Jeremiah: Persistent Prophet

KEY VERSE: “Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” —Jeremiah 20:9

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 9:3; 20:7-13

THE NAME JEREMIAH is said to mean “Jehovah has appointed.” His service as a prophet of God began during the reign of good king Josiah, king of Judah, and he continued on until the nation was taken captive to Babylon in the reign of Zedekiah, more than forty years later. At that time, however, Jeremiah was among some of the poor left behind to work as vine-dressers and plowmen in the fields.

Even though he was considered very young in years to shoulder such a great responsibility, the Lord commissioned Jeremiah to call attention to the sins of the nation and the calamities that would fall upon them because of their idolatries. His message, heaped such condemnation upon the people, that Jeremiah hesitated to declare it out of fear, even though the Lord had promised him, “Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee. Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.”—Jer. 1:6-9

Finally, this divine promise appeared not to conform to reality, for Jeremiah met with a flood of derision and mocking; as a matter of fact, he considered giving up completely. He even went so far as to accuse the Lord of deceiving him although he had promised to help! But, the prophet said, even though the people made him a laughingstock, “I can’t quit! For if I say I’ll never again mention the Lord—never more speak in his name then his word in my heart is like a fire that burns in my bones, and I can’t hold it in any longer.”—Jer. 20:9, The Living Bible

Jeremiah foretold that the nation would be taken captive to Babylon for a period of seventy years and all the Gentile nations held responsible would be punished. (Jer. 25:12-14) He also foresaw that they would be “cast out of their land into a land they knew not”—Into all the earth—“to serve other gods day and night; where I will not show you favor.” (Jer. 16:13) God promised to send experiences upon them later to bring them back again into their own land (Jer. 16:14-16), calling them “hunters and fishers.”

Coming back into their own land, however, Israel has not found the illusive peace they long for. The prophet tells us Israel will first “hear a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.” Yes, Jacob’s trouble will descend upon them: “All faces are turned into paleness, for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. … They shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.”

To renew a harmonious relationship between himself and man, God will make a New Covenant “with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.” (Jer. 31: 31-34) It is to be mediated by Christ the Messiah, and the law of God will be “written in the people’s hearts and in their inward parts.” This is one of the promises of restitution which Peter declared had been spoken by the mouth of all God’s holy prophets. (Acts 3:21) “In those days [of restitution], they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge; but everyone shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.” (Jer. 31:29,30) Adam ate the ‘sour grape’ of sin, and all his progeny have suffered death as a result. But during Christ’s thousand-year kingdom, each man will die only if they willfully disobey the divine law.—Jer. 30:5-9

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