.md#^18).
>
> Now it is true that in the Old Testament we don’t read of every believer being a prophet. They had no mandate to bring the Word to others particularly because it had not been God’s plan at that time to begin the evangelization of the world. So from time to time we read of those who have particularly been called a prophet, like Jeremiah, Isaiah and so on. But once we get to the resurrection of Christ and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit in 33AD, when God officially began the church age, every true believer is a prophet. And every true believer is known by God before we are ever conceived in our mother’s womb.
>
> God continues in verse 5: *“and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee…”*
>
> To be sanctified means to be set apart. But in the Old Testament setting it’s more along the idea that God has prepared Jeremiah. He had done what is necessary so that he would be a prophet. So Jeremiah, like John the Baptist, was in all likelihood, saved in his mother’s womb. Now that’s not true of every believer. Some are like the thief on the cross who was saved an hour before he died. And he exercised the office of a prophet as he testified of Christ. So while God knows every one of us from the foundation of the world, we are not all saved at the same time in life. And many of us don’t even know exactly when we were saved. Some may have been saved as a young child and others some time later in life.
>
> Verse 5 continues: *“I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”*
>
> Again, is every believer ordained to be a prophet until the nations? The answer again is, Yes. We are given the command and the mandate to go into all the world with the Gospel. This is finally the big task of the believer to be a prophet until the nations. We can make a living, and we can do a lot of things, but ultimately the place of every New Testament believer is to have a concern that the Gospel go out into all the world. That is the nature of the child of God.
>
> So we see that Jeremiah, while he’s unusual in many ways, nevertheless is not that unusual after all. He’s a picture of every one of us that finally becomes saved and are automatically given the task of being a prophet as we witness to friends, family and others in the world. We are given that role as a true believer. And just as we are, so Jeremiah was is ordained a prophet, not just to the immediate context of the nation of Judah, but to the nations, plural. God’s Word is not just to the historical Judah of that day, but as the Gospel goes into the world it is a witness and a testimony until all nations. We will see this again when we get to [verse 10](Jeremiah%201.md#^10)
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###### 🔸6 Then said I, Ah, Lord $G{\small OD}$! behold, I cannot speak: for I _am_ a child. ^6
> Now we see the modesty and the humility of Jeremiah. And one of the characteristics of the true child of God is that *we are humble*. Anytime we begin to walk with pride, we might as well face the fact that means we are not a child of God. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. The proud are simply trying to get credit for their own achievements, their own exploits, their own personality, and they’re not giving the glory to God. The nature of the true child of God is humility.
>
> We see this in the Lord Jesus. He is meek and lowly in heart. That’s a supreme example. He is King and Lord of Lords. Did he ever cease being King? He did not. Remember when He stood before Pilate and Pilate asked, “Art thou a king?” Jesus said, “You’ve said it, to this I have been called.” And yet He walked as the suffering servant on this earth. He was abused by mankind. He was reviled and He reviled not again. And anyone looking at Him would have said, “Oh He’s just a humble rabbi, a humble teacher that is teaching the Word of God.”
>
> We read similarly of Moses that of all men, he was the most meek. And yet Moses was qualified like no other human of that day to lead the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. He was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians to be a Pharaoh someday. He was used of God to write the first 5 books of the Bible. He was as qualified as anyone could be and yet he was of all men most meek, most humble. This is the way we are to walk. And here we see Jeremiah, who’s been assigned a tremendous task, and yet he starts out declaring his inadequacy.
>
> Now we have to be careful. Is Jeremiah saying this as an alibi as to why he doesn’t want to be a prophet? Because God responds to him not to say that he is a child. And the answer is no, Jeremiah is just recognizing his weakness as a humble individual, “I am not qualified at all.” In fact, are any of us qualified to be a prophet? No, we don’t have any qualifications of ourselves. The only qualification we have is what God gives us as He works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.
>
> Another example we might look at is King Solomon, from 1 Kings 3:3-10, where Solomon recognizes that [he is also but a child](1%20Kings%203.md#^7):
>
>  [1 Kings 3:3](1%20Kings%203.md#^3), [4](1%20Kings%203.md#^4), [5](1%20Kings%203.md#^5), [6](1%20Kings%203.md#^6), [7](1%20Kings%203.md#^7), [8](1%20Kings%203.md#^8), [9](1%20Kings%203.md#^9), [10](1%20Kings%203.md#^10)
>
> So you see that Solomon loved the LORD, saying, *“I [am but] a little child: I know not [how] to go out or come in.”* So here he is, a very humble king. And he was actually not a little child, he had already been reigning with David for four years. He could have been in his early twenties. But he comes very humbly before God as a little child, just like Jeremiah.
