Great Promises from the Prophecy of Jeremiah #4 : Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”

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.”   

Great Promises from the Prophecy of Jeremiah #3 : Jeremiah 32: 36-44 - “I will make with them an Everlasting Covenant

The human heart instinctively yearns for paradise, for  a place of peace  and tranquility.  We were made for peace and tranquility, but we don’t seem to get it on this earth. And so we spend  money  to  get away  to places where we  hope to  get away from the  great rat race. On a far  larger scale,  and for  thousands of years,  mankind has  migrated  and separated  to get  away from each other.  Abraham and Lot separated. Listen to these words: “Then Abram said to Lot, “let there be  no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen…. Is not the whole land  before you? Separate yourself from me…” [Gen. 13:8,9].

The history of  the world is the history of a people on the move. People  are  forever seeking  to escape political,  religious, social and economic   conflicts. People are forever  in search for  a place  where they can build their idealistic futures. This is the origin of the American dream and I suppose everyone else’s dream.   But there is  no safe place on the face of this earth. As long as  there is a devil  and  as long as  there are sinners on the face of this earth this will not happen.   Peace and tranquility  will continue  to  elude us.   

I have always been fascinated by the story of the  mutiny  on  the  Royal Navy vessel HMS Bounty which  occurred in the south Pacific on 28 April 1789. Led by Acting Lieutenant Fletcher Christian, disaffected crewmen seized control of the ship from their captain, Lieutenant William Bligh, and set him and 18 loyalists adrift in the ship's rowing boat. Some of the mutineers settled on Tahiti and others on Pitcairn Island, one of the most  isolated islands in the South Pacific. Bligh  completed a voyage of more than 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km) in the  little boat to reach safety, and began the process of bringing the mutineers to justice.  Fletcher  Christian's group,  undiscovered on Pitcairn until 1808, could have carved out  a life of bliss  for themselves, far away from  that civilization from which they came, where there was always war.  When they were  eventually found, only one mutineer, John Adams, had  remained alive. All his fellow mutineers, including  Fletcher Christian, had been killed, either by each other or by their Polynesian companions.  

The human  race is  simply not able to live in peace  with one another – nowhere!  Our  manner is like that  of Cain,   who not only murdered his brother, but who  became a fugitive and a restless wanderer upon the earth (Gen. 4:12). Only the  Prince of peace  by His word, the gospel of peace,  can bring about peace with God and with one another.  When He is not at the centre we are ready to murder one another.

And so it was in Israel. Though Israel  was endowed  with  the unique  favour  of  the God of all Creation,  and although she was   so  favoured with  God’s presence and God’s  good law  to govern her  society, her people   could not manage to live  under God and in submission to one another. As soon as they forgot the law of God within a generation  Israelite   society   was inundated   with murder, intrigue, idolatry  and idol worship, lawlessness, poor relationships  and the like in all levels of society.   

Now the nature of the God of all creation  is holy and just and loving. In  this spirit He entered into a covenant   relationship with  Abraham and  then with Israel. But,  the people of the covenant weren’t always committed to  the terms of the Covenant. And so God, being holy and  righteous and loving and merciful needed  to be what He is.  As a holy  and righteous God, He  needed to  punish   the sin  of His people. But as a loving and merciful  covenant keeping God, He  needed  to  preserve them. And so, at this time of Israel’s history  in about 589 BC, He did both. He handed them  and their city over to  be  destroyed by   their enemies, and  He preserved  a good portion of them from destruction by taking them  out of  Jerusalem  and into Babylon  for their own good (!) promising to bring them back from there in 70 years. 

And so, as we pick up at v.36  we read: "Now therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, 'It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence'.  

Notice the emphasis  in v. 36 .. “you say…” PERIOD!  Although it is all true, that  Jerusalem will be sacked, and true that  Israel  must go into captivity, because she has violated God’s covenant   they  and we  must remember that this is not the end of the story.  In His wrath  towards His sinning  people   God does not forget to  exercise mercy. Often,  when we experience  the  chastising hand of our Good Father in Heaven,  we only tend to see the dark side of things  and not the end of  things. In reality it  is  never  “You say…”, but “God says”, and He isn’t finished yet. 

Listen to the next verse, vv. 37,38: “Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And they shall be my people and I will be their God.”   The bad news suddenly  turns into good news.   

