Think Wink.

In my Prophetic Lit. class we are on our second day of Jeremiah tonight.  I have read Jeremiah 1-25 and I am quite taken by this prophet’s ministry and message.  Last night I read Jeremiah 8:17-25:38, okay I read 8:17-19:15 but that’s pretty much eleven chapters with a Greek quiz to study for also and there is still the sixty pages of commentary I had to read for the class on Jeremiah 8:17-25:38.  It’s crazy.  But I have been captivated by this man’s ministry and what he has to say.  It really hit me last night as I read Jeremiah 18 and the parable of the potter’s house.  That’s the parable that many scholars erroneously point to when interpreting Romans 9:19-21 (the text there that is most influencing Paul is Isaiah 29:16) as the sole influence on Paul.  But there are three verses that I feel I must discuss in this chapter and one in Jeremiah 20:7-9.

The first verse is Jeremiah 18:12, where Jeremiah records that Judah will follow after their own stubborn evil hearts.   Jeremiah has a very critical and negative opinion of man’s heart in his ministry.  I did a word search of “heart” and I found that seven times Jeremiah uses this phrasiology (3:17; 5:23; 7:24; 9:14; 11:8; 13:10; 23:17).  Jeremiah 16:12 substitutes the word “will” for “heart.”  Going on a survey of Jeremiah 1-25 I am shocked by his condemnation of the human heart.  In Jeremiah 4:4 God pleads with Israel to circumsise their hearts.  Again in 9:26 Jeremiah prophecies that although unlike the Gentiles the body of Judah is circumcised, their hearts were not.  I find that interesting in light of Deuteronomy 30:6.  In Jeremiah 4:14 God pleads that Judah would wash away the evil in their hearts.  In 9:8 Jeremiah says that even though man is peaceful in speech, in his heart he plans “an ambush.”  In 12:2 Jeremiah says that the mouths of men are near to God but their hearts are far away.  Jeremiah 17 is the strongest statement against my heart that I have read thus far.  Sin is engraved onto and into the heart (v. 1).  In v. 9 the heart is said to be deceitful “above all things” and that it is “desperately sick.”  In Jeremiah 22:17 man only has a heart for dishonest gain.  This is indeed a dreadful indictment against the heart of man!  To follow this survey of the heart in Jeremiah 6:15 and 8:12 say that Israel and Judah doesn’t even blush at the sight and thought of her sins!  The most saddest part of Jeremiah’s indictment is found 13:23, man cannot change his evil heart.  All he knows is evil and that is all he will do unless someone else changes it for him.

Also in Jeremiah says that God’s heart has been broken!  Jeremiah 18:15 says that Judah has forgotten the LORD!  In Jeremiah 2:5, God wants to know what he did to have them turn from him!  He says in 2:11 that no other nation has turned away from their God, yet Israel and Judah have done just that.  In 2:20-25, God says that even though he rescued his people from Egypt they abandoned him and worshiped every tree on the hills.  He likens her to one who the nations’ gods need not ”weary” themselves to find her for she is like donkey in heat looking for them!  In Jeremiah 3 we see the anguish of God’s heart.  In v. 1-3 God likens them to a woman who has whored herself out to the foreign gods.  Now compare that to Deuteronomy 24:1-4 where by his own law he cannot take his prostitute wife back!  Look down in Jeremiah 3 to vv. 6-10.  The LORD had hoped that by Judah and Israel would return.  God is shocked and appalled by the fact that after God destroyed Israel for her idolatrous unfaithfulness that Judah still refused to return.  In v. 19ff God calls Israel and Judah his children but they would not make him their Father.  He called them his bride but they would not call him Husband.  Jeremiah 3:21 says that they have forgotten God!  In Jeremiah 5:7-9 the LORD says he has no choice but to punish Judah because despite all he did for them, the whored themselves out to other gods.

Now I have noticed something about Jeremiah in chapter 18, he has abandoned Israel.  In Jeremiah 18:19-23 Jeremiah says in effect, “Hey God, do you remember how I used to pray that you would spare Israel and Judah?  How I thought it was too much to bear the thought of them being destroyed by your wrath?  Well they have tried to kill me and so I am not going to be interceding on their behalf.  In fact I am praying for you wrath to come and consume them, everyone of them.  Take them all, men, women, and children.  It doesn’t matter to me any more!”  That’s a tricky prayer to deal with because I am told to never pray for the damnation of anyone but rather the salvation of everyone!  Oh that struck me hard lastnight when I read that passage.

As you can no doubt tell, Jeremiah is not afraid to where his emotions on his sleeves.  I really like Jeremiah 20:7-9 because of some of the language he uses.  It is brutally honest.  This text is an exchange between Jeremiah and God.  He says that God has “decieved” him and forced him into this minstry.  He has to give this word and Jeremiah doesn’t like it.  He is the one man in all of Judah that is being laughed at and mocked and rejected and dismissed.  In Jeremiah 4, Jeremiah asks how long he has to know that this judgment is coming.  Imagine trying to tell everyone in the WTC that the planes were coming and no one listened to you.  Imagine telling everyone in Southeast Asia that the tsunami  two years ago was coming and they needed to leave and you were laughed at.  That’s Jeremiah.  In fact, in Jeremiah 16, God forbids him to marry because the sons and daughters of Judah and Jerusalem will be destroyed.

I have fallen in love with this book of prophecy.  I am learning that to be a great preacher means you don’t preach what people think they need to hear.  They have corrupt hearts and need to be regenerated by the Spirit of God.  I have to preach what God tells me to preach.  I pray that I will be like Jeremiah.  I want to have such a deep relationship that I can almost see the tears on my LORD’s face when his heart is broken.  I want a burden like Jeremiah had to just preach the word because I am sick if I don’t.  I pray that God will use my preaching like he promised Jeremiah (1:5-19).  I pray that my life reflects Jeremiah 17:7-8 and that my trust is in God alone to see me through it.

I feel the world needs more Jeremiah’s.  The world and the church need people who will ruffle some feathers with the truth of God’s word.  We need people to stand up and defend the truth and fight for souls in the world.  The glory of God must be displayed for all the world to see.  We need people who will preach even if they hate the message themselves because God has placed such a burden upon their heart to get the message out.  I pray for that.  I pray for those who will become the next Jeremiah.

Something to Chew On

What does it mean to be “called”?

How Long Oh Lord