The Prophet Begins Ministry

Transcript

GR 444
05/16/82
The Prophet Begins His Ministry
Jeremiah 2:1-19
Gil Rugh

The first message that Jeremiah preached begins in chapter 2 and continues through chapter 3, verse 5. You ought to read through this entire message at one sitting. To do so will give you some insight into Jeremiah’s first message. You will see why he was afraid to go to the nation with such a harsh message. Jeremiah doesn’t work into it gradually over the years to soften the people before getting to the point. His first message is saturated with judgment and condemnation. He could not speak to Israel from God without addressing their sin and unfaithfulness. It’s a very harsh, demanding message. It shows Israel that they have been unfaithful in their relationship to God.

The message starts with a brief reminder of the days of intimacy that they had enjoyed with God. The picture is of a bride and groom during their honeymoon time. Those first days of the relationship were characterized by the bliss of devotion and by being absorbed with the one who is loved. That’s the picture of Israel’s walk with God.

Chapter 2 begins, “Now the word of the Lord came to me.” This statement is used repeatedly. This is not Jeremiah’s perspective, it’s God’s perspective. That’s what makes it so important. God told Jeremiah, “Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem” v. 2. So Jeremiah will evidently walk the three miles from Anathoth to Jerusalem to make a proclamation in that capital city. He is to say, “Thus says the Lord, ‘I remember concerning you the devotion of your youth, the love of your betrothals, your following after Me in the wilderness, through a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the first of His harvest; all who ate of it became guilty; evil came upon them,’ declares the Lord.” (v. 3).This was a reminder of their beginning days as the nation walked with Him.

Israel’s Devotion to God. God says, “I remember concerning you the devotion of your youth” v. 2. The word that is translated devotion is checed which refers to covenant love or covenant loyalty, the commitment of devotion, the intimacy of relationship. God is remembering when He called them out of Egypt. That doesn’t mean that everything was perfect, but there was a commitment and a devotion to God as Israel left Egypt and walked with Him in those early days. The emphasis is on the positive aspect when they walked after God “in the wilderness, through a land not sown”
v. 2. This was barren land where they had to depend completely upon God and His provision. At times their faith failed, but they generally followed Him.

God’s Faithfulness to Israel. In verse 3 you see that “Israel was holy to the Lord, the first of His harvest.” Leviticus 23 and Numbers 15 talk about the firstfruits, the first grain from the harvest which was given to the Lord. It was sacred to Him as His personal, private possession. So Israel is God’s firstfruit, His own personal, private possession which He watched over jealously. Anyone who mistreated Israel was dealt with very harshly. If you read of those nations that attacked and plagued Israel as they left Egypt, you see how God constantly intervened on Israel’s behalf. That’s the picture in the middle of verse 3. “All who ate of it became guilty.” Any who preyed upon Israel, the firstfruit, were accountable to God. This is a beautiful picture showing that those who prey upon the people of God are guilty before God and accountable to Him for their actions. “‘Evil came upon them’ declares the Lord” v. 3. God was the sovereign protector, the lover who took responsibility, who provided the physical needs, protection and care for Israel in those days in the wilderness. It is a picture of the beauty of the relationship between God and Israel in those days.

But things did not remain as they should have. Israel was unfaithful. God repeatedly uses the marriage relationship as a picture of His relationship with Israel because we can identify with that. In both the Old and New Testaments it pictures the relationship that God has with His people. We can make the comparison in our own marriage relationships. In the early days of marriage there is a commitment and devotion that is to characterize the relationship permanently. Often that’s not the case. Sometimes the closeness doesn’t continue as it should.

The same is true in our lives as believers. We ought not to miss the picture. We are a people devoted to the Lord, and often we need to look back to the early days of our salvation when nothing was too demanding, when no commitment was too great. We were absorbed with our love for Jesus Christ, and everything else was insignificant in light of that. Is it the same today? God says that the devotion, commitment and walk of intimacy that characterized the early days of our relationship with Him are to continue to characterize our walk with Him. We Christians sometimes find ourselves thinking, Oh, if it could only be like it was. Well, it’s always to be like that. It is to be a growing relationship. With Israel it was not.

Verse 4 continues, “Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel.” Again, pay attention to who is speaking. Jeremiah? No. “Hear the word of the Lord.”

Jeremiah identifies the people to whom he is speaking by saying, “O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel” v. 4. Jeremiah sometimes uses the term Israel to refer to just the Southern Kingdom as he does here, even though Israel often refers only to the northern tribes and Judah often refers only to the southern tribes. Sometimes he does not make a distinction particularly between north and south.

