Prophetible People

“Righteous are You, O Lord, when I plead with You; yet let me talk with You about Your judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are those happy who deal so treacherously?” Jeremiah 12:1

Jeremiah addresses God as being righteous. He wants to talk to God about His judgments. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit convicts “of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” Jeremiah wants God to bring judgment against the prosperity and happiness of those who are doing the devil’s work to destroy his witness for God. [1]

Jerusalem’s spiritual leaders are enemies of the truth. Jeremiah’s truthfulness exposed their deceitfulness. He spoke to the Lord about them, saying, “You are near in their mouth and far from their heart.” His fellow priests had the Word of God, but the Word of God did not have them. Though they had the priestly titles and vestments, they were in fact, servants of Satan.

Almost six hundred years later, hypocritical priests also persecuted Jesus. They were angry at Him for healing a blind man on the Sabbath Day. They wanted to kill Jesus. Jesus had dared to teach and heal people in “THEIR” temple without THEIR consent. [2]

The prophet Habakkuk asked the Lord, “Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they?” [3]

The Lord gave to King David a word about the wicked. He wrote, “Though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.” [4]

The prosperity of the wicked is a sign of God’s longsuffering and patience. Their destruction is a sign of His righteous judgment. Paul wrote, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” [5]

“You have planted them, yes, they have taken root; they grow, yes, they bear fruit. You are near in their mouth but far from their mind.” Jeremiah 12:2

God created them, helped them to grow, and to bear fruit but they betrayed Him. They had the titles of priests and prophets, but their hearts were not in harmony with God’s. They were suppressing and denying the truth, by saying, “Peace, peace,” when there was no peace.

“But You, O Lord, know me; You have seen me, and You have tested my heart toward You. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter and prepare them for the day of slaughter.” Jeremiah 12:3

Jeremiah fellowshipped with God. He prayed, “You, Lord, know me. You see me and test my heart toward You.” By laying his heart before God and listening to God, he received guidance from God. The plots of evil princes, priests, and prophets did not prevail against him. He placed them in God’s hands and asked God to deal with them.

“How long will the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither? The beasts and birds are consumed, for the wickedness of those who dwell there, because they said, ‘He will not see our final end.’” Jeremiah 12:4

Land, herbs, animals, and birds were suffering due to human corruption. The Lord says, “The creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. …because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” [6]

As in Revelation, so in Jeremiah, nations are at war with one another. People are dying. Plants and animals are being destroyed. Rivers are bloody. The instigators press forward with their delusion that God will not stop them.

“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, in which you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?” Jeremiah 12:5

The above passage is a proverbial phrase. The injuries done to Jeremiah by his neighbors in Anathoth (“the footmen”) are small compared with the injuries the men of Jerusalem (“the horsemen”) are about to inflict on him. The floodplain of Jordan refers to the overwhelming army of Babylon that is about to destroy Jerusalem.

Jeremiah needed strength greater than his own. Peace that passes all understanding to keep his heart and mind in God! He needed God Almighty to supply his needs. [7]

When experiencing backlash for proclaiming God’s Word, we should consider Him who endured such hostility of sinners, so that we will not grow weary and lose heart. [8]

“For even your brothers, the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you; yes, they have called a multitude after you. Do not believe them, even though they speak smooth words to you.” Jeremiah 12:6

Jeremiah had two brothers, one named Azariah and the other named Gemariah. The Lord warned Jeremiah not to believe their smooth talk. They would betray him. They called people to oppose him. Jeremiah’s father was Hilkiah the high priest. Hilkiah is never mentioned as affirming, supporting or protecting Jeremiah. Jeremiah’s help was in the Name of the Lord. [9]

Brother against brother stories abound in the Bible. Cain killed his younger brother Abel. The brothers of Old Testament Joseph planned to kill him but after Reuben intervened, they sold him to slavers instead. Eliab the oldest brother of David falsely accused him, saying, “I know your pride and the insolence of your heart.” The brothers of Jesus did not believe in Him. Jesus warned His disciples, saying, “Brother will betray brother to death...” Each story affirms that people are sinful and need God to create in them a clean heart and a right spirit. [10]

“I have forsaken My house I have left My heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies. My heritage is to Me like a lion in the forest; it cries out against Me; therefore, I have hated it.” Jeremiah 12:7-8

Long ago, they loved God and He loved them, but now they were like ravenous lions toward God and His servants. Their one reliable attribute was unreliability. The Promised Land became a field of weeds in their hands.

