Sayre Woods Bible Church

Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You. (Jeremiah 32:17)

This is another verse that stands out in Jeremiah. It is hard not to read this verse and start singing, “Ah, Lord God, thou hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power, Ah, Lord God, thou hast made the heavens and the earth by thine outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for thee, nothing is too difficult for thee…”

It is a good little chorus and a good reminder of the power of God. But again, it is interesting to see the context of this verse in Jeremiah.

Chapter 32 begins by telling us that the events in this chapter take place in the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar which would be around 587 BC. What is going on at this time? Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army have besieged Jerusalem. After basically destroying the land and carting off the brightest and best to Babylon (e.g., Daniel), the only thing left was to level and destroy the capital of Jerusalem. The easiest way to destroy a walled city in that time was to besiege it. Surround it, cut off any supply going in or people coming out, and simply let the people inside the city run out of food, water, and patience. Eventually a besieged city will either surrender, die, or eat each other.

Jeremiah is inside the city of Jerusalem stuck in the palace jail. Obviously supplies are short and the future is ominous at best. In the midst of this situation, Jeremiah’s cousin comes to visit him and, after exchanging pleasantries (”Hey, Jeremiah, how is it going?” “Not too bad, these shackles are not too uncomfortable. How are you?”), asks him to buy his land in Anathoth, Jeremiah’s hometown (1:1). Of course, by this time, Anathoth which was three miles north of Jerusalem has already been destroyed and occupied by the Babylonians. It is like buying land in Afghanistan or Iraq or the West Bank today. Not the best investment!

However, Jeremiah is instructed by the Lord to buy the piece of property as a sign of the future restoration of the land. So stuck in a jail cell with little money and little earthly hope, Jeremiah buys a piece of property presently occupied by the Babylonian army. After weighing out the money, Jeremiah begins his prayer (probably without the catchy tune), “Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.”

Jeremiah buys the land on faith, looking to a future hope promised by God. There is nothing around him to give him hope. His freedom is gone. His possessions are gone. His money is now gone. And soon his nation will be gone. Yet he owns a piece of property in Israel, the Promised Land, that God has said will one day be restored. Once more fields will be bought in this land of which you say, “It is a desolate waste, without men or animals, for it has been handed over to the Babylonians” (32:43).

It is a reminder to me that I am called to walk by faith, not by sight, (2 Corinthians 5:7) to keep my eyes on God and His promise rather than on the circumstances around me. God can take land occupied by the enemy and redeem it. He can take portions of my heart damaged by sin and heal it. He can take broken hearts and broken lives and restore them. In His time. For His glory. Nothing is too difficult for Him.

If you have been reading Jeremiah with us, chapter by chapter, then you will understand the breath of fresh air that comes in Jeremiah 31. In fact, as Jeremiah receives this revelation from God at night in a dream, he says, “I awoke and looked around. My sleep had been pleasant to me” (31:26).

We have seen glimpses of the heart of God early in Jeremiah but it is here in chapter 31 that you really see God’s heart for Israel and the reason why God is so angry with their sin. God is like a loving father with a rebellious, obstinate, destructive son. He is tough with Israel and sternly confronts and judges their sin but the whole time His heart is breaking. He would choose any other path if He could, but sin is not healed with a band-aid. It requires radical surgery.

Consider some of the words of God to His people:

I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness (31:3).

Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the LORD (31:20).

I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint (31:25).

Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the LORD (31:28).

The greatest promise in Jeremiah 31 comes in verses 31-34 when God promises the nation of Israel a “new covenant.” It will not be like the Mosaic Covenant–the law–which the people of Israel broke time and time again. No, this time the law will be in their minds and written on people’s hearts. People will obey, not because some written code says so, but because they have a desire to obey out of a heartfelt love for God. Each person will have a relationship with God. They will know Him. And their sins will be totally forgiven.

Quite a covenant! It is the covenant of grace. The covenant that Christ instituted with His death on the cross. Jesus said at the Last Supper, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20). Christ was the sacrifice that initiated this covenant. Through Him, we know God, our sins are forgiven, and the law of God is written on our hearts. Hallelujah!

One final note…this covenant was promised specifically to the nation of Israel but, in Christ, we who once were far off have been made near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of division between us. Christ not only broke down the wall of sin between God and man but He also broke down the wall of division between Jews and Gentiles. We are grafted into the covenants of God through Christ’s death. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God (Ephesians 2:13-14, 19). That is the beauty of grace.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)

Jeremiah 29:11 is probably one of the most quoted and beloved verses in Jeremiah. It has given numerous people hope in the midst of trials because it reveals the heart of God. God loves us and has a good plan for our lives.