In verse 5 the Lord asks, “What injustice did your fathers find in Me, that they went far from Me and walked after emptiness and became empty?” That’s a striking question. It’s as though God is assuming they must have found something lacking in Him because they turned away and quit walking with Him. The chapter opens with Israel walking in devotion and covenant commitment to God who faithfully cares for Israel and protects her. Now God asks, “What’s wrong? What failures did you find in Me to cause you to turn away from Me and take other lovers?” That is a strong indictment, because what failure could be found in God? What shortcomings could Israel find in Him regarding their relationship? None. That’s the point. What caused Israel to turn and walk after other gods? There is no good explanation.

Jeremiah continues to show the futility of their choice in verse 5: “They went far from Me and walked after emptiness and became empty.” There are a couple of principles here that we need to understand. The first thing to note is that when you turn away from God, you turn to emptiness, to a life that is void, that cannot satisfy your basic needs.

There is no rationale in sin. We wonder what would possess people to do the things they do. Even humanly speaking, it is an irrational decision. But sin is irrational. What would cause a people to turn away from a God who loved them, cared for them, nourished them and nurtured them? What would cause them to walk after emptiness? This word for emptiness is used in Ecclesiastes 1:2: “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” Emptiness of emptiness, nothingness. They walked after emptiness.

Secondly, you will become like what you pursue. If it’s true for Israel, it’s true for us. They went after emptiness and became empty. As they had gone after God earlier in their relationship with Him, they were filled, and their needs were taken care of. The character of God became their character. But as they turned away from God and pursued emptiness, they became empty. They had nothing. Their lives were devoid of the meaning God had intended for them.

Let’s look at some other passages that explain this for us. If you want to read the fullest development of the marriage relationship between God and His people, read the book of Hosea. It is a remarkable demonstration of the lovingkindness of God. In Hosea 9:10 we see the principle that you become like what you pursue. God says, “I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your forefathers as the earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season. But they came to Baal-peor and devoted themselves to shame, and they became as detestable as that which they loved.” There’s the principle. They devoted themselves to shame in the worship of Baal, and they became detestable just as that which they loved. You become like that which you pursue.

The same principle is illustrated in 2 Kings 17:15. “And they rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers, and His warnings with which He warned them. And they followed vanity and became vain, and went after the nations which surrounded them, concerning which the Lord had commanded them not to do like them.” They followed emptiness, and they became empty. You become like that which you love, pursue or worship. Israel took on the characteristics of vanity and emptiness.

One other passage on this principle is Psalm 115. This passage contrasts the idols or gods that men make with the living God. “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of man’s hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak; they have eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but they cannot hear; they have noses, but they cannot smell; they have hands, but they cannot feel; they have feet, but they cannot walk; they cannot make a sound with their throat. Those who make them will become like them, everyone who trusts in them” Psalm 115:4-8. This shows the futility and emptiness of seeking after other gods.

God is saying that Israel has become detestable before Him as a result of worshiping that which is detestable to God. You become like that which you pursue. We saw that downward spiral of sin as we looked earlier at Romans 1. You wonder how far down people can go, but as they pursue the love of sin they become more detestable and more like that which they seek. The ugliness of sin becomes more and more characteristic of their lives.

Did you ever hear someone say, “I cannot believe that’s the person I used to know”? Sometimes it’s a person you’ve known very well, a husband, wife or family member. You wonder what has come over him. He’s not the same person. That is the result of pursuing sin. Believers ought to be warned that we cannot dabble in these things any more than Israel could without it affecting our basic character. We find Israel, a nation that had walked in covenant relationship with God, becoming empty like the gods they worshipped.

According to Jeremiah 2:6, Israel forgot what God had done. “They did not say, ‘Where is the Lord who brought us up out of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of deep darkness, through a land that no one crossed and where no man dwelt?’” That’s why it is so important for us to be reminded of the basics. We believers ought to grow and mature from the early days of our Christian lives, but we ought to never forget the basics and never fail to appreciate the marvelous work of grace God has done in our lives.

God says Israel didn’t think back. They forgot the gracious work of God in their lives. This is a recurring theme in Jeremiah. As God blessed and prospered them, the people wandered from Him. What a tragedy that God blesses us in so many ways, but the more we prosper the less time and devotion we have for Him. That’s what happened to Israel. God said they didn’t remember. So there’s a contrast between verse 2 where God remembers Israel and verse 6 where Israel did not remember God. God remembered their early devotion, their walk with Him and His faithfulness to them, but they did not remember Him. The same thing happened to the church at Ephesus. God said to them, “But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen” Revelation 2:4,5.

“And I brought you into the fruitful land, to eat its fruit and its good things. But you came and defiled My land, and My inheritance you made an abomination” Jeremiah 1:7. God wants His people to be happy, to enjoy the good things that He has showered upon them, but they must be in a right relationship with Him. God had brought them into a fruitful land to eat its fruit and to enjoy the land. But they abused it, defiled it and made it an abomination, a place of false worship. That’s often the case with Israel. In the wilderness they had no choice but to trust God because the obvious alternative was destruction. But when they came into the land, they seemed to become self-sufficient and independent. They failed to recognize that their need to continue to depend upon God was just as great.

In verse 8, the leadership has deteriorated. This affected the people. The principle established in verse 8 is that as the devil works, his key thrust is to those who are leaders so that the people might follow them away from God. “The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’” (v. 8). The priests did not take the initiative as spiritual leaders to call the people back to Jehovah. The people didn’t say, “Where is the Lord?” v. 6, and neither did the priests (v. 8). They were not looking for God nor were they desirous of serving Him. The next statement in verse 8 speaks also of the priests. “Those who handle the law did not know Me.” The priests who were responsible for instructing the people of Israel in the Word of God did not know God. This remarkable statement is indicative of the day in which we live also. We have men in pulpits today who do not know God. They are supposedly there to instruct people in what God says, but they do not know God.

God speaks in Malachi about the judgment He is going to bring on the priests of Israel because of their unfaithfulness. Chapter 2 opens up, “And now, this commandment is for you, O priests.” v. 1. Then look down to verses 7 and 8. “For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by the instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi.” They caused many to stumble by their instruction because they did not faithfully teach them the Word of God. How can leaders instruct people out of the Law, if they don’t know God? Since they don’t know God, they don’t understand the message of God, and thus, they lead the people away from God.

Back in Jeremiah 2:8 God said, “The rulers also transgressed against Me.” Israel is a theocracy, and even the kings are to reign under the authority of Jehovah. We’ve seen something of the character of these last kings in Israel’s history.

A prophet would be one who speaks all that God says. But note, “The prophets prophesied by Baal” v. 8. That’s remarkable! Those who claim to be the prophets of God in Israel are getting their inspiration from Baal! They have taken up the worship of the godless nations around them and have “walked after things that did not profit.” That phrase at the end of verse 8 is similar to the end of verse 5, where they “walked after emptiness and became empty.” If you turn from the Word of God, you turn to things that do not profit. When the priests, prophets and rulers of Israel turned away from God, they walked after things that did not profit.

The Apostle Peter gave us some strong warnings. “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them bringing swift destruction upon themselves. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words” 2 Peter 2:1-3. We believers need to be careful. There are teachers who exploit believers. Peter says they will exploit you with their false teaching. The whole chapter describes these false teachers. They promise something which they cannot deliver. Peter continues in verse 17, “These are springs without water, and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.” Like springs without water, they promise something they cannot provide.

So we’re going to have to be discerning. It’s not enough that I claim to be a preacher of God, but what I teach must be true to the Word of God. The people of God must be discerning and follow those whose teaching is in accord with what God has revealed.

Jeremiah 2:9 and 10 speaks of God’s charge against Israel. “‘Therefore I will yet contend with you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and with your sons’ sons I will contend. For cross to the coastlands of Kittim and see, and send to Kedar and observe closely, and see if there has been such a thing as this!’” Kittim gets its name from a province on the island of Cyprus. It comes to mean all the islands and land to the west. Kedar refers to Arab lands to the east. Its as though God is saying, “Travel from the west to the east to see if such a thing has happened.”

Worse Than Pagans. God asks them in verse 11, “Has a nation changed gods, when they were not gods?” God is telling them that even the pagans were more faithful to their gods that aren’t really gods than Israel was to Him. The pagans devote more loyalty and faithfulness to their gods than Israel has to God. You must remember that their gods are fictitious, mere figments of their imaginations. Yet they are faithful to their false gods, but Israel isn’t faithful to the true God. Amazing!

God again impresses on us that any turning away from Him, any unfaithfulness to Him, is of no profit and of no value. “Has a nation changed gods, when they were not gods? But My people have changed their glory for that which does not profit” v. 11. We’re so much like children. Satan can dangle in front of our eyes something that sparkles and glistens, and we devote ourselves to it as though it were a diamond when it is nothing but a piece of bottled glass. It has no real value. That’s what Israel has done. They have turned from that One who is exceedingly precious to that which has no profit.

