Jeremiah 1
Questions answered from Jeremiah 1
Chuck Smith on Jeremiah 1
Verse by verse, the C2000, 1979 to 1985 and C3000, 1985 to 1999 series. Permission granted by The Word For Today.
C2000 · 1979 to 1985
Chapter introduction
At this time shall we turn in our Bibles to the book of Jeremiah.
About sixty years after Isaiah died, God called Jeremiah to what I feel must have been the hardest task any minister has ever been called upon to perform for the Lord. Jeremiah had to oversee the death of the nation. He had to watch it as it was in its final death throws, as it went into convulsions and died and was carried away captive to Babylon. His ministry was destined from the beginning for failure. That is, the people were not going to hearken. The people were not going to change. They had set their course and their destiny was determined. And yet, because God is so faithful, God continued His witness to them until they were carried away captive to Babylon. And He didn't really stop then. He had Daniel and Ezekiel there in Babylon continuing to witness to them even after their captivity. But Jeremiah's ministry wasn't to be successful as far as really bringing these people back to a spiritual relationship with God. They were on the way downhill. There was no recovery at this point and he had to sadly watch these people as they disregarded his warnings and as they went on into captivity.
Verse 1
So the book of Jeremiah begins with,
The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin (1:1):
Now you will find that there is another priest Hilkiah who was the high priest, that is not the father of Jeremiah. Though Jeremiah was a priest, the fact that he was from Anathoth indicates that he was of the Kohathites. And the Kohathites had been removed, that particular branch of the Levites had been removed from the high priesthood. And so this Hilkiah, the father of Jeremiah, was not synonymous with the Hilkiah the high priest.
Verse 2
To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign (1:2).
Now Josiah was basically a good king. He was eight years old when he began to reign. So naturally being just a child, eight years old, he was just a puppet for the beginning of his reign upon the throne, as other men had good influences upon Josiah and he instituted spiritual reforms in beginning with the fifth year of his reign. And by the time the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, the spiritual reforms of Josiah had been pretty effective in that they had gotten rid of most of the altars unto Baal and the groves and the high places where they had worshipped the false gods. Where the people of Israel had worshipped these false gods. And yet, it was still in their hearts. Though outwardly there was a spiritual reform, inwardly they had not turned with all of their hearts to God. So it was a time of outward spiritual revival because the king was a godly king. But as soon as Josiah died, the nation lapsed right back into its idolatry, which indicates that it wasn't really a move towards God from their hearts, but only a surface thing in seeking to please the king. They went along with the spiritual reforms. So because it was only surface and not down in the heart of the nation, even during the reign of Josiah, Jeremiah cried out against the things that were going on.
During the reign of Josiah they re-instituted the worship in the temple. But God said, "Go down in the temple and cry to the people as they go in, 'Trust not in lying vanities saying, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these." God said I've forsaken them.'" And so while Josiah was king, though, Jeremiah did not face, really, persecution, but once Josiah died and Jehoiakim came on to the throne, then Jehoiakim began to persecute Jeremiah. There were several endeavors to kill him. He was placed in the dungeon, and the same is true through the reign of Zedekiah. Jeremiah spent most of the time in prison. And so he lists these three kings.
Verse 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 [who was the last of the kings] the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month (1:3).
Now there were two other kings who reigned during this same period, but their reigns were both of them short-lived. Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin both had a three-month reign during the same period that Jeremiah was prophesying. But because they reigned for such a short period, Jeremiah does not list them as the kings that were reigning. And it could be that the Lord didn't speak to Jeremiah during those particular periods that Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin were reigning. So the three major kings. Actually, Josiah reigned for thirty-one years. And then Jehoiakim reigned for eleven years and Zedekiah reigned for eleven years until he was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar, his eyes were put out, and he was carried away to captivity in Babylon.
Now Jeremiah continued to live there. Nebuchadnezzar gave Jeremiah the choice of staying there or coming to Babylon. Because Jeremiah was actually accused of treason during a part of his prophesying because he was telling the people, "Look, surrender to the Babylonians. They're going to take you. And so it's better to surrender than to be devastated." And so he was accused of treason and imprisoned as a result of it. They thought that he was in conspiracy with the Babylonians. But Nebuchadnezzar, in honoring Jeremiah because of his true prophecies, offered him to come and to have a place there in Babylon. But being the true patriot that he was, he chose to remain there in Jerusalem under the vassal reign of Gedaliah until he was put to death by those evil men. And then he was more or less kidnapped and taken to Egypt. He still wanted to stay, but the people were afraid that as a result of their rebellion against the vassal king that Nebuchadnezzar had set up Gedaliah, that Nebuchadnezzar was going to come and really destroy them. And so they fled to Egypt and they took Jeremiah with them. And at this point, there are legends and rumors and stories of what happened to Jeremiah.
