Jeremiah 1:1: “The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin.”
The Levites lived in Anathoth. Anathoth, Jerusalem and Bethlehem are fairly close together.
Jeremiah’s family tree included Huldah the prophetess for his grandmother, Hilkiah the high priest as his father, and two priestly brothers named Azariah and Gemariah. Maaseiah and Hanameel are his uncles. Shaphan, Ahikim and Gedaliah, Neriah, Seraiah, Zephaniah, Zedekiah, Gemariah, Elasah, Jaazaniah, Michaiah are his cousins. Baruch, his scribe, is also his cousin.[1]
According to 2 Chronicles 34:23-24, Huldah the prophetess was Jeremiah’s grandmother. She probably discipled Jeremiah much like Timothy’s grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice discipled Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:5.
When King Josiah needed Scripture interpreted, the Spirit of the Lord gave her the interpretation… “Tell the man who sent you to Me, thus says the Lord…”
Jeremiah 1:2-3: “To whom the Word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the 13th year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the 11th year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the 5th month.”
Jeremiah begins to prophesy during King Josiah’s reign. “Jeremiah… to whom the Word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah… king of Judah...” “The Lord said also to me in the days of Josiah the king…’”[2]
Jeremiah prophesied for 41 years from 627-586 BC. His career spanned the reigns of five kings of Judah. Josiah reigned for 31 years from 640-609 BC. Jehoahaz reigned for three months during 609 BC. Jehoiakim reigned for 11 years from 609-598 BC. Jehoiachin reigned for 3 months between 598-597 BC. Zedekiah reigned for 11 years between 597-586 BC.
Five-years after Jeremiah’s first message from God, Josiah began to reform Jerusalem. He executed false prophets. He destroys idols. He reinstated Passover. Josiah died 18 years into Jeremiah’s ministry. Josiah’s sons and grandson failed to maintain his high standard.
Jeremiah 1:4-5: “Then the Word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born, I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.’”
God initiates prophetic callings. These callings are according to His grace and not according to personal merit.
Isaiah 49:5: “The Lord formed Me from the womb to be His Servant.”
Luke 1:15: “He [John the Baptist] will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb.”
Galatians 1:15: “God set me [Paul] apart from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace.”
Psalm 139:13, 16: “He knit me [David] together in my mother’s womb.” “Your eyes saw my [David] substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book, they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet, there were none of them.”
Outstanding people have authors write about them. Think about it. God wrote about you before you were born.
Jeremiah 1:6: “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”
No one is autonomously equal to the task of speaking for the Lord. It is always a fellowship with God by His Spirit and Word, and a fellowship with people as we deliver the Word of the Lord to them!
1 Corinthians 1:26-27: “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”
2 Corinthians 3:5: “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.”
2 Corinthians 4:7: “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”
2 Corinthians 12:9 : “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
Jeremiah 1:7-8: “But the Lord said to me, ’Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ For you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you,’ says the Lord.”
God’s promise to rescue Jeremiah suggests that he will need to be rescued. God did rescue him. Those who opposed him eventually incurred God’s wrath. Jeremiah survived.
Jeremiah 1:9: “Then, the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, ‘Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.’”
As to the words that Jeremiah would need for the kings and the people. Dr. Theo Laetsch wrote, “The Lord put His Word in Jeremiah’s mouth. If the people of Jerusalem had did likewise; ate God’s Word, digested it and lived by it, exile would not have happened.”[3]
Jeremiah 1:10: “See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
How would the demolition and rebuild happen? It would happen according to God’s Word. Jeremiah would prophesy. God would bring His Word to pass.
Dr. Theo Laetsch wrote that God’s Word and action os to uproot all that which destroys intimacy between Him and His people. He uses armies of nations and population displacement to bring about the demise of ungodly societal systems. Like in the days of Noah, God’s heart is grieved over the way the people treat Him and one another.”[4]
Plucking up, breaking down, destroying and overthrowing is about repentance. Building and planting is about receiving. We either let Christ bear the wrath of God for our sin and be saved from its consequences, or we bear its consequences ourselves and perish.
Jeremiah 1:10 and Mark 1:15 both use six words to describe our need to demolish and rebuild. Jeremiah 1:10 has the six words: “pluck up, breakdown, destroy, overthrow, build, plant.” Mark 1:15 has the six words: “Repent and believe the Good News.”
Walter Brueggemann put it this way, “God urges us to relinquish a perishing world to receive an everlasting one.”
Jeremiah’s name contains the Gospel in a simple form. His name has a double meaning. His name can mean Yah razes or Yah raises. Yah means Lord. Raze relates to the work of repentance. Raise relates to the work of the Gospel.
Jesus Christ was crucified, dead and buried (razed) and resurrected (raised). Now, we too have hope that tho9ugh we die (raze), Jesus resurrects (raises) us to new and eternal life.
Baptism symbolizes dying to our old Adam of sin and being raised to the new Adam which we become in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new.”
Jeremiah 1:11: “The Word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Jeremiah, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘I see an almond branch.’”
When the almond tree buds, spring has arrived. God assured Jeremiah via this vision that He would fulfill His Word quickly.
Numbers 12:6: “The Lord said, ‘If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make Myself known to him in a vision; I will speak to him in a dream.’” Thus, God gave Jeremiah visions.
Jeremiah 1:12: “Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My Word.”
Jeremiah 1:12 is similar to Revelation 1:3: “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it, for the time is near.”
The Hebrew words, shoqed and shaqed are different forms of the Hebrew word for waking or watching. The almond tree is the waking tree. It was the first tree to wake up after a long winter’s nap. It was also the watching-tree, the tree one watched for in the spring.”
In Luke 21:29-30, Jesus urged us to look at trees. “When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near. So, you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.”
In Numbers 17:8, God used a budding almond branch as a sign to scoffers that Aaron and Moses were His prophets. “...Behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.”
Jeremiah 1:13-15: “The Word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, ‘Jeremiah, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north.’ Then the Lord said to me: ‘Out of the north calamity shall break forth on all the inhabitants of the land. For behold, I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says the Lord. They shall come and each one set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around, and against all the cities of Judah.”
Have you ever been scalded by boiling hot water? The pain that follows is intense and does not subside quickly. As water spills, it spreads out in every direction. Once released from containment by the Lord, Babylon would spread out rapidly.
In Jeremiah 25:15, the Lord said, “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it.” A pot pouring out is like a cup of wrath pouring out.
In Revelation 5:8; 15:7; 16:1; 17:1; 21:9, Jesus reveals to us plagues being poured out on the earth as seven bowl judgments.
Jeremiah 1:16-17: “I will utter My judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking Me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands. “Therefore prepare yourself and arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed before their faces, lest I dismay you before them.”
To gird oneself is to prepare for work. His work involves two words: Stand! Speak! He is not to show signs of fear. He is not to let the fear of people cause him to alter the Word of the Lord.
Jeremiah 1:18-19: “Behold, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.”
What if God said, “blank (fill in your name), I am going to make you a fortified city?” Would you respond, “Great that means that painful arrows will no longer pierce my heart? Verbal bullets will bounce off me.”
What if God said, “blank (fill in your name), I am going to make you a pillar?” Would you respond, “Great that means I will be able to endure extreme pressure? Winds can blow and dust can swirl around me, but when all is settled, I will be standing.”
What if God said, “blank (fill in your name), I am going to make you a brass wall?” Would you respond, “Great that means if bullies try to intimidate me, I will neither bend nor break.”
At first, Jeremiah’s mission was to warn of a Babylonian invasion. Tribulation followed the invasion. Restoration followed the tribulation. A new Jerusalem was built. In Nehemiah 8:10, “The joy of the Lord is their strength.”
The Church’s mission in Revelation is to warn of an end times Babylonian empire. In Revelation 6:2, a conqueror appears on a white horse. He is similar to Christ as Christ appears in Revelation 19:11, but he is not Christ. He is an antichrist. In Revelation 17:18, Babylon reigns over the kings of the earth. In Revelation 18:10, this evil Babylon is destroyed in an hour. Afterwards, there is a new Jerusalem. In Matthew 25:23, Jesus to says to His servants, “Enter into the joy of the Lord.” Thus, there is a great need for Jeremiah like ambassadors for Christ in this 21st century. People need prophetic speakers to instill in them the fear of God. The fear of God helps us to say, “NO” to evil and “YES” to God.
The Levites lived in Anathoth. Anathoth, Jerusalem and Bethlehem are fairly close together.
Jeremiah’s family tree included Huldah the prophetess for his grandmother, Hilkiah the high priest as his father, and two priestly brothers named Azariah and Gemariah. Maaseiah and Hanameel are his uncles. Shaphan, Ahikim and Gedaliah, Neriah, Seraiah, Zephaniah, Zedekiah, Gemariah, Elasah, Jaazaniah, Michaiah are his cousins. Baruch, his scribe, is also his cousin.[1]
According to 2 Chronicles 34:23-24, Huldah the prophetess was Jeremiah’s grandmother. She probably discipled Jeremiah much like Timothy’s grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice discipled Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:5.
When King Josiah needed Scripture interpreted, the Spirit of the Lord gave her the interpretation… “Tell the man who sent you to Me, thus says the Lord…”
Jeremiah 1:2-3: “To whom the Word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the 13th year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the 11th year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the 5th month.”
Jeremiah begins to prophesy during King Josiah’s reign. “Jeremiah… to whom the Word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah… king of Judah...” “The Lord said also to me in the days of Josiah the king…’”[2]
Jeremiah prophesied for 41 years from 627-586 BC. His career spanned the reigns of five kings of Judah. Josiah reigned for 31 years from 640-609 BC. Jehoahaz reigned for three months during 609 BC. Jehoiakim reigned for 11 years from 609-598 BC. Jehoiachin reigned for 3 months between 598-597 BC. Zedekiah reigned for 11 years between 597-586 BC.
Five-years after Jeremiah’s first message from God, Josiah began to reform Jerusalem. He executed false prophets. He destroys idols. He reinstated Passover. Josiah died 18 years into Jeremiah’s ministry. Josiah’s sons and grandson failed to maintain his high standard.
Jeremiah 1:4-5: “Then the Word of the Lord came to me, saying: ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born, I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.’”
God initiates prophetic callings. These callings are according to His grace and not according to personal merit.
Isaiah 49:5: “The Lord formed Me from the womb to be His Servant.”
Luke 1:15: “He [John the Baptist] will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb.”
Galatians 1:15: “God set me [Paul] apart from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace.”
Psalm 139:13, 16: “He knit me [David] together in my mother’s womb.” “Your eyes saw my [David] substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book, they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet, there were none of them.”
Outstanding people have authors write about them. Think about it. God wrote about you before you were born.
Jeremiah 1:6: “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”
No one is autonomously equal to the task of speaking for the Lord. It is always a fellowship with God by His Spirit and Word, and a fellowship with people as we deliver the Word of the Lord to them!
1 Corinthians 1:26-27: “Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”
2 Corinthians 3:5: “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.”
2 Corinthians 4:7: “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”
2 Corinthians 12:9 : “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
Jeremiah 1:7-8: “But the Lord said to me, ’Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ For you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you,’ says the Lord.”
God’s promise to rescue Jeremiah suggests that he will need to be rescued. God did rescue him. Those who opposed him eventually incurred God’s wrath. Jeremiah survived.
Jeremiah 1:9: “Then, the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, ‘Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.’”
As to the words that Jeremiah would need for the kings and the people. Dr. Theo Laetsch wrote, “The Lord put His Word in Jeremiah’s mouth. If the people of Jerusalem had did likewise; ate God’s Word, digested it and lived by it, exile would not have happened.”[3]
Jeremiah 1:10: “See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
How would the demolition and rebuild happen? It would happen according to God’s Word. Jeremiah would prophesy. God would bring His Word to pass.
Dr. Theo Laetsch wrote that God’s Word and action os to uproot all that which destroys intimacy between Him and His people. He uses armies of nations and population displacement to bring about the demise of ungodly societal systems. Like in the days of Noah, God’s heart is grieved over the way the people treat Him and one another.”[4]
Plucking up, breaking down, destroying and overthrowing is about repentance. Building and planting is about receiving. We either let Christ bear the wrath of God for our sin and be saved from its consequences, or we bear its consequences ourselves and perish.
Jeremiah 1:10 and Mark 1:15 both use six words to describe our need to demolish and rebuild. Jeremiah 1:10 has the six words: “pluck up, breakdown, destroy, overthrow, build, plant.” Mark 1:15 has the six words: “Repent and believe the Good News.”
Walter Brueggemann put it this way, “God urges us to relinquish a perishing world to receive an everlasting one.”
Jeremiah’s name contains the Gospel in a simple form. His name has a double meaning. His name can mean Yah razes or Yah raises. Yah means Lord. Raze relates to the work of repentance. Raise relates to the work of the Gospel.
Jesus Christ was crucified, dead and buried (razed) and resurrected (raised). Now, we too have hope that tho9ugh we die (raze), Jesus resurrects (raises) us to new and eternal life.
Baptism symbolizes dying to our old Adam of sin and being raised to the new Adam which we become in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new.”
Jeremiah 1:11: “The Word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Jeremiah, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘I see an almond branch.’”
When the almond tree buds, spring has arrived. God assured Jeremiah via this vision that He would fulfill His Word quickly.
Numbers 12:6: “The Lord said, ‘If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make Myself known to him in a vision; I will speak to him in a dream.’” Thus, God gave Jeremiah visions.
Jeremiah 1:12: “Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My Word.”
Jeremiah 1:12 is similar to Revelation 1:3: “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it, for the time is near.”
The Hebrew words, shoqed and shaqed are different forms of the Hebrew word for waking or watching. The almond tree is the waking tree. It was the first tree to wake up after a long winter’s nap. It was also the watching-tree, the tree one watched for in the spring.”
In Luke 21:29-30, Jesus urged us to look at trees. “When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near. So, you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.”
In Numbers 17:8, God used a budding almond branch as a sign to scoffers that Aaron and Moses were His prophets. “...Behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.”
Jeremiah 1:13-15: “The Word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, ‘Jeremiah, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north.’ Then the Lord said to me: ‘Out of the north calamity shall break forth on all the inhabitants of the land. For behold, I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says the Lord. They shall come and each one set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around, and against all the cities of Judah.”
Have you ever been scalded by boiling hot water? The pain that follows is intense and does not subside quickly. As water spills, it spreads out in every direction. Once released from containment by the Lord, Babylon would spread out rapidly.
In Jeremiah 25:15, the Lord said, “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it.” A pot pouring out is like a cup of wrath pouring out.
In Revelation 5:8; 15:7; 16:1; 17:1; 21:9, Jesus reveals to us plagues being poured out on the earth as seven bowl judgments.
Jeremiah 1:16-17: “I will utter My judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking Me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands. “Therefore prepare yourself and arise, and speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed before their faces, lest I dismay you before them.”
To gird oneself is to prepare for work. His work involves two words: Stand! Speak! He is not to show signs of fear. He is not to let the fear of people cause him to alter the Word of the Lord.
Jeremiah 1:18-19: “Behold, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.”
What if God said, “blank (fill in your name), I am going to make you a fortified city?” Would you respond, “Great that means that painful arrows will no longer pierce my heart? Verbal bullets will bounce off me.”
What if God said, “blank (fill in your name), I am going to make you a pillar?” Would you respond, “Great that means I will be able to endure extreme pressure? Winds can blow and dust can swirl around me, but when all is settled, I will be standing.”
What if God said, “blank (fill in your name), I am going to make you a brass wall?” Would you respond, “Great that means if bullies try to intimidate me, I will neither bend nor break.”
At first, Jeremiah’s mission was to warn of a Babylonian invasion. Tribulation followed the invasion. Restoration followed the tribulation. A new Jerusalem was built. In Nehemiah 8:10, “The joy of the Lord is their strength.”
The Church’s mission in Revelation is to warn of an end times Babylonian empire. In Revelation 6:2, a conqueror appears on a white horse. He is similar to Christ as Christ appears in Revelation 19:11, but he is not Christ. He is an antichrist. In Revelation 17:18, Babylon reigns over the kings of the earth. In Revelation 18:10, this evil Babylon is destroyed in an hour. Afterwards, there is a new Jerusalem. In Matthew 25:23, Jesus to says to His servants, “Enter into the joy of the Lord.” Thus, there is a great need for Jeremiah like ambassadors for Christ in this 21st century. People need prophetic speakers to instill in them the fear of God. The fear of God helps us to say, “NO” to evil and “YES” to God.
Attached is a link to a power point version of this article on my YouTube page:
https://youtu.be/aZgqD1fsypM
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