This is yet another well loved, oft quoted verse, and a great promise from the prophecy of Jeremiah, to guide our thoughts into
the coming year.
With this text I am bringing our January
meditations from Jeremiah
to an end.
THE CONTEXT OF CHAPTER 33
The scope of this chapter is very
much in keeping with the preceding chapters which we have already
considered. Israel is destined to go to
exile in Babylon, and Jerusalem will fall into the hands of the Babylonians.
The land will be restored to the Jews in about 70 years. The relevance of this
text for us today is that, like Jeremiah, faithful people of God in an age that is
so filled with spiritual
deception and spiritual devastation, may suffer the
results of living in a society
that has abandoned the true God
and which in turn has been handed over to its own
desires. Our country seeks solutions
in every sphere but God’s
solutions. We, like Jeremiah need to
persevere in clinging to God against all the odds, and we need to continue to be committed to hear the Word of
the Lord as Jeremiah did. We need to know
that there will come a time, when we
shall inherit the kingdom of God in all its glory, when Jesus comes again. The heavenly Jerusalem will be
our city, and the dwelling place of God will be with man. He will dwell with
us, and we will be His people, and God Himself will be our God. He will wipe
away every tear from our eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there
be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed
away [Rev. 21:3,4].
The particular promises of chapter 33
are that
(i) the city shall be
rebuilt and re-established. Health and prosperity and security will be restored (vv. 1-8)
(ii) God will be glorified as His people
rejoice in Him and praise His name
(vv. 9-14).
(iii) An announcement is made that a righteous Branch (a Messianic term) will rule, in keeping with God’s promise made to David. Jesus is the Son
of David. He is the Mediator of the New
Covenant by which we are
kept securely, forever and ever
(vv.
15-26). Thus we see that
chapter 33 goes far beyond the
restoration of the Jewish kingdom.
Our focus will be on
the first three verses of this chapter, containing a very great
promise in 33:1: “The Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a
second time, while he was still shut
up in the court of the guard.”
We
have read of Jeremiah’s imprisonment before in
32:2. A Word of hope
comes to Jeremiah and thus to the nation of Israel in the midst of her darkest of political
times, as the Babylonians are preparing siege ramps to sack
Jerusalem. The Word of hope comes
as Jeremiah is kept under guard and
imprisoned by king Zedekiah, who still believes that Jeremiah the prophet is
undermining his kingly authority, believing the word of the false prophets more
than the word of the true prophet. The Word of the Lord comes as a word of hope in the most hopeless of
times. No imprisonment can deprive God’s people of His presence. No
locks or chains can keep God from visiting and speaking to His people in
prison. In fact, God has, on numerous
times visited His people in prison in an extra ordinary way.
Think of Joseph in
an Egyptian prison. Genesis 39:21 says:
“But the LORD was with Joseph and showed
him steadfast love and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the
prison.”
Think of Daniel in the lion’s den. The Bible
says: “No harm was found on him, because
he had trusted in his God.” [Dan. 6:23].
Paul and Silas were in prison, “having
had many blows inflicted upon them”, and yet they were able to pray and sing hymns to God in the
night [Acts 16:23-25]. The presence of God was clearly with them.
Some of Paul’s epistles were written from prison[1],
and these letters provide us today with so much comfort and encouragement.
God has used the lives and words
of His suffering people in
very great ways. The letters of Samuel
Rutherford [c. 1600 – 29 March 1661] are currently on our bedside table.
Rutherford was a Scottish Presbyterian pastor, theologian and author. In his first years as a pastor in his parish church at Anwoth in Scotland, he experienced great sadness. His wife was ill for a year and
a month, before she died in their new home. Two of his children also died
during this period. Samuel Rutherford
was a faithful pastor. He was always praying, always preaching, always visiting
the sick, always teaching his people, always writing and studying. He
preached a God centred doctrine and He insisted that Christian profession should be matched by godly living. Because of this he was banished by the authorities from his church at Anwoth to Aberdeen. At
this time God used him, particularly in terms of his pastoral
letters which he sent to his church members, particularly those that were suffering in his parish. Charles
Haddon Spurgeon, that great Baptist preacher described Rutherford's letters “the
nearest thing to inspiration which can be found in all the writings of mere men”.
[2]
In preparing this sermon, I read a
sermon of Spurgeon on Jeremiah 33:3[3],
entitled “The Golden Chain of Prayer”
and I
saw that he quoted Rutherford. He said :
"Rutherford had a quaint saying
that when he was cast into the cellars of affliction, he remembered that the
great king always kept his wine there, and he began to seek at once for the
wine bottles, and to drink of the “wines on the lees well refined.” What Rutherford wasn’t saying that his adverse circumstances were
an opportunity to get drunk! What he was saying is, that even in the darkest times
God has an encouragement for you
in the dark cellars of life. When God is
at the end of your story, it matters
very little what men may do to you.
Many years ago I read the biography of
John Paton (1824-1907), another Scotsman
who became a missionary to what was once known as the “New Hebrides”, named after a chain of Scottish
Islands. This group of islands is found in the South Pacific Ocean, and it is now
the nation of Vanuatu. John G. Paton arrived there in 1858. His decision to go there was subject to severe criticism by a respected elder of the church. The
elder, Mr. Dickson said, "You will be eaten by cannibals!"
John Paton responded, “Mr.
Dickson, you are advanced in years now,
and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by
worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honouring
the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by
cannibals or by worms; and in the Great Day my Resurrection body will rise as
fair as yours in the likeness of our risen redeemer”. The knowledge
of the presence of God in our trials
is our greatest comfort, and again
we say, that it matters very
little where we are, as long as God is with us.