One very common of the rumors is that Jeremiah took the ark of the covenant and hid it, and there are some references in some of the books in the apocrypha to the place where Jeremiah hid the ark of the covenant. Other stories are that he took one of the young princes and ferreted him off to Egypt. And then according to some of the legends that are especially promulgated by the people who are called British Israelites, those who seek to identify the Anglo-Saxon races with the tribes of Israel, they say that Jeremiah spirited the prince to England where he became the king and that the present Queen of England and Prince Charles are direct descendants of the Davidic line. So God has kept His promise that from the seed of David there would not lack being one on the throne. And so that is the only place where there's still a monarchy and they are direct descendants and they go into a long rigamarole of trying to prove their point of this ethnic relationship between the Anglo-Saxon races and the British and Scottish and Danish and so forth.
They say Dane. You see, it's Dan, Dan-ish. And the word ish in Hebrew is man. So it's Dan's man, the tribe of Dan. The Danish are the tribe of Dan. The Brit-ish, you see the ish on the end proves that they are the lost tribes of Israel. They seem to ignore foolish, but... There is surely not enough solid evidence to prove their claims. It has to be stated that the claims are based much more upon fantasy and hopefulness than on actual reality from historical record.
But those are just part of the stories that surround Jeremiah. It is thought that actually he was put to death finally there on one of the banks of the Nile. One of the tributaries to the Nile River. But the Bible is silent so we must be. It's only guesswork after the Bible ceases its record.
Verse 4:
Verses 4–5
Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before you came forth out of the womb I set thee apart, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations (1:4-5).
Now there is a lot of question today as to when life begins, as we deal with this area of abortion. But I think that it is significant that God declares to Jeremiah, "Before the fetus was ever formed, I knew you; before you ever came forth out of the womb I had already set you apart." God's purposes for our lives were not established after we were born. God's purposes for our lives had been established from the beginning. From the beginning of time. What God said to Jeremiah He could very well say to each one of you. "Before you were ever in a fetal state I knew you. Before you ever came forth out of the womb I had set you apart for the purpose and the plan that I have for your lives." The thing is, for me to discover and to come into harmony with that plan that God has for me, that's the important thing for me. My destiny has already been determined. The Bible says, "We are His workmanship, created together in Christ Jesus unto the good works, that God has before ordained that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). God has already before ordained that which He has planned for your life. Now in the meantime, He is working in your life to prepare you for those works. Thus, we are His workmanship. God is working in us tonight.
Paul the apostle speaks about having been separated from his mother's womb. God's hand was on my life from the beginning. The recognition of that. And I'm certain that each of us can look back and we can see how God's hand has been upon our life from the beginning. In the experiences and all that we've gone through as God is preparing us for His work. So God speaks to Jeremiah and speaks about his prenatal state.
Verse 6
Then said I (1:6),
Jeremiah responded to God.
Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child (1:6).
Now as you figure the years that Jeremiah prophesied, and the fact that he was still alive after the captivity and went to Egypt and all, Jeremiah was probably somewhere between seventeen and twenty-five years old when the call of God came to him. And that's where the estimates usually range—between seventeen and twenty-five. Now can you imagine a seventeen-year-old boy and God saying, "I knew you before you were ever in a fetal state and I set you apart. You're to go talk to President Reagan. And you're to tell him, 'Thus saith the Lord.'" I'm sure you'd have the same problem that Jeremiah, "Who am I, Lord? I'm just a young man." And that's what the Hebrew word is there. "I'm just a young man." Usually indicated a teenager.
Verse 7
But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a young man: for you shall go to all that I send you, and whatsoever I command you you shall speak (1:7).
So often it seems that when God called a person for a particular service, they were aware of their inabilities to fulfill that service for God. God called Moses. "O God, I can't speak. I haven't been able to speak and I can't even speak now." So many times people are trying to excuse themselves because of the recognition of their own inability. But in reality, God isn't looking for talented, abled people. He's just looking for willing people. That we would not go forth in our abilities, in our genius, but we would trust in the Lord and go forth in the power of the Spirit. So God said, "Don't say. Now don't say that. Don't say you can't do it. Don't say you're but a child." Gideon said, "O Lord, you can't mean me. My father is a nobody and I'm the least in my father's family. You can't mean me." Saul, when Samuel said, "God has called you to be the king over Israel." "Oh no, no. There's a mistake here somewhere." And many times when God lays upon our hearts the things that He has in mind, we say, "Lord, there's a mistake here somewhere. The angels got the wrong address. He's delivering the message to the wrong person, Lord, that's not me."
But the very consciousness of our ability is the very thing that qualifies us for that which God wants to do. Because God said, "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord" (Zechariah 4:6). So it isn't my ability that God is really seeking for. It's just a channel, an instrument through which He can do His work. And if I feel like I can't do it then that makes me a more yielded vessel unto God. If I feel, "All right, Lord, You bet. Just been waiting for You. I'll do it right away." Then it takes a while before God beats me down to nothing. So then He can go ahead and do what He's been wanting to do through me. In every service to which God calls us, there is that feeling of, "I'm ill-equipped. O Lord, who am I?"
