God Assures His Prophet

Transcript

GR 443
5/9/1982
God Assures His Prophet
Jeremiah 1:11-19
Gil Rugh

In the last part of chapter 1, God reveals to Jeremiah His plans in two visions and then gives some important instructions to Jeremiah regarding the carrying out of his ministry. He gives to Jeremiah some basic assurances in three key areas. The first assurance is regarding the fulfillment of key areas. The first assurance is regarding the fulfillment of God’s Word. Then God assures him regarding the accomplishment of God’s judgment. And finally, assurance is given regarding the protection of Jeremiah as God’s servant. It’s significant at the beginning of his ministry that he has these assurances from God regarding God’s Word, God’s judgment and God’s servant so that he begins his ministry and carries it out with full confidence regarding the working of God.

The first two sections encompass two visions. The first one is very brief in verses 11 and 12. The second one is more extended in verses 13-16. Both visions are understandable because God tells us their significance.

The first vision may seem a little strange. “And the word of the Lord came to me” Jeremiah 1:11. We will be emphasizing this thought throughout Jeremiah’s prophecy. It is God’s Word that has come to Jeremiah. That’s why the Scriptures are so important. God is speaking using a human instrument, but it’s God’s Word that is being conveyed. Evidently in a vision given to Jeremiah, God shows him something, then asks him to pay attention. “And the word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘What do you see, Jeremiah?’ And I said, ‘I see a rod of an almond tree.’ Then the Lord said to me, ‘You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it’”.

At first as you read this, it’s difficult to see any connection. God is watching over His Word to perform it, and Jeremiah sees an almond branch. But what’s the correlation? If we were reading it in Hebrew, we’d have a greater appreciation for it. The word for almond is the root of a word meaning to be awake, to be watchful or to be alert. So the word almond suggests to be watchful or to be alert. The tree was given this name because it was the first tree to blossom each year. It blossomed in January and bore its almond fruit in March. As the first tree to blossom after the winter, it took on the idea of alertness or watchfulness.

There’s a play on words here. In verse 11 Jeremiah says, “I see an almond tree.” In verse 12 God says, “I am watching over My word.” The words are very close. The word for almond in verse 11 is shaqed. The word for watching in verse 12 is shoqed. There is a play on words in their sound as well as in their meaning. God is saying, “Jeremiah, you’ve seen the branch of the watchful tree. And I am watching also over my word.” That’s the connection. God is alert and watchful regarding His Word just as the almond tree is alert and watchful for the spring.

The statement that God is watching over His Word to perform it (v. 12) is the basis for all of Jeremiah’s ministry. That’s why God’s Word is always effective and always accomplished His purposes. He does not simply give His Word through Jeremiah and then sit back and wait. God has given His Word, and He is the One who now watches over it to perform it, to see that it is carried out or accomplished. It’s going to be significant for Jeremiah to remember this because he is going to have a ministry that extends over 40 years.

If you’ve been a believer very long, you know what it’s like to have claimed a particular promise in the Word of God, but then you wait and you wait and you wait. Before long you get restless and wonder, Isn’t God going to do what he promised? Jeremiah will have to proclaim this message for over 40 years. Surely there will be times when he thinks, Well, God, what are You going to do? I’ve been preaching Your Word, but nothing has happened. We need to be reminded that God is watching over His Word to do it, not in our time, but in His time. It’s God’s guarantee that His Word is always effective. It will always accomplish His purposes.

Look at a couple passages from the prophet Isaiah. This emphasis comes out in a number of passages, but we’ll look at only two. In Isaiah 55:11 God says, “So shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” Note the assurance that the Word that goes forth from God’s mouth will not come back without having accomplished its intended purposes. God guarantees the success of His Word. That’s why believers can take confident assurance in everything that God says. We can be just as sure that the things He says about the future will happen as we are about the things that have already happened in the past, because it’s the same God who stands behind both. Its effectiveness depends upon Him and His ability to see it through.

In Isaiah 40:6-8 the prophet Isaiah writes, “A voice says, ‘Call out.’ Then he answered, ‘What shall I call out?’ All flesh is grass and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it.” God even takes responsibility and authority over the grass withering and the flower fading. That’s all within the sovereign, determined purposes of God. Then he continues, “Surely the people are grass.”

