The Prophetic Calling

“The Words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin.” Jeremiah 1:1

Jeremiah’s father is Hilkiah the high priest during the reign of King Josiah. Huldah the prophetess was Hilkiah’s mother which means she was Jeremiah’s grandmother. When King Josiah needed Scripture interpreted, he did not ask Hilkiah to explain it. He asked Huldah to explain it. This indicates to me that Huldah was more spiritually attune to the Lord than Hilkiah. The Spirit of the Lord did give her the interpretation. She said to the messenger of King Josiah, “Tell the man who sent you to Me, thus says the Lord…” Huldah probably discipled Jeremiah much like Timothy’s grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice discipled Timothy. [1]

“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 1:2-3

The Lord gave to Jeremiah messages for the kings of his land so they are mentioned here by name. There were five different kings over Judah during Jeremiah’s ministry years, but only three are mentioned in Jeremiah 1:2-3. The mentioned ones being Josiah, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah. The unmentioned ones are Jehoahaz and Jehoiachin. They both had short reigns of only three months each.

“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.’” Jeremiah 1:4-5

God initiates prophetic callings. These callings are according to His grace and not according to personal merit. David wrote, “Your eyes saw my 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.” Isaiah wrote, “The Lord formed me from the womb to be His servant.” The angel Gabriel told Zechariah, “He [John the Baptist] will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb.” Paul pointed to Christ as giver of prophets, writing, “He [Christ] gave some apostles, some prophets...” Paul gave honor to God’s grace for his calling to apostleship, writing, “God set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace.” Jesus said to His disciples, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you .” Jesus said to Paul, “I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness...” [2]

When the Lord revealed to Jeremiah his calling, his response to the Lord was, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.” Jeremiah 1:6

No one is autonomously equal to the task of speaking for the Lord. It is always a fellowship. A fellowship with God by His Spirit and Word! A fellowship with people as we deliver the Word of the Lord to them! Who does the Lord call to speak for Him?

Paul wrote, “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.” “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.” “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” The Lord said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” [3]

“The Lord said to me, ‘Say not, I am a child, for you shall go to all whom I shall send you, and whatsoever I command you, you shall speak. Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you,’ says the Lord. 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.” Jeremiah 1:7-9

God’s promise to rescue Jeremiah suggests that he will need to be rescued. God did rescue Jeremiah. Those who imprisoned and abused him suffered greatly when the time of God’s wrath was poured out on their city. Their city fell. Jeremiah was still standing when it was all said and done. God commanded him not to fear their faces.

As to the words that Jeremiah would need for the kings and the people... God gave him what to say when he needed to say it. Peter wrote of this miracle, saying, “Prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” Isaiah wrote, “The Lord God has given me the tongue of disciples, that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.” The hearing ear and the mouth that speaks are God’s gift of grace. [4]

Some think of prophets as fortune tellers to serve self-interests of individuals. That is wrong. The Holy Spirit gave prophets predictions of events relating to the Messiah and His everlasting kingdom. God’s prophets serve Him by glorifying Him and accurately proclaiming His Word and His ways to people.

Jesus said to Pilate, “…The reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me.” “Micaiah said, ‘As the Lord lives, whatever my God says, that I will speak.’” Paul testified, “We had the boldness in our God to speak to you the Gospel of God amid much opposition.” Paul testified, “I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you publicly and from house to house.” [5]

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.” [6]

“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.” Jeremiah 1:10

Dr. Theo Laetsch wrote, God’s Word and action is to uproot all that 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. [7]

Plucking up, breaking down, destroying and overthrowing is about repentance of sin. Building and planting is about receiving the glad tidings of what Christ has done for us. We need to give to God our sin. We need to receive from God His forgiveness, His grace and His Holy Spirit to live a new life. We either let Christ bear the wrath of God for our sin and be saved from sin’s consequences, or we bear the consequences of our sins ourselves, and perish in it.

God prophets urge people 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. Baptism symbolizes dying to our old Adam of sin and being raised to the new Adam which we become in Christ. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” [8]

Jesus Christ was crucified, dead and buried (razed) and resurrected (raised). Now, we too have hope that though due to sin we die (raze us), Jesus resurrects (raises) us to new and eternal life.

“Moreover the Word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Jeremiah, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘I see a branch of an almond tree.’ Then the Lord said to me, ‘You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My Word.’” Jeremiah 1:11-12

שֹׁקֵ֥ד SHOQED = watching
שָׁקֵ֖ד SHAQED = almond

“The word for ‘watching’ is the Hebrew shoqed. It sounds very much like the Hebrew for ‘almond’: shaqed. Shoqed and shaqed are different forms of the 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.” [9]

When the almond tree buds, spring has arrived. God assured Jeremiah via this vision that He would fulfill His Word quickly. “You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My Word.”

