Jeremiah 16
In the age that we live in, many have decided to never marry; many more have decided not to have any children. This is an unusual development in the history of mankind. Normally it is an adversary who might like to see his enemy left with no descendants. In our day, childlessness is an option that people seem to be eagerly seeking in increasing numbers. It has not always been this way. Paul instructs believers in
Jeremiah surely lived in a time of great distress. One might think that the comfort of a life-long companion might have been a great help to him, particularly during the difficulty of a season of persecution, yet the Lord instructed that he not take a wife. Of course this meant that he would never have any descendants. While undoubtedly this was a great sacrifice, it also meant that he was relieved from the trial of seeing his wife and children suffer through the trouble that was coming upon the land. Children who are never born miss the misery and pain of disease, war, and exile.
Not only was the prophet told not to marry, he was also told not to enter into the normal celebrations of the death and marriage of others. At these times people come together, they eat and they do what is customary to mark the passage of some great event and to acknowledge our oneness among the children of men. But not for Jeremiah. His life was set apart from these normal times of gathering, because the word of God’s judgment was so heavy a reality for his life, and lighter, very normal experiences of the sorrows and the joys of the human condition were simply not to have any place over the course of his days under the sun.
It was an overwhelming part of the life of Jeremiah that he would remind the people of the sins of their fathers in falling away from the Lord and worshipping false gods. Not only had earlier generations done these things, but they themselves had done even worse than those who came before them. For this reason they would be hurled out of the land. Everyone else might swim in the pools of normal sorrows and joys, but it was the duty of Jeremiah to be the one who spoke of the glacial icebergs below the water’s peaceful surface. He was the one man on the beach yelling, “Shark!” while everyone else is enjoying the sun and sand, or riding the waves as if peace and safety could be taken for granted.
We have to see these coming announcements of distress from the hand of the Lord in the right light. It was not as if the Lord had forgotten His promises of salvation for His people, despite their centuries of willful rebellion. This discipline for the nation was not against God’s people in every sense. In a way this was what they needed most. They were ignoring His law and His promises while they remained in the land of law and promise. It now was apparently necessary for them to be drawn nearer to Him and His Word by being sent far away.
God had not abandoned His plan of mercy, and He announces here that future generations will speak of God’s deliverance in bringing His people back from the north, as they have spoken throughout the history of
Today we mark the events of the exodus from
But now the Deliverer has come for sinners. Jesus, the Righteous One, has rescued us from the very pit of hell. Hell is worse than prison and slavery in either
posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM
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