That is the essence of the gospel in Isaiah 9:2  [quoted in Matt 4:16] a Messianic text : “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.” After many years of spiritual darkness  and the  absence of the Word of the Lord, the messenger has suddenly come to His temple [Mal 3:1]. That will be true of the second coming at the end of all times. Suddenly, the Lord Jesus will be here. [Matt. 24,25 ; 1 Thess. 5: 1-6; 2 Pet. 3:10].

A recent article published by Christianity Today  says that  “for the third year in a row, the modern  persecution of Christians  worldwide has hit another record high in 2016." [Research from Open Doors].   So, yes, Syrian  and Iraqi  Christians  have been driven from their land , but yes, the present fate  of   the Christian people in Syria  and Iraq  is not the last word. God has the last word. And in this context,  it is a word of grace.

So, yes,  God  has driven  His people  into these foreign lands, but yes, that is not the final  word on the matter.  God  sent His people into Babylon for a while  to  preserve them  there. The same has happened when God sent His people to Egypt for a little while. The Lord Jesus and His parents needed to hide there for a little while from the wrath of Herod, so that the Scripture says, “Out of Egypt have I called my Son.” [Matt.2:15]  Suddenly,  the LORD  brings His people back. God promises here  that He  will gather them and bring them back to their land and to Himself.  In a moment we shall see that this promise is connected to an eternal covenant, and applicable to us.

And so, by way of application I want to ask a question:  If God is a God of eternal holiness and justice,  who can  hand  sinning Israel  over to the Babylonians  and  also  send them into  exile, far away from home, then  how do we  know that this will not happen to God's chosen people today - the church, the bride of Christ, the true  sons  and daughters of  Abraham?   And  following that question  comes the next question. Can  God  see us through  our sinful neglect  of Him? Can He bring us   into a place of peace and tranquility?  The answer is  a resounding  “yes!”, and that is what the rest of the text is essentially  about - the  amazing  grace of God  to undeserving  sinners.  This grace is our  only sure confidence for the future. You and I,  are utterly  unreliable. If we were left to our own powers to keep the faith and to  be holy  and to  persevere, we wouldn’t  make it. Grace is all of God. “Grace  has led me safe thus far, and  grace will lead me home”  wrote John Newton.  Another hymn, “Come Thou Fount of every Blessing”,    written  by a 22  year old  pastor,   Robert Robinson in  1758  confesses the same truth :

O to grace how great a debtor, daily  I'm constrained to be!

Let thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to thee:

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love;

Here's my heart, O, take and seal it; seal it for thy courts above.

Now the  gracious promise of God  towards  His true people  rests on the foundation of His covenant:  

"And I will make  with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me into their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in  faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.”

This is one of several Old Testament promises of the new covenant that Jesus said He sealed with his own blood for all who are in him. This promise is not just for the believing  Jews, but for those who are true Jews, true sons and daughters of Abraham  by virtue of union with Jesus,  who is  the seed of Abraham (Gal.3:7,16).

Four Promises  For Faithful  Believers  As They Negotiate Difficult Times

1. God Will Be Our God :  V. 38: "And they shall be my people and I will be their God. ”God is for us, even  when we have to experience calamity.   God sees to it that we remain His  people. All that He  is  as God, He  exerts for  their good.

2. God Promises to Change Our Hearts :  V. 39 &  40b  "I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever … that they may not  turn from me… (v. 40b) .  Under the everlasting covenant sealed in the blood of Jesus, God will not simply stand by to see if we, by our own powers, will fear him. No ! He  will sovereignly and  mercifully give us the heart that we need to have, by which we will  be led safely home to heaven.

3. God Promises   to give us the ability to remain faithful to Him : V. 40: "I will make an everlasting covenant with them…”.  This is what is different about the new covenant, when compared with the Old  Covenant.   The New covenant  promises  that  God’s people  will  be given the ability, the power,  to trust God , fear God  by the indwelling Spirit  through Jesus  Christ our Lord, who has kept the law of the Old Covenant,  that we could never keep.  Under the New Covenant we are enabled by sovereign Grace.  

4. God Promises to Do This with  All His heart and Soul:  V. 41   Although  the eternal , infinite God is not a man like us, He has attributes  of personality, just like us, and here  He is saying through Jeremiah that He intensely desires   our good with His entire heart and soul. And oh, how infinitely big  God’s heart and souls is… not like mine and yours.

God will keep His  promises as  surely  as He will exercise  His wrath.  That is what we are called to learn today, and that is how Chapter 32 ends.  As He has brought disaster   upon His people, so will He  bring  all the good  that He has promised.     He will do this  notwithstanding their present despair (v. 42).

