LESSONS FROM JEREMIAH – PART 4 – REMEMBER THE DEVOTION OF YOUR YOUTH, BUT WHAT IS IT NOW?
PART 4 – Jeremiah 2:1-3
CHAPTER 2
{{Jeremiah 2:1-3 Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, “Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, “I REMEMBER CONCERNING YOU THE DEVOTION OF YOUR YOUTH, THE LOVE OF YOUR BETROTHALS, YOUR FOLLOWING AFTER ME IN THE WILDERNESS through a land not sown. Israel was holy to the LORD, the first of His harvest. All who ate of it became guilty. Evil came upon them,” declares the LORD.’”}}
[A]. THE RECALL OF FAITHFUL DAYS
This would be the first task God gave to Jeremiah and it is a lot gentler than some of the messages that the prophet had to deliver from the Lord later on. Firstly the message had to be given in Jerusalem, and I would imagine it was not directed at any particular part of that society, and is probably one of those cases where the word is proclaimed widely that whosoever might hear will respond.
The message given to the people was to take note of former days – to recall the goodness of God, and the way their ancestors responded in the wilderness after leaving Egypt, even though we know many of them were not that faithful. That was in extreme contrast to the ones of Jeremiah’s time who were absolutely unfaithful, grossly wicked and reprobate.
If I can digress here for one moment, there is also the same truth that applies to Christians. When a person is saved all things are new and the life in Christ is wonderful. However for some, the mundane things of the world mount up and can choke out the fullness of the life in the Lord. We forget what it was like when there was a spring in our step and it was so joyous but that has faded.
John wrote to the Ephesians about this condition among them – {{Revelation 2:4-5 “but I have this against you, that YOU HAVE LEFT YOUR FIRST LOVE. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, AND REPENT and do the deeds you did at first, or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place - unless you repent.”}}
Too many Christians are living second rate lives when they ought to be walking in the freshness of their youth, meaning when they first were converted. The things of God were real to you and your joy knew greatness but now . . .? As Jeremiah asked of the people to recall, THE DEVOTION OF YOUR YOUTH, THE LOVE OF YOUR BETROTHALS, YOUR FOLLOWING AFTER ME IN THE WILDERNESS,” then maybe you need to remember and repent. God loves you and wants the freshness of your devotion.
[B]. THE FOOLISHNESS OF THE WORLD IN REJECTING GOD
Often the leaders, and especially the proud spiritual leaders, who think themselves a class above everyone else, often reject the message without consideration, if it does not come from themselves, whereas the common person, especially the hurting and downtrodden and the poor and wretched, are among the first to respond to God’s call. The Lord announced a parable to the people showing the response of the first strata of society. A big dinner meant important guests, but they shunned the dinner as explained here – {{Luke 14:16-22 but He said to him, “A certain man was giving a big dinner and he invited many, and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is ready now,’ but they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it. Please consider me excused.’ Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out. Please consider me excused,’ and another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ The slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here THE POOR AND CRIPPLED AND BLIND AND LAME.’ The slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’}}
There will always be room at the Lord’s reception. Often it is the well to do, and the leaders, and those who move in what is considered “important society”, be it political or entertainment or religious or academic, who do not know their need of a Saviour and will refuse the message; actually refuse the invitation to attend, but it is often Mr and Mrs Average and Mr and Mrs Not Important, who respond.
These following verses are very important, and I dare say that those who are reading this fit into this class. Take note of them –
{{1Corinthians 1:26-29 “Consider your calling, brethren, that there were NOT MANY WISE ACCORDING TO THE FLESH, not many mighty, not many noble, but GOD HAS CHOSEN THE FOOLISH THINGS OF THE WORLD TO SHAME THE WISE, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God.”}}
Where are all the academics with PhDs, professors and leading politicians, film stars (the world considers them important), great athletes, scientists, etc. lining up with the average man and woman as Christians? The academic, scientific and political and entertainment fields, in the main reject Christianity as irrelevant and foolishness because it does not fit their humanist modes. We see this playing out in how many of them follow the Lord Jesus Christ, and generally you can count them on the fingers of one hand.
Some of the great revivals of England began with the lower classes and spread throughout. The great Welsh Revival was no exception - During the spring of 1904 a young Welshman named Evan Roberts was repeatedly awakened at 1:00 a.m. He met with God until 5:00 a.m. The Welsh revival followed. Churches were packed for prayer meetings. In a prayer meeting for young people, Pastor Joseph Jenkins asked for testimonies. A young girl named Florrie Evans, who had only been a believer a few days, rose and with a trembling voice said simply, "I love Jesus with all my heart." The other young people's hearts were melted. A powerful spiritual awakening that brought 100,000 people to Christ was under way.