Verse 8
Now God said,
Be not afraid of their faces (1:8):
Here is a young fellow going out and saying these things that are going to get people mad, and they're going to start glaring at him and gritting their teeth and scowling and making all kinds of fierce faces at him, because he's saying things they don't like. So God said, "Don't be afraid of their faces."
for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD (1:8).
So God's personal message of comfort to the prophet, "Now don't be afraid the way they look at you because I'm with you to deliver you."
Verses 9–10
Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee this day over the nations (1:9-10),
Imagine God saying this to just a young fellow, seventeen, eighteen years old. "Today, now look, I've touched you and I've set you over the nations." "Me?"
Verse 10
and over the kingdoms, [and this was his ministry] to root out, to pull down, and to destroy (1:10),
Oh, what a ministry.
Years ago when I was just a child and started in the ministry, our second pastorate was in Tucson, Arizona. And I have not always been the most tactful person in the world, nor am I yet. I'm not quite as blunt as Romaine, but I'm still not always graceful and tactful. And I do have the capacity of just speaking what I feel to be the truth and I think that it's important that the truth be spoken even though it does cut or hurt. I've always believed in the proverb, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful" (Proverbs 27:6). And so when we were pastoring in Tucson in the first part of our pastoring there, we did a very excellent job in sort of emptying the church. And I received my first, not the last, but my first anonymous letter. I get them all the time now, but I received my first anonymous letter. And I read the first; I don't read them anymore. But it said, "When Jesus was a boy and was a carpenter in his father's shop, we never read of him using a wrecking bar." And they spelled it r-e-c-k-i-n-g. And I think that the intimation was that I was wrecking the church or something. But it was, it seems, that God called me as He did Jeremiah to root out, to pull down, and to destroy. You see, oftentimes the system becomes so corrupt that there's nothing to build on. Now God's purpose is always that of building, but He cannot always start out building. Many times He has to tear down what is there.
Now in a lot of this redevelopment, downtown stuff, they have to go in with bulldozers and just level the buildings. Tear them out and haul them away, and then they start the new building projects and the high-rises and so forth. Because the stuff is so old, it's so decrepit, it's so corrupt that you wouldn't dare try to build on it. The nation Israel had come to the place where it was beyond recovery. It was necessary now that God just pull down, root out, tear out what was left in order that He might start His new work of planting and of building. So Jeremiah's ministry was, first of all, to root out, pull down, destroy.
and to throw down, [and then] to build, and to plant (1:10).
As God starts then His new work. God never tears down in our lives except to the end that He might begin His true work of building up and planting that new work in us. So you may be in that stage right now where God is still rooting out. You say, "Oh Lord, you know. You're bringing me to nothing." Yes, that's what He wants to do in order that He might start His building and His planting in your life. So that ministry to which God called Jeremiah is a very common type calling as God must get rid of the present corrupt system in order that He might establish His new work. That is why I feel that very rarely do you ever see real revival come within the framework of a denomination. That God seems to always go outside and start a new work. He doesn't try to bring recovery to the old systems. He doesn't try to pour the new wine in the old skins. He doesn't sew the new piece of cloth on the old garment. But He usually goes outside and starts a whole new building process.
Verse 11
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what do you see? And he said, I see a rod of an awakening tree (1:11).
The almond tree in Hebrew is an awakening tree because the almond tree is the first tree that awakes in the spring. In fact, the almond trees begin to blossom in January. They're the first trees to come out of the winter season there in the holy land. They start to blossom in January and by March they have their almonds and all on them. So it's called an awakening tree because it's the first tree to awaken in the... after the winter season.
Verse 12
Then said the LORD unto me, You have seen correctly: for I will [watch over or awake over] my word to perform it (1:12).
"What do you see?" "I see an awakening tree." "That's right. You've seen good, because I'm going to be awake over My Word to perform it. I'm going to watch over My Word to perform it."
Verses 13–14
And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying, What do you see? And I said, I see a boiling pot; and the face of it is towards the north. Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land (1:13-14).
Now Babylon was actually east, but in order to attack they had to come to the north and come down from the north, rather than coming across the desert area there. And so it is a reference to Babylon and the coming invasion.
Verses 15–16
For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; 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 the cities of Judah. 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 (1:15-16).
So God is going to bring judgment upon His people because of their wickedness, because they have forsaken God, and they have turned to other gods and are burning incense to these other gods and worshipping these little idols that they have made with their own hands.