Jesus spoke a similar word to us in His revelation of the last days. He said, “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.” [10]

Jesus presented a fig tree to His disciples in regards to the last days prophecy. He said, “Look at the fig tree, and all the 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.” [11]

God used a budding almond branch as a sign to scoffers that Aaron and Moses were His prophets. “…Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.” [12]

God speaks to His servants via visions and word pictures. The Lord said to Moses, “If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream.” Paul’s calling came to Him in a vision from the Lord, “…I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared that they [people] should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.” [13]

“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 unto me, ‘Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. For lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north,’ says the Lord; ‘and they shall come and they shall set everyone his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah.’” Jeremiah 1:13-15

The Lord revealed to Jeremiah Babylon (the kingdoms of the north or who attack from the north) as a boiling pot ready to spill out. In the Book of Revelation, Jesus reveals to us plagues being poured out on the earth as seven bowl judgments. [14]

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, Babylon would spread rapidly and destroy that which it touched. To ignore the prophetic warnings of Jesus yields an even greater pain than that of Jeremiah’s prophecy.

“I will utter My judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, because they have forsaken Me, burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands. You therefore gird up your loins and arise and speak to them all that I command you. Be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound you before them. I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its princes and 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.” Jeremiah 1:16-19

God called Jeremiah to speak to people who had forsaken God. They abandoned God and were now worshipping and serving imaginary gods that were not gods. They did not respond well to his efforts to call them back into a relationship with the One true God.

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.

God promises to be the strength and protector of His messenger.

“I have made you (fill in your name) a fortified city.” Great! Fiery arrows will not pierce me.

“I have made you (fill in your name) a pillar.” Great! Extreme pressure won’t break me.

“I have made you (fill in your name) a bronze wall.” Great! Bullies won’t bend me.

There is a parallelism between Jeremiah’s prophecy in his day with the prophecy of Jesus to our generation.

Jeremiah’s sequence of events:
Apostate from God – Jerusalem warned
Tribulation – Babylonian captivity of 70 years
With God – Remnant of God’s people restored to Jerusalem

Revelation’s sequence of events:
Apostate from God – Gentile world warned
Tribulation – 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 bowls judgments during 7 years
With God – Redeemed Jews and Gentiles in Heavenly Jerusalem

God’s judgment via Jeremiah: Sin will destroy your nation.
God’s judgment via His Church: Sin will destroy your soul.

God’s promise via Jeremiah: Closeness with God / Promised Land
God’s promise via Revelation: Closeness with God / Eternal Paradise

Jeremiah’s prophetic reach is “a prophet to the nations.”
The Church’s prophetic reach is “make disciples of all nations.”

The experience of last days Christians is similar to Jeremiah’s. We warn the people of the empires of this world to repent and believe the Gospel. Some will listen, some will not, but we must not grow weary of pointing people to the coming kingdom of Messiah.

In due season, Jesus Messiah will return. Then, there will be a New Heavenly Jerusalem wherein dwells righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Then, there will be no more pain, no more tears, no more war, no more hunger and no more thirst.

The Church’s prophesy from God is vital for people to hear.

Has not the Lord called us all to be His prophets (spokes-people) to the nations? “Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” [15]

Prophetic proclamation is not madness. A Roman official falsely accused Paul of being crazy. He said, “Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!” Paul replied, “I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the Words of truth and reason.” [16]

Paul urged a king to believe God’s Word. He said, “King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets?” The king replied, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” Paul had a good comeback for that king’s reply. He said, “I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains.” [17]

May the Lord help us, the body of Christ, to take up the prophetic mantle of the Holy Spirit and to help the world hear God’s voice.

Jim Elliott, a faithful messenger of God, said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

[1] 2 Chronicles 34:23-24; 2 Timothy 1:5
[2] Psalm 139:16; Isaiah 49:5; Luke 1:15; Ephesians 4:11; Galatians 1:15; John 15:16; Acts 26:16
[3] 1 Corinthians 1:26-27; 2 Corinthians 3:5; 4:7; 12:9
[4] Isaiah 50:4 2 Peter 1:21
[5] John 18:37; 2 Chronicles 18:13; 1 Thessalonians 2:2; Acts 20:20
[6] Dr. Theo Laetsch, Bible Commentary Jeremiah, Concordia Paperback Edition, 1965
[7] Dr. Theo Laetsch, Bible Commentary Jeremiah, Concordia Paperback Edition, 1965
[8] 2 Corinthians 5:17
[9] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 30
[10] Revelation 1:3
[11] Luke 21:29-30
[12] Numbers 17:8
[13] Numbers 12:6; Acts 20:19-20
[14] Revelation 5:8; 15:7; 16:1; 17:1; 21:9
[15] Matthew 28:19-20
[16] Acts 26:24-25
[17] Acts 26:27-29