Month: March 2024

Jeremiah 21 is a great example of how God’s word weaves perfectly through different writers and eras to teach us exactly what we need to know about God. 

Jeremiah 21 picks up about 20 years after Jeremiah 20 ends. The chapter is the background information about the siege of Jerusalem that was discussed in II Kings and II Chronicles 36. King Zedekiah is asking Jeremiah to intercede for the people of Jerusalem because the Babylonians are about to take over the city. It appears that the King anticipates God coming to the rescue, as He has so many times in the past. 

However, this time Jeremiah tells the King that the people are about to perish. In fact Jeremiah 21:5 says that God will also join in the fight against the people of Jerusalem. The only way to stay alive is found in Jeremiah 21:9 “Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Babylonians who are besieging you will live; they will escape with their lives.”

Even though the people have continually turned their backs on God and followed false gods and prophets, God still loves them enough to provide a way out. Proverbs 19:3 in the NLT says “People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then are angry at the Lord.” However, even when we go down the wrong path with the choices that we freely make, God still allows us to come to repentance. That does not mean that we use God as a “good luck charm” and only call upon His name in times of trouble. Rather, God’s grace calls us to a life of repentance and forgiveness.

This chapter shows the persecution of Jeremiah followed by a painfully honest prayer to God. His calling is difficult, and it brings him to what some would call a dark night of the soul. Jeremiah 20 gives important perspective on the realities and difficulties of following the Lord. We will have hard days and hard questions at times, and God preserved this text to show us even prophets like Jeremiah struggled.

In the first section of this chapter, we see Jeremiah beaten and put in stocks for what he was prophesying by a priest named Pashhur, later named “Terror on Every Side”. The stocks were a form of torture that were used for false prophets. Unfortunately, it’s being carried out by a leading priest or overseer of the temple. They were completely missing that God had sent Jeremiah to call out their sin and rebellion and to warn against impending judgment. This is also the first recorded violent act against the prophet. He was put on public display in order to bring about disgrace, much like Jesus. Both Jeremiah and Jesus are often identified with the suffering servant from Isaiah 53.

Beginning in verse 7, the chapter shifts to another example of Jeremiah letting us see his inner turmoil. This is one of the characteristics that makes this prophet and book unique. It is a lament similar to David’s in Psalm 6. He has been released from prison but is still struggling with the events that took place. He feels betrayed by the Lord for the consequences of his preaching. His own friends were turning against him (v. 10), as Jesus also experienced (Mark 14:56-59). When Jeremiah tries to stop preaching, he can’t because the Lord’s word burned within him. He goes on to praise and then despair again. He’s wrestling and crying out to God.

What can we learn from the prophet in this chapter? The call of a believer can be difficult, involve suffering, ridicule, being disgraced or misunderstood. We live in a broken world. Jeremiah cries out to God with honesty and questions that don’t have answers. However, he still goes on and doesn’t quit. He’s faithful to continue. Sometimes we too will wrestle. Hebrews 4:14-16 reminds us that our high priest is Jesus, to hold firmly to the faith we profess, knowing He empathizes with our weakness, and to approach His throne of grace so He can help us in our time of need. Don’t give up.

The Lord opens by giving Jeremiah a unique command: “Go buy a potter earthenware flask”. In Jeremiah 18 God taught Jeremiah at the potter’s house and now the Lord will use pottery as a visual image. Jeremiah is told to round up the elders of the people and the elders of the priest as he prepares to declare God’s Word. God also ordains a unique place for Jeremiah: the Valley of the Son Hinnon. Why would God choose this specific place? This place was a garbage dump where children were at times sacrificed. This is where King Ahaz had sacrificed his kids (2 Chronicles 28:3). 

This text reveals a motif we see throughout scripture. They forsook God and His commands and are now sacrificing their kids as burnt offerings to Baal. Sin is never isolated into one nook of our lives–it spreads. Sin is either being killed or it is killing you; it is never neutral. Sadly, no one will ever attempt to kill something they do not know is growing. This text is a reminder that Satan is not trying to get us to “sacrifice our kids” at the beginning; he wants us to “forsake God’s ways” (Jeremiah 6:16). He plays the long game with us, and we are not even aware of that fact. He loves what we call “small compromises” (also known as “sin”) because he knows there is no such thing. All sin leads to death.

