THE EARLY MINISTRY OF JEREMIAH
LESSON FOR THE JUNIOR CLASSES
STUDY SCRIPTURE:
JEREMIAH 1 : 6-10 26: 8-16
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
God has a habit of calling young people to do extremely important work for Him. Many people who read the Bible pass over tis fact because they think young people cannot be trusted to do very important things. But remember the work that has to be done is hard and it will take a lot of people with energy who will work for a long time.
But God says these people who do not like to assign important tasks to the young are very wrong. He called Samuel to replace the aging and not so competent Eli who played favourites with his children, allowing them to break the laws of God. Then He called young David whose older brothers did not think highly of him. God also called young Josiah to completely reform the corrupted nation of Judah.
There are other young persons called and appointed by God. But we also know God sometimes call older persons to work for Him.
In our Study God called Jeremiah when he was young and told him his job was to tell the rulers and people of his nation that their continuing sinning had carried them over the red line and therefore God would destroy the Southern Kingdom called Judah just as He had destroyed the Northern Kingdom called Israel because of their continuing idolatry and violence against the weak and helpless people. Jeremiah told them God would allow their enemies to come, invade the nation, destroy the city of Jerusalem, destroy the Temple and take the people, the king, the princes and the rulers into captivity in Babylon. But the nation refused to listen to Jeremiah for over 40 years of prophesying and warning.
When the priests and rulers heard that God was going to destroy their beloved Temple, destroy the city of Jerusalem, and take them all in slavery in Babylon, this so incensed the priests, the rulers and the people they grabbed Jeremiah and accused him of treason. They set up a trial so that they would find him guilty and then kill him. But they had something coming they did not expect. The bold Jeremiah faced them and again told them God had given this awful message of coming destruction. They should repent. He did not worry about or care if they would kill him for telling them what God had said. If they killed him the blood would be on their heads and they could be sure they would suffer.
But some of the princes and the elders who heard Jeremiah’s defense calmed Jeremiah’s enemies down and the prophet was not killed. This prophet was very brave. He was obedient to the instructions to God. He set the way to behave before us. He was faithful to God. He was not afraid of evil people.
Remember that Jeremiah loved his nation and did not want the nation, the people, the city of Jerusalem and the Temple to be destroyed. So he worked long and hard. He wanted the people and the nation to change their ways and obey the laws of God so that they would live long and prosper. We should follow his example he had set during his long ministry.