The Early Ministry of Jeremiah
Study Scripture: Jeremiah 1: 6 – 10; 26:8-9_12_16
Background Scripture: Jeremiah 1
Lesson 5 October 4, 2025
Key Verse
But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am a youth, because everywhere I send you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you shall speak”.
Jeremiah 1: 7
INTRODUCTION
What does God want from you?
What is it that makes His call insistent and unavoidable?
Do you think you can resist His call?
Have you ever tried, and have you ever examined your life history to see where your resistance has gotten you to?
Are you a believer in your “free will” and believe you are the one to make the decisions in your life?
If you are such a believer go right ahead but we warn you that God gives a strong warning to His people and woe betide them when they do not listen, trust, and obey!
Young people, as well as older ones, will probably ask whether the experience of the man of God we will study today is normative..
So ask yourself whether your vocation was not given to you by God for your benefit but for the benefit of others.
Some professing believers like to call themselves ‘kings’ and ‘queens’ without realizing they are placing themselves in a place they did not choose for themselves as they were not born into that position. After all, ‘king and ‘queens’ are appointed positions and those positions carry with it extremely great responsibility.
So are you prepared for responsibility?
Or will you say you are too young, or not educated enough, not talented enough, or not attractive physically?
Just note that the subject of our Study was very young when God called him and reminded him that God knew him and appointed him to the task placed before him before he was born. He did not particularly like the task he was given.
He was right for holding that view. He was smart enough to know the immense difficulties he would face. We will see in the latter section of this Study that for his witnessing and proclamations given to him by God he was accused of treason and the powerful people in the nations tried to get him executed.
But whether he liked it or not he could not resist the call of God.
Why? There came an irresistible fire in his bones when he tried to ‘forbear” or ‘desist.”
He became what we know as “the Weeping prophet”.
Have you ever felt guilty and troubled when you have been given b God a task to do and you shrugged it off as being too difficult or too unreasonable a request?
Our Study Scripture is set in a time of crisis. Judah, part of Israel, a nation called and established by God is in severe moral decline and is facing death.
Things are falling apart in the home, the community, the nation, and in the world in which this prophet of God we will examine lives.
This is a time of despair and darkness and we will see how in such a time God will plant a seed of hope. God brings new life though there is death and destruction all around.
So what will God expect believers to do when things are falling apart around them, in their home, in the community, in the nation, and in the world?
God gives us here a Lesson on how we must be.
The prophet was called to do an impossible task. We are called to do what seems to us to be an impossible task of facing our home life, our community life, the life of the nation in which we live, and the life of the world.
Remember we have been given what we call the “Great Commission”.
We therefore ask the question, What does God want from me? What is our calling?
Who are you? What is your life?
Is your life well defined already by you? And are you therefore busy with the cares of the world and your preferred activities?
Are you to determine your role in life and to expect you will be taken into the kingdom of God, or is God the One who has the right to determine that?
We will begin to study therefore about a very young man, probably 15 to 16 years old or a little older man of God in a global crisis. He is in a personal crisis for he will have to tell his nation about imminent disaster, and nobody will believe him. They will ignore him, then attack him, imprison him, try to murder him, and will finally kill him when the disaster he warned about came.
In fact however this Study begins to teach us about God, about what He is doing in the midst of crisis. This is practical stuff, for it is set in the context of real life, the life of a home, a community, nation, and the world.
We look therefore at God, a man, and his nation.
This Study might hopefully lead us to think about our home, our community, our nation, and the world, and it will help us answer the question as to what to do when there is political, economic, and religious disaster in our country, our nation, and our world.
THE CONTEXT, THE TIMES
These were bad and troublous times. The prophet Jeremiah lived during the 7th and 6th centuries B.C. beginning his ministry in the reign of King Josiah. It is estimated he began his ministry about the year 627 B.C. until about 582 B.C.