Jeremiah delivers God’s message and then is commanded to break the flask as a visual image of how the Lord will break the people. The impending disaster was inevitable and as if they needed a reminder for the reason, God reminds them. The people had “stiffened their necks”, but how? By “refusing to hear God’s Words”. In humility, we must remember that God is the Potter and we are the clay. As the Apostle Paul said, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies” (2 Corinthians 4:7-10).

The Lord tells Jeremiah in this chapter to go to the potter’s house, where He would give the prophet instruction. There Jeremiah saw the potter making a jar, but the jar he was making out of clay became flawed, so he made it into another jar (v. 4). The Lord then declared that He was going to treat Israel like the potter treats the clay. God says, “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed” (v. 6-7). Like the flawed jar, the Lord was going to uproot, tear down, and destroy Israel, unless they repent and turn to Him. 

God is the potter and Israel is the clay. God is the Creator, and we are His masterpiece. This analogy is repeated in Scripture and occurs again in Isaiah 45. Isaiah says, “Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘The potter has no hands?” (Isaiah 45:9). This idea is echoed again in Romans 9:20-21 saying, “But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this? Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?” God, the potter, is sovereign and does what He pleases to do. 

This passage continues talking about how Israel has broken their covenant with God. God declares, “Yet my people have forgotten me; they burn incense to worthless idols, which made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths (v. 15). The Mosaic covenant that God made with His people was conditional. If they believe and obey, they will prosper (Deuteronomy 28:1), and if they disobey they will perish (Deuteronomy 28:15). Israel has abandoned God and worshiped false idols. As a result of their disobedience, there would be consequences. God tells them, “Like a wind from the east, I will scatter them before their enemies; I will show them my back and not my face in the day of their disaster” (v. 17). 

Jeremiah faithfully speaks the message of repentance that God calls him to, and the people not only don’t listen to him, but they plot against him. The people say, “Come, let’s make plans against Jeremiah; for the teaching of the law by the priest will not cease, nor will counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. So come, let’s attack him with our tongues and pay no attention to anything he says” (v. 18). This was a plot to silence Jeremiah, or even kill him. 

Throughout the forty years that Jeremiah ministered to the people of Judah, people refused to repent. From the outside that might look like an unsuccessful ministry, but he was committed to walking in obedience to what the Lord called him to do. This is a great reminder to us to be faithful in the work God has called us to do, despite any opposition we might face. Like moldable clay and like Jeremiah, would we be special instruments of God, set apart, and prepared for every good work.

Jeremiah 17 balances some of the tough ideas of God’s character, helping us grasp how they all fit together. Jeremiah opens by emphasizing the importance of the heart. The people of Judah had sin marked on their hearts and actions. Their wicked hearts gave into trusting their own ways and riches. Psalm 1 talks about these two opposing ideas: the wicked and the righteous. The ways of the wicked will perish but the righteous are like a tree by the water. In both Jeremiah and Psalms, these passages teach that the health of one’s heart is directly tied to their source; where their roots grow is key. We get the opportunity to abide in Him because He is our source of life (John 15). To delight in His word and trust in His ways is what is where life is found, not by “drawing strength from mere flesh” (v. 5). 

When we believe in the Lord, we get to be the tree that lives by the stream because He gives us a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26). But what Ezekiel continues to say in verse 27 is, “I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Former pastor and scholar Charles L. Feinberg says “from the heart comes action and will.” When we apply this to what we read in Jeremiah is that God is the one who knows the truth of the state of their heart (v. 9-10). We on our own don’t even fully understand the full extent of our sinful nature. 

It is not until the Lord softens our hearts to the truth of the Gospel that then we understand the state of our sin and are brought to repentance. God is the one who is in charge of repentance. Romans 2:4 says “God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance.” Because He is the one leading this out, we can find comfort in knowing that He alone is worthy of judgment; He is the one who is able to teach and test and know our hearts in order to bring us to Him.

Jeremiah models this repentance in the way that God’s people continuously fail to do. “Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise” (v. 14). Before Jeremiah says anything else, He goes before the Lord, repenting and submitting. May we follow the model that Jeremiah shows. That the way of the righteous is one of coming before the Lord, delighting in His Word, and trusting in His ways.

Jeremiah 16 might seem like a challenging chapter at first. The NIV titles it the “Day of Disaster.” Signs of the coming judgment of the Lord upon the sin and evil of the Israelites snake throughout its pages. In the first few verses, the prophet Jeremiah is commanded not to take a wife, not have sons or daughters, not to mourn with others, and not to feast with others. What a strange thing for the Lord to command! Let’s unpack why he asks this of Jeremiah.

