THE DOCTRINES OF JEREMIAH
(JEREMIAH FOR THE JEWS)
CHAPTER 1
No other book in the Bible "fits" the times, conditions and attitudes of citizens of the United States better than Jeremiah. As he lived just prior to and during the coming of God's judgment, so it is with the world, particularly America, today.
Verse 1. The words... It is important to see that it is the WORDS not the DEEDS of Jeremiah that are emphasized. The world credits men with their deeds more than their words. A common saying is that words without deeds are empty. This is true of worldly words and worldly deeds. Nevertheless, the most important issue for God's people should be God's words.
For by thy WORDS thou shalt be justified, and by thy WORDS thou shalt be condemned (Matt. 12:37).
Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.And whosoever SPEAKETH a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever SPEAKETH against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither the world to come (Matt. 12:31-32).
Salvation is based upon one's words, not his deeds.
That if thou shalt CONFESS WITH THY MOUTH the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved (Rom. 10:9).
Righteous deeds cannot produce salvation but should be the product of salvation. A man is not saved by works, but to works (Eph. 2:8-10). The most important things of God are his words. All his deeds of creation will someday burn (II Pet. 3:10-12), but his words will endure forever (Psa. 12:6-7).
Heaven and earth (God's WORKS, Gen. 2:2) shall pass away, but my WORDS shall not pass away (Matt. 24:35).
Common sense is enough to let a man know that the most precious, most important elements in existence are those things which will ENDURE. Endurance is a mark of quality. Heaven and earth will not endure the fire of destruction, but God's words will. God is so emphatic about the importance of his words that he places them ABOVE HIS HOLY NAME.
I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for they lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy WORD above all thy name (Psa. 138:2).
This verse from Psalms is quite revealing. It not only tells of the value God places upon His word, but on men's words. The psalmist begins with, "I will worship ... and praise thy name..." A person worships God with words. Israel's repentance must be expressed with words. Hosea knew this and wrote:
Take with you WORDS, and turn to the Lord: SAY unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves (sacrifices) of our LIPS (Hos. 14:2).
The writer of the Hebrew epistle expressed the same instruction in slightly different words.
By him (Jesus) therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our LIPS giving thanks to his name (Heb. 13:15).
Men whom this world lauds as "great" seldom are. Usually the term is applied to those who conquer and rule over others. In most cases, they killed thousands or millions in order to establish their kingdom (Alexander the "Great").
But great men of God have always been those who called (with words) upon the name of the Lord (Abraham, Gen. 12:8, 13:4, 21:33; Isaac, Gen. 26:25; Elijah, I Kings 18:24; Moses, Aaron, and Samuel, Psa. 99:6; etc.).
All this is to establish the fact that Jeremiah's words, like all the Bible, have eternal value.
An outstanding fact is that the ONLY man in the New Testament that is singled out and called "blesses" is Simon Peter. He did not slay a dragon, win a thousand souls or establish a Bible school.
What did this man who denied knowing Jesus THREE TIMES do to merit a blessing? (Matt. 16:17).
He DID nothing.
He simply SAID something: "Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God" (Matt. 16:16).
…of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah... The name Jeremiah means, "Jehovah is high." There are five other men named Jeremiah in the Bible (II Kings 23:31; I Chr. 12:4; and 12:10; I Chr. 4:24; Jer. 35:3).
...of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: Only four prophets are said to have been priests (Jeremiah; Nathan, I Kings 4:5; Ezekiel, 1:3 and Zechariah, 1:3).
Anathoth was not far north of Jerusalem in the land of Benjamin. Being a priest, Jeremiah was not of the tribe of Benjamin, but of the tribe of Levi because all priests were Levites.
Verse 2. To whom the word of the LORD came... To which "great," "honored," "noble," aristocratic man did the word of God ever come? To whom among outstanding "scholars" has the word of God ever come?
It always came to the lowly and humble person. Jesus did not choose his disciples from among the socially elite, except, perhaps, Judas Iscariot.
…in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah,.. The ministry of Jeremiah began under one of the best kings the children of Israel ever had. It was Josiah who brought the only semblance of "revival" to God's people during the years of the Jewish kingdom (II Kings 22:1 - 23:30).
…in the thirteenth year of his reign. Josiah began to reign when he was eight years old, so he was twenty-one years old when God spoke to Jeremiah. Jeremiah might have been eight or ten years younger than Josiah. His alibi for resisting the call of God was his youth (Jer. 1:6).
Josiah was thirty-nine years old when he died (II Kings 22:1), at which time, Jeremiah would have been around thirty years old.
The word of the Lord did not come to Jeremiah each and every day of his life. God first issued a "calling" to Jeremiah and told him to have courage, that He would be with him to deliver him (verse 8). Additional instructions might or might not have been given at that time. God spoke to him during the reign of five kings.
Verse 3. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah,.. Jehoiakim and Zedekiah were brothers.
…unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month. Jeremiah's ministry was during the rule of Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah.
Verse 4. Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, "Then" was during the thirteenth year of Josiah's reign (verse 2).
Verse 5. Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee;.. The birth, life, and ministry of Jeremiah were "predetermined." It must not be assumed that this is true of anyone's "new birth."