In this analogy, all flesh is just like the grass of the field. We see it come on green in the spring. Everything is so beautiful, but it will cycle around and die. God says that is what flesh is like. It seems so great and powerful, but in a short time it’s gone. But note the contrast in verse 8. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.” Long after we’re gone, long after all of our accomplishments have been forgotten, after the little empires we’ve constructed have blown away, the Word of the Lord will stand firm and true. That’s because it is eternal, a reflection and revelation of an eternal God. So we have an eternally true Word that is backed by an eternal God.

In Jeremiah 1:12 God says, “I am watching over My word to perform it.” Recently I was reading some articles about those who were attacking the Scriptures. I just had to sit back and laugh. It becomes especially amusing in one sense, although in another sense it’s not funny at all. But you read about the ranting and ravings of individuals a hundred years ago who were attacking the Scriptures and attempting to tear them down and show them of no value or importance. Those individuals are gone and forgotten, but the Word of the Lord continues in power.

We need to remember that in our ministry, God is telling Jeremiah this because it is important that he rely on it to sustain him when he’s in the slime pit, when he’s in prison and when he’s being beaten. God will perform His Word. We need to remember that. We wonder, Will God do what He promised? We need to realize that God is watching over His Word to perform it.

The next vision in verse 13-16 is more extensive. The vision of the boiling kettle gives assurance regarding God’s judgment. In verse 13 Jeremiah writes, “And the word of the Lord came to me a second time saying, ‘What do you see?’ And I said, ‘I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north.’” This large kettle is a boiling pot tilted away from the north toward the south. The flame under this kettle is being fanned to bring its contents to boiling. The huge kettle, tilted away from the north to the south toward Judah is ready to dump its boiling contents out upon the land of Judah.

God begins the interpretation in verse 14. “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Out of the north, the evil will break forth on all the inhabitants of the land.’” The pot being tilted from the north shows that the destruction is going to come from the north. He is talking about Babylon even though Babylon is not to the north of Judah, but to the east. The invading armies will come around the fertile crescent and down from the north. That invasion and judgment from the north becomes a picture of Israel’s ultimate judgment that will come from the north. In Ezekiel 38 and 39 the great enemies of the north are prophesied to ultimately bring destruction on Palestine in the last days. When he talks here about the north, he is talking about Babylon descending into Judah from the north.

The interpretation continues in verse 15: “’For behold, I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the north,’ declares the Lord; ‘and they will come.’” You ought to underline a few things in your Bible here so you can fix them in your mind. “I am calling,” and “they will come” (v. 15). This shows with utmost clarity the sovereign control of God over even the activities of the nations of the earth. The sovereign God is calling these nations aligned with Babylon, and they will come. There’s no question about that. Back in verses 4 and 5 we saw the sovereignty of God over the individual with Jeremiah being the example. Now we see the sovereignty of God in controlling the destiny and affairs of the nations. “I am calling . . . and they will come.”

This is being prophesied forty years before it happened. You can see why Jeremiah has to fall back on the promise of verse 12, “I am watching over My word to perform it.” Jeremiah is going to preach for forty years to people who don’t believe a word of what he is saying, It would be normal to ask, “God, when are they coming? Don’t You think it’s about time You sent them down? People think I’m a fool, that there’s something wrong with me. They think I’m a liar. God, don’t You think it’s about time? Twenty-five years is a long time.” But in His time He promises, “I am calling . . . they will come.”

There was chaos among the nations. Things seemed out of control. What was happening? Assyria had come crashing down, that mighty empire that had ruled so long. Everything seemed to be in consternation among the nations. God was saying, “I’m in total control. What seems chaos to you is the outworking of My plan to bring the nations to their appointed destiny.” This is all done for accomplishing His purposes.

Keep that in mind when you watch the evening news. God is moving the nations today just as much toward accomplishing His purposes as He was in the days of Jeremiah. As believers, we can watch the news and know that God is in control. Argentina is right where God wants, doing what God has planned; and so is Russia and Iran and Afghanistan and the United States. That may not be the way I’d do it, but I know God is doing it to accomplish His purposes.