About 100 years before he began to preach, in 721 B.C. the Northern Kingdom, the 10 tribes, had sunk into such deep iniquity that their death came for God allowed them to be conquered by the Assyrians. Their capital city of Samaria had been destroyed and the people were taken into exile.
Remember the prophet Jonah had been sent to that wicked and bloodthirsty nation of Assyria whose capital was Nineveh and they remarkedly had repented.
But now in Jeremiah’s time the Assyrians were losing power and the Babylonians who were northeast of Israel and the Egyptians in the southwest were the powerhouse nations.
Judah was in the middle and their kings had to decide how to deal with their tenuous position for they had to guess who the next world power would be.
A wrong decision led to the death of the godly king Josiah.
Despite having seen this disaster that wiped out the northern kingdom, the Southern Kingdom continued to ignore all the warning from God and continued slipping along the path of the Northern Kingdom. Remember the Assyrian power had begun to wane but two other major nations had begun to step into the vacuum. The Babylonians to the northeast of Judah and the Egyptians located in the southwest of Jerusalem began to vie for power. The leaders, who generally ignored God faced the issue of how to deal with the Babylonian and the Egyptian threat, and to decide which side to support.
Does this sound familiar when you look at your life situation? Are you required to guess who you should be afraid of, and who you have to be nice to if you want to succeed in making progress in life?
Jeremiah was certainly the most heroic of the prophets for God required him for over 42 years to give up the idea of having a family, and speak what his family and priestly associates would never preach.
This man from a family of priests, who grew up in a priestly community was called by God to commit “professional suicide”. One writer puts it succinctly:
“There are some things that you just didn’t question. And if you did you wouldn’t last long on the inside. Many of you have probably been in meetings where someone was really excited about a suggestion that you knew wouldn’t happen. And you may have realized that their excitement over a bad idea was going to cost them personally in the future.
In 7th century Jerusalem, there were certain things that you didn’t question as a priest. And the biggest thing that you didn’t question was that God wanted His people living in their land worshipping at His Temple. That was how it had to be. So as the tension around Jerusalem heated up with Babylon and Egypt vying for world dominance, all the priests and prophets of Jeremiah’s day promised that God would deliver them from disaster.
But Jeremiah’s message was a little different. He questioned the one thing that no one was ever allowed to question. He told the king, the nobility, and the religious leaders to surrender to the Babylonians. And that turned out to be professional suicide.
All the other priests wanted to kill him. All the prophets wanted him dead. Nobody in Jerusalem wanted to listen to him but then they had him locked up and made him promise not to tell anyone else what God had told him. Jeremiah had a tough job.
And so Jeremiah isn’t just a book about global crisis. It’s also a book about personal crisis”.
It is important to remember that during the reign of Josiah, one of the 8 godly kings Judah had had, the High Priests was rummaging through debris in one of the storehouses in the Temple and came across a copy of a scroll with the Law of Moses and when he read it, it shocked him tremendously. He took it to King Josiah and when he read it he realized that the people had not been keeping the Law of God and had lost their way. He became frightened that the wrath of God was about to fall on the nation and so he made a covenant to keep the commandments of God and have the nation change their ways and obey the Laws of God.
He vigorously made changes and reinstituted the Feasts of God. But he made the mistake of taking sides against Egypt, even though that nation was destined to lose, and was captured by Egypt and taken into exile in Egypt.
Josiah had made a vigorous attempt in his 31 years of rule (2 Kings 22:1) despite God’s response of continued judgment.
In the 13th year of his reign, this was the year 627 B.C. that the word of God came to Jeremiah. Josiah was 21 years old.
His reforms had been extensive and widespread, but it turned out the heart of the people and the leaders was not in it.
As soon as Josiah died it was clear the reforms were clearly transitory. The people and leaders had to do what this brave young King demanded, but as soon as he was out of the picture, they reverted to the path which would lead to destruction.
The four kings after Josiah were weak spiritually and having no deep godly convictions, tried to obtain security for Judah by intrigue and political alliances.
