Jeremiah, the
reluctant prophet
#3
Jeremiah's First Vision
Rev. Ron Friedrich
July 16, 2006
Jeremiah 1:11-19
(New Century Version)
11 The LORD
spoke his word to me, saying: "Jeremiah, what do you see?"
I
answered, "I see a stick of almond wood."
12 The LORD said
to me, "You have seen correctly, because I am watching to make sure my
words come true.”
13 The LORD spoke
his word to me again: "What do you see?”
I
answered, "I see a pot of boiling water, tipping over from the north.”
14 The LORD said
to me, "Disaster will come from the north and strike all the people who
live in this country. 15 In a short
time I will call all of the people in the northern kingdoms," said the LORD.
"Those
kings will come and set up their thrones
near
the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem.
They
will attack all the city walls around Jerusalem
and
all the cities in Judah.
16 And I will announce my judgments against my people
because
of their evil in turning away from me.
They
offered sacrifices to other gods
and
worshiped idols they had made with their own hands.
17 "Jeremiah, get ready. Stand up
and tell them everything I command you to say. Don’t be afraid of the
people, or I will give you good reason to be afraid of them. 18 Today I am going to make you a strong
city, an iron pillar, a bronze wall. You will be able to stand against
everyone in the land: Judah’s kings, officers, priests, and the people
of the land. 19 They will fight
against you, but they will not defeat you, because I am with you to
protect you!" says the LORD.
In our first two lessons, we saw
[1] God's call to Jeremiah to serve as His prophet to Israel, and
[2] Jeremiah's answer: "No, I am too young."
We saw that God did not accept Jeremiah's answer. God's
message to Jeremiah basically was,
You have no choice.
You will go where I tell you to go.
You will say what I tell you to say.
And don't get married.
Today we finish the first chapter of Jeremiah, and we see here two
themes that describe Jeremiah's message and his work for the rest of
his life.
God often taught His lessons with pictures. He does it
twice in this first vision. Here is the first picture:
The
LORD spoke
his word to me, saying: "Jeremiah, what do you see?"
I
answered, "I see a stick of almond
wood."
The
LORD said
to me, "You have seen correctly, because I am watching to make sure my
words come true."
Huh? What does a stick of almond wood have to do with God
"watching" to make sure His words come true (sign: proceed happen)?
I looked in the footnote of one study Bible and it said that the almond
tree is the first tree to blossom in spring. Therefore this
picture means that God's Word - the prophecies of the past 800 years -
will "bloom" very soon.
I was not satisfied with that explanation, so I looked in a different
study Bible. It said the same thing.
So I did what my seminary professors taught me to do in the first place
-- read the text in the original Hebrew. And there I found the
answer. It is very clear:
The
LORD spoke
his word to me, saying: "Jeremiah, what do you see?"
I
answered, "I see a stick of almond
wood."
Literally: "[A] rod [of] almond I see." maqel shaqed
ani ro'eh.
The
LORD said
to me, "You have seen correctly, because I am watching to make sure my
words come true."
Literally: "for watch I over my word." ki-shoqed
ani al-debari.
In Jeremiah's time, those two words -- almond
(shaqed) and watch (shoqed) were spelled exactly the
same. The difference in pronunciation was only one
vowel. Obviously God is playing with the sound of two
similar words. He did that often. But because words sound
different in English, the word-play becomes lost in translation.
How can we do this word-play in English? If God wants to
create a picture to make the point that He will "watch over His Word,"
what picture could He use represent the English word
"watch?" Of course... a modern device: a timepiece, a
wrist watch or a pocket watch.
So imagine that Jeremiah, speaking English, would say, "I see a
watch." To that God can answer,
"You have seen correctly, because I will
watch to make sure my words come true."
Now the second picture in Jeremiah's vision is much easier to interpret:
The
LORD spoke
his word to me again: "What do you see?"
I
answered, "I see a pot of boiling water, tipping over from the north."
The
LORD said
to me, "Disaster will come from the north and strike all the people who
live in this country. In a short time I will call all of the people in
the northern kingdoms," said the LORD.
"Those
kings will come and set up their thrones near the entrance of the gates
of Jerusalem. They will attack all the city walls around Jerusalem and
all the cities in Judah."
This is the first theme from the vision that became the theme of
Jeremiah's message. God's time of patience is over. He will
send the Babylonian (Iraq) army to destroy Jerusalem, destroy the
country of Judah (southern Israel), and take the people captive.
Jeremiah lived to see all that happen.
But there appears to be a little problem here. Babylon is straight east
of Israel, not north.
However, Babylon's army did not march to Jerusalem in a
straight west line. That route is desert. The
army marched along the rivers of the "Fertile Crescent," which took
them north of Israel. Then they marched south to conquer
Jerusalem. So, in fact, the eastern army of Babylon did come from
the north.
Other northern enemies of Israel were: Syria, Assyria, Lebanon.
The Lord continues His word to Jeremiah:
And
I will announce my judgments against my people
because
of their evil in turning away from me.
They
offered sacrifices to other gods
and
worshiped idols they had made with their own hands.
Other
gods? Made with their own hands?
What are the "gods" common in our modern culture? Our
things. Our toys. We worship man-made things. This is
religion of "materialism." Our idols look different that
Israel's idols, but they are still idols. We also are guilty.
This is the first theme of Jeremiah's vision. God's patience has
ended, and He will do what he has promised for 800 years.
He will send Babylon to punish Israel.
God always punishes sin. Always! Every sin. God has,
in fact, already punished every sin for every sinner through Christ's
death on the cross. This is His gift to all people, everywhere.
The sad fact is that most people refuse that gift. They turn
"thumbs down" to forgiveness, and choose instead to own their
sin. The Bible says:
It
is most important for you to understand what will happen in the last
days. People will laugh at you. They will live doing the evil things
they want to do. They will say, "Jesus promised to come again.
Where is he? Our fathers have died, but the world continues the way it
has been since it was made." ...
The
Lord is not slow in doing what he promised—the way some people
understand slowness. But God is being patient with you. He does not
want anyone to be lost, but he wants all people to change their hearts
and lives.
But
the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The skies will disappear
with a loud noise. Everything in them will be destroyed by fire, and
the earth and everything in it will be burned up. In that way
everything will be destroyed. So what kind of people should you be? You
should live holy lives and serve God, as you wait for and look forward
to the coming of the day of God. (2
Peter 3:3-12 NCV)
People also laughed at Jeremiah. They even tried to kill
him. God warned Jeremiah that they would reject God's message:
"Jeremiah, get ready.
Stand up and tell them everything I command you to say. Don’t be afraid
of the people, or I will give you good reason to be afraid of them.
Today I am going to make you a strong city, an iron pillar, a bronze
wall. You will be able to stand against everyone in the land: Judah’s
kings, officers, priests, and the people of the land. They will fight
against you, but they will not defeat you, because I am with you to
protect you!" says the LORD.
In the whole story of Jeremiah, I find only two people who supported
him. There were many who wanted to kill him. God
advised Jeremiah: Trust God and don't fear people.
God has the same advice for us: Trust Him, and don't fear people.
We live in a culture that mocks Christians and hates Christ. We
are, in some ways, in a similar situation as Jeremiah.
May God pour His Holy Spirit into us daily, that we may, in His power,
go where Jesus sends us, and announce the great news of His gift to all.