Now some of the latest archaeological diggings in the city of Jerusalem are in the area of the old City of David, Ophel, that is down below the temple mount area. The City of David was actually down below that temple mount area. The temple was put up there on Mount Moriah by David's son, Solomon, but that was sort of the outskirts of the city in a westerly direction. And the City of David is on that hill of Ophel coming up from the pool of Siloam and the Gihon springs. That mound that comes up was the original city of Jerusalem and the City of David. And they are now doing quite a bit of archaeological diggings on the side of the hill there and they are uncovering houses that date back to the time of Jeremiah. The little houses that they are uncovering were broken down by Nebuchadnezzar during the time that Jeremiah was alive. So the archaeologist's spade is going right back to the time of Jeremiah. And as they are pulling the rubble and the rocks off of these dwelling places, for when they came back from the Babylonian captivity, rather than rebuilding the houses they just covered them over with dirt and build on top of them. And so they have dug down and they found these houses, but the interesting thing in the rubble of the houses there, they are discovering multitudes of little idols that the people had made and were worshipping. A confirmation to the Word of the Lord here to Jeremiah where He said they worshipped the works of their own hands. In each one of the houses multitudes of these little idols. They're getting a collection of little idols like you can't believe. So God says, "My judgment is coming."
Verse 17
Therefore gird up thy loins (1:17),
Now the guys wore these long skirts, and they're all right for walking around, but if you're going to go to work you've got to pull the things up and tie your sash so that your legs have free movement. If you're going to run, you got to gird up your loins. You gird up the skirts, you pull them on up, tie your sash so that you can really get to work. You can't work with that long robe down to the ground. So that term, "gird up your loins," is always in reference to pulling up the long skirt that the men wore and tying the sash around to hold the thing up so that you can get to work. It's sort of a phrase that says, "And now get to work. Get busy."
and arise, and speak unto them all that I command you: be not dismayed at their faces (1:17),
Now the second time Lord said that, because they're going to be looking at you and some real angry looks.
lest I confound thee before them (1:17).
Now it's an interesting thing if... A lot of times, especially when you've got a message, you've got to not even look at the faces of the people if it's a harsh message, because their faces might make you lose your thought and you get confounded because you're reacting to the response of the people to the message. So He said, "Don't look at their faces lest you get confounded. Just go out and speak the word that I put in your mouth. And it's going to have a negative effect upon them, so just don't look at their faces lest I confound you before them."
Verse 18
For, behold, I have made thee this day a defensed city, and an iron pillar, and brass wall against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes, against the priests, and against the people (1:18).
Man, you're going to stand against them all, Jeremiah. You're going to be standing against the kings, the priests, the princes and all the people. You're going to be almost alone in this thing. But I've made you a defensed city. I'm going to defend you. I'm going to put a wall around you.
Verse 19
And they shall fight against thee; but they will not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver you (1:19).
Now here is his commission. Here is his calling, and it is interesting to me that in his calling, God doesn't lay out a nice, rosy picture. "Jeremiah, I'm going to call you now to a wonderful job and you're going to minister for me. And because you're a minister, I want you to drive a Cadillac and live on Lido Island and enjoy the best now. Because after all, you're my child. You deserve the best." No, God laid out the truth of what's going to happen to you, Jeremiah. It's not going to be easy. "You better not look at their faces; it will scare you. I've set you against the king, the princes, the priests, the people, the whole caboodle. You're going to be there by yourself and they're going to turn against you. But don't worry, I'm going to be with you. I'm going to deliver you."
When the Lord called Paul the apostle on the road to Damascus and brought that dramatic change in his life, as Paul was there and the Lord was saying to Paul, "Now Paul, I'm calling you to go to the Gentiles." And the Lord laid out for Paul the whole ministry that He had for him. When Paul came to the city of Damascus still blind, and of course, I am certain in his mind total mental confusion. Here he was on the road to Damascus breathing out threats against this new sect of Christianity. Actually, the word is breathing out murders against them. He was so uptight against this sect that would dare to declare that Jesus was the Messiah and to go against the teaching of the Pharisees. And breathing out murders against them with papers to imprison those who call upon the name of the Lord there in Damascus. There on the road a life changing experience as he's lying on the ground and someone is saying to him, "Why are you kicking against the pricks?" "Who are You, Lord, that I might serve You?" "I'm Jesus whom you persecute." "What would you have me to do, Lord?" And the Lord told him what He had him to do.
For when Paul was in Damascus and still going over these things in his mind after three days, the Lord spoke to a man by the name of Ananias and He said, "Ananias, go over and lay your hands upon Paul or Saul that he might receive his sight." And he said, "Oh Lord, You're kidding, aren't You? I'm on his hit list. I've heard about this guy. He's been just wrecking havoc in the church in Jerusalem. This guy's fierce." The Lord said, "No, don't worry, you go and do what I told you to do, for he is a chosen vessel unto Me and I have shown him all of the things that he's going to have to suffer for My sake." The Lord said, "Paul, here's what I want you to do. I want you to go to the Gentiles, but it's not going to be easy. You're going to be stoned. They're going to drag you out of the city thinking you're dead. They're going to whip you. They're going to be beating you. But I want you to go for Me." Paul said, "All right, let's go for it." I think that that's very commendable on Paul's part, that even having heard all the things he was going to suffer, he still made that commitment.