>
> There is also the example of Samuel in 1 Samuel 3:19-20, where God came to Samuel to establish him as a prophet of the Lord. And in that case Samuel actually was yet a young lad of perhaps 8 or 10 years of age ([1 Sam 3:19](1%20Samuel%203.md#^19) - [20](1%20Samuel%203.md#^20)).
>
> Of course, we also read in the New Testament, where Jesus specifically says that we are to be as a little child: [Mt 18:4](Matthew%2018.md#^4); [Mk 10:15](Mark%2010.md#^15); [Lk 18:17](Luke%2018.md#^17)
>
> If we are a child of God and love the Lord, we have a task to declare the Word of God, and we don’t have to be old. Yet even an old believers should become as a little child in humility. And every true believer is commissioned by God to be a prophet.
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###### 🔸7¶ But the $L{\small ORD}$ said unto me, Say not, I _am_ a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. ^7
> So God responds to Jeremiah from verse 6. Now what does God command a prophet to speak? We are to speak whatever we find in the Bible. The Source of our prophetic utterances can only come from the Bible today. That’s the only Source, there is no vision or a voice or supernatural experience. We read the Bible. That’s where we read about the problem of the human race and describes what salvation is, how people need the Gospel. And in the measure that we have come to know and understand the Truth of the Bible, in that measure we can speak. But don’t ever fall into the snare of thinking you always have to have an answer for everything. If you try to give an answer and you don’t actually know the answer then you’ll be telling a lie. Then you would be a false prophet. It’s better to say, “I’m sorry, I don’t know the answer to your question.”
>
> But we are to speak the whole counsel of God. We’re going to find that, with Jeremiah, much of what he had to speak was of doom and gloom, the judgment of God. In chapter after chapter we’re going to find that it’s negative, negative, negative. God’s judgment is upon Judah. So he had been given a very difficult task.
>
> And incidentally, that’s about where we are today. We also have been given a very difficult task. As New Testament prophets, the end-of-the-world prophets, if you will, as we bring the whole counsel of God we have to say a *lot* of things that are very unacceptable to those in the churches and to those in the world. When we prophesy that all of the human race is under the wrath of God and heading for judgment day, it is unacceptable to them. There’s nothing happy about that. You don’t win any friends or get any gold stars because you’ve spoken so kindly, they look upon you as an enemy normally. If we say that we are dirty, rotten sinners, someone will say, “Why do you use that ugly language?” We are stinking corpses, spiritually speaking, in the sight of God. And we have to be faithful in declaring that.
>
> But we also then say, “BUT, God is still saving. There is still the possibility of salvation in Christ up until Christ returns again.” Salvation goes on until the day that we see Christ coming on the clouds of glory. On that day it will be the last of God’s elect that will become saved and then the end will come. The only reason God is still allowing the world to continue on as wicked as it is is because He is still saving His elect. And this gives us vast assurance to any of us who are concerned that we are still unsaved. We can still plead with God, “Oh God, have mercy!” This is such a wonderful luxury. The idea that anyone can go into God’s throne-room and make himself known to God is a luxury beyond our imagination. Because who are any one of us? We are nothing. And God is the great King who rules over the whole universe. But we who are nothing can get a message right into God’s throne-room. What a blessing and luxury! Then we just wait upon God, He is Sovereign, He will do what is right. We just wait upon Him.
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###### 🔸8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I _am_ with thee to deliver thee, saith the $L{\small ORD}$. ^8
> Is God telling us that if we are a faithful prophet, no one will ever be able to give us physical harm? In what way does God protect us? Remember what Jesus says in the New Testament, in [Mt 10:28](Matthew%2010.md#^28) and [Lk 12:4](Luke%2012.md#^4).
>
> Suppose those we speak to kill us? So what? That’s the worst thing they can do to us. Well, they might torture us for a little while to make the death as grievous as possible. But, finally, are they damaging that person? Yes, they are physically. But it’s a time of glory because that individual knows after all that torture is done they will be in the glorious Presence of Christ in Heaven. So we have a super protection. People can take away our goods, they can take away our livelihood, they can take away our health, they can damage us physically. But these are all incidental to the larger picture. True, they are grievous at the moment. It’s true that as we live in destitution or with great pain or whatever, we wonder how can we go on? But we know that this life is but a drop in the ocean compared with the eternity on the other side of the grave. It is really just a drop.