And so, the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah while he was
imprisoned, and it came a second time to Jeremiah, as a re-assurance.
33:2 “Thus says the LORD who
made the earth, the LORD who
formed it to establish it – the LORD is his name…”. The
One who gives this promise and the One that invites us to call to Him
is no one less than the Lord of Heaven and Earth. This is an important assurance in the midst of chaos and confusion, when our world lies upside down and
when truth lies slain in the streets, and when the true church, the
city of God on earth is hardly visible in the community, because her
members are dispersed and exiled….
This is an assurance by His own Word,
that God has not forgotten the
people of His covenant, the true
children of Abraham, comprised of both, the Jews and the Gentiles. The firmness and the
certainty of God’s covenant is
expressed in 33: 19-26, and again, it comes in
in two separate statements,
emphasising and re-emphasising the covenantal faithfulness of God.
33:3 Now, all this forms the basis of this great invitation for prayer : “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden
things that you have not known.” Now you may remember that
Jeremiah has been found praying concerning
this in 32:16-25. And now he must call upon God again! I remind you that prayer is an ongoing work. We have prayed for our own city and its people many times, and we
must continue to pray for her. We must
pray again and again. That is the
meaning of Luke 11:1-13 and Luke
18: 1-8, Jesus’s teaching about
prayer and perseverance in prayer. God
has promised a certain restoration of
all things, and we must always pray “Your kingdom come”, but until that
happens we must also pray for our daily bread (physical needs), we must continue to pray for
the forgiveness of our sins
even as we forgive others, and we must pray continually that we may not be led into temptation. The people
of Israel thought that they had
the kingdom for good, but they forgot that they needed
to maintain its purity and
devotion to God. But they forgot their God and
went in search of other schemes, and now look where it got them! Oh how merciful and gracious God is to them and to us, despite their and our hardheartedness. He invites us by His
Word: “Call to me and I will answer you,
and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”
1. Call to me
In the midst of your life, with
all its complexities and uncertainties
in the face of political and
economic instability, and in the midst of
poor commitments to Christ and
His Word, and therefore poor commitments to His church, God still says “Call to me”. This is at the heart of our prayer week.
Prayer week is not simply there to
give you an opportunity to pray one hour per night for 5 days and then
to be done for the year . Prayer week is
meant to stimulate you to see the value of calling persistently upon the God who sees and hears, and who commands us
to pray without ceasing!
2.
I will
answer you: God promises Jeremiah that persistent prayer will
find an answer. My own experience concurs with Spurgeon: “ If
there is anything I know, anything that I am quite assured of beyond all
question, it is that praying breath is never spent in vain. If no other man
here can say it, I dare to say it, and I know that I can prove it. My own
conversion is the result of prayer—long, affectionate, earnest, persistent.
Parents prayed for me; God heard their cries, and here I am to preach the
gospel. Since then, I have adventured upon some things that were far beyond my
capacity, as I thought; but I have never failed, because I have cast myself
upon the Lord. You know as a church that I have not scrupled to indulge large
ideas of what we might do for God; and we have accomplished all that we
purposed. I have sought God’s aid, and assistance, and help in all my manifold
undertakings, and though I cannot tell here the story of my private life in
God’s work, yet if it were written, it would be a standing proof that there is
a God who answers prayer!”
3.
… and will
tell you great and hidden things that you have not known… Spurgeon’s comments here are worth repeating. In fact,
I will close with them.
“All believers see
Christ, but all believers do not put their fingers into the prints of the
nails, nor thrust their hand into His side. We have not the high privilege of
John to lean upon Jesus’ bosom, nor of Paul to be caught up into the third
heaven. In the ark of salvation, we find a lower, second, and third story; all
are in the ark, but all are not on the same story. Most Christians, as to the
river of experience, are only up to their ankles; some others have waded till
the stream is up to their knees; a few find it chest high; and but a few—oh,
how few!—find it a river to swim in, the bottom of which they cannot touch. My
brethren, there are heights in experiential knowledge of the things of God
which the eagle’s eyes of sharpness and philosophical thought have never seen;…
God alone can bear us there; but the chariot in which He takes us up, and the
fiery steeds with which that chariot is dragged, are prevailing PRAYERS. ….If
you would reach to something higher than ordinary groveling experience, look to
the Rock that is higher than you, and look with the eye of faith through the
windows of persistent prayer. To grow in experience then, there must be much
prayer.
Dear friends, I pray you take this text—God Himself speaks it to
you—“Call unto Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things,
which you do not know.” Take God at His Word. Get home, go into your chamber
and shut the door, and try Him. Young man, I say, try the Lord! Young woman,
prove Him—see whether He is true or not! If God is true, you cannot seek mercy
at His hands through Jesus Christ, and get a negative reply. He must—for His
own promise and character bind him to open mercy’s gate to you who knock with
all your heart! God help you, believing in Christ Jesus, to cry aloud unto God,
and His answer of peace is already on the way to meet you! You shall hear Him
say, “Your sins, which are many, are all forgiven.” The Lord bless you for His
love’s sake. Amen.
[1] The
prison epistles—Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon—written by the
apostle Paul during his incarceration in Rome.
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Rutherford
[3]
Spurgeon has actually very little to say about the context of Jer 33:3. He
simply takes the text and turns it into a sermon on prayer,
dividing it into three points : First, prayer commanded—“Call unto Me.” Secondly, an answer promised—“And I will answer you.” Thirdly, faith encouraged—“And show you
great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
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