Now sometimes ministers like to lay out a rosy path for you. "Just receive Jesus and life is going to be so beautiful. You'll have no more problems because it's just a nice bed of roses. Just get on the air mattress and float into heaven." No way! And Jesus didn't say that. He said, "Look, if they didn't receive Me, they're not going to receive you. If they persecuted Me, they're going to persecute you, because the servant is not greater than his Lord. Take up your cross and follow Me." He didn't paint a rosy picture. He told them the truth and I think it's important that we tell people the truth. It isn't easy to follow the Lord. It isn't easy to serve the Lord. You're going to be going against the tide. But as the Lord said to Jeremiah, "I will put a wall around you. I will be your defense." And you will have experiences with God that will be invaluable as you see God's hand upon you and God's defense around you and the work of God. It's beautiful.
C3000 · 1985 to 1999
Chapter introduction
Let's turn now in our Bibles to Jeremiah 1 as we continue our journey through the scripture.
Verse 1
The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin (1:1):
Anathoth was about three miles to the north-east north of Jerusalem. It was one of the priestly cities. The priests were not given an inheritance in the land. The Lord was their inheritance. They did have certain cities. Anathoth was one of the priestly cities. Hilkiah was the high priest at the time that Josiah was King over Judah. There is reason to believe that this Hilkiah the father of Jeremiah was indeed the high priest at that time. So it would mean that he came from a family of notable spiritual influence in Israel.
His uncle was Shallum and Huldah the prophetess was the wife of Shallum. Thus his aunt Huldah was the prophetess that they consulted when they found the words of the Law.
Verse 2
To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son so Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign (1:2).
Now Josiah came to the throne of Israel after the reign of Amon. Isaiah prophesied during the reign of Hezekiah. Jeremiah is about sixty years after Hezekiah's time. When Hezekiah died his son Manassah took the throne. Manassah was an extremely wicked king. He killed the prophets of God. According to tradition he had Isaiah the prophet sawed in two. In the Book of Hebrews it talks about how these men of God of whom the world was not worthy, how they were killed and sawn asunder or sawn in two.
It is thought that that is the reference to Isaiah at the hands of cruel Manassah. Manassah was totally evil. He led the nation in a downward plunge from which it never fully recovered. At the death of Manassah his son Amon took the throne and ruled only for two years. At his death Josiah came to the throne but Josiah was only eight years old when he became king in Judah. When he was sixteen years old he began a spiritual reformation. During this time of spiritual reformation they began to rebuild the temple which had become wasted because of disuse. It had become a trash heap and it had deteriorated. Thus they went in and began to remodel and refurbish the temple. In the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah is when Jeremiah began his prophecy and his prophesying to the nation.
Verse 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 (1:3).
So, these are the final days of Judah before going into captivity. When reign of Josiah ended at his death, Jehoash took the throne. Jeremiah does not mention Jehoash probably because he only reigned for three months before he was assassinated. When Jehoash was assassinated Jehoiakim came to the throne. Jehoiakim ruled for eleven years and his reign was followed be Jehoiachin. Jeremiah does not recognize him either. He was eight years old when he started to reign and he only reigned for three months and he was wiped out. It was a time of real civil turmoil and unrest and thus those two short reigns are not recognized. The longer reigns were acknowledged here. And Zedekiah reigned for eleven years before he was carried away as a captive to Babylon.
So Jeremiah lived during this whole period of the fall of Judah to Babylon. He lived through the sieges and the captivities, the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. And he was called of God to prophesy in these days of great spiritual declension, days in which the nation had turned from God and had taken a course from which it did not alter. A course that was doomed to bring it to destruction and ultimately did bring the nation to destruction. It is sad to see a nation die. This was the lot of Jeremiah. The interesting thing is that God was still speaking though they had irrevocably turned against Him and had taken the course that was destined to destroy them God continued to speak.
God just does not give up. And He continues to speak even after a person has taken a direction and course of life that is going to ensure that person's destruction. The Lord continues to speak. Thus was the case with Jeremiah. The marvelous thing was that God was still speaking to these people and still calling them to repent, still calling them to return to God. Though they did not and it ultimately brought their ruin. They had false prophets and it must be noted that the false prophets were encouraging them in their practices. The false prophets were saying that Jeremiah was a liar and that he was not prophesying of God and that surely they were going to triumph over their foes and they were going to drive out the Babylonians. These false prophets prevailed in Israel. Tragically Israel was destroyed.
He prophesied,
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 (1:3).
That would be the month of August. It is in the spiritual calendar of Israel which began in April.