When Josiah died at Megiddo the people anointed his son Jehoahaz as king and he did evil in the sight of the Lord and reigned only 3 months.(2 Kings 23:32)
Pharaoh-Nechoh deposed him and put a heavy tribute on Judah. (vs.33). The Pharaoh took him away.
Pharaoh- Nechoh then put Josiah’s other son Eliakim on the throne and changed his name to Jehoiakim and he had to pay the heavy tribute of gold and silver for which he taxed the people heavily. He reigned 11 years in Jerusalem and did evil in the sight of God. He died and his son Jehoiachin came to the throne at 18 years of age and like his father did evil in the sight of the Lord.
Babylon defeated Egypt, and in the 8th year of Jehoiachin’s reign invaded Judah and took as captives the king, his wives, his mother, the princes, the officers, the mighty men, the craftsmen and smiths (the technical people),and all the men of war. They all, including Daniel and his faithful companions, at that time went into bondage in Babylon.
The King of Babylon then put the Jehoiachin father’s brother on the throne. His name was Mattaniah and the Babylonians changed his name to Zedekiah. He reigned for 11 years and did evil in the sight of the Lord.
Despite Jeremiah’s advice he rebelled against the king of Babylon and everything crashed. The nation was invaded and conquered. Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed. The king and all the people of worth were taken as slaves to Babylon after a bloodbath of the royalty, the powerful, and the people.
Jeremiah had to watch all this unfolding of imminent disaster and then Jerusalem fell and immense tragedy began.
So this young prophet, called to God to speak to a nation that would not hear him, who was told by God not to expect any success or encouragement, had a long, faithful, but painful ministry, and succeeded in carrying out his task only because of strength provided by God.
He became known as the “weeping prophet”.
He wrote the sad but instructive and beautiful Book of Lamentations and in it you will find the most poignant and powerful message of hope for the distressed people of God.
So as you read, think about what God wants from you. Have you been called by God out of sin and a life of foolishness, away from following the traditional life path you want to have or are expected to have?
Note that it is God who initiated the Call. It is He who defines who you are. He deals with you personally. Then He through you deals with the world. Remember therefore there is God, there is you, and then there are others.
Have you allowed your calling to begin with God or have you been having others define you? Do not just look to your present abilities and skills and you own insights to play the major role in you discovering your calling?
Why don’t you let your calling begin with God, so that He can involve Himself with you and lead you to the people He wants you to meet and deal with.
THE TEXT
Verse 1 – 3. Jeremiah was born in a priestly family and grew up in a village of priests called Anathoth, three miles north east of Jerusalem.. There is no indication he served as a priests though that would normally be expected of him. He received his instructions from God first during the reign of Josiah, then later Jehoiakim, and also then in the reign of king Zedekiah
Verse 4 & 5. This lesson looks at the call and consecration of Jeremiah to be a Prophet of the Lord. These verses, particularly, 4 to 8, focuses on the call of Jeremiah to the office that God quite literally made him for. Verses 9 and 10 look at Jeremiah’s consecration for his calling.
The language phrase is specific. This is the word of YHWH, Davar Adonai, and 1 out of every 20 verses in the Book refers to that fact. God clearly begins the first move.
God informs Jeremiah that he is being called to a special task. He will be God’s prophet. He was to be a prophet first to the nation of the Jews; who are now reckoned among the nations because they had learned their works and mingled with them in their idolatries.
He was given to be a prophet to the neighbouring nations to whom he was to send burdens and whom he must make to drink of the cup of the Lord’s anger. In his writings he is a prophet to the nations, to tell them what the national judgments are which may be expected for national sins.
Jeremiah therefore has a universal appeal, and all nations had better learn the lessons he brought.
God’s purpose in sending Jeremiah to all people is to lead them in a path away from sin to God’s way. Part of their rethinking is to let them know what God expects from all His children and the punishment that He will employ should they choose not to heed His warnings. This is Jeremiah’s purpose, and it is to deliver this message.
