Jeremiah 1
Isaiah SPOKE about the suffering servant. Jeremiah LIVED the suffering servant. He was chosen by God for this task from before his birth. A descendant of one of the priests, living in the town of
Jeremiah was conscious of his call by God as a young man, yet God consecrated him for service long ago, from the womb. He was to be not only a prophet for his own people. God sent him as a prophet to the nations.
This prophet was reluctant to take on the charge given to him directly by God. Like Moses before him he felt his inadequacy keenly. He was a young man, and he considered his speaking skills as severely lacking. God does not seem concerned about these things. I wonder how many excuses we are prepared to give explaining why we are to busy or incompetent in order to serve Him in the way that He has called us to serve Him. Yes Jeremiah is a young man, but God did not require experience when He called him from the womb. God is not all that impressed with anyone’s speaking capabilities. There are other gifts that are more essential than oratorical flare for an ambassador of the Lord to do His job well. One of the most important of these is courage, and God is promising that He will supply all these necessary things as part of His own presence with the prophet of his choosing.
Jeremiah was a man. He certainly had sin. How can a mere man speak for God? How can he stand up to powerful kings and speak a message of judgment that they do not wish to hear? How can he convict others of sin when he himself is lacking sinless perfection? This perfection will be applied to him in much the same way as Isaiah experienced a century before. Here in Jeremiah the Lord touched the prophet’s mouth as a symbol of His provision of a divine answer to the formidable challenge of a fallible man serving as the mouthpiece for the infallible God.
Just as you and I are clothed with the righteousness of Christ so that we may serve the Lord as those who know that our sins are forgiven, this powerful experience would be a reminder to Jeremiah that our God can make the unclean clean. God could use Jeremiah, and He confirmed His plan for this man through a special experience of calling.
As part of that experience, the Lord gave Jeremiah particular favor in revealing to him two visions. The first contains a play on words in the Hebrew since the words for almond and watching sound very similar. This first vision tells us that God will see His Word to fruition. He will perform what He has promised. He is watching to make sure that all his promises are accomplished. It is important for us to remember that not one of the promises that the Lord Jesus has made will fail.
Not all of God’s promises for
This God has chosen Jeremiah as His prophet. He is to say everything that God commands. He will face great opposition, but God will be with him, and those who are against him will not prevail over him. When Jesus asked His disciples who people thought He was, one of the answers that they gave was Jeremiah. Jesus came with a difficult message from God, and He had a courage that was astounding. Not only was God with Him, He was God with us. He did more than announce trouble coming from the north. He took the burning cauldron of God’s just wrath against sin and faced the agony of the cross for our deliverance. No mere prophet could ever have accomplished this.
In Him we have One who is far greater than Jeremiah. For any prophet to keep on going in the face of opposition, He must believe that God is watching over His word to perform it. Jesus spoke a sure Word, but He Himself came as the Word of God made flesh. Everything about Him is sure. On this solid rock we stand, despite any opposition arrayed against us, for God is with us forever, and will deliver us from every danger.
posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM
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