Verse 4
Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying (1:4),
This is a recounting of the beginning of this experience of Jeremiah in hearing the word of the LORD. All through the book of Jeremiah you hear this phrase repeated, "The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet saying". As we read over and over how the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, it is interesting and my mind is curious just how did the LORD did speak to Jeremiah? Was it an audible voice? Was it a still small inner voice? Jeremiah speaks with such confidence that “the word of the LORD came to me saying,” you wonder how did the LORD speak to Jeremiah.
Today people often times use that terminology, "Well the LORD spoke to me the other day and the LORD showed me." We use terms like that. Rarely does a person refer to having heard an audible voice. I do believe that the LORD speaks to me and has spoken to me. I must confess that I have never heard an audible voice. Now if a person declares that they have heard an audible voice of God speaking to them I do not doubt that. I believe that God can speak to people audibly, I am only making mention of the fact that He has never spoken to me audibly. On a few occasion God has spoken to me in such a powerful way that it was almost audible. It was just such a way in which He spoke to me it was as though it were an audible voice but I have never really heard an audible voice from the LORD.
With Jeremiah it would appear that it was not an audible voice. We find the case where the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah saying, “buy the field of your uncle for it is coming up for redemption and the right of redemption is yours.” Now this happened when the Babylonians were besieging the city of Jerusalem. At that time Jeremiah was in the dungeon for his prophecies. The next day his cousin Hanameel came to him and said, "My father has sent me to ask you to redeem his field for the right of redemption is yours." Then Jeremiah said, “Then I knew it was the word of the LORD that came to me saying buy the field.” He had the impression, evidently, "I ought to go ahead and redeem the field that belonged to my uncle." When the cousin came and said "My father sent me to ask you to redeem the field" then it was confirmation to his heart that it was really the LORD speaking to him. We will talk more about that when we get to that portion of Jeremiah's prophecy.
Verses 4–5
Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee (1:4–5);
So it goes back even before conception in the foreknowledge of God He knew Jeremiah. In God's foreknowledge He knew you. The book of Revelation speaks of those who's names were written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world. God is omniscient. He dwells in a dimension that is so far above and beyond our dimension that it is impossible for us to comprehend Him. And God who dwells in the eternal can speak of things as existing though they do not as yet exist because He knows that they are going to exist. So much of the Bible is prophecy written in advance, as God spoke of things that were not yet. They had not yet been fulfilled within the time continuum though as far as God's eternal plan they were already accomplished facts. God's knowledge and calling of Jeremiah began even before he was even conceived. "Before you were formed I knew you."
Verse 5
and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations (1:5).
Now you remember when John the Baptist was being carried in his mother Elizabeth's womb. Mary who at that time was pregnant with Jesus came to visit her cousin Elizabeth. As Mary greeted her cousin Elizabeth said, "What is it that the mother of my Lord should come to visit me, for the moment you spoke the babe leaped within my womb." Now John was ordained by God to be the forerunner of Christ before He was ever born, before He was ever conceived. Elizabeth was an old women. The Bible says “well stricken in years.” That means she was so old that she bent over as older people sometimes are. She was bent over with years. Zacharias was an old man. As he was there performing the functions of the priests and it was his lot at that time to offer the incense before the alter of incense. The angel of Gabriel appeared unto him and told him, " Fear not, Zacharias: For thy prayer is heard." He said, "Thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son and thou shalt call his name John. And he shall go before the Lord in the Spirit and power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.” So this announcement of John as the forerunner of Christ was the fulfillment of the promise that before the Messiah that God would send Elijah to prepare the hearts of the people.
The father Zacharias doubted because of Elizabeth's age how that could ever be. He sought a sign and Gabriel said, “All right I'll give you a sign; you will not be able to speak until the day the child is born.” So Elizabeth conceived and the child was destined, even before conception, to be the forerunner for the Messiah. God has a plan and a purpose for each of our lives. We are not here by happenstance. You have been created by God for a special purpose; for a special mission.
You remember when the Jews were being threatened with extermination because of the wicked desires of Haman the Persian to destroy the Jews. And how the King Ahasuerus had signed the decree and Mordecai was urging Esther to go in and get the decree amended. She was reluctant because of the protocol of the Persian court. You just did not go in unless you were called. Mordecai said to her, "How do you know but what God has not brought you to the kingdom for a such an hour as this, that the whole plan of God through all the previous background, all the things that have happened: your choice to be brought before the king, his choice of you as his wife to replace Vashti, Vashti's rebellion against her husband, her dismissal, how do you know but what God's hand is in all of this, to bring you to just this point, this time, this hour."
The exciting thing about committing your life to the Lord is that God will bring about circumstances in order that He might fulfill His plan in your life and through your life. Every day is an exciting day because you don't know but what God maybe has not had all of the background and past preparing you for just such a time as this. Who knows what God has in store for the future?