The call was given by a word of the Lord which came to him when he was young. Some estimate he was just about 32 years old, some about 16, considered young by Jewish standards. This word coming to Jeremiah was by means of inspiration and not of a fanciful overactive imagination. What Jeremiah received was a supernatural divine revelation granted to him by the Almighty God, which raised his spiritual life to a state of ecstasy and possibly a little worry initially, but all so that he both recognised the voice of God and felt his lips touched by the hand of God (Jeremiah 1:9).
Jeremiah’s appointment to be a prophet for the nations follows upon a decree of God, decided upon before he was conceived or born.
God in His counsel has not only foreordained our life and being, but has predetermined before our birth what is to be our calling upon this earth; and He has accordingly so influenced our origin and our growth in the womb, as to prepare us for what we are to become, and for what we are to accomplish on behalf of His kingdom.
This is true of all men, but very especially of those who have been chosen by God to be the extraordinary instruments of His grace, whom He has appointed to be instruments for the carrying out of the redemptive schemes of His kingdom.
As Samson was appointed to be a Nazarite from the womb, also have other men of God been given such divine predestination, who some became aware of at the time when God had called them to the office God had chosen them for. So was it with the prophet Jeremiah
This statement is important for all non-believers and especially believers to understand. For believers, we should know that God is our rightful owner and might employ us and make use of us as He pleases, such that the purpose God‘s will be fulfilled.
What does this mean for us when we sin? We clearly delay or inhibit the plans of God, not in the sense that what God has deemed to occur will not occur, but the rewards that were meant for us will be diminished.
Our crowns may not possess all the jewels it should, nor shine as brightly.
Our purpose is designed by God the Father, He controls and shapes our lives and we to honour, obey and demonstrate our love should look towards Him in everything we do.
For the non-believer, God has a purpose for them whether they wish to acknowledge it or not, however, His will shall be done and they will play their part; it is just a question of whether or not redemption will be part of their story.
We as Christians should be encouraged knowing that under God’s divine counsel of grace, we can take part in eternal glory near our Father and Creator.
This is even more so with Jeremiah. In this case the man God has chosen before his birth to a special office in His kingdom He equips with gifts and graces needed for the exercise of his functions.
The Creator knows what use to make of every man before He makes him. He has made all for Himself. What God has designed men for He will call them to, for His purposes cannot be frustrated! Known unto God are all His own works beforehand, and His knowledge is infallible and His purpose unchangeable.
Now with Jeremiah, we must understand he is a special case. Where there is a particular purpose and providence of God conversant about His prophets and ministers, they are by special counsel designed for their work, and what they are designed for they are fitted for. One might say God destines them to it, and forms them for it, when He first forms the spirit of man within him.
So what God does God want from you? What does He want to do through you?
Verse 6. Any call from God, or announced to humans by angels has a tendency to throw us into terror as it did with Jeremiah, but God knows our every weakness. In the case of Jeremiah once again the child says that he at the moment is too weak for such an important office.
He has a lack of experience and knowledge, and doesn’t know how to speak to people about the matters that God would have him speak.
Then he also says that he is young, which is also a part of his inexperience.
I would say that his excuse is slightly different from Moses, as here he is just stating he is young and not up to the task as yet again by reason of his youth; but the day would come when you would be ready and prepared.
Jeremiah’s terror is to a degree warranted or justified, as any believer knows the importance of doing a job right, especially when it is done unto the Lord.
When we have any service to do for God, it is understandable to be afraid in case we mismanage it, and to prevent the task from being done poorly by our weakness and unfitness for it.
It becomes us likewise to have low thoughts of ourselves and to be diffident of our own sufficiency. Those that are young should consider that they are so, should be afraid, as Elihu was, and not venture beyond their length.