>
> True, if we focus on this life as though that’s all there is, then we might wonder how can we live, how can we survive? We can really feel sorry for ourselves when life gets really difficult. But we fall into the snare of thinking this life is where it is, that it’s very important that I have something in this life. But we’ve forgotten that this is _not_ where it is, it is a time of sojourning and we are just passing through.
>
> As a child of God we must remember we’re living in a wicked world that doesn’t like Christ at all. It’s ruled over by Satan and of course we can expect to be reviled and experience all kinds of put-downs. And sometimes the worst revilings can come from those who are the most dear to us – a husband, a wife, a child, a father or mother. But we don’t have to be afraid because we know that God will never leave us nor forsake us, We know we are speaking for God if we are faithful to the Word of God. We have a legitimate task that God has assigned to us. We know that we have a future that is not dependent upon our wisdom or strength. Our future is entirely in God’s Wisdom. We know if things physically go from bad to worse, it is God’s divine plan. And if this is God’s divine plan for us, God does everything perfectly, so – so be it! That’s the way it has to be. Because again, we have that absolute assurance that one of these days, death is going to overtake us. “Someone is going to go too far in their torturing of me and I’ll be dead, and that will be the glorious moment when I am present with Christ in Heaven where there will be no more suffering or sorrow. I’ll know my work has been completed.”
>
> So as Jeremiah has been assigned a very difficult task, all of us as prophets have a very difficult task. It may not be conventional today to burn people alive at the stake. Nowadays they don’t throw people to the lions or torture people for being a child of God. But people can still assassinate your character and try to get you to react violently, as we remember that when Jesus was reviled He reviled not again, he didn’t revile back. So we know this is what we can expect in a world where there is so much sin.
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###### 🔸9 Then the $L{\small ORD}$ put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the $L{\small ORD}$ said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. ^9
> This is a very big statement. Jeremiah was not to bring his own ideas. He wasn’t to bring his own conclusions as he witnessed what was going on, maybe this or maybe that. No, has to be a faithful carrier of the Word of God. And this is true of ourselves. As we bring the Gospel to the world, we have to be very, very careful that we are faithfully declaring the Word of God – we don’t fall into the snare of putting our own spin on what we’re seeing or a twist on what we think, but that we listen carefully to the Word of God and bring that absolutely faithfully.
>
> Looking at [Isaiah 6:1](Isaiah%206.md#^1) and [2](Isaiah%206.md#^2), we see another prophet who had an equally solemn and terrible task to do. Isaiah prophesied at the time that Israel went into oblivion in 709BC under the wrath of God. And Isaiah was already not only prophesying this but was anticipating the very thing that Jeremiah has to prophesy – the demise of the nation of Judah. Again, God emphasizes that He qualifies him as a prophet.
>
> Isaiah is in this vision looking at God as the King and Judge of all the earth. He sees [Him as a King sitting on a Throne](Isaiah%206.md#^1) and [above Him the seraphims](Isaiah%206.md#^2). And the seraphim represent God as the Judge. And the seraphims covered His face and His feet, representing that no one can look at God in His glory and live. Only when we get to Heaven and there is no more sin but perfect holiness, then we will look at the Face of God and see Him as He is. And with 2 wings He did fly represents that God is everywhere Present. God as Judge is acquainted with what’s going on in the whole earth.
>
> Then in [Isaiah 6:3](Isaiah%206.md#^3) and [4](Isaiah%206.md#^4), smoke also gives us the picture of judgment. Smoke comes from fire, and fire has to do with judgment.
>
> Then look at Isaiah's reaction in [Isaiah 6:5](Isaiah%206.md#^5). Even though Isaiah can’t see His face or His feet – there is a covering – in another sense he has seen enough of Him that it’s as if he has seen Him, and he is filled with awe and dismayed because he recognizes his sinfulness. This gets back to the issue – do we fear and tremble before God? Or do we somehow regard this whole business of the Bible and our relationship with God in a very intellection, casual way? “Oh yes, I read the Bible from time to time, and I’ve learned to pray, and what else is new?” The fact is that we work out our salvation that God has provided _with fear and trembling_, and Isaiah is standing in the Presence of Almighty God saying, “Woe is me! I am undone!”