On November 7th, 1904, Moriah Chapel was filled to capacity for a prayer meeting that lasted until 3:00 a.m. Soul winning spread through the coal mines. Profane swearing stopped. Even the miners' horses were puzzled when their masters stopped cursing. Orders to the Bible Society for “Scriptures from Wales” during November and December, were over three times the amount for the corresponding months of 1903..." The Times said this resulted from the Welsh revival, adding that this demand showed no sign of falling off.” - (Source: International Revival Network). Just a young, insignificant girl, Florrie Evans was used by God to light the fire.
It was not Jeremiah’s job to force people into acceptance, for God had said to him, “Go and proclaim”. That is our mission, firstly to go out into all the world, and then to speak the good news, or proclaim it. The response is the work of the Holy Spirit who convinces men of sin and of righteousness and judgement. We must do our part faithfully, then God will look to His harvest.
[C]. ISRAEL AS A YOUTH FOLLOWED, BUT FELL, BUT WILL BE RESTORED TO A HIGH POSITION
This gentler message from God was based on the recall of their early walk with the Lord (the time of their youth) that involved devotion, love (as in the days of a courting couple in love), trusting, and following Him, not even being aware of the way the Lord was taking (in the wilderness through a land not sown). They would follow the Lord through unmapped territory and unchartered seas. Their devotion kept them in His presence, following devotedly.
We then learn that Israel was holy in the days of her youth, and such a long time passed before that term could be applied to the nation once again. Not since those early, fresh days of a devoted walk, until the time when the Lord returns at the Second Coming and Israel is restored, redeemed, and holy again, has Israel been declared holy before her God because of her walk. She has spent all those interim centuries in idolatry, subjection to world powers, and secular materialism.
The first of the harvest is the best of the harvest, speaking of abundance and quality. The High Priest had inscribed on his breastplate “Holiness to the Lord” (Deuteronomy 7:6) and the youthful nation answered to that. They soon became unholy and have remained that way until such a time when these verses will be fulfilled in the Millennium – {{Zechariah 14:20-21 “In that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “HOLY TO THE LORD,” and the cooking pots in the LORD’s house will be like the bowls before the altar, and EVERY COOKING POT IN JERUSALEM AND IN JUDAH WILL BE HOLY TO THE LORD OF HOSTS, and all who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them, and there will NO LONGER BE A CANAANITE IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD of hosts in that day.”}}. The Canaanites and Philistines will be gone. By the way, the word Palestine was given by the Romans to name the territory and the word means, “land of the Philistines.” Gaza and the whole region was Philistine territory.
Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel have frequent references to Israel's youth when she walked with God, {{Ezekiel 16:22 “and besides all your abominations and harlotries, YOU DID NOT REMEMBER THE DAYS OF YOUR YOUTH when you were naked and bare, and squirming in your blood.”}}
{{Ezekiel 16:43 “Because YOU HAVE NOT REMEMBERED THE DAYS OF YOUR YOUTH but have enraged Me by all these things, behold, I in turn will bring your conduct down on your own head,” declares the Lord GOD, “so that you will not commit this lewdness on top of all your other abominations.}}
As a youth Israel walked with God when she was betrothed to Jehovah her Lord, but like Hosea’s unfaithful wife Gomer, she departed with her lovers into adulteries. However it is Hosea who takes up the great hope for the nation when God again reaches out to her in the eternal relationship at the Second Coming -
{{Hosea 2:18-20 “In that day I will also make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds of the sky and the creeping things of the ground. I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and will make them lie down in safety. I WILL BETROTH YOU TO ME FOREVER. Yes, I WILL BETROTH YOU TO ME IN RIGHTEOUSNESS AND IN JUSTICE, in loving kindness and in compassion, and I WILL BETROTH YOU TO ME IN FAITHFULNESS. Then you will know the LORD.}}
In the third verse, in Jeremiah 2:3, we know Israel was holy to the Lord, like the way the first fruits of harvest are set apart for the Lord, or sanctified to Him. Then there is the historic comment. All those who tried to eat away at Israel suffered judgement. The enemies of Israel were guilty of raising their hand against God, because they did it to God’s heritage. Therefore evil or sorrow or judgement came upon them.
Make no mistake about this. Those who raise up their hands against Israel will suffer judgement from the Lord. Nothing is more certain. The world is showing its horrible face right now – January 2024 – with growing anti-Semitism and hatred towards Israel (and to Christians also). The nations of the world (their leaders) are against Israel, and the once supportive USA is falling because of this demonic, wicked leader as President, and the evil one before Trump. The United Nations constantly votes by a monstrous majority to condemn Israel over and over. Many in the world support Hamas – academics, dispersed radical Palestinians, and Moslems, leaders like the Australian Prime Minister and the South African Government which, by the way, has just allied itself to Iran.