Speaking particularly about Babylon and all the allied nations, God says, “They will come, and they will set each one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls round about, and against all the cities of Judah” (v. 15). To set their thrones in the gates means that they will conquer Jerusalem. The gates were wide areas where judgment was meted out. We find this expression several times in the Old Testament. It comes to mind about Lot in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He sat at the gate of the city, indicating he was one of the ruling men rendering decisions for that city. The gates were the place where the major business was transacted. For the thrones of these people to be set up in Jerusalem is an indication that they have conquered Jerusalem and are now rendering judgment.

The interpretation of the second vision concludes in verse 16: “And I will pronounce My judgments on them concerning all their wickedness.” It’s interesting that we have Babylon and her allies coming and conquering Judah, setting up thrones of judgment at Jerusalem. And God says, “I will pronounce My judgments on them.” God is using the nations of the earth to carry out His judgments. It’s amazing that God used a nation that was more ungodly than Judah to punish Judah. That doesn’t seem fair, but it all fits God’s plan.

Before it’s all said and done, God will punish Babylon for her wickedness. So God uses sinful people and nations to carry out His purposes. But note, He doesn’t cause them to sin, but He uses their sin and their sinfulness to accomplish His purposes. So even the sinner does not do in his sin only what he pleases, but God determines to use his sinfulness to carry out His eternal and holy purposes.

It’s amazing how God does all of this with all the minute details. The phrase, “I will pronounce My judgments,” is used five times by Jeremiah and only one other time in the Old Testament. One Hebrew commentator said this expression “includes the entire judicial proceeding, from the indictment to the execution of the final judgment. The Lord is the supreme judge, the testifying witness, the prosecuting attorney, the executor of His judgment.”

When God says, “I will pronounce My judgments,” it includes the entire process of judicial proceedings from beginning to end. He is the One who is in absolute, sovereign and final control.

God said, “I will pronounce My judgments on them concerning all their wickedness, whereby they have forsaken Me” (v. 16). The expression, “They have forsaken Me,” summarizes all the apostasy and sin of the nation Israel. Why is Israel in such a mess today? “They have forsaken me,” God said, “and I will punish them for their wickedness.”

When you forsake God, you are on a downward spiral. That does not mean they ceased to be religious. Israel maintained a very exclusive religiousness. They were of all people on the earth most religious, very careful in the details of the religious activity. The problem was that they were not worshiping God. They “offered sacrifices to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands” (v. 16).

Jeremiah’s satire on idolatry is perhaps the greatest that’s ever been recorded. The people of God have now begun to construct gods that they worship. We’re reminded in the New Testament that covetousness is idolatry. We don’t construct wooden or stone gods today that we bow down before. But many who profess the name of Christ are drawn into the worship of works of their hands, to the things they accomplish. That becomes a driving, motivating force in their lives. Thus they worship the works of their own hands. That becomes more important to them than anything. It is what they live for. It consumes their waking hours and becomes a form of idolatry, of worshiping the creature rather than the Creator.

We see the pattern of this downward spiral in Romans 1 beginning in verse 21, “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man . . . . Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity . . . . They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator. . . . For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions,” (vv. 21-26) which culminates in the pursuit of lesbian and homosexual conduct, an evidence of the degradation that men come into when they turn away from the living God.

The pattern is always the same. Romans 1:27,28 continues, “And in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper.”

The heart of the matter is always that men have forsaken God. They have refused Him, and life from there is downhill. That does not mean there is no pleasure along the way. But the pleasure helps to lead you down. You are enticed to take another step down and another step down until you are a slave, a captive to your own sinfulness. You find you cannot turn and walk back out. That shows the deceitfulness of sin. It happened to Israel. They forsook God, and from there it was down with centuries and centuries of ruin.

We are reminded of people today who persist in their sinfulness and laugh at hell. As a Christian, do you ever find yourself saying, “I wish God would really pound them good! Oh, if He’d just really zap them, that would do something”? Just remember, God is watching over His Word to perform it. In His time sin will be judged. Centuries went by before God finally judged Israel, but God was still true to His Word, and He is true to it today.

Verse 17 of Jeremiah 1 brings us to God’s instructions to Jeremiah concerning his ministry. In light of these assurances he’s been given regarding the fulfillment of God’s Word and regarding the accomplishment of God’s judgment, he is now given some instructions regarding His protection.

“Gird up your loins.” God starts out with a warning, “Now, gird up your loins, and arise, and speak to them all which I command you.” That expression, “gird up your loins,” relates to the belt around the waist as a girdle which was used to bind up the long, flowing robe to prepare for action. To “gird up yourself” is symbolic of getting ready, preparing yourself for action. So Jeremiah was told to get ready, to be prepared.

