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. In 2 Chronicles 34:23-24, 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. In 2 Timothy 1:5, Paul wrote to Timothy, saying, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.”
“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 ministry. These callings are according to His grace and not according to personal merit. In Psalm 139:16, 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.”
Outstanding people have authors write about them. Think about it! God wrote about you before you were born.
Isaiah 49:5 says, “The Lord formed me from the womb to be His servant.” Luke 1:15 says that John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. Ephesians 4:11 says that Christ “gave some apostles, some prophets...” Paul wrote in Galatians 1:15, “God set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace.” In John 15:16, Jesus said to His disciples, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you .” In Acts 26:16, Jesus said to Paul, “I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness...”
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!
1 Corinthians 1:26-27 says, “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 says, “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 says, “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 says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
“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.” Jeremiah 1:7-8
“Go to all whom I shall send you.” “Be not afraid.” Jesus said to His disciples and by extension to us, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.” Matthew 28:20
God’s promise to rescue Jeremiah suggests that he will need to be rescued. God did rescue Jeremiah. Those who opposed him eventually suffered God’s wrath. Jeremiah survived.
“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 1:9
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.” [1]
“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. [2]
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.
Mark 1:15 says that Jesus preached, “Repent and believe the good news.” Plucking up, breaking down, destroying and overthrowing speaks of repentance of sin. Building and planting speaks of believing the Good News. Judah needed to shed the life of sin and receive the life of God by believing in Him.
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.
God prophets urge people to relinquish a perishing world to receive an everlasting one.
One simple but effective trap to catch monkeys is to cut a hole in a coconut and put rice inside the hole. Affix to the coconut to the ground or a tree so that it cannot be moved. The monkey puts his hand into the coconut and grasps the rice only to realize that he can’t get his hand out again. The holy is just large enough for the open hand to enter but too small for the closed fist to pull out. The hunter catches the monkey because he refuses to let go of the rice.
Jim Elliott said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Baptism symbolizing dying to our old Adam of sin and being raised to the new Adam which we become in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
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.
“The Word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Jeremiah, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘I see an almond branch.’” Jeremiah 1:11
When the almond tree buds, spring has arrived. God assured Jeremiah via this vision that He would fulfill His Word quickly.
“The Lord said, ‘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.’” Numbers 12:6
“You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My Word.’” Jeremiah 1:12
The time was near! 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.”
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]
In Luke 21:29-30, 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.”
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.”
God speaks to His servants via visions and word pictures. In Numbers 12:6, the Lord said, “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.” In Acts 20:19-20, Paul testified that he was following 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.”
“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
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. [4]
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.
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.
Jeremiah 25:15 says, “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.
“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.” Jeremiah 1:16
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.
“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.” Jeremiah 1:17
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.
“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 1:18-19
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 and Revelation
Book of Jeremiah events
Apostate – Warnings
Tribulation – Captivity
Restoration - With God
Book of Revelation events
Apostate – Warnings
Tribulation – Judgments
Restoration - With God
Jeremiah – Sin destroys your nation.
Revelation – Sin destroys your soul
Jeremiah promise – Promised Land restored
Revelation promise – Paradise restored
Jeremiah’s influence – kings + nations of people
Revelation’s influence – kings + nations of people
Jeremiah warned of a Babylonian invasion. Revelation 6:2 warns of a conqueror who conquers.
The Lord has called us to be prophets to the nations via Matthew 28:19-20, “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.”
Prophetic proclamation is not madness. In Acts 26:24-25, 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.”
In Acts 26:27-29, 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.
[1] Dr. Theo Laetsch, Bible Commentary Jeremiah, Concordia Paperback Edition, 1965
[2] Dr. Theo Laetsch, Bible Commentary Jeremiah, Concordia Paperback Edition, 1965
[3] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 30
[4] Dr. Theo Laetsch, Bible Commentary Jeremiah, Concordia Paperback Edition, 1965
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!
1 Corinthians 1:26-27 says, “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 says, “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 says, “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 says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
“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.” Jeremiah 1:7-8
“Go to all whom I shall send you.” “Be not afraid.” Jesus said to His disciples and by extension to us, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.” Matthew 28:20
God’s promise to rescue Jeremiah suggests that he will need to be rescued. God did rescue Jeremiah. Those who opposed him eventually suffered God’s wrath. Jeremiah survived.
“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 1:9
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.” [1]
“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. [2]
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.
Mark 1:15 says that Jesus preached, “Repent and believe the good news.” Plucking up, breaking down, destroying and overthrowing speaks of repentance of sin. Building and planting speaks of believing the Good News. Judah needed to shed the life of sin and receive the life of God by believing in Him.
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.
God prophets urge people to relinquish a perishing world to receive an everlasting one.
One simple but effective trap to catch monkeys is to cut a hole in a coconut and put rice inside the hole. Affix to the coconut to the ground or a tree so that it cannot be moved. The monkey puts his hand into the coconut and grasps the rice only to realize that he can’t get his hand out again. The holy is just large enough for the open hand to enter but too small for the closed fist to pull out. The hunter catches the monkey because he refuses to let go of the rice.
Jim Elliott said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
Baptism symbolizing dying to our old Adam of sin and being raised to the new Adam which we become in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
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.
“The Word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Jeremiah, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘I see an almond branch.’” Jeremiah 1:11
When the almond tree buds, spring has arrived. God assured Jeremiah via this vision that He would fulfill His Word quickly.
“The Lord said, ‘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.’” Numbers 12:6
“You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My Word.’” Jeremiah 1:12
The time was near! 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.”
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]
In Luke 21:29-30, 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.”
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.”
God speaks to His servants via visions and word pictures. In Numbers 12:6, the Lord said, “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.” In Acts 20:19-20, Paul testified that he was following 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.”
“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
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. [4]
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.
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.
Jeremiah 25:15 says, “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.
“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.” Jeremiah 1:16
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.
“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.” Jeremiah 1:17
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.
“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 1:18-19
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 and Revelation
Book of Jeremiah events
Apostate – Warnings
Tribulation – Captivity
Restoration - With God
Book of Revelation events
Apostate – Warnings
Tribulation – Judgments
Restoration - With God
Jeremiah – Sin destroys your nation.
Revelation – Sin destroys your soul
Jeremiah promise – Promised Land restored
Revelation promise – Paradise restored
Jeremiah’s influence – kings + nations of people
Revelation’s influence – kings + nations of people
Jeremiah warned of a Babylonian invasion. Revelation 6:2 warns of a conqueror who conquers.
The Lord has called us to be prophets to the nations via Matthew 28:19-20, “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.”
Prophetic proclamation is not madness. In Acts 26:24-25, 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.”
In Acts 26:27-29, 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.
[1] Dr. Theo Laetsch, Bible Commentary Jeremiah, Concordia Paperback Edition, 1965
[2] Dr. Theo Laetsch, Bible Commentary Jeremiah, Concordia Paperback Edition, 1965
[3] Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken, Jeremiah and Lamentations from Sorrow to Hope, Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL, © 2001, p. 30
[4] Dr. Theo Laetsch, Bible Commentary Jeremiah, Concordia Paperback Edition, 1965
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