The nation of Israel is steeped in sin. Verse 11 explains that the Israelites have forsaken the Lord and sought after false gods. They have committed worse evils such murder, sexual abuse, and child sacrifice (just to name a few). God laments as each person “follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me” (v 12). Considering the wicked deeds of these people, a perfect and just God has every reason to unleash His wrath on them. However, before He follows through with this judgment, He graciously gives Israel a warning through his prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah is told by God to live as though the judgment of God has already come so that the people can begin to see a small picture of what the consequence of their sin is. God lays out the depths of his wrath against sin for the Israelites to see. 

Then, the chapter takes a turn. The Enduring Word commentary explains that, “As if God could not help Himself, that word of despair is immediately followed by a wonderful and gracious promise.” It’s in His nature to show mercy to his children, and Jeremiah begins to tell of the days to come in which the Lord will restore Israel. God promises that more displays of His power and kindness are to come—ones even greater than his rescue of his people from Egypt.

Looking through the lens of the New Testament, we can see that Jesus’s death and resurrection was the ultimate act of God’s restorative power. As sinful humans, we are each deserving of God’s judgment and wrath in the form of death and eternal separation from Him. However, if anyone would call upon His name, turn from their sin, believe in his resurrection, and declare that He is Lord, they can be swept up in the loving grace of the Savior!

This chapter continues Jeremiah’s prophecy regarding the punishment and destruction of the people of Judah. It can be exhausting to dwell for so many days in these prophecies outlining the destruction which will come upon these people. However, if we move slowly and deliberately, we can see significant aspects of God’s character revealed through His prophet Jeremiah. In verse 6, God says “I am tired of holding back”. This is translated in the NASB as “I am tired of relenting”. In this verse we get an intimate glimpse from the Lord revealing His approach towards those who “reject Him” and “keep on backsliding” (v. 6).  

Over the centuries, God protected His people in Egypt, He provided for them in the desert and He blessed them with the promised land. Countless times during this period the Lord held back His just punishment for these rebellious people, but time and time again His faithfulness was met with continued doubt, rebellion and disobedience. Verse 1 shows us that God has reached the end of His patience with these people, because “even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people”.  

Although God has reached the end of His patience at this time, He forgave and “held back” His just wrath for centuries in the face of constant rebellion from His people. If you are one who has walked in steadfast and faithful pursuit of God and His holiness, it may be difficult for you to share this patience with those who seem to only disobey the Lord. We must remind ourselves that God is our example and one aspect of His perfect character is that “the Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (1 Peter 3:9 emphasis added).  

In the midst of your frustration with the seeming prosperity of those who turn their face from God, remember that if it were not for His gracious patience with sinners we would surely have been destroyed in the midst of our “transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world” (Ephesians 2:1-2). 

Jeremiah 14 opens with Jeremiah painting a picture of a drought-stricken land (v. 1-6). In an agricultural society, droughts were a matter of life and death. Even more problematic was the tendency for Judah and Israel to turn to Baal, the Canaanite god of weather, in seasons of drought as they searched for a quicker fix than the one, true God. This drift into idol worship only further perpetuated their problems in God’s eyes. Next, Jeremiah shows what it would look like if Judah really repented (v. 7-9). Reading through those words of repentance feels like the same kind of prayer we can (and should) pray today when we sin against a holy God. 

Notice the response from the Lord in verse 10: He says that the people “greatly love to wander; they do not restrain their feet.” Repentance in name only isn’t true repentance–it’s just an acknowledgment of wrongdoing. When we sin, we should feel conviction from the Holy Spirit. But conviction isn’t enough–we need repentance. Repentance is more than a simple apology for missing the mark; it’s a forsaking and turning away from sin and a further pursuit of holiness. 

David Guzik in his Enduring Word commentary says, “Repentance, confession, humility before God that is only in the mind (or heart) but not in genuine action to Him is of no effect. It must go beyond a feeling. The repentance described in Jeremiah 14:7-9 was wonderful, but not real.” We, like Judah, love to wander. We get distracted by the fads of the day. We idolize things that will give us fleeting satisfaction, even though we’ve been warned time and again to not fall for it. But we’re also given grace by a Father who loves to show mercy to his children (Micah 7:18-19). 