“Arise, and speak to them all which I command you.” Jeremiah is not to be an editor of the message of God. “Speak to them all which I command you.” Jeremiah is not to choose out of all that God revealed only what he would like to preach. He has to preach it all. We think that wouldn’t be so bad. God tells us what to say, and we go and say it.

Each one of us can present the Word of God to those we come in contact with. We are told in the New Testament to be ready to give an answer to anyone regarding the faith that is in us. But it is easy to be intimidated. Do you ever wonder why we have a message from an eternal God, and yet we talk to so many people but don’t tell them what God says? We talk about the weather, business and other mundane activities. But we have something that is eternal that has God Himself standing behind it, and somehow it’s hard to talk about.

It’s a lot harder to say, “Do you know there’s something of eternal significance that you ought to hear? God says that in your present state you’re on your way to hell. But He provided a remedy in the death of His Son.” It’s a lot harder to talk about that. Of all the conversations you had this week, in how many of them did you share the truth of the eternal Word of God? I realize you can’t just be running around babbling Scripture; you have a job to do. But think about the free-time conversations you had and the people you met. How many times did you talk with them about the truth of the eternal Word of God? When you think about that, you can appreciate the next statement of Jeremiah.

The word dismayed v. 17 literally means to be downcast, to be broken, to tremble with fear. If God were to take us individually and say, “All right, here’s My Word. You go out and tell people everything I said,” we might find our knees beginning to shake. We may be thinking, I wonder what they’re going to think. How are they going to respond? I could be fired tomorrow. This isn’t going to work!

Jeremiah doesn’t have a chance to respond. God says, “You go tell them everything I have commanded, and don’t you be afraid.” Jeremiah knew how tough it was going to be. He knew the spiritual condition of Israel. Yet there’s a warning here. “Do not be dismayed before them, lest I dismay you before them” v. 17. It’s not just a recommendation, it’s a warning. It’s as though God is saying, “Don’t you break down before them, or I’ll break you down before them.” That’s hard. It doesn’t mean that Jeremiah would never know fear. But fear was not to be the controlling factor. It was not to influence him in the proclamation of the message.

Have you ever been in a situation where you felt you really ought to tell someone the truth of the gospel, but you were afraid to do it, so you didn’t? Jeremiah is not to allow fear to control him, he’s not to be intimidated by the people. But he is to speak the Word of God.

We need to be aware of that. It doesn’t mean we’ll never tremble when we share the Word of God, but we’d better never let that trembling keep us from sharing it. It’s encouraging for me to realize that Jeremiah had to be told that.

If I am intimidated by people and fear causes me to not share the Word, I’m saying that I respect people more than I do God. The problem is a breakdown in my faith in God and my dependence upon Him. I’m more concerned about what people will say than what God will say. You can see why God has to speak so sternly. Jeremiah doesn’t have an option. God doesn’t say Jeremiah can trust Him or he can trust them. Jeremiah can’t choose to respect God or to respect the people. No! It’s as though God says, “Jeremiah, trust Me or you’re in trouble!” I’d rather have trouble from people than trouble from God.

In verse 18 God promises not to demand too much of Jeremiah. “Now behold, I have made you today as a fortified city, and as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land, to the kings of Judah, to its princes, to its priests and to the people of the land.” Praise God for the truth of that! God will not demand of me more than He enables me to do. We must fall back on that. You may say, “God, I’m not up to this task. I’m not adequate to see this through.” Do you think God would call and appoint you to do something He wouldn’t enable you to do? It’s Jeremiah against everybody, against the whole land. But he is a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of bronze. He is impregnable.

You may read the Book of Jeremiah and think, Wait a minute! Isn’t there a breakdown here? Where were Jeremiah’s defenses when he was put into prison? When he was beaten? When he was cast into the slime pit? When they were trying to starve him to death? But notice, God’s protection does not mean that he will have no hardship. In fact, when you’re called to carry on a ministry in service to God, you can expect hardship. But you also have the assurance and promise of God that nothing but nothing will be able to prevent you from carrying out the ministry that God has given to you. That’s the assurance that Jeremiah had. Nothing will be able to prevent him from accomplishing God’s purposes.