God established Jacob over Esau before they were born (Gen. 25:23). God "prearranged" the life and deeds of Josiah (I Kings 13:2; II Kings 23:15-20). God "predestined" at least some of the administrations of Cyrus, the Persian king (Isa. 44:28 - 45:1-4; Ezra 1:1-4). But all these men were assigned a specific function and a regulated sphere of activity. None of them is said to have been predestined to salvation.
…and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee,.. To be sanctified is to be set apart for a special consideration, assignment, or fate.
…and I ordained thee a prophet ... An "ordination" is never a settled certainty. It is never an unchangeable absolute. In a certain respect, it is similar to the word, "appointed." Something ordained or appointed is never compelled by an irresistible force to comply. Man's free will is not overridden. Every ordination or appointment can be overruled by higher necessities or resisted by other forces.
…unto the nations. The first of Jeremiah's words were spoken primarily, in fact, almost exclusively, to the children of Israel. However, the record of his words, his book, is also "unto" the nations, the Gentiles. The essence of this truth is that it was during the ministry of Jeremiah that the "TIMES OF THE GENTILES" began (Luke 21:24). Until Israel's last king fell, God's glory was with them and their kingdom constituted His form of government on earth. But their sins exceeded those of the Gentiles and God's glory departed (Eze. 11:23). From that time on, the children of Israel have been subjects of the nations, the Gentiles. After Babylon, the nation that initially took them out of the land (II Chr. 36), came Medo/Persia to rule over them. Then came the Greeks, then the Romans who caused them to be scattered among the nations. Jeremiah had many messages for the nations that were affiliated with Jews (Jer. 46 - 51).
Verse 6. Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. Jeremiah resisted the call of God and used his age as an alibi. Moses tried to get out of being Israel's deliverer and prophet by pointing out his inability to speak clearly (Ex. 4:10). But when God calls He always equips. He made Jeremiah like an iron pillar and a brazen wall (verse 1). He gave Moses his brother Aaron as a spokesman (Ex. 4:14).
When God cannot find a man who will perform his duties, He will choose a woman, and when there is no qualified woman, He will pick a child. But things are in bad shape when children have to carry the Lord's banner to His own people and to the heathens.
Jeremiah is a type of the 144,000 young Jews in Revelation, chapter seven. Jeremiah was young, never married, and had only negative messages. His was a hard life. Few men of any significance ever listened to him. He got into trouble every time he preached. He did as God told him, but nothing "worked." He was as great a preacher as ever walked the earth, yet he saw no revivals and perhaps only three souls "saved."
Jeremiah lived and prophesied when a long span of time Jesus called "the times of the Gentiles" (Luke 21:240 began. The times of the Gentiles BEGAN with a ruler who had to answer to no one. The 144,000 will preach the gospel of the kingdom of heaven just prior to the END of the times of the Gentiles when another great king will reign.
The 144,000 young virgin men who will preach during the first half of the seven-year covenant the antichrist makes with Israel will find a somewhat similar response to their messages. There will be some differences however, for there will be a number of people "saved" to be heaven's servants as the result of their ministry (Rev. 7:9-17).
Verse 7. But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee,.. The messages God gave to Jeremiah were primarily, but not exclusively, to the leadership, the religious and political bosses. They were to the decision makers, but decisions can be made correctly only if the information given them is accurate.
This is the greatest fallacy concerning a "democratic" form of government. The journalistic definition of a democracy is: "A form of government wherein it is believed that people can rule themselves well and wisely if they are freely and completely informed." This definition leaves out at least one important word: "accurately." If people determine the direction their country is going based upon the information they are given then those who give the information are the real rulers. They determine what the people are to hear or not hear.
This is one of the worst forms of government that can exist. It can only work when individuals respect and obey the laws of God. For a democracy to endure, the people must maintain individual morality that meets God's standards.
In a democracy, the majority rules and ultimately, minorities have no rights. Bible (KJV) believing Christians in America are already in a small, even tiny, minority. Muslims, who have no tolerance for Christians at all, are the fastest growing religious group in America, and they are very zealous.
God's form of government is a KINGDOM. When He established His system of government on earth, He set up KINGS. Although the form of government was good, the fate of Israel still depended upon the faithfulness of the kings to God. One notable difference between a democracy and a kingdom is, one man is easier to deal with than multitudes of individuals. If God's messages through Jeremiah could get through to one particular man, the king, there was hope for the nation.
…and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. This encompasses the major problem with America today. People blame the politicians, believing that as politics go, so goes the nation. But that is not true.
The truth is, as CHRISTIANS go, so goes the nation (Rom. 8:28). CHRISTIANS are the only people on earth who have the power to turn things around. The Jews are out of fellowship with God and, as a nation, refuse to accept Jesus and pray in His name.
The Gentiles have the wrong god, and for the most part, reject the tenets of God. Politics is not a cause, it is merely an effect.
There are movements within "Christian" circles attempting to persuade Christians to "get involved." The talk is that the problem lies in the fact that Christians are too politically apathetic, too complacent. The current thrust is for Christians to get involved in politics, or march against abortion clinics, liquor stores, porno houses, etc.
It is absolutely true that Christians should get involved—but not in POLITICS OR PROTESTS.
Christians should get involved in PRAYER AND PROPER WORSHIP.
The primary problem in America is not sorry politicians, but sorry preachers.
There is not a preacher whom God has called to whom He did not give a commission similar to the one He gave Jeremiah. The Lord told Jeremiah, "Whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak."