Prophet to the Nations

The Call (1-8)

Jeremiah was called to preach to the people of Judah during a troubled time. The Southern kingdom had fallen into idolatry. Four kings are mentioned in verses 2-3.

Amon 642-640 son of Manasseh who encouraged the worship of Molech burning children alive as a sacrifice. He shared the same wickedness as his father ( 2 K 21:19-ff).

Josiah 640-609 a great king who began his rule at the age of 8 & attempted to restore true worship back to Judah.

Jehoiakim 609-598- an awful and ungodly king who burned the very words of the prophet Jeremiah (Jer 36)

Zedekiah 597-586- He was as evil as Jehoiakim was (2 K 24:18-20).

Jeremiah’s ministers over a period of between 40-50 years covering the reign of four kings. He preaches until the Babylonian captivity when Jerusalem is destroyed and the people of God are exiled into a pagan land.

Paganism & pluralism reigned. No one seems to care. God is about to call an unlikely person to warn the people.

God calls Jeremiah despite his lineage.

Jeremiah was of a priestly lineage. However, he was not a functioning priest. The sins of his ancestors had his family removed from serving in the Temple.

Eli who loved his sons more than God brought judgment upon Jeremiahs lineage (1 Samuel 2).

Aren’t you glad your future isn’t dependent on who raised you but on who saved you?

It’s not about genetics, it’s about Jesus.

My family tree is a cross!

God calls Jeremiah despite his youth.

Jeremiah responds to God’s call with disbelief (6). He thinks he’s too young. “I’m just a child!” Most believe Jeremiah was under twenty. Probably a teenager. Before we get too judgmental with Jeremiah let’s consider what he’s saying:

He lacks authority- who is going to listen to a kid?

He lacks experience- He’s not even a functioning priest.

He lacks training- “I don’t know how…” (6) God said He’s sending him to nations. This is foreign missions as well.

God calls Jeremiah before he was created (5).

Before you were in your mother’s womb I knew you. How humbling is it to know that before God made you He knew what He was going to do with you. We think God makes us then we show Him what were good at and he gives us a job. That’s not the case. God creates Jeremiah with a specific purpose in mind. This removes any opportunity we have for boasting!

Before you were born I sanctified you- This means set apart. It has to do with a different way of living, a holiness.

Before you were born I ordained you- This means appointed, sent. God is saying to Jeremiah “I gave you to the nations.” In other words Jeremiah was a part of God’s grace to a lost world.

In the midst of ungodly generations God forms, sanctifies and sends out men to preach His word He will protect these men because God will present his word to a lost world.

Are you born again? Are you saved?

Then you have been formed, set aside and sent out! Your purpose in life is to declare to an ungodly world the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are a royal priesthood! No excuses!

Too young? No excuse!

Too old? No excuse!

I’ve noticed that people say three things about serving God:

I’m too young, I’m too old and between those times they say they are too busy.

The Commission (9-10)

God is sending Jeremiah out. God is commissioning him. Note some things:

Note the intimacy. As Baptists we have ordination services. Godly men lay hands on someone who has been called. We commission this man, send him out to the field. All of this is symbolic.

Spurgeon said of our ordination services they were empty hands on empty heads! His point was we can do nothing for one another. God has to lay His own hand upon us if we are to do anything for the kingdom.

Jeremiah said the Lord touched his mouth. We don’t know exactly how this happened: through a vision, in the Spirit, actually touched him. The point is Jeremiah had an intimate encounter with God. He knew God called him. He knew God touched him.

See the conviction of Jeremiah “Then the Lord put His hand forth!” Jeremiah knew what God had done.

I have seen men of God come and go. I have seen people believe today and not tomorrow. Today they believe hell is hot and heaven is real. Today they believe sin is ugly and holiness is beautiful. Tomorrow they don’t even speak of the things of God. Tomorrow they have no passion, no conviction, and no heart for God. I can only conclude that they were not convinced of what they said they believed.

Jeremiah would make it for fifty years and only see two converts (Ebed-melech and Baruch) because he had an intimate encounter with God!

Note the instruction.