“My heritage is to Me like a speckled vulture; the vultures all around are against her. Come, assemble all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour!” Jeremiah 12:9

Judah was as a vulture that scavenges among the dead to God. Judah’s neighboring nations were like her, yet ready to tear her apart. God called to the beasts, referring to the Babylonians, to gather the nations against Judah. God uses the imagery of scavenger birds consuming the flesh of dead people repeatedly in the Bible when He speaks of His judgments on sin. [11]

“Many rulers have destroyed My vineyard they have trodden My portion underfoot; they have made My pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. They have made it desolate; desolate, it mourns to Me; the whole land is made desolate, because no one takes it to heart.” Jeremiah 12:10-11

Jesus used a similar metaphor to Jeremiah’s when He spoke of wicked vineyard tenants who beat and killed the owner’s representatives. Jesus said that the owner would kill those tenants. Jerusalem was top heavy with rich rulers at time of her collapse. They were neither serving God nor His people. [12]

“The plunderers have come on all the desolate heights in the wilderness, for the sword of the Lord shall devour from one end of the land to the other end of the land; no flesh shall have peace.” Jeremiah 12:12

War and the plundering of wealth that follows war is a result of sin. If people would humble themselves before God, repent of their evil deeds, and ask for His intervention, God would intervene and give them new hearts that are capable of loving one another.

“They have sown wheat but reaped thorns; they have put themselves to pain but do not profit. But be ashamed of your harvest because of the fierce anger of the Lord.” Jeremiah 12:13

Jesus explained, “The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the Word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the Word, making it unfruitful.” [14]

“Thus says the Lord: against all My evil neighbors who touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit—behold, I will pluck them out of their land and pluck out the house of Judah from among them. Then it shall be, after I have plucked them out, that I will return and have compassion on them and bring them back, everyone to his heritage and everyone to his land. And it shall be, if they will learn carefully the ways of My people, to swear by My Name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they shall be established in the midst of My people.” Jeremiah 12:14-16

Praise God for plucking His people like grapes from the lands to which they were carried away captive. Praise God for His compassion on Israel’s enemies. Many of them were displaced as well from their lands during the wars. God promised if they honored Him, He would honor them and establish them in the midst of His people. This promise also alludes to the millennial reign of Christ. In that day, “Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” [15]

“But if they do not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 12:17

The law God wants nations to learn is to love one another. “For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

God’s love led Jeremiah to proclaim God’s Word. He spoke to people in the Name of the Lord and called them to turn to God for help lest they reap the fruit of their evil deeds. 21st century people need prophets like Jeremiah.

The Holy Spirit convicts the world of judgment because the god of this world is judged. Jesus reveals to us in the Book of Revelation that the devil’s time is short. God’s judgment on him and his followers will be everlasting. That is why it is all the more important for us to tell people the good news of the atoning sacrifice of Christ for sin, and about the power of His Holy Spirit to fill a person with the love, joy and peace.

[1] John 16:11
[2] John 5:1-18
[3] Habakkuk 1:13
[4] Psalm 92:7
[5] Galatians 6:7
[6] Romans 8:19, 21
[7] Philippians 4:7, 19
[8] Hebrews 12:3
[9] 1 Chronicles 6:13-14; Ezra 7:1; Jeremiah 29:3
[10] Genesis 4:8; Genesis 37:18-28; 1 Samuel 17:28; John 7:5; Matthew 10:21
[11] Ezekiel 39:17; Matthew 24:28; Revelation 19:17
[12] Luke 20:18
[13] Revelation 6:4
[14] Matthew 13:22
[15] Isaiah 2:3-4