The Creation Appalled. Even the creation looks on in horror to see the people of God walking in unfaithfulness. “‘Be appalled, O heavens, at this, and shudder, be very desolate,’ declares the Lord” v. 12. What a picture! The creation or the heavens are called to be witnesses in this way at other times in the Old Testament. God says the creation is to shudder in horror that the people of God would walk in unfaithfulness.

What about our walk as believers? Do we see the awfulness of such unfaithfulness? In our own walk often we don’t measure it in the same way. We think it was foolishness for Israel to turn from a walk with a true and living God to that which did not profit, to the harlotry of indulgence in other things. But any time the devil lures us on, he lures us with something that is attractive. We decide we will only take one step in that direction. But when we do we turn from Him who is the living God. As God looks at us, does He say, “Be appalled, O heavens, at this”? I wonder if our faithfulness is significantly greater than the faithfulness of the people we’re talking about.

Two Evils. God continues His charges against them in verse 13. “For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” Their first evil was in forsaking God. Their second evil was in making other cisterns. They were not satisfied to abandon God, but they had to make another god to whom they looked for sustenance, provision and enabling. Not everyone constructs an idol, but everyone who turns from the one true and living God has another god to serve. They commit their lives to that god that enables them to get up and face the next day, the one that motivates them and drives them on. Otherwise they wouldn’t be able to live from day to day. Something has to make the day worth living. Israel decided it wouldn’t be the living God, so they constructed their own gods.

But get the picture. God is the fountain of living waters. All true life-giving waters come from Him. In those arid lands the Jews often dug pits in limestone so the water could be collected. But sometimes the limestone would crack and the water would seep out. That’s the picture here. The Jews had hewed out cisterns for themselves, but they were full of cracks and holes. They couldn’t hold any water. False gods make no provision for human need.

In the New Testament this analogy is picked up very clearly in John 4:10. Christ says He can give this life-giving water to the woman at the well. “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, “Give me a drink,” you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’” Continuing in verses 13 and 14, “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water (from Jacob’s well) shall thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.’”

Do you see the picture? Any other source of water doesn’t satisfy the basic need because it isn’t a water of eternal life. That is found only in God through Jesus Christ. In this analogy drawn from Jeremiah 2 Jesus is saying that any who have not placed their faith in Him as the Savior who died in their place are pursuing emptiness and that which does not profit. They are turning to cisterns which hold no water, which make no provision for the cleansing of sin and an eternal relationship with God. Once you’ve turned from the source of eternal life, you have to turn to that which is worthless.

Christ said in Revelation 21:6, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.” That’s amazing! God does not charge for the water of life. Israel would turn from the provision of grace that God gave to seek to construct something for themselves. You see the element of works as they turn from the source of living water and begin to construct cisterns for themselves. Man wants to contribute his works, but Jesus offers “the water of life without cost.” What a tragedy today that people turn from the source of the water of life to pursue emptiness and futility. They are unwilling to believe in Jesus Christ, the Savior God has provided.

Sin Is Bitter. Jeremiah 2:14-19 shows how bitter it is for a people who turn away from the living God. But before the bitterness sets in, sin has many enticements. The Book of Hebrews says Moses forsook the pleasures of sin which were for a season. Sin offers temporal, short-term pleasures that entice us. Before we take that first step toward sin we ought to fix in our minds that it is bitter to turn from following God!

Verse 14 is a series of questions. “Is Israel a slave? Or is he a homeborn servant? Why has he become a prey?” A slave refers to one bought in the marketplace. A homeborn servant was one born to parents who were slaves. Both were slaves. But Israel is neither. Israel is the one who walked in the covenant devotion of a marriage relationship with Jehovah, holy and sacred to God. What has happened? Israel has been a prey like a slave would be, bartered and destroyed.

Why has Israel become a prey if he’s not a slave? He’s not a purchased slave nor a homeborn slave in the analogy that has been drawn in chapter 2. Here’s why he is a slave. “The young lions have roared at him, they have roared loudly. And they have made his land a waste; his cities have been destroyed, without inhabitant. Also the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have shaved the crown of your head” v. 15-16. All you have to do is look at the Northern Kingdom. What has happened? The Northern Kingdom has been destroyed. The cities have been laid waste, destroyed, left without inhabitants, as a result of the Assyrian conquest. Memphis and Tahpanhes are two key cities to the south. Memphis is down by Cairo, and Tahpanhes is in northern Egypt.