The true church of the Lord Jesus Christ in these very difficult days almost appears to be obscure. She is  persecuted  from without and within. The enemy is not only out there, but He is in here, and sometimes I think that the latter is the more insidious problem  that we have. But this we may know:  The church  shall have rest after these  days of adversity.  We may look forward to it. In history  and from  time to time God has given us revivals,  short periods of respite  just so that we would not grow unduly discouraged . But a time is coming  when God  will restore  peace in the earth … when metaphorically  speaking houses and lands and fields shall be bought.  This is the fulfillment  of a promise made to Jeremiah by God  in the earlier part of Chapter 32.  All this points forward  to our heavenly Canaan, reserved for all those who have God's fear in their hearts and do not depart from him.  Keep  the eternal city  in sight as you  continue your pilgrimage. 

Heaven is our ultimate  goal!

GREAT PROMISES FROM THE PROPHET JEREMIAH # 2 : Jeremiah 32:17 " Nothing is too hard for you!"

“Ah Lord God! It is you  who have made the heavens and the earth by your great  power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.”  [Jer. 32:17]

OUTLINE OF  CHAPTER 32:

1.            Vv. 1-5: Jeremiah is imprisoned for prophesying  the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of king Zedekiah. 

2.               Vv. 6-15:   In these desperate times Jeremiah, by divine  command,  buys  land. God assures him that although times  will  be presently  tough for Israel, he will remain in charge of Israel’s future and therefore Jeremiah may buy this land with confidence. 

3.                  Vv. 16-25:  Jeremiah’s response in prayer, which includes   our text: “Ah Lord God! It is you  who have made the heavens and the earth by your great  power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.”  [v.17]. It  is a great affirmation of faith  despite  the fact that things in Israel  do not look good .

4.                  Vv. 26- 44:  The  Word from God  through Jeremiah:

(i)                  32:26-35: Prophesying  the  destruction of Judah and Jerusalem for their sins.

(ii)           32:36-44: At the same time he must assure them that, although the destruction was total, it  will  not be final. God will restore  His people to their land.  With this in mind, we now   consider the historical situation.

 THE HISTORICAL  SITUATION :

Vv. 1-5 : The predicted  fall of Jerusalem is now imminent.   The events that led  to the fall  of  Jerusalem were initiated by  Nebuchadnezzar II,  king of Babylon. In 605 BC  he  defeated the Egyptian  Pharaoh Necho at the Battle of Carchemish. The Egyptians had been in an alliance with  Israel at that point, and  so the defeat of the Egyptians  opened up  the way for Babylonia to  attack  Jerusalem. The first  siege  of Jerusalem happened  in 597 BC.  Following that  siege Nebuchadnezzar installed Zedekiah as  a  vassal  king.  However, in time  Zedekiah revolted against Babylon, and entered into an alliance with Pharaoh Hophra, the king of Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar responded  again  by invading Judah  and began  the second  siege of Jerusalem in December 589 BC, and  which lasted  until 586 BC.  In 586 BC, the 11^th  year of Zedekiah's reign, Nebuchadnezzar broke through Jerusalem's walls, conquering the city. Zedekiah and his followers attempted to escape but were captured on the plains of Jericho and taken to Riblah. There, after seeing his sons killed, Zedekiah was blinded, bound, and taken captive to Babylon, where he remained a prisoner until his death. Thereafter,   the  Babylonian general, Nebuzaraddan, was sent to complete  the  destruction of  Jerusalem. The city  was plundered, and Solomon's Temple was destroyed. Most of the Jewish  elite were taken into captivity in Babylon. The city was razed to the ground. Only a few people were permitted to remain  in the  land.  Gedaliah was made governor of the remnant of  the people  under the watchful eye  of a  Babylonian garrison  stationed at Mizpah. On hearing this news, the Jews who were in  exile in the territories  of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and in other countries returned to Judah. Gedaliah was assassinated two months later, and the population that had remained and those who had returned then fled to Egypt[1] for safety,  taking  Jeremiah with them  against his will.[2]  

According to our text we  find ourselves  in  589 BC, at the beginning of the second siege.   The Jews  under king Zedekiah stubbornly offered resistance  against the counsel  of God by his true prophet. The siege   took a long time (11 years).  God's judgment came gradually upon them,  and whilst  the reality of the siege  was unfolding, the Jews   refused  to listen to the true prophet of God. They did not repent. Zedekiah would not listen. In fact he was highly offended   by   Jeremiah– so much that he  has him put into prison for telling the truth. 

