Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

Jeremiah’s popularity was not high. He was prophesying something people did NOT want to hear. AND there were others who were prophesying the opposite. People didn’t want to think about whether or not the happy talkers were lying. They wanted to believe they were safe. That they were secure. And that since they were going to the Temple and doing the things God had told them to do in the Law, that they were going to be rescued. It didn’t matter to them that they were despising the Lord in their hearts. It didn’t matter to them that they were sinning left, right, and centre. They only wanted happy news that inspired joy-joy feelings inside. Jeremiah wanted to speak God’s truth. The two viewpoints did NOT mix well.

Jeremiah was speaking what the Lord told him to speak to Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. He had a divine mandate. This was THUS SAYS THE LORD stuff. Not something HE thought of himself. The LORD GOD of ISRAEL was saying that anyone who did not follow the covenant was a covenant breaker. That meant more than lip service, but following all of the Law in their hearts and minds, not just actions. God had made a covenant with the Israelites that they WOULD be protected and safe IF they followed the Law. They took an oath on it, but they were breaking that oath. Jeremiah was instructed to walk the roads of the city and proclaim that they were to hear the words of the Law and obey the Voice of the Lord. If they would not obey, then the penalty of the Law (that which the covenant protected them from) would come upon them. If they did not keep the covenant, they were hindering God in His desire to save them. They were calling judgment onto their own heads. God was AGAIN warning them to listen and to obey. To avoid what they could CHOOSE to avoid. But they would not. In fact, they went a step further.

Jeremiah was warned by God of a conspiracy against the Lord. The men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem had conspired to intentionally turn against the Lord Himself. They were choosing to turn back to the ways of their ancestors who had rejected the Lord – in other words, embracing the idolatry and immoral behaviour of the nations around them. They were intentionally and on purpose, with full knowledge of it, breaking their covenant with God. Because of that, a punishment they would not be able to escape was coming upon them. They would cry out at that point, but He would not be listening to them. It would be TOO LATE. So the people would cry out to their idols, but they would not be saved – how can a lifeless lump save anyone? In every city and in every street idols had been erected. They would be USELESS to save the people. God warned Jeremiah not to waste his breath praying for these people. Those who had once been called beautiful and vibrant, but who now were nothing but dross.

Then the Lord warned Jeremiah that HE was being conspired against. He told Jeremiah what his enemies were doing. All their plans. Jeremiah hadn’t imagined they were out to kill him. He was only proclaiming what God told him to. But they figured their conspiracy against God would be easier if they couldn’t hear God’s truth being proclaimed. They figured kill the messenger, kill the message. They would come and threaten Jeremiah, telling him to stop speaking or they would kill him (Jeremiah 38:1-6). But God would protect Jeremiah’s life. He would NOT be killed. In fact, Jeremiah was offered special treatment by Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 39:11-14). The Lord would bring judgment on the young men who did this thing. God doesn’t take kindly to His people being persecuted. Jeremiah would outlive those who mistreated him, and they would face total judgment. Which they did.

“You will be in the right, O Yahweh, when I complain to you. Even so, let me speak my claims with you. Why does the way of the wicked succeed? All those who deal treacherously with treachery are at ease.” (Jeremiah 12:1)

Jeremiah looked around himself in all of this and asked the Lord a question that we still often ask: why do the wicked prosper? Asaph asked it in Psalm 73. The wicked even take their prosperity to mean they will not be punished (Psalm 10:3). But this is only visible to a HUMAN perspective. From the LORD’s point of view, it is obviously not the case. The Word tells us that the wicked WILL be punished and their ‘success’ will be nothing but ashes (Proverbs 11:21; Ezekiel 18:20; Psalm 91:8; Romans 6:23; Galatians 6:7; James 1:15; John 3:36). Jeremiah was questioning why his every thought and deed was challenged by the Lord, but the wicked were walking around and by all appearances seeming to prosper. He didn’t understand the discrepancy. He knew judgment was coming, but would it be a quick thing? The wicked were taking the attitude that they would weather the storm. That they would not see their final end.

The Lord spoke to Jeremiah and explained it. The wicked were prospering because the nation had been forsaken by God. God wasn’t judging them in totality for the sake of the innocent in the land. If this small mercy and lack of totally brutal judgment was wearying to Jeremiah, how was he going to handle seeing the coming storm from Babylon? Jeremiah needed to hold onto what God said. The Lord warned him even his own relatives were going to try and sway him. He needed to only speak what the Lord told him to. God’s people had forsaken Him, so He had forsaken the Temple and His people. Their leaders had not led them in the right ways and the people had gone astray. They would be as affected as the people they led astray. No one would escape. It was going to desolate the WHOLE land. They would be slain or taken into captivity. Their labour in planting was wasted. They would see no harvest.

The Lord also spoke of His mercy. Yes, they would be conquered by Gentiles and torn from the land. But their captivity would not be forever. There would be a remnant preserved and they would return. In the midst of judgment, God gave hope. If they would embrace the true worship of the Lord in the place where their captors took them, they would be established again as His people. But if they did not avail themselves of that opportunity, He would pull them up and UTTERLY destroy them.

Summary

Key Players: God, Jesus, Jeremiah

Key Verse(s): Jeremiah 11:1-5, 11-14, 18-23; 12:1-4, 7-11, 15-17