The chapter ends with a warning against the false prophets of the day. They were prophesying lies and were leading people astray towards sin and death. Jeremiah, brokenhearted over the situation, weeps and pleads with God on behalf of the people. In this we see Jeremiah’s heart for the people. Let Jeremiah’s words and actions serve as a reminder to us today of what it looks to be broken over the sin and wandering happening all around us.

In chapter 13 we see God giving prophecy and signs for Jeremiah to warn Judah and Jerusalem of where they are headed in their disobedience. The Lord starts by tasking Jeremiah to head north to bury a linen belt likely near the Euphrates River. The belt or “sash” was associated with nobility (Leviticus 16:4) and held a status of beauty value. Following, Jeremiah returns to dig up the sash only to find it “ruined and completely useless” (v. 7) to symbolize how the Lord will “ruin the great pride of Judah and Jerusalem”. 

God is specific with how they were disobedient. First, they “refuse to listen to my words”, they were cold toward the word of God. Second, they “follow the stubbornness of their hearts”. Finally, they “go after other Gods to serve and worship them” (v. 10). David Guzick says in his Enduring Word commentary, “Just as the sash expressed beauty and nobility, so God wanted His people to be ornaments of His greatness to all the world”. 

Going into verse 12, God uses wineskins to exemplify that just as wineskins are to fulfill their purpose, so had God set out for his people to fulfill what God had set before them. To do so with nobility and honor, but out of their disobedience and unrepentance they would instead be filled with stupor out of their ignorance.

So, how is God calling His people to respond to these warnings? Verse 15-16 tells us, with humility and honor given to the Lord. Every time the Lord speaks to us we have the opportunity to respond with pride or with humility. Like Judah and Jerusalem, we have the opportunity to seek the word of God and confirm it with truth or neglect what He could be calling us to do. God has set before each of our lives a purpose to be the salt of the earth and light to the world (Matthew 5:13-16) and when we do not abide, or flesh can so easily set aside the desires of the Lord and put on the idols of our hearts. 

Judah and Jerusalem knew that they were God’s chosen people, but they lacked a heart posture of humility and dependence. The promised judgment was not far away and this call to repentance was urgent. But let’s not neglect that their lack of obedience broke God’s heart. Re-read verse 17 and meditate over the compassion of the Lord. Ultimately we see from this chapter that in His rich compassion, God would not allow His children to continue in their disobedience. God had a purpose set out for them, and His desire to correct them was because He is a good Father!

Jeremiah’s posture in verse one sets an example for how we approach the Lord in our suffering and confusion. He praises God’s righteousness, reminding himself of the Lord’s goodness, and then asks his question in gratitude.   

Jeremiah asks God why unrepentant hearts seem to be blessed. They prosper, yet they would take the Lord’s name in vain. Jeremiah may be struggling with a Jewish teaching of his time, that retribution comes for those who do evil, yet despite Judah’s evil they have not experienced wrath. In verse 3, Jeremiah stumbles by boasting in his righteousness compared with Judah’s evil. But God has declared already, “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom… [but] that they have the understanding to know me” (Jeremiah 9:23-24). Jeremiah is asking the Lord to overthrow his enemies on account of his suffering and how righteous he thinks himself, but who is able to claim this but the Son of Suffering himself, Jesus?   

So, the Lord responds with little comfort for Jeremiah. Essentially, Jeremiah has not experienced the extent of Judah’s betrayal. It is as if he is saying, “I see your suffering, and I raise you mine.” Jeremiah has not been made to empathize with the betrayal and two-facedness of Judah yet, but he will. He will experience betrayal from his family and the falseness of those who would speak poison-laced kindness. God’s judgment here alternates between grief and wrath as he pours out his heart. There is wrath so deep because of grief so deep because of love so deep, yet “there is no one who cares” (v. 11). 

Verses twelve and thirteen call back to what Jeremiah previously complained, that Judah seems to prosper. God answers that while they have sown in their unrighteousness, they will not be the ones to reap this pitiful harvest. The armies of Nebuchadnezzar are coming to pillage the land and destroy Judah’s counterfeit glory. Psalm 127 warns: “Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.” The Lord has turned his face away from Judah; their end is imminent.  

The last part of Jeremiah 12 is a foreshadowing of the Gospel to come. While the wrath of the Lord is scorching, those of all nations who repent will be brought into the fold of the Good Shepherd. This foreshadows the salvation of those who mourn their sin and repent, as well as Jesus opening the door to the Gentiles.