Zedekiah chose  to  believe  the  false prophets  (see Chapter 28; 29:24-32) who were in the majority. A majority is not always right.   It takes  intimacy with God to hear His voice above the  popular opinion  and  the noise of the world.  True   believers need to be familiar with the God of the Word, and the Word of God in order to  discern  their times.  The prophet Isaiah   who prophesied  under similar  circumstances   to the northern kingdom,  approximately 150 years earlier, saw   that his people were  abandoning the counsel of their God, seeking the counsel of  occultic mediums and  necromancers, and he   said:  “To the teaching and to the testimony! If they  will not speak according to This Word, it is  because  they have no dawn”  (Isa.  8:19,20).

Vv. 6-15.   And now, whilst  in prison, an extraordinary thing happens.  God commands  Jeremiah  to buy  a piece of ground  from a  cousin  named  Hanamel  in Anathoth, Jeremiah’s home town. Imagine  this. You know  that your country is going to be overrun  by an enemy , and  yet  you buy real estate! Is this insane,  or  what?  What moved him to do this? God moved him, although humanly speaking this seemed to be an irrational move.   

A word of explanation is needed  here. Property  in those days was not  available  on the open market.  Property had to stay in the family.  In passing, please note how the transactions  were done in (vv  9-14)  with deed of purchase and  placing the deed of sale in an earthenware vessel  to last a long time! In 70 years (which is a lifetime) things would look very different, and the property would still be in the hands of the “Jeremiah Anathoth” family. A good man always makes sure that there  is  an inheritance  for his children.  The time would come when houses, and fields, and vineyards should be again possessed in this land,  and the family would have  the title deeds (32:15). And so we read  that his  cousin, a  kinsman came to offer it to him. It was not  that Jeremiah had wanted it. It came to him. It may have been a good  bargain, but the point is that he was a family member, and therefore entitled to this purchase.  The right of redemption [3] belonged to him (32:8), and if he refused,  the next family member might be approached. But, being a prophet  there was more to the story than meets the eye.  In this context, purchasing land in  desperate times  was  a statement of faith and  a vote of confidence in the sovereignty  and trustworthiness of God. “Ah Lord God… nothing is too hard for you.”

And so,  Jeremiah leads the way in word and in deed. He leads in faith and by example. In this he exemplifies the nature of the Christian ministry.  

Matthew Henry  comments: “ It concerns ministers to make it to appear in their whole conversation that they do themselves believe that which they preach to others and… impress it the more deeply upon their hearers, they must many a time deny themselves, as Jeremiah did in both these instances. God having promised that this land should again come into the possession of his people, Jeremiah will, on behalf of his heirs, put in for a share. Note, It is good to manage even our worldly affairs in faith, and to do common business with an eye to the providence and promise of God.”

Vv. 16-25 Jeremiah's Prayer. This  brings us to this remarkable prayer  of Jeremiah to God. He knows what God is about to do in the short term and the long term. He knows God. And so, after putting the deed  of purchase into safekeeping with  Baruch, he prays.  In this prayer, he begins with:

1.Vv.17-19 - Worship: He  gives God the glory due to his name as the Creator and Sustainer  of the earth.    Here is a great lesson for us. When faced with difficult times and situations, we  do not  look for worldly solutions. We look to Almighty God, and we remind ourselves of who He is. He is   the fountain of all being. He has made the heaven and the earth with his outstretched arm and therefore who can control him? Who can contend with him?  Furthermore, we remind ourselves   that with God nothing is impossible. Nothing is too hard for Him.  He is always in charge. Moreover we remind ourselves that He is   the God who knows how to be merciful. “You show steadfast love to thousands…” (v.18a) but we also remember  that He is also  the God  of absolute holiness and righteousness, and therefore of  inflexible  justice He consistently hates  sin, and He will not  gloss over un-atoned sin. Every generation  that refuses to come to God for  free pardon  must bear the full fury of His wrath (v.18b). “His eyes are open to all the  ways of the children of man…”.  Nothing escapes Him.  Such  a God as this is not to be trifled with and  argued with. He is to be worshipped… He is to be bowed down. You will not conquer Him.He will conquer you!

