Theme: Jeremiah, Weeping Prophet
Text: Lamentations 3:22-24
Greetings: The Lord is good and his love endures forever.
Introduction: This OT prophet played three roles in the lives of the Israelites. He was a prophet with a concern for his people. He was appointed by God with commissions, he became more commendable. His ministry brought a lots of blessings to the community than the other prophets of his days.
Today we will learn about this great prophet Jeremiah who was a Prophet with Concerns, a Prophet with Commissions, and a Prophet with Commendations.
1. Jeremiah was a Prophet with Concerns
Jeremiah means “Jehovah is high”. Jeremiah was born around 650 BCE, Anathoth, Judah and died in 570 BCE in Egypt. He was also called the "weeping prophet". Jeremiah authored the Book of Jeremiah, the Books of Kings and the Book of Lamentations, with the assistance of Baruch ben Neriah, his scribe and disciple (Jeremiah 32:12, 36:4,8, 10, 43:3).
He was too young when God called him to begin prophesying (Jeremiah 1:4-8). He was a Hebrew reformer. Though, He was born into a priestly lineage, but Jeremiah reluctantly accepted his call to prophet hood, but powerfully preached for five-decade-long ministry. He was closely involved in the political and religious events of a crucial era in the history of the ancient Near East; his spiritual leadership helped his fellow countrymen survive disasters that included the capture of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BCE and the exile of many Judeans to Babylonia.
The Babylonians treated Jeremiah favourably. King Nebuchadnezzar II himself had heard of this man, and personally gave orders to captain Nebuzaradan to treat him well. As such, Jeremiah was set free with a reward.(39:11, 25:9)
The Lord has known Jeremiah even before he was formed in his mother’s womb. Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I separated you for myself. I have appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah was a lone fighter for 23 years of his ministry 25:3, 25-32, 24:3.
After the fall of Jerusalem, Jeremiah composed poems of Lamentations. Knowing ahead of time the suffering that was to come, and then watching those predictions come to fruition before his eyes, drove the prophet to tears. This weeping is recorded both in the book of Jeremiah and in Lamentations. Thus Jeremiah is often referred to as the "weeping prophet."
Jeremiah 7:29, God commanded Jeremiah to mourn when He said, "Cut off your hair and cast it away; raise a lamentation on the bare heights, for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath."
In Jeremiah 8:18, the prophet said, "My joy is gone; grief is upon me; my heart is sick within me." He continued, "I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me…Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!" (Jeremiah 8:21; 9:1). Neither God nor Jeremiah took delight in the harsh judgment that was to come, but rather mourned the coming defeat. He was a weeping prophet.
It is Jeremiah who spoke forth the well-known line "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope" (Jeremiah 29:11).
2. Jeremiah was a Prophet with Commission
Jeremiah had a commission to convince people, to construct the people, to declare the graces and the mercies of God.
God gave Jeremiah a two-part commission in 1:10: “God reached out, touched my mouth, and said, “Look! I’ve just put my words in your mouth—hand-delivered! See what I’ve done? I’ve given you a job to do among nations and governments—a red-letter day! Your job is to pull up and tear down, take apart and demolish, and then start over, building and planting.” (Jeremiah 1:10 MSG). He was appointed, placed over the nations through his spiritual authorities.
His commission was full of love, grace, mercies of God. It is recorded in Lamentations 3:22-24: “It is because of the Lord’s mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great and abundant is your stability and faithfulness. The Lord is my portion or share, says my living being (my inner self); therefore will I hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him.”(AMPB).
“That the grace of Adonai is not exhausted, that his compassion has not ended. [On the contrary,] they are new every morning! How great your faithfulness! “Adonai is all I have,” I say; “therefore I will put my hope in him.”(CJB).
He shared God's plan to make a new covenant whereby God promised, "I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:33–34). Jeremiah 31:31-34 talks at length about the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:8-12 and Hebrews 10:16-17).
3. Jeremiah was a Prophet with Commendations
Though, his life was marked by opposition, imprisonment and personal struggles. Jeremiah’s enemies imprisoned him, flogged him, put him in stocks, and made preparations for his execution. Later, they threw him into a muddy cistern and left him to die.
Even former friends sought to take their revenge against him. His calling and persecutions were intense, memorable, and more autobiographical than any other prophet. He felt so miserable he wished he’d never been born. He wept over his nation’s self-destructive rebellion against God and cried out to the Lord because of his own incurable wound. (20:1-2, 36:1,26).
Jeremiah's messages were prophecies of impending divine judgment, forewarning of the nation's idolatry, social injustices, and moral decay. He prophesied the siege of Jerusalem and Babylonian exile as consequences for disobedience of the kings and the people of God.
Gods presence was with him 20:11,36,26. He curses his own birthday 20:14-18.
Jeremiah’s words of Prophecy are so powerful, quoted by Jesus and Paul in their teachings:
Jeremiah 6:16 says, “And you will find rest for your souls.” (Ref: Matthew 11:29).
Jeremiah 7:11 says, “Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers,” (Matthew 21:13, Mark 11:17, and Luke 19:46).
Jeremiah 9:23-24 says, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:31 and 1 Corinthians 10:17).
Jeremiah 31:15 says, “Rachel is weeping for her children; She refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more,” (Matthew 2:17-18).
The disciples responded to Jesus saying that the crowd in his days were thinking that Jesus was known as Jeremiah who came alive from the dead (Matthew 16:14).
Conclusion: Amen Amen.