One problem Israel constantly had was turning to Egypt for help. As a result they found themselves constantly battered. Josiah is going to be executed in a battle with Egypt. That may be in view in saying they “have shaved the crown of your head,” v.16 which pictures humiliation. The crown of the head refers to Israel’s glory which has been removed by Egypt. Israel had turned to these other nations for help and had adopted their gods. But this resulted in those nations shaving the crown of Israel’s head and removing Israel’s glory.

They Did It to Themselves. It’s amazing how people always want to blame God for what happens to them. But note verse 17. “Have you not done this to yourself?” I heard recently about a family that has suffered a tragedy. The parents in that family now want nothing to do with God or the church. God’s question to Israel would be an appropriate question for them. “Have you not done this to yourself, by forsaking the Lord your God, when He led you in the way?” v. 17. It’s amazing how people who have turned from God are ready to blame Him for any difficulties and tragedies. It’s important to see that God did not promise to deliver Israel from all difficulties and hardship. Jeremiah’s life is an illustration of that. But those who turn away from God bring upon themselves destruction and hardship. That’s the principle we saw in verse 5 with those “who walked after emptiness and became empty.” They became like that which they pursued. They brought it upon themselves. In Romans 1 we saw that they received in their own bodies the due penalty of their deeds, for they became like and were destroyed by what they pursued.

Sin Leads to Slavery. God continues His interrogation in verse 18. “But now what are you doing on the road to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Nile? Or what are you doing on the road to Assyria, to drink the waters of the Euphrates?” Look what happens. Anytime there is pressure on Israel, they want to look to Assyria or to Egypt for help. They don’t want to turn to God, but they look for physical deliverance from physical deliverers. And in so doing they are turning away from God. It’s as though they are saying, “Thank you, Lord, but I don’t want to trust You. I’d rather look to Egypt.”

“What are you doing on the road to Egypt?” That’s a very picturesque way to express their sinfulness. They are going to Egypt and Assyria for help. But the very people they turn to for help become the agents of their destruction.

Sin Is Destructive. You ought to fix in your mind the principle that sin is always destructive. “Your own wickedness will correct you, and your apostasies will reprove you” (v. 19). That’s the principle of verse 17 as well. “Have you not done this to yourself?” If you don’t keep that principle in mind, when the pleasurable allurement is held out, you may think you can take one step and get involved just a little bit. But you cannot. You cannot turn away from God for just a little bit or indulge in sin for a little bit.

My devotion to God is a checed, a covenant relationship. It involves my complete devotion of heart. To be otherwise would be like saying that I love my wife, and I also love these other women a little bit. Those are opposing concepts. It’s not both/and, it’s either/or. We believers need to fix in our minds that friendship with the world is enmity with God. You cannot walk hand in hand with God and with the world.

The destructiveness of sin is still God’s theme as he says to Israel. “Know therefore and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God” v. 19. That principle ought to be riveted in our minds. If Israel ought to have known it, we ought to know it all the more, because we have the history of Israel before us. That history shows us how evil and bitter it is for a people to forsake God. All you have to do is turn on the news and see that Israel has had hardship and bitterness. It’s because they have forsaken the Lord. And do not be deceived, it will be just as evil and bitter for us to forsake the Lord.

Why did this happen to Israel? “‘The dread of Me is not in you,’ declares the Lord God of hosts.” v. 19. They had not feared God and worshipped Him, so they turned to other things. The result was evil and bitterness.

Let me pose two questions for you. One, have you come to believe in Jesus Christ, the Savior that God has provided, the One who gives living water? Or are you still pursuing that which is empty and profitless? It can only bring bitterness, the end of which is destruction and hell. Why would you not want to walk in a relationship of devotion and love with a God who promises to sustain and provide for all your needs? Could it be because of a drive to do it yourself, to carve out your own well, to make your own place of water, to find your own source by your own doing? It’s so hard for a proud human being to humble himself, bow down and accept the grace of God by faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.

The second question is addressed to Christians. What is your walk with God like? Are you walking in that same covenant loyalty and devotion that characterized the early days of your Christian life? Look back to the early weeks and months after you first came to trust Jesus Christ. Do you have that same devotion and commitment of heart now? Are you absorbed with Him now in the same way you were then? Or have you been lured aside after those things which do not profit? Have you become unfaithful, thus not able to enjoy all that God has provided for you in Jesus Christ?