2. Vv. 20-23: Remembering   the Past Works of the Lord  - His faithfulness.  He remembers how God had brought His people out of Egypt with signs and wonders – with an outreached arm.  He gave them this land, which they now stand to lose,  because of their rebellion.  It is good for us often to reflect upon the great things that God  has done for us  in the past, lest we  forget to be thankful in the present.

3. Vv. 24-25 Understanding the Present:  History provides us with and understanding of the present. God has previously redeemed His people against all human odds. He has previously handed His people over when they had rebelled against Him, as it is now…  “The siege mounds have come up to the city….the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans… what you spoke has come to pass, and behold, you see it”. Please   note that Jeremiah does not argue with God nor prescribe to God what He should do.  He knows God. He understands that  God  has an ultimate  plan  for good and not for evil (see  29:11). He understands that even in this situation, as challenging as it is,  nothing is too hard for God  (vv.  17,27).

Whatever trouble you are in, personally  as individuals or  corporately as families or as a  nation, know this:  God sees  and  knows how to bring everything towards a good end.  And so ends  the prayer: “ Yet you , oh Lord GOD have said to me, Buy the field for money and get  witnesses- though the city is given into the hands of the  Chaldeans .”  God says, “trust me in this, Jeremiah“.  

The rest of the chapter, from v.36ff  shows us how God intends to do it, but we will keep that for next  week … “ I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And  they shall be my people, and I will be their God.” [ 32:37,38]

APPLICATION

1.      The immediate application is  the historical situation in 589 BC and the  return approximately  70  years  later  in  520 BC under  men like leaders  like  Nehemiah  and Ezra  and prophets like  Haggai and Zechariah.

2.      The application with respect to ourselves are the timeless principles  found  here.  If  the local  church  becomes  faithless,  God  removes her  lampstand (Rev 2:5), but He does not remove the church. “I will build my church , and the gates of hell  will not prevail against it”  (Matt 16:18). Many local churches have come and gone over  the last 2000 years. Many a modern church  no longer holds on to the Word, as false prophets  have  taken the true Word of God  away from the people.  That church will die!  But there is always a remnant of faithful people and they find themselves displaced, as if in exile. But God never ultimately  leaves His people.  He remains the God of mercy and  wrath.  In time He restores His church, but He is not mocked.

God is patient.  We must be patient. God calls us to trust  Him  when things  look less than ideal. We must continue to invest in the kingdom although things look bleak. We must  continue to build biblical churches in  times of unfaithfulness, even  though they are small.

3.      But, in a greater sense Scripture always points towards  an ultimate fulfilLment.   There will come a time  when all the sin of the   earth will be subdued, when Christ comes again, and  when the  kingdom will be the Lord’s. This is what we aim to focus on next week.  Amen!

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[1] 2 Ki. 25:25

[2]  Jer. 43

[3] See the book of Ruth 

GREAT PROMISES FROM THE PROPHET JEREMIAH #1 - Jeremiah 29:1-14 "For I know the plans that I have for you!"

Great Promises  from the  Prophecy of Jeremiah  #1  :  

“For I know the plans I have for you ... plans for welfare  and  not for evil, to give you a future and a hope… You will seek me and find me , when you seek me with all your heart …”   

 [Jer.  29: 1-14]

I am thinking of  a number  of   reasons  for preaching  from the book  of Jeremiah  during this month of prayer and in  preparation for 2017. Here  are some...

1.     Jeremiah  gives perspective and encouragement in  spiritually  challenging times, and we need  such insight today.

2.      There are a number of  wonderful texts  and promises in Jeremiah, such as this one in verse 11,12 which are quoted  easily  out of context. We do not want to minimize the joy and comfort that this texts brings, but we do want to use them  thoughtfully and responsibly, combining the text   with our own situation, as the Word of God is applicable to all  ages.

3.     We  find ourselves at the beginning of a new year.  The future is always daunting, and we always need to  trust the LORD  for that  which is to come. As for myself,   I am commencing my 28^th year  with you. My desire,  as always, is to enter  into this year  thoughtfully and prayerfully, knowing myself to be in the hands of  a Sovereign God who knows what He is doing.  May the message of Jeremiah contribute  to that  understanding.