Verse 7. Jeremiah’s response might be understandable to a degree, or by human standards, but we are children of God, and God has a certain expectation for us.
Remember that Abraham thought he was too old to have the promised son in the way that God had said.
Joseph had to be sold into slavery to bring his understanding and character to where God wanted it to be.
Isaiah thought he was not good enough until God dealt with that problem of his sinning and imperfections.
Even the Apostle Paul thought he was to be a great missionary to the Jews, but God had another plan for him.
The pattern seems clear. Men of God make things center around their capabilities or their lack of something they think they should have.
To God, this excuse as with Moses’ holds no account. As a prophet to the nations, Jeremiah was not to make known his own thoughts or human wisdom, but the will and counsel of God which were to be revealed to him.
Similarly, this was the case with Moses. As we have seen from the life of Moses, Jeremiah must have been aware of some of his predecessors; he would be tasked with going only to those men or people to whom God sends him, but also to them he is to declare only what God commands him.
There does not need to be any anxiety when God choses you to a task, whether by youth or lack of experience in speaking or any other matter, God equips.
It is alright for Christians to appreciate our own weakness and insufficiencies, but that should only make us go humbly about our work, not to draw back from it when God calls us to it. We should always look to God for strength and guidance, especially when He assigns us certain tasks.
To young people or children, God makes it known that there are tasks that He will assign to you and expect you to complete. He does not care if you are great or small, young or old, He will always equip you with what is needed to satisfy His will.
After all we have examples of other youth called to God’s service. Josiah, at a young age was drawn to God, and Samuel was called to serve God at a young age.
To adults, they must discern the will of God and support the young when God has called them to task, as with any brethren, young or old.
Verse 8. Here we see the solution to the human problem of believers.
God speaking to Jeremiah lets him know that he will meet up with enemies of God and people how will provide him with a lot of opposition to the works of God; however, God will be his protector.
God assures Jeremiah that there is no one that is tall enough, large enough, strong enough or smart enough that can confuse the counsel of the Almighty God.
As such, God says that Jeremiah is to speak to all those who he comes across; kings, other authorities, the small or the great for he is speaking to them on behalf of a power, an authority that is greater than them, and even himself, for Jeremiah speaks on behalf of God.
God grooms Jeremiah and encourages him, saying though they look angry, he should not be afraid of their displeasure nor disturbed with apprehensions of the consequences of it.
Those that have messages to deliver from God must not be afraid of the face of man, for God is there always to assist and to deliver out of the hands of the persecutors.
God goes along with those whom He sends, and is, by His powerful protection, at all times and in all places present with them, knowing this we can be animated in our service to Him.
Verses 9 & 10. These verses deal with the consecration of this vessel for God’s service. In order to assure Jeremiah, God by an overt act of His support, gives him a palpable pledge. He stretches out His hand and causes it to touch his mouth, while an explanation of this symbolical act is given.
God lets Jeremiah know that he has given His words into the mouth of Jeremiah so that he may know what words to speak and how to speak them.
The hand is the instrument of making and doing. The touching of Jeremiah’s mouth by the hand of God is consequently an emblematical token that God frames in his mouth what he is to speak.
It is a tangible pledge of inspiration by the Holy Spirit, an embodiment of that influence exercised on the human spirit, by means of which the holy men of God speak, being moved by the Holy Ghost.
By means of it God has consecrated Jeremiah to be His prophet, and has so endowed him for the discharge of his duties. God now entrusts Jeremiah with His commission to the people and kingdoms, and has set him over them as His prophet who proclaims to them His word. The contents of this proclaiming are indicated in the following ideas. With the words of the Lord he is to destroy and to build up people and kingdoms.
This is God’s word to people and to nations. His Word involves actions to
-uproot
-tear down
-destroy
-overthrow, and then to
-build
-plant.
He must attempt to reform the nations, to root out, and pull down, and destroy idolatry and other forms of wickedness among them, to extirpate those vicious habits and customs which had long taken root, to throw down the kingdom of sin, that religion and virtue might be planted and built among them.