>
> Then read [Isaiah 6:6](Isaiah%206.md#^6) and [7](Isaiah%206.md#^7). Remember the seraphims represent God as the Judge. And Who is the Judge of all the earth? The Lord Jesus Christ – this represents Christ Himself, and He takes one of the coals from off the altar. And the coals and the altar represent the fact that Christ paid the penalty for our sins. And it is Christ, the Judge of all the earth, Who takes that coal to take away our iniquity and to purge our sin. Once we have been touched by the blood of the Lord Jesus, once we’ve had the covering of the Lord Jesus for our sins, then we know our sins are purged and we can continue to work out our salvation with fear and
> trembling.
>
> Notice now what happened afterward in [Isaiah 6:8](Isaiah%206.md#^8). Isaiah is ready to be sent forth as God's messenger.
>
> We’re not going to get into Isaiah more fully right now, but when we read the next few phrases we see that Isaiah’s task was very identical to Jeremiah’s task in [Isaiah 6:9](Isaiah%206.md#^9), [10](Isaiah%206.md#^10), [11](Isaiah%206.md#^11), [12](Isaiah%206.md#^12). In other words, Isaiah has to bring a warning, he has to bring the Word of God to a nation that will not understand him. They are on their way to judgment, they are blinded. And we’re going to find Jeremiah in that same predicament of bringing the message to a nation that is blinded. And we’re going to see that both of these events with Isaiah and Jeremiah are a picture of our day because we are looking at a time when the “believers” normally found in the churches and congregations are, to a very high degree, blinded, they do not hear.
>
> So as we go on in the book of Jeremiah we’re going to find a tremendous amount of information dealing with us today. And we can see that in both instances of Isaiah and Jeremiah, God particularly underscores, “Now look, you’re not speaking your words – I have touched your mouth. The word you are speaking is My Word.” And that makes a huge difference because we don’t have to apologize for what we say. We don’t have to fear that it may be wrong in what we’re saying, we just have to faithfully declare what *God* has to say.
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###### 🔸10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant. ^10
> This statement is so big we wonder if we really understand this. This youngster, Jeremiah, is set over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out, pull down, to destroy, to throw down, to build and to plant. What kind of super king has he become? Well, we have to understand what the Word of God is and to whom does it go? It is the Word of Almighty God that goes to _the whole human race_. Now whether the whole human race actually hears the Word of God or not, nevertheless, the Word of God rules over the entire human race. And the task of the prophet is to be a faithful carrier of the Word of God.
>
> Now the proof that the Word of God has the authority over the whole human race, and that the whole human race must answer to it, is seen on the last day. If someone is unsaved, regardless of whether they heard the Word of God or not, who is going to measure their guilt or innocence on the last day? The Word of God, the Bible, will be brought out. And that person will have to answer for their whole life – everything they thought or did or said will be measured by the Bible because the Bible has ruled over their life. If it happens that they had heard the Word of God, then if they are unsaved their guilt will simply be increased because they knew the Master’s will but disobeyed the Master’s voice, so they would be beaten with many stripes. If it happened to be that they never heard the Word of God, nevertheless the principles in the Word of God are written on their heart. They intuitively know that there is a God they have to serve, that they are a sinner, that it’s wrong to commit adultery, to steal, to commit lies, and so on. So in either case, whether they’ve actually heard the Word of God or have not heard it, they are under the total authority of the Word of God.
>
> Now in the case of Jeremiah, he is now been ordained to be a legitimate prophet, prophesying the Word of God. And he is going to be prophesying to some of the heathen nations round about – Moab, Ammon, Babylon and other nations round about, although the principle focus will be on the nations of Judah and Israel. Nevertheless, the words that he has been given are God’s Words that rule over _all_ of the nations of the world. And so, too, with us. When we have been ordained by God to bring the Gospel, it is the Gospel that all the nations should hear about, as God commands us to go into all the world with the Gospel. It is that Word that rules over them.
>
> Now it isn’t that Jeremiah, or that we, have become a great king when God says that He has set Jeremiah over the nations and the kingdoms – it is because God has sent him as His spokesman, as His ambassador. We are the messengers, and God has touched his mouth so that the message he brings isn’t Jeremiah’s message, it is *God’s* message. And since it is God’s message, it rules over whomever God directs it to – over all the nations and kingdoms.