God put His word in Jeremiah’s mouth. In verse 10 God says he set Jeremiah over kingdoms & nations. He instructed Jeremiah to:

Root out, Pull down, Destroy, Overthrow, Build, Plant

Through the preaching of the Word of God Jeremiah would root out sin, pull down false ideas, destroy false religion, overthrow satanic strongholds.

This would happen as Jeremiah called the nations out for the sin they were in.

The building and planting was the hope he would give the people through preaching. God’s grace was available. His forgiveness was offered.

Jeremiah is commissioned by God. The hand of God is upon him and the word of God is within him. Believer it is the same with you. Your parents have not saved you. Your church has not saved you. God has saved you. His hand is upon you! His Spirit is within you. We have a Great Commission! We haven’t been sent by an agency, we have been sent by the Almighty.

We go with the Word of God in our hands and in our hearts. We don’t simply have the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms like Jeremiah. We have the Gospels and the Epistles as well! We are commissioned to go into the world and root out, pull down, destroy, overthrow, build and replant!

The Calamity (11-16)

Jeremiah saw two visions

The first vision- An almond tree

The Hebrew word for “Almond” means “haste. It was the haste tree. Why? Because it was the first to bloom in the spring. When you saw the almond tree bloom you knew spring was upon you.

God gives the interpretation of the vision in verse 12. God is saying to Jeremiah “You are going to give prophecies to the people that will be quickly fulfilled.”

The second vision- a boiling pot

The shaking of the water symbolizes the shaking of the nation of Judah, the evaporation of the water would symbolize the taking away of the people. Babylon is coming from the North to shake and remove the people from the land.

Nations will come to Jerusalem and set up their thrones in the city. In other words these nations will impose their will on the Jewish people.

Look at verse 16 and you see the reason for God’s judgment.

Wickedness- shameful immorality

Forsaken God- Left the God of the covenant

Idoltary – Acceptance of other gods

Jeremiah would actually see all of this happen. He would be there when the invaders from the North came killing men, women and children. Kidnapping and exiling his very people.

The almond tree had budded! The pot was boiling over!

What if we are the generation who sees the judgment of God? What if Christ returns in our lifetime? What if we are the last generation of preachers? What passion we ought to have! Perhaps that’s why Jeremiah wept so much. The Lord told him he would see this happen! Calamity is coming and it may very well come in our generation. My prayer is the last generation of preachers will be the most passionate!

The Comfort (17-19)

We see the encouragement for Jeremiah. He would need it.

God says “Don’t worry about the way they look at you” “Be not dismayed at their faces” That’s the second time he mentions the faces of Jeremiah’s audience (8). People can make you feel bad just by the way they look at you. They can scare you with the way they look at you. Hostile faces, hard faces, sneering faces. Look at them in the eyes and tell them the truth!

“Gird up your loins!” dress for battle! Be free from self-entanglement. Tie up the loose ends, cut off the fat.

“Arise!” Don’t just sit there. Get up!

“Speak!” Preach the truth! Faith comes by hearing! God comforts Jeremiah with wonderful promises (18-19).

God let’s Jeremiah know he will be protected.

Like a defenced city

Like an iron pillar

Like brazen walls

You are impregnable, unscaleable. Before anything gets to you it’ll have to come through Me!

Look at Jeremiah’s audience in verse 18:

Kings of Judah- Every man is small to God, none are above His judgment. Ask Nebuchadnezzar whose pride caused him to take credit for all of his accomplishemnts. Gos struck him with such insanity that he grazed like an ox for seven years. When he was restored he said:

I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou? At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me. Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase. Daniel 4:34-37

Princes- politicians

Priests- False religion

People- His own countrymen

The kings, politicians, priests and even Jeremiah’s own countrymen would attack him. But look at verse 19. They would not prevail. God would deliver Jeremiah.

We often despair when we look at the current generation or the one to come. I want you to think about something for a moment. God was using two people mightily when this book was written: Josiah and Jeremiah. Josiah was 21 when Jeremiah began his ministry and most scholars believe Jeremiah was under twenty years old. That means the two people God was using the most mightily in the world at that time were 21 and under.

God raises up voices in every generation. People come to preach because God calls them. God is calling us and those behind us to share the truth with kings, politicians, the falsely religious and our neighbors.

As we obey Him we have His promise that He will be with us. He will protect us. Let us be a voice to the nations for the gospel of Christ.