And, to the introducing and establishing of that which is good, it is necessary that that which is evil be removed. He must tell them that it would be well or ill with them according as they were, or were not, reformed. He must set before them life and death, good and evil, according to God’s declaration of the method He takes with kingdoms and nations.
He must assure those who persisted in their wickedness that they should be rooted out and destroyed, and those who repented that they should be built and planted.
He was authorized to read the doom of nations, and God would ratify it and fulfil it (Isa. 44:26), would do it according to His word, and therefore is said to do it by His word.
The Word of God is a power that carries out His will, and accomplishes that where to He sends it. God is sovereign, and as such against this power nothing earthly can stand. When Jeremiah preaches it is as if Jahveh Himself is speaking.
Its power is to show itself in two ways, in destroying and in building up. The destroying is not set down as a mere preliminary, but is expressed by means of four different words, whereas the building is given only in two words, and these standing after the four; in order, doubtless, to indicate that the labours of Jeremiah should consist, in the first place and for the most part, in proclaiming judgment upon the nations.
The Word of God to the nations always involve judgment.
But it always carried with it Hope, recovery, and life.
CHAPTER 26:8-9,12-15
What do we do with the clear warnings of God?
Why would the succession of rulers, the nobility, the mighty men, the elite of the nation still defiantly continue their path to destruction, believing that the appointment of the nation and the existence of the Temple guaranteed nothing would come from their disobedience?
Did they not see what had happened to the Northern Kingdom which had been ruled by evil men? They must have seen that not one of their kings were obedient to God. They all did evil despite the warning of the prophets to them. They too had prophets like Elijah, Elisha and Jonah.
Why cannot we see disaster coming?
But we are warned that their ways might seem right to a man, but the ways are the ways of certain death.
We now see the significant action in the life of the prophet brought about by the prophetic message, warning Judah of the impending judgment due to their disobedience.
He had told them that if they did not listen to him and obey God
- They would be made an object of scorn and horror
- An everlasting ruin
- Sounds of joy and gladness would be banished
- The voice of bride and bridegroom would never be heard
- The sound of millstones also, no domestic work
- The light of the lamp would also be put out
- The whole country would become a desolate wasteland, no inhabitants
- The nation would serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
The prophet in Chapter 25:1-38 lists the national disasters. We will quote a few verses where the people of Judah were told the horrors.
But do not forget that when the prophet wrote the scroll the king Jeconiah took his knife and as the scribes read the portions he ripped it off and threw it in the fire. For that he was cursed and it was decreed that none from his line would ever sit on the throne of David.
That was why Jesus could never be born of Joseph for though he was in that line of David and had the right to the throne, he could never be the father of the Messiah. Instead Jesus came through the womb of Mary, who was not from Jehoiachin’s line.
Verse 15 through 18, 27-30 reads:
“For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.
Then took I the cup of the LORD’s hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the Lord had sent me;
To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day
Pharoah king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;
And all the mingled people….
Verses 20-26 (the list of nation follows)
27. Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drnnken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.
And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.
28. For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of Hosts.
30. Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them,
The LORD will roar from on high, and utter his voice from his oly habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.
31. A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will lead with all flesh; h will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.”
This is the background information given to the rulers of Israel.
More specifically, Chapter 26 tells us Jeremiah is told to go to the court of the Temple and prophesy as follows;
“Thus saith the LORD; If ye will not harken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you,
To harken to the words of my servants the prophets, who I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye have not harkened;
Then I will make this house like Shiloh, and make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth”
At this direct and clear threat the priests and the prophets, who were all false, gathered around Jeremiah and with the people set up a court session to try Jeremiah for treason.
Note that Jeremiah was now in great danger for showing the nation their great iniquity before God.
At this time Jehoiakim had now ascended the throne and had begun great public apostasy.