CONTEXT 

In Chapters 29-31, we find a series of messages to the Jews  who  were carried  into  exile  in Babylon, under the rule of  King Nebuchadnezzar,  around the date  586 BC.  Whilst this is not a happy situation, God has a message of hope  to His people who are in exile.  God’s ultimate purpose is to bring them  back  in to their land.  He  assures them that  He continues  to  love them  with an everlasting love (31:3), but the demonstrations  of  true love  can sometimes be tough.     So, Chapter 29 is a chapter in which God says some hard,realistic but loving things by  way of a letter written by Jeremiah  to His  beloved people in exile. Jeremiah  has to remind them that they are in Babylon, a place not of their choice,  by God’s design, and that this design was  meant for their good.

Vv.1-3    This is  a letter  from God   by the hand of  Jeremiah from Jerusalem to the exiles in Babylon. 

Vv. 4-23  contain  the message of the letter. The message in essence was that  the Jews   would be serving  a 70 year exile  in  Babylon (v.10), and   God wanted them settle down in this time, and   to stop living in the past. He wanted  them to lead  productive lives : “Build houses… plant gardens… marry… have children… increase and do not decrease…”.  God  commanded them not to be dissatisfied and militant, but  “to seek the welfare of the city… to pray for it… since in its welfare would be their welfare!” (vv.5-7) Wise words, and utter applicable to us.  For many of us, Windhoek is not our home town, or choice of  city to live in. But we have been placed here by the providence of God. Settle down and  pray for the welfare of  Windhoek, for in its welfare you will find your welfare!     

There  was another matter  to consider. False prophets were trying to deceive  them, making them restless and dissatisfied, telling  them that they  would not be in exile for long and that they  wouldreturn to Jerusalem soon (vv.  8,9).    The problem of false prophets is  a  perpetual problem  for us.  Who is talking to you at this time?  God,  by His Holy Spirit inspired Word,  or  is it your sinful nature/desires or  some false  prophet  talking to you? The rest of the chapter,  from vv. 15 - 31  deals with this scourge of misinformation, which so often  undermines the  godly tranquility and rest  to which God calls His people. 

In  this context  false prophets  cannot stand  the thought of  God sending His people  into a long exile. They do not  like the  thought of  suffering for  the purpose  of sanctification at all. They do not see  the value of the cleansing effects  which  suffering  and trials  under the hand of a  good God can bring. Like the modern  false prophets  they preach that  everyone  deserves  health, wealth and happiness.  In Jeremiah’s own words, they constantly  preach “peace, peace , when  there is no peace” [1]. This certainly is not true  of Jeremiah. As the true prophet of God , he must speak  the Word of the Lord. A key phrase in Jeremiah is  the phrase “the WORD of the LORD came to me”, which is used over 50 times.  The  Word of God  teaches us that God uses suffering in a sanctifying way.

In 1989 John Piper presented a  biographical  paper on the life of Charles Simeon (1759 -1836), an Anglican  Evangelical  pastor,   at the annual  Bethlehem Baptist Church Pastors Conference. In his fifty-four years at Trinity Church, Simeon became a powerful force for evangelicalism in the Anglican church. However for much, if not for most  of his long and effective  ministry, Charles Simeon  endured incredible hostility.  John Piper’s  paper  was entitled “Brothers, we must not mind a little suffering” . This is an excerpt from his paper:

“In April, 1831, Charles Simeon was 71 years old. He had been the pastor of Trinity Church, Cambridge, England, for 49 years. He was asked one afternoon by his friend, Joseph Gurney, how he had surmounted persecution and outlasted all the great prejudice against him in his 49-year ministry. He said to Gurney, "My dear brother, we must not mind a little suffering for Christ's sake. When I am getting through a hedge, if my head and shoulders are safely through, I can bear the pricking of my legs. Let us rejoice in the remembrance that our holy Head has surmounted all His suffering and triumphed over death. Let us follow Him patiently; we shall soon be partakers of His victory".[2]  

God’s purpose  for the little suffering that Israel had to endure at this time was never designed for  evil, but for good, and this  thought forms the background to  our text in verses 10 -14 :         

God promises them here that, although they  would not return quickly to their homeland, they would certainly return in time,…  after a 70 year  period.  Now, in the life of a person that is a lifetime. Imagine, having to live a lifetime in a place not of your choice. It naturally begets  discontent, and  so godly men and women have often cried,  “How long, sovereign Lord?”[3] We, in Southern Africa ourselves have lived in a spiritual drought  for  at least 30 years. We have been pummelled by false prophets, and the  spread of  a  pseudo - Christianity  has been alarming. Many sincere Christians  are asking that question, “How long, oh Lord will we have to endure this?”  How long will the true church be scattered and disunited? Martin Luther in his time, saw the Roman Catholic as  a type of Babylon, as He spoke about the Babylonian captivity of the church. The 16^th century Reformation broke the  Roman yoke as many  men and women were led into the  freedom that the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ  has brought.