The Lord seems to be opening some extremely exciting doors for us. Opportunities that just stagger and boggle my mind. As the Lord opens doors you just have to go through them. If the Lord sets before you an open door you can't just say, "Well, I wonder..." You have to go until He shuts the door. And so I'm moving until the Lord shuts the door. I am moving toward this door that seems to be open. I have been invited by one of the highest officials in the Chinese government to come to China to talk to them in the seminaries there about evangelical Christianity in America, to speak to the largest three-self movement church in Beijing about Evangelical Christianity. They have got me all scheduled for these meetings in the seminaries and with these different leaders in China and it is mind boggling. The door seems to be opened now. Who knows what the Lord may do but we are responding and seeing what God may want to do. Who knows what the future holds. It is exciting because you know that God is in control and that maybe all of the background up to this point is just preparing for this future that God has.
Before, God said I formed you I knew you. Before you were born, before you came out of the womb I had set you apart and I had ordained you to be a prophet to the nations. Now though his primary prophecy was to Judah, he did also prophecy to the nations. As we get into the book of Jeremiah we will find him prophesying against Babylon, prophesying concerning Edom and other nations. God called him as prophet to the nations.
His response was:
Verse 6
Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child (1:6).
The word child is usually a reference to a teenager and thus it is thought that he was probably still in his teens at the time that the Lord spoke to him and the word of the LORD came to him and told him that He was going to use him as a prophet to the nation. So you can understand his reticence. It was not though an unwillingness, it was not, “I will not” but, “I can not” speak for I am child. So to this objection the LORD declared:
Verse 7
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 (1:7).
“I can not speak.” “I don’t want you to just say whatever I command you.” “Lord I am not eloquent!” “I don’t want you to be eloquent all I want is for you to speak My word.” That is all God wants, is for you to share His word. You don’t have to be eloquent, just the word He gives to you, the word that He places in your mouth, that is what you are to share with others.
Verse 8
Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD (1:8).
So commissioned to go, to speak the word of the LORD, commissioned not to fear for the presence of the LORD would be with him.
Verses 9–10
Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. 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 (1:9–10).
There are times a nation has become so corrupt, so far gone, that there can be no rebuilding until it is first of all leveled. In some of these earthquakes when a house has been shaken off of its foundation, there is no rebar in the bricks. The house is too far gone to try to put it back on the foundation and rebuild it. What you have to do is just first of all tear the thing down completely before you can start rebuilding. You have to then rebuild from the bottom up. Such was the case with the nation of Judah. His prophetic ministry was first of all tearing down that which was left, pulling it up by the roots, rooting it out. Then after it had been torn down and rooted out then began the planting and the building. Things are going to get a lot worse basically before they get better. You are to pull down, to root out, to destroy and then you are to build and to plant. I really feel that the world and our nation has come to that point in history that Judah was where it is too far gone to just try to rebuild. I think that the government is too far down the tubes. I don’t think that it is salvageable at this point. I think that we are at that point of just being leveled and then I believe the Lord is going to begin His building and His planting of the glorious kingdom. I think that we really have come to that stage of history where man has gone too far down the path that leads to destruction and that there is no turning back at this point.
Verse 11
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou (1:11)?
Now he is going to have a vision at this point. He is asking Jeremiah what he sees.
Verses 11–12
And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it (1:11–12).
You really need the Hebrew language to grasp this completely. The word almond in the Hebrew is ‘awake.’ The reason why the word almond is awake in the Hebrew is that the almond tree is the first tree that begins to blossom after losing its leaves in the winter. The almond begins in Israel to blossom in the end of January and the first of February. It is the first of the trees to awake from winter. Literally the LORD said, “What do you see” and he said, “I see the rod of an awake tree.” The LORD responded, “You see well for I will...” and the word hasten is the word awake in Hebrew, “I will awake my word to perform it.” Or “I see the rod of a watch tree” and God said, “I will watch over my word to perform it.” So the promise that God is going to watch over His word, He is going to perform His word.
Verses 13–16
And the word of the LORD 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. Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; 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. 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 (1:13–16).
I see this boiling pot in the north but it is tipping toward the south. So God said that out of the north there is going to come this flood of armies who are going to destroy. It is a reference to Babylon, who is east yet is also when coming into the land Israel came through Syria down through the northern part of the land, Dan, and then on down through Jerusalem. So coming from the north and bringing destruction in her weight and conquering over Jerusalem.
Now God says that He will fulfill His judgments against Judah for their wickedness because they have forsaken God and have burned incense to other gods and worshipped the works of their own hands. Forsaken God and worshipped other gods is what they did. Many times when a lady comes to me and says, “Chuck I want you to pray for me, my husband said that he does not love me any more and he is moving out. He just does not want to live with me anymore.” I will ask them who he is interested in. She says that she doesn’t think that he has any other girlfriend. I say that I am sorry to tell you this but I have never seen a man move out unless he is moving in. There is another interest. They say, “Oh no, I don’t think so , no, no,” I say that that has been my experience and usually in a month or so they are shocked. A person generally does not move into a void. When you leave the worship of God you have to worship something. You don’t just live in a vacuum or in a void. There is something that has replaced God in your life. There is another interest, another desire, there is something else that has replaced God in your life. Another God.
