Jeremiah – The Prophet Whom Jehovah Raised Up

Feature 1 – December 2015 — Grace & Truth Magazine

Jeremiah on the Ruins of Jerusalem
by Horace Vernet (1789-1863)
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JEREMIAH
The Prophet Whom Jehovah Raised Up

A Journey Into A Soul
When we come to the book of Jeremiah we do not find simply a prophecy or an autobiography. But as in the Psalms, we see the yearnings, fears and heartaches felt by a deeply sensitive soul. We are taken on an amazing journey into the innermost recesses of the heart and mind of a troubled man, beginning when he was young. He cried out against the lies, hypocrisy and sin of his day and yet wept bitter tears as he identified himself with those same ungrateful and rejecting people.

Jeremiah Was A Prophet And Close To God
Usually the first mention of a subject in the Bible gives a clue to its meaning, such as “prophet.” Abraham, though caught in a shameful denial of his wife, was and remained God’s representative. The king of Gerar, Abimelech, (see Genesis 20:7) was warned by God, “Now therefore restore the man his wife, for he is a prophet and he shall pray for thee” (KJV). The New Testament tells us that the gift of prophecy involves understanding mysteries and having knowledge (1 Cor. 13:2). The gospel says of John the Baptist that he was a “man sent from [beside] God” (Jn. 1:6, literally the preposition is “para,” as in “parallel” or “along side”). A prophet was a man or woman who was close to God, being a person of prayer.

We may safely infer that Jeremiah, even as a young man, led a life of prayer and was very close to God. This second aspect may be seen in Adam, with whom the LORD God walked in the garden (Gen. 3:8), or Enoch, who “walked with God and he was not for God took him” (Gen. 5:22-23).

There is a mistaken idea that to be a prophet is to suddenly speak as God directs without knowing beforehand what to say. Consider, however, that when God called the craftsmen to build the tabernacle He put wisdom into the hearts of all those who were already “wise hearted” (Ex. 31:6). We also do not find in Scripture utterances where prophets lost their self-control or became disorderly. The fruit of the Spirit is, among other things, self-control (“temperance” in KJV, Gal. 5:23).

Jeremiah Was Young
In his own eyes Jeremiah was too young for the task to which God had called him. “Ah! Lord GOD, I cannot speak: for I am a child” (Jer. 1:6). The LORD, having told him of his calling, very gently “put forth His hand and touched” the young man’s mouth (v.9). How lovingly our God bears up and encourages us, unlike the gods of the nations.

Jeremiah’s First Vision
God spoke to Jeremiah in pictorial language as well as in plain speech. And Jeremiah, whose name means “Jehovah will raise up,” was well read in Scripture. Knowing the workings of our minds, God knew that the first vision, a “rod of an almond tree” (v.11), would fix itself in the young man’s mind.

The promise with the vision was “I will hasten My word to perform it” (v.12). Jeremiah would have known about Aaron’s rod and the need to confirm Aaron’s priesthood through resurrection power. Without doubt, Aaron was the LORD’s chosen priest (read Numbers 17:1-9). Jeremiah would not have missed the clear implication that his own ministry was confirmed to him by the great power of God and that nothing – not all the hatred and bitterness of his countrymen or the opposition of the priests – could do anything to alter or stop it.

Our own service and priesthood is also confirmed by the same power. Did not the risen Lord commission us when He was raised from the dead? He told us to go, and make disciples of all nations “and Lo! I am with you always even unto the end of the age” (see Matthew 28:18-20).

Jeremiah’s Second Vision
We often view Jeremiah as a prophet of judgment, forgetting that his message was one of hope after God’s judgments have been poured out. In the second vision God asked, “What seest thou?” The young man answered, “I see a seething pot [boiling pot] and the face thereof is toward the north.” God then gave the interpretation: “Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land” (1:13-14).

Now, looking back, we see that the Assyrians and Babylonians wreaked havoc on Israel just as the last terrible King of the North will do in a coming day – all three being God’s instruments of judgment. These are also viewed as being used of Him to bring Israel to repentance and eventually to its new birth (Isa. 53, 66:8; Zech. 12). The boiling pot may be poured out against a faithless nation, but salvation will come to them when at last they “mourn for Him whom they pierced” (v.10). The Savior, Jehovah Himself, “will stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives” (14:4).