The wicked had no intention to cease their iniquity, repent, and do good spiritually. There a great deal of corruption in Zion and so there was vehement protests against Jeremiah.
Verses 8-9. So these leaders attacked Jeremiah for proclaiming the word of God that He intended to destroy Jerusalem and destroy the Temple if the nation did not cease their sinning ways.
So note that angry sinners want a victim on whom to pour out their hatred of God and His word. They will be incensed at the message of warning from God and will destroy the messenger.
So be careful how you disturb and trouble men and women who are deep in their evil ways.
So Jeremiah now faces the king, the princes, the priests, the religious establishment, and the people they gathered to form a hanging jury.
Jeremiah had to die for saying god would remove any protection from the city and the temple. They would all be swept away.
Verses 12-15. One writer notes that here violent resentment was faced with courageous fidelity.
The prophet made the rulers understand that the LORD had sent him to prophesy all the words he had spoken.
So he boldly called on them to change their doings:
“Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God:
And the LORD will repent him of the evil he hath pronounced against you.”
“As for me, behold, I am in your hands: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you.
But now ye for certain, that if you put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof;
For of a truth the LORD hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears”.
The princes and elders (verses 17-19) of the people stepped in to quell the mob allowing Jeremiah to make his defence.
He emphasized the covenant keeping God, the LORD, had given him the words that he prophesized against Judah and the nations.
God had warned him he had to deliver the message as given and he should not fear the people.
So despite the wicked hostility of the priests, the rulers, and the crowd of evil men, who had already killed the prophet Uriah for giving a similar prophecy he would continue to prophesy.
Evidently Jeremiah had no regard for his own life when it came to doing the work of God. He feared God rather than fearing man. Jeremiah feared the One who could destroy both body and soul in hell fire.
Jeremiah was unflinching and so even in the face of death he continued to deliver a strong warning.
He knew the court was corrupt. But he seized the opportunity to call the people to repentance and to forsake their evil ways so that God would change His intentions of impending Judgment so that they would enjoy the prolonged days of joy and tranquility in the Land.
Jeremiah stated bluntly that his message was sent from God and had God’s authority behind it.
If the people and the rulers disapproved, their contention therefore was with God. It was God’s message, not his.
So their only hope was to turn to the source of the message and repent.
Let us not forget that Jeremiah was not the first or only prophet to bring such a strong warning to the people. Micah the prophet fared much better during the reign of Hezekiah, for he responded with repentance. (Micah 3:12).
The nation had killed Urijah the prophet when he called on them to repent. (verses 20-23)
True prophets face great danger. Neither do they do not live in palaces and in luxury.
But there was no response this time despite Jeremiah’s 23 years of ministry with his emotional pleas for repentance.
Doom therefore was inevitable.
The good would suffer for the bad.
CONCLUSION
Jeremiah had a problem and God provided a solution This is a book of personal dealing with crisis and Jeremiah stands as a witness to us that we too can depend on God and on His direction and worship Him always.
Remember that once you are called you must remain faithful. The reward will be great.
You do not want to turn back for then God says He will have no pleasure in you.
You might initially shrink back from the call of God but remember this behaviour is just like that of many of the great persons of faith that lived before you.
You should not think that your initial unfortunate action means you are lost forever. So just go out in the power of God and make disciples of all men.
The power of God is unlimited. Psalm 2 tells us that God in heaven will laugh at the antics of the puny leaders of earth with all their glittering pomp and ceremony who believe that they are great power brokers, strutting proudly across the pages of history.
God has shown you that He can call a young, obscure man and do great things through him. God will set you like Jeremiah to root out, destroy, and then plant. So do not squirm when He tests you. His discipline is designed to build you up.
He wants to call you like Jeremiah to bring good news to the world, for His message is not only of wrath, but is about the ultimate salvation.
There is a crisis on earth going on right now. So prepare yourself to help the earth and bring salvation to many.