>
> And it is *“to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.”*
>
> There are 4 synonyms here – very short and direct, all heavy with the portent of doom and gloom. Man in his pride tries to build institutions that will last forever. He tries to build a reputation. But everything comes under the scrutiny of the Word of God. And anything that is not done perfectly before God will be rooted out, pulled or thrown down and destroyed. And we’re going to find that also includes such glorious institutions as the churches and congregations. In the Old Testament it was the temple and all that went with it. It was destroyed because God rules over everything. Nothing is sacrosanct. The only reason the eternal, invisible church will not be destroyed is because it has become a perfect church, it has become Christ’s body that will continue forever and ever. So these 4 phrases here had to do with destruction: root out, pull down, destroy, throw down.
>
> But then there are 2 phrases that have to do with blessing: to build and to plant. Wonderfully, God does have a plan that even as He is destroying -- as He is pulling down, as He is rooting out and throwing down -- He also has a plan to build and to plant. There is going to be salvation possible right to the last day, and even in the book of Jeremiah we will see language that expresses this. There finally comes a time of latter rain in which there is a great multitude that no man can number that comes into the body of believers, even as the churches are being cut off. So it isn’t just all negative, even though much of Jeremiah is very negative.
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###### 🔸11 ¶ Moreover the word of the $L{\small ORD}$ came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. ^11
> This reminds us of something we find in Numbers 17, where God used the almond rod to indicate His Will. [In the previous chapter, Numbers 16:41, there was murmuring within the nation of Israel.](Numbers%2016.md#^41)
>
> There had been a great destruction because the people of Israel were rebelling against the leadership of Moses. And finally God responded with destruction in [Numbers 16:44](Numbers%2016.md#^44) - [45](Numbers%2016.md#^45).
>
> Moses and Aaron interceded on their behalf to stop the plague with incense in [Numbers 16:46](Numbers%2016.md#^46), [47](Numbers%2016.md#^47) and [48](Numbers%2016.md#^48).
>
> Aaron, obviously, is a picture of the Lord Jesus and the incense is the fact that Christ has made provision for our sins. He stands between the dead and the living, between sinners and God Himself.
>
> Then in verse 49 [we read that 14,700 people had been killed by the plague](Numbers%2016.md#^49) and [then Aaron returned to Moses to the door of the tabernacle ](Numbers%2016.md#^50).
>
> So there had been intense rebellion, and there had been intense retribution by God because of that rebellion. And now God is going to straighten out the matter of this rebellion against the leadership of Moses and Aaron in Numbers 17:2-3. [They were to take one of the principle leaders of each of the 12 tribes and write their names on the rods so that all 12 tribes would be represented](Numbers%2017.md#^2), and [Aaron was to do likewise with his rod for the house of Levi](Numbers%2017.md#^3).
>
> Then in verses 4-8 they were to [lay them up in the tabernacle before the testimony](Numbers%2017.md#^4). And the man's rod, whom God chose, [would blossom there](Numbers%2017.md#^5). So Moses spoke to them [to give him all the rods](Numbers%2017.md#^6), and he placed them [before the LORD in the tabernacle of witness](Numbers%2017.md#^7), and it was Aaron's rod [that budded and blossomed with almonds](Numbers%2017.md#^8).
>
> A miracle had been done, of course. An ordinary piece of wood is yielding almonds.
>
> Then in verses 9-11, Moses [brought out all the rods](Numbers%2017.md#^9), God commanded Moses [that Aaron's rod was to be kept as a token against them](Numbers%2017.md#^10) and [Moses did so](Numbers%2017.md#^11).
>
> So God used this sign of the blossoming almond rod to indicate, “This is my direction. Aaron is the High Priest so stop this rebellion.” So this blossoming rod is a very important sign that God is using because that is where the life is.
<br>
###### 🔸12 Then said the $L{\small ORD}$ unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it. ^12
> So after Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 1:11, “I see a rod of an almond tree,” the LORD says here, “Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.” He had just told Jeremiah that He ordained him to preach to the nations -- to tear down, to destroy, and to plant and to build. And this sign He has given Jeremiah emphasizes that it *will* be done.