Of course, reading through Jeremiah, it is interesting to observe the context of this verse. It is written specifically to the Israelites in captivity in Babylon. Instead of resisting their captors, Jeremiah encourages them to settle down, plant gardens, get married, and pray for the peace of Babylon. Why? Because God had already determined that Israel would be in captivity for 70 years to Babylon. God had good plans for the nation…but they were going to happen on His timetable not theirs. God’s thoughts of peace, hope, and a future were for the nation of Israel…70 years down the road!

A couple of thoughts hit me from this.

1) We want God’s promise of peace, hope, and a good future a lot sooner than 70 years down the road! Actually 70 hours seems like too long for most of us…myself included. I find it interesting that one of the most common commands in the OT is “wait on the LORD.” We don’t hear that command as much any more. For us, answers are found in action not in waiting. But when we jump ahead of God’s plan we usually make a mess of things. Waiting does not mean inaction; it means surrendering our agenda to God’s. It means saying to God, “I want this now (or I want this to end now), but I am going to submit to Your plan. I will trust You and take one day at a time. In the meantime allow me to sense the moving of Your Spirit so I can learn what I need to learn, minister to who I need to minister to, and experience your joy and peace in the process.”

2) Jeremiah 29 also reminds me of an old saying, “Bloom where you are planted.” The Jews in Babylon had two choices: keep complaining/resisting/fighting life in Babylon or find contentment/rest/joy in the midst of Babylon. They may not have liked being there but they were there. Now they had to deal with it, accept it, and make the most of it. Sometimes I miss so much opportunity and joy in the present because I spend all my time focusing on what my “ideal world” should be. I focus on what is wrong with my situation rather than seeing what is right with it. Life in my “Babylons” is never ideal but it is also never removed from God’s hand of blessing. But I will not experience that blessing unless I open my hands and say, “God, not my will but Yours be done.”

I remember Linda’s testimony yesterday in church when she told of her husband getting cancer. She had to surrender her husband, herself, her family, and her plans to God. But then she said this, “Of course, if I didn’t surrender, God was going to do what He was going to do anyway. My surrender didn’t change God’s plan for us but it did give me the peace I needed in the midst of that plan.” I think that is exactly what Jeremiah is saying in chapter 29. We don’t surrender to change God’s plans; we surrender in order to glorify Him and find joy, peace, and blessing in the midst of that plan.

So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums or your sorcerers who tell you, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’ They prophesy lies to you that will only serve to remove you far from your lands; I will banish you and you will perish. But if any nation will bow its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let that nation remain in its own land to till it and to live there, declares the LORD. (27:9-11)

Jeremiah had a simple message to his nation–submit and live or fight and die. Of course, what made his message hard to swallow was that “submitting” not only included submitting to God but also submitting to the pagan king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. Such a message went against everything they believed as a nation. Israel was God’s chosen people. They would not submit to anyone. Such submission would be a sign of defeat. Their nationalistic pride resisted the thought of being “under the yoke” of another nation. The same pride existed during Jesus’ day when the greatest desire of the people was to escape the yoke of Rome. They wanted Messiah to come–not to free them from the bondage of sin but from the shame of being in submission to another country. Their nationalistic pride trumped their allegiance to God…and because of it they rejected the Messiah.

I think we have to be careful of the same thing. I love our nation. We live in the most blessed nation in the world. We have freedom, prosperity, and relative peace. There is no other country in the world that I would rather live. The sacrifices that have been made for our freedom are great and should never be taken for granted. We should pray daily for our nation and, as citizens, should defend our freedom as much as possible. But, in the end, we cannot allow our allegiance to the USA to trump our allegiance to God. They are two different things. Our ultimate citizenship is in heaven not on earth. We cannot forget that. The fourth century Christians forgot that. To them, the Roman empire, Christianized under Constantine’s reign, was intertwined with their Christian faith. As the empire went, so did their faith. Thus, their faith took quite a blow when the Roman empire fell in 410. It took a theologian named Augustine to remind them that there are two cities–the City of God and the city of man. We live in the city of man, but our ultimate allegiance is to the eternal City of God.

Another thought that amazed me this morning was the fact that Jeremiah’s prophecies are even included in the Jewish Old Testament. To me, it is confirmation of the fact that the Bible is from God and not from man. Think about it…if you were collecting a list of sacred books for your nation, would you include a book that page after page reamed your nation for disobedience and told you to submit to a pagan nation in order to receive God’s blessing? The Jews included this book in the Bible not because it glorified their nation but because it was God’s Word and glorified Him.

Lord, I am so thankful that You are in control. Give me wisdom as I live in the city of man and serve the City of God.

Hopefully you are hanging in there with the reading of Jeremiah. If you have gotten off track, today is a good day to get back on schedule. Remember that Jeremiah prophesied during the last years of the nation of Judah before they were destroyed and taken into captivity by the Babylonians in 586 BC. Jeremiah 26 takes place around 608 BC.