Here with Judah it was Baal, Ashteroth, Mammon, and Molech. These were the gods that they had turned to. Ashteroth is the worship of sex or sex became their god. Their lust of the flesh and desires for sex became the masters of their life. They were mastered by their sex drives, which were inflamed through pornography. They turned away from God because God has prohibited sex except within the family unit, between husband and wife. They felt that that was too restrictive. So they rebelled against God and the commandments of God and they began to worship Ashteroth.
Mammon was the god of pleasure. They began to live for pleasure, forsaking God and the worship of God and just living for pleasure, the pleasure that could be derived from drugs or from certain activities or power. Molech the god of pleasure and Mammon the god of power. They started living for possessions, building fancy houses and things of this nature. They became absorbed in their processions and they worshipped the works of their own hands.
Therefore, gird up your loins was the call on Jeremiah. Girding up your loins: we mentioned this before. The fellas wore skirts. Long skirts are hard to work in or run in. Whenever you were going to go to work you would lift up your skirt, tie it high with a sash so that you would have a short skirt. That way you could work. The girding up of your loins is always the tying up of your skirt with a sash to make it shorter so you could go to work or so you could run.
Verse 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 (1:17).
The LORD is telling him back in the beginning not to be afraid of their faces. They are going to be looking in anger at you. They are not going to like what you are saying. You are going to see their faces contorted with anger as you prophecy to them. But don’t let that turn you from My word. Don’t modify what I am saying. Don’t try to appease them. If you are intimidated by the faces that they are making at you I will just let you be confounded before them.
Verse 18
For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city (1:18),
The LORD is saying that I will be your defense Jeremiah, I will be the One who protects you, I will watch over you and you will be as a defenced city and an iron pillar and brass walls against the whole land. You are going to stand almost alone in this Jeremiah because I will give you the strength and I will protect you.
against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land (1:18).
The land was corrupted, the priesthood was corrupted, there were false prophets. “Jeremiah, you will be like a lone voice in the wilderness. You will be standing up against even the religious people and the religious leaders.”
Verse 19
And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee (1:19).
It is not going to be easy. I like it that the LORD does not draw us through false kind of pretexts. The LORD does not say, “Oh if you will just yield to My way it will be so beautiful and wonderful. You will find yourself such ease and things will be so smooth.” The LORD is saying to Jeremiah that it is going to be tough. They are going to fight against you. They are going to contort their faces and it is going to be tough but I am going to be with you. You will be as a defenced city. I will watch over you, I will take care of you. They will fight against you but they will not prevail. You are going to prevail Jeremiah. They will fight against you.
As we go through the prophet and of course we get the history of this prophecy also and you will find out they are going to be fighting against him. The other prophets are going to be fighting against him, the priests will be. He is going to be doing things that are going to anger people. During the reign of Josiah there is coming this spiritual reformation, the king ordered it. He ordered the temple to be rebuilt, all the idols to be cast down and destroyed. The places of the worship of the other gods he ordered them eradicated. Because Josiah was a good king and a popular king the people went along with him and they started going back to church.
They started going back to the temple and once again the temple was filled on Sabbath day. “Oh great move of God, revival!” No, no, no, it was only surface, it has not gotten down to the real heart and life of the people. Because it is sort of a false kind of revival in that it is only surface and not really touching their hearts the LORD said to Jeremiah to go down to the house of the LORD and as the people are going in cry out to them not to trust in lying vanities saying “the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD are these.” Here people are going to the temple and he is out there shouting. “You are trusting in a lying vanity.” That would upset the priest. A guy out there calling out there to the people that are coming to worship. So it is going to be tough and they will fight against you, but they will not prevail against thee for I am with thee, saith the LORD to deliver thee. It is going to be hard and they will fight against you but they will not prevail. Why? Because the LORD is with you.
We really do not have time to move into the second chapter because there is much in this second chapter that I want to deal with and it would take us two weeks. I have the dilemma if I should quit early or do I go in to the next one and have everyone weary because I have gone over time. So there is a proverb that says, “Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbor’s house; lest he be weary of thee, and hate thee.” So I will opt for the earlier one for I’d rather that you go away hungry, than go away burping because you have been so stuffed, so I will give you the second chapter to study over for our next session together. We will go chapters two and three. Even as the LORD promised to Jeremiah that He would watch over His word to fulfill it, so may the LORD watch over your life to fulfill in your life His purposes and His plans. And I pray that by and through the Spirit of God that you will come to an understanding of what God has set you apart for and what God has ordained for you, that work that God has ordained for you to fulfill while you are here on this earth, that work for His kingdom and His glory. So may your heart be open that the word of the LORD might come to you and guide and direct you in the place of service where you might find the will and the purpose of God being fulfilled in your life. The LORD be with you, the LORD bless and keep you.