>
> Now we have the whole Bible today. And we can read it and know that everything God has promised or threatened to do has always taken place. God is absolutely true to His commitments. We’re so unaccustomed to that because we’re normally trying to trust each other and we’re not always faithful to our commitments. Maybe we never do what we say we’re going to do. It doesn’t always mean we don’t follow through because of malice or forethought, it could simply be because we’re careless, we’re just not trustworthy. “Let God be true, but every man a liar.” But when it comes to God, whenever He declares that something is going to be, that is the way it will absolutely be.
<br>
###### 🔸13 And the word of the $L{\small ORD}$ came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and the face thereof _is_ toward the north. ^13
> Now God introduces a second sign which gets right into the import of the whole book of Jeremiah.
>
> The word for *seething* in the Hebrew is the word for *breath*. It’s the word used in Genesis when God made man and breathed into him the breath of life. And breath has to do with *life*.
>
> Now, the book of Jeremiah is going to speak chiefly about bringing Babylon against Judah. And we’ll see that this spiritually represents the loosing of Satan as he comes against the church during the end of the church age. If we go to Revelation 13:15, we see the actuality of Satan coming against the church of our day and we read, “And he had power to give _life_ unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” That is, there is a supernatural existence in all of this that is happening. When Satan takes his seat in the temple with signs and wonders, with falling over backwards, with visions and tongues – these are supernatural in character. It is a living threat. It is something of an entirely different character than anything that has ever happened before. And that’s the focal point of this pot or this cauldron in Jeremiah 1:13. It’s a figure of what you boil flesh in. And this is not just a dead threat, it has the supernatural power of God allowing Satan to bring supernatural life behind it.
>
> “Toward the north” isn’t the best translation in verse 13. It should be, “and the face of it is from before the north.” The enemy is approaching *from* the north, as we will see in the next few verses beginning with verse 14.
<br>
###### 🔸14 Then the $L{\small ORD}$ said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. ^14
> God frequently uses the north as a picture of Satan assaulting, as we see when the nation of Israel or Judah were attacked it was many times from the north. And the size of this threat in verse 14 is utterly enormous and comprehensive, it is an evil that shall break forth upon *all* the inhabitants of the land. We will see this developed more in the next verse.
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###### 🔸15 For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the $L{\small ORD}$; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah. ^15
> This is a big threat. We see this seething, this breathing pot in verse 13, this pot that has life to it. This not an incidental matter. And remember just ahead of this there was the rod of the almond tree where God said He *will* perform His Word. This seems like an impossible idea that He is talking about, to come against Judah in this manner. But don’t kid yourself, He *will* perform His Word. It just seems incredibly impossible that this could happen: Jerusalem is the apple of God’s eye, Jerusalem is the city of God. It’s where the temple was, the Holy of Holies. So this kind of a threat against Jerusalem is incredible.
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> But notice it is God Himself Who is performing this judgment. “For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD…” And as we tie this with other references in the Bible such as in Revelation where God and Magog come against the camp of the saints, we know it’s a very big statement that God is bringing all the kingdoms of the world, all the resources of Satan, in judgment against Jerusalem and Judah. That is, as verse 15 continues, “and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah.” The nations of the world who do not know God will set their throne at the gates of Jerusalem and against the walls of the cities of Judah. This means that no one can come in or go out of Jerusalem, there is an enemy who has set their throne at the gate. In other words, Judah is blocked, Jerusalem is blocked.
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> God has something terribly ominous developing here. He has brought these nations to surround Jerusalem, which makes us think of [Lk 21:20](Luke%2021.md#^20). This is speaking of the very same thing. The armies of the world have been brought around Jerusalem. And we’ll see that there was a historical antecedent here in Jeremiah when God brought Babylon against the city of Jerusalem and the cities of Judaea, where finally in the year 587 BC they were destroyed.
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> But now comes a very interesting and important question: Is this the main message of the book of Jeremiah, that ancient Judah and Jerusalem had become so wicked that God brought the enemy against them? We’ll see in the next verse (Jeremiah 1:16) that this was God’s judgment, “And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness…” Who does God really have in view? When we get to Jeremiah 2:1-3 and 3:3, we will see that God actually has the churches and congregations of today in mind.
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> We can also look at passages such as [Revelation 20:7](Revelation%2020.md#^7), [8](Revelation%2020.md#^8) and [9](Revelation%2020.md#^9), where God indicates that Satan will be bound for a thousand years, for the completeness of God’s plan, then after that he is loosed for a little season to come against the churches with the force of all the nations.