Do you think Jeremiah would rather prophesy from the slime pit or from the palace? But being in the slime pit didn’t keep Jeremiah from carrying out the purposes of God. We must remember that. When our service for Christ gets more difficult, when the pressure is on and we feel the hardship, it becomes a burden, then we wonder why God doesn’t do something to make it easier. He never said He’d make it easy. He just said He’d enable us to do it. We live in a day when everything is supposed to be easy. And we’ve got easygoing Christians who want to serve Jesus Christ with a minimum of inconvenience. They want to know how little they can get by with.

That’s not the issue. God has called you and appointed you and He is the One who guarantees your protection and your ability to carry out His purposes. You may have a terribly rough road, but be encouraged. Difficulty does not keep God’s purposes from being accomplished. That’s one reason we have such powerless Christianity in the United States. We have an easygoing Christianity. Take it slow, take it easy, walk on egg shells, don’t offend anyone. Don’t go at it too hard, and if it begins to become work it must mean God wants you to do something else or to take a vacation.

We’re called to do something that has eternal significance, to minister an eternal Word, and we’re so concerned about whether it will be an inconvenience. Maybe you’re been teaching that class for so long and it gets to be so hard. You don’t know if you’re appreciated. That has nothing to do with it. Jeremiah was against the whole land.

God didn’t tell Jeremiah to take a poll to see if he was appreciated, then go somewhere else if he wasn’t. Appreciation doesn’t have anything to do with it. I’m to do what God wants me to do. I am very glad that this congregation is so appreciative of me, because even if they weren’t, I would still have preach to them! I shouldn’t tell them that, but it’s true. And you have to too! But it’s neat to know that God provides our defenses.

Look at God’s “promise” to Jeremiah in verse 19: “They will fight against you.” That’s why he needs God’s protection and defenses. “They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you” (v. 19). Jeremiah was not made a superman. But they won’t be able to overcome him, “’For I am with you to deliver you,’ declares the Lord.”’ If it were not going to be hard, Jeremiah wouldn’t need the protection and the deliverance of God. But to carry out God’s plans and purposes he’ll need God’s deliverance. And God delivered him. Jeremiah spent time in the slime pit, but God delivered him. Jeremiah spent time in prison, but God delivered him. It’s a repeated pattern. Quite frankly, it’s not the way I’d like to carry on my ministry. But then, God hasn’t asked us to vote on it. H gives us confidence in knowing that He will accomplish what He promises.

Now let’s pull the parts together. Jeremiah is to speak the Word of God (v. 17). God is watching over His Word (v. 12). Therefore, they will not overcome him (v. 19) because Jeremiah is preaching the Word of God. And God has already said He’s responsible to see that His Word accomplishes His purposes. So they can’t defeat Jeremiah because Jeremiah serves God. God is responsible to see that His business is done according to His will and His plan.

Do you know what this means? God guarantees Jeremiah success. He will be a success in the sight of God. As you read the Book of Jeremiah would you categorize him as a success, humanly speaking? The whole land opposed him. He preached for forty years, and when it was all said and done they still opposed him. That’s not really what we would call effective preaching. But it was. Do you know why? Because He was preaching the Word of God. And God was using His Word to accomplish His purposes. That meant Jeremiah was a success.

Would you like to have a Jeremiah ministry? Would you like your children to have that kind of ministry? Would I really covet for my children a ministry for God like Jeremiah had? Well, Lord, I’d like something a little more in between, something that wouldn’t be quite so hard on them, because when it’s hard on them, it’s hard on me. Do I really covet God’s best, or do I covet the world’s best?

What is the pattern of life that you’re setting down for your children? Do they look at you and say, “Oh, spiritual issues aren’t a priority for Dad. This isn’t the thing that he gives his life to. It isn’t the thing that consumes him.”

Do my children see in me a pattern that is of overwhelming significance? Do they see that the obstacles don’t weigh me down? Do they hear me complain and grumble about what God has called me to do? Do they see in me a discontentment over serving Jesus Christ? What am I telling them? I need to be sure that in my own mind, in my own life before God, I have my priorities right. Serving Him is worth whatever inconvenience it brings, whatever hardships there are, because I am privileged to be a servant of the living God. Every child of God has that same privilege.

So we have the assurances of God that His Word will be fulfilled, that His judgments will be carried out and that His servants will be protected.