Now, please take note, and take courage. Although  we may sense frustration  with the general state of the church, not being in the place that she should be,  be assured that it will come in God's time, and  be assured  that  will be  the best time- the right time. With regard to the supreme promise of God regarding the coming of a Messiah, to deliver not only  Israel, but the whole world , i.e. all nations from the bondage of  sin, the apostle  Paul said,

“… when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son….” (Gal. 4:4,5);   

“For while we were weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6)  

The promise here  to Israel  in  exile in Babylon, a foreign land  of  foreign customs and foreign religions,  is that  God will  fetch them and bring them back. Though they are dispersed,  among the nations,  God  will gather them from all the places where He has  scattered  them, and He  promises to gather them  and  gather them again into one body.   The supreme  fulfilment of this promise is of course when the whole church, past, present and future  shall be gathered in heaven!

This is God’s promise in v. 10.   This  is in accordance  with God's purposes concerning them in v.11: "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.”  God knows the plans  that He has for us. Very often we  do not know our own thoughts. We struggle to understand  and make sense of events that seem to be contradictory  in terms of our understanding of God’s goodness.  Now  we  may be uncertain, but  God is never  unsure or uncertain  within himself.  He, the omniscient, all knowing God knows the beginning from the end for He is the Alpha and Omega.  He knows the way, for He is the Way , the Truth and the Life! Sometimes we doubt whether God’s plans and designs for us are good, but  we must trust God. He knows what He is doing, and we must believe that his designs for us   are  beneficial, even when it seems  that  God's designs are all against us. The fact remains that He says that He does these things for our good and not for evil.  There will be a beneficial outcome in time,  though perhaps not when  we  expect it.  We need to be patient until the fruit is ripe. And this is true  for ourselves. To illustrate, I would like to  quote again  from John Piper’s biography on  the life of Charles Simeon.  

Piper writes …

The most fundamental trial that Simeon had —and that we all have — was himself. He had a somewhat harsh and self-assertive air about him. One day, early in Simeon's ministry, he was visiting Henry Venn, who was pastor 12 miles from Cambridge at Yelling. When he left to go home Venn's daughters complained to their father about his manner. Venn took the girls to the back yard and said, "Pick me one of those peaches." But it was early summer, and "the time of peaches was not yet." They asked why he would want the green, unripe fruit. Venn replied, "Well, my dears, it is green now, and we must wait; but a little more sun, and a few more showers, and the peach will be ripe and sweet. So it is with Mr. Simeon."

We need  to  learn that in God’s economy things take time, and we must always remember that every soul is made for eternity. And even if you do not get  to your  earthly Jerusalem , the city of your dreams in this life , then , if you have  hoped in Christ in this life  you certainly will find it  in the New Jerusalem, where the Lord Jesus has gone now to prepare a place for you.     In  the exercise of His plan, Peter says that  God is not slow   to fulfill His promise (1 Peter 3:9), and if it is  a trial like these Jews underwent in Babylon, or whatever trial  you may find, be assured that this trial will not last forever.  Even death will not separate you from the promises  of God.

This shall be in answer to their prayers  to God. (Jer. 29:12-15. ) In exile, Israel will learn to pray:  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD.  

Matthew Henry’s commentary  upon this is lovely:  

“When God is about to give his people the expected good,  he pours out a spirit of prayer, and it is a good sign that he is coming towards them in mercy. Then, when you see the expected end approaching, then you shall call upon me. Note, Promises are given, not to supersede, but to quicken and encourage prayer: and when deliverance is coming we must by prayer go forth to meet it.

So, let us  enter  2017  prayerfully, fully expecting deliverance  from our  own Babylonian captivity. God, in His goodness sometimes gives  temporary relief on this earth by sending us into a pleasant arbour (Pilgrims Progress), but we always remember that  this earth is not our true home.

In the meantime we settle down, have families, grow gardens  and multiply. We shall be content, knowing that our heavenly Father  is  directing all of  history  and all of the  future to a glorious end. Amen.

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[1] Jer. 6:14, 8:11

[2] http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/brothers-we-must-not-mind-a-little-suffering

[3] Revelation 6:10 ; Psalm 6:4; 13:1,2