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> You see the battle! Satan is setting his throne at the gates of Jerusalem and the cities of Judah. The nations – that is, the whole world - compass or surround the camp of the saints, the beloved city. Where is the camp of the saints? It is Jerusalem that is composed of the Jerusalem above and the Jerusalem below, the corporate, visible representation of the kingdom of God as it’s found in the churches and congregations. Satan was typified by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon as Babylon is a picture of the kingdoms of the world (the kingdom of Satan), and God has set it at the entrances to Jerusalem. And that’s ominous beyond measure because no one can come in or go out while Satan has been loosed to be there. And remember when Christ warned us that when we see Jerusalem compassed with armies that we are to flee to the mountains before it’s too late, if we are a true believer we are to get out immediately.
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###### 🔸16 And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands. ^16
> Here God makes the indictment against *Jerusalem* and the cities of *Judah* ([Jer 1:15](Jeremiah%201.md#^15)). Again, these are the Jerusalem of our day -- the churches and congregations which are typified or pictured by ancient Jerusalem and Judah that were destroyed by Babylon as they came under God's judgment. And this is because of the wickedness of the churches as they have corrupted the Gospel for a man-centered version, made up in the minds of men. This is equivalent to Baal worship in the Old Testament, it is the same as worshiping false gods, the works of their hands.
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###### 🔸17 ¶ Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. ^17
> God is commanding Jeremiah to speak unto them, to Jerusalem and Judah, all that He has commanded. And in the same way Jeremiah is commanded to declare this to the Jerusalem and Judah of today, to the churches and congregations. This is for us today even more than it was for ancient Jerusalem and Judah as it is found here in the Bible for our instruction.
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> Jeremiah is commanded here to *gird up his loins*. In [Isaiah 11:5](Isaiah%2011.md#^5) it means to trust in the righteousness and faithfulness of God. And we are to take on the same task to declare the same message at this time when there is so much rebellion against the Word of God. We have to find our strength in the righteousness and faithfulness in God. We can't trust in our physical strength, in numbers or consensus or because it sounds reasonable. We simply trust the Bible.
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> And the loins had to do with the leather or linen belt where the sword was hung. He, and we, are to be prepared to get into the fight, we're to be prepared to do the will of God so that there's nothing getting in our way to be altogether faithful to the Word of God. There cannot be any hindrance or alibi. We cannot say we have our plans and we'll do this later on. It is a command that we have to speak.
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> The words *dismayed* and *confound* are the same Hebrew word meaning terrified or broken. This is a command again that underscores we're to be resolute in what we are saying. Jeremiah was to be resolute in declaring the Words of God.
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###### 🔸18 For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. ^18
> God says here, "I have made thee *this day* a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls...." Earlier in [verse 10](Jeremiah%201.md#^10), God had said, "See, I have *this day* set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms...." The word *day* identifies with Christ, He is Sun of righteousness ([Mal 4:2](Malachi%204.md#^2)), the bright and morning Star ([Rev 22:16](Revelation%2022#^16)), the Dayspring from on high ([Lk 1:78](Luke%201.md#^78)) and the Light of the world ([Jn 8:12](John%208.md#^12), [9:5](John%209.md#^5)). So in a very subtle way God is underscoring to Jeremiah and to us that we are to bring the Word of God, as Christ is the Word ([Jn 1:14](John%201.md#^14)). We are ambassadors or messengers for Christ ([2 Cor 5:20](2%20Corinthians%205.md#^20)), we do not speak for ourselves at all. He is our Defense ([Ps 62:2](Psalm%2062.md#^2)), He is our strong Tower ([Ps 61:3](Psalm%2061.md#^3); [Prv 18:10](Proverbs%2018.md#^10)), He is our Protector.
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> The iron pillar is a pillar that cannot be destroyed, it conveys the idea of strength. And the brasen or brass walls also have the strength of a strong metal. These are word-pictures that emphasize that we have great strength as we have the task to proclaim that God's judgment is upon Jerusalem and Judah, against the churches and congregations.
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###### 🔸19 And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I _am_ with thee, saith the $L{\small ORD}$, to deliver thee. ^19
> God warns that they shall fight against us, but they will not prevail because God is with us to deliver us. We don't have to fear what man might do. They can gnash their teeth, they can jump up and down and beat the air in anger, but God is in charge. All we are to do is to be faithful in our declaration of His Word.
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Tags: #Bible #KJV #Old_Testament #Jeremiah