Jeremiah Was Intelligent And Knew The Scriptures
Jeremiah’s mind was filled with Scripture. He had read, for instance, about God’s displeasure when Israel fetched the ark from Shiloh to take it into battle, trying to force God to protect them (Josh. 18:1; 1 Sam. 4:3-4; Ps. 78:60; Jer. 7:12-15). Jeremiah was then able to reason with faultless logic, like Paul, as to God’s dealings with His people concerning the covenants (11:1-8, 31:31-34, 34:13-14) and God’s plans with regard to the new covenant. He understood their fulfillments during Israel’s history up to and including his own day.

In Jeremiah 15, the LORD referred to Moses and Samuel, making Jeremiah fully aware of their standing before God. The frequent references to judgments by the Gentile nations clearly refer to Deuteronomy 28, in particular verse 49, which the prophet seems to partially quote in Jeremiah 5:15. Further in chapter 15 the Lord told Jeremiah about the deeds of Manasseh (v.4).

The prophet said, “Thy words were found and I did eat them” (v.16). In this he expressed sentiments very similar to Job’s and the psalmist’s (Job 23:12; Ps. 119:103). It is also remarkably similar to the experience of Jeremiah’s contemporary, Ezekiel, who was given a “roll of a book” and told, “eat this roll, and go and speak to the house of Israel” (Ezek. 2:8-3:1).

Jeremiah Was Tender And Sensitive
We see Jeremiah as an intelligent and sensitive soul, strengthed by his experiences with God and his knowledge of the Scriptures. He identified himself with God and His people, filling Lamentations with examples, such as: “The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled against His commandments: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow” (1:18). In his acknowledgment of God’s righteousness and his confession of Israel’s sin, it is often difficult to see whether the prophet was speaking of himself or identifying himself with God’s wayward people. So in tune was he with God that he felt His offended justice and the deep hurt and sadness of living among sin which demanded judgment. “My virgins and My young men are gone into captivity ... My priests and Mine elders gave up the ghost in the city, while they sought for meat to relieve their souls” (v.19, consider Isaiah 55:8-9). The difficulty of being able to resolve this is itself evidence of the closeness of the mind of Jeremiah to God.

Jeremiah made another prophetic statement when he uttered, “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me. Wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger” (Lam. 1:12). The thoughts of the speaker went from himself to those of God for whom he was speaking. In this portion we not only have the tragic sorrow of Israel’s distress but we also have a Messianic passage. It beautifully captures the thoughts of Him who was “despised and rejected of men” (Isa. 53:3).

Jeremiah’s gentleness and humility gave him a certain shyness or timidity. Being of this nature, God had to encourage him. The Lord had strengthened him with the words, “Gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces ... I have made thee this day a defenced city and an iron pillar and brasen walls against the whole land” (Jer. 1:17-18, also see 15:20).

Jeremiah Was Brave
We see Jeremiah courageously enduring a muddy dungeon even though falsely accused of being a traitor (38:6-13). He defied the authorities and braved the king’s anger in publishing the word of God and faithfully warning of “all the evil which [God] purposed to do” (36:3). And he spoke against the priests, prophets and people – standing up for God with the support of only a handful of friends (5:30-31, 15:1, 20:1-6, 22:1-5, 23:1-2). Not everyone is able to speak the most unpopular truths and accept being called a traitor and a subversive. But Jeremiah was brave because he was faithful (37:13-15, 38:4).

Jeremiah Was Despised And Rejected
This prophet was misunderstood, often willfully. He was imprisoned and cruelly treated. He had few close friends and was largely ignored. Much of what he said is Messianic, and these things put together make him also a Messianic figure.

His sufferings are very similar to those of Job and, like Job, he wished that he had never been born (20:14-18; Job 3:1-3). Anyone who suffers like this is being granted a great privilege. Jeremiah may not have recognized it at the time, but while he sank in the mire and the priests and prophets cried for his blood he was actually going through similar sufferings as those the Lord Jesus was to endure. None of us wants to suffer, but there is great reward in undergoing sufferings for the sake of our Savior.

Jeremiah Today
What may surprise us most is Jeremiah’s lack of success, as men count success. We can imagine the skeptic seeing Jeremiah sinking in the mud in the dungeon and asking, “What blessings has God given you in your ministry?” Many superficial Christians today would conclude that Jeremiah was clearly out of the will of God. They would all be wrong. “Worldly Wiseman” concludes that God was not blessing. He also says that where there is a lot of noise, action and fuss we see God at work. Not so!

Jeremiah and Ezekiel were prophets for a “post Christian” age. If we are faithful where Satan is dominating we shall see few results, much rejection and lots of ridicule. But in considering Jeremiah we see clearly that the example of his life is a model for us all.

By Roger Penney