But as soon as Jeremiah finished telling all the people everything the LORD had commanded him to say, the priests, the prophets and all the people seized him and said, “You must die!Why do you prophesy in the LORD’s name that this house will be like Shiloh and this city will be desolate and deserted?” And all the people crowded around Jeremiah in the house of the LORD. (26:8-9)

As I read this passage this morning, my first thought was, “Whoa, that is the kind of altar call that you don’t want as a preacher!” The preacher’s hope is that after a message people take the word of God seriously and come forward to get right with God. In this case, after Jeremiah’s message in the temple, the prophets and priests rush forward to kill Jeremiah. It reminds me of the response that the religious leaders had to Jesus’ message as well.

What is interesting is that when others outside the temple hear the commotion and come in, they have a different take on the situation. Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “This man should not be sentenced to death! He has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God” (26:16).

It reminds me again of the danger of religion. Those inside the temple want to kill Jeremiah, while those outside of it recognize that he is speaking the words of the LORD. The same scenario takes place in Jesus’ ministry. The religious leaders want to kill Jesus while many people outside the religious community embrace Him. Why is that? I think the exercise of religion without an abiding sense of humility (we are all sinners) and grace (we all need a Savior) leads to a vehement, and sometimes violent, form of self-righteousness. The only thing scarier than a prideful, obstinate man is a prideful, obstinate religious man who thinks he is representing the cause of God.

Jeremiah 26 reminded me of two things: 1) Preaching/communicating God’s Word to others is risky at times. I may be verbally or physically attacked. 2) Becoming religious without a humble heart growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ is even more risky. I may lose my soul without even realizing it.

Lord, deliver me from self-righteousness and keep my heart tender and soft to Your Word.

This is what the LORD God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of My wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them.” (Jeremiah 25:15-16)

Jeremiah 25 is another hard-hitting chapter. God announces His judgment on the nation of Judah, and on all the nations, because “you did not listen to Me and you have provoked Me with what your hands have made and you have brought harm to yourselves” (25:7). God symbolizes His fierce judgment as a cup of wine filled with wrath that causes those who drink it to stagger and perish.

This is not the first time that God’s wrath is pictured as a cup of wine: Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of His wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes men stagger (Isaiah 51:17). You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and be exposed! The cup from the LORD’s right hand is coming around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory (Habakkuk 2:16).

It was the thought of the cup of God’s wrath that reminded me of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may Your will be done (Matthew 26:42). It was in the Garden that Jesus wrestled and agonized in prayer. At the forefront of His mind was the cup of God’s wrath. Jesus knew that unless He drank the cup of God’s wrath then the nations of the world would have to drink it. In His love and grace, He chose to drink it so that we would not have to.

What does that mean? It means that God’s justice and righteousness have been satisfied in Jesus Christ. It means that His wrath was absorbed by Jesus Christ on the cross. The debt we owed to God has been paid in full. Because Jesus drank the cup of wrath, those who believe in Him can enjoy the cup of blessing. That is the essence of grace. And grace produces gratitude.

As I read Jeremiah, it should remind me of the ugliness of sin and the horror of God’s judgment. I need to see that, consider that, and meditate on that lest I forget the glory of the cross of Christ.

Lord, help me not forget. Thank You for Your grace.

This is what the LORD says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you…Then break the jar while those who go with you are watching and say to them, “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired.’” (19:1-2, 10-11)

God likes to use illustrations. The potter and the clay are the picture that God uses to describe His relationship to the people of Israel in Jeremiah 18-19.

In chapter 18, God reminds Israel that He is sovereign. He is Lord. He is the potter and He can shape the clay (the nations) as He sees fit. So I went down to the potter’s house and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him (18:4).

It is ironic and interesting that this past Sunday my older three boys were invited to a birthday party at a pottery place. I went with them. It was the first time I had ever seen a potter’s wheel up close or participated in the shaping of pottery. My boys had a blast. Watching them work, I learned that clay tends to harden quickly so you have to keep adding water as you work. As long as you add water, you can pretty much shape the pottery into any shape you want. Even if the pot/bowl collapses while you are working on it, it is easy to reshape it if the clay is soft.

However, once the pot is removed from the wheel and hardens, it stays in whatever shape it was in last. It cannot be changed. If it is not a good, usable pot after it hardens, then there is no reshaping it. It either has to be shelved or discarded.

That is the picture God is drawing with Israel. There was a time in their history when they were still soft and pliable in God’s hands. The water of the Word kept their hearts soft. They may have fallen at times but there was still enough respect of God’s Word in them to allow God to reshape them and raise them up again. However, later in their history, they became hardened against God. They would not listen. They did not want to hear His Word. There was nothing else God could do with them except break them, judge them, and remove them from the land.

The simple message to me today is, “How hard is my heart?” Am I still open to God’s input in my life or have I become hardened and obstinate in my ways? Do I still hear the promptings of the Spirit or have I set myself in a rut of routine that blocks out the voice of God?

I think the question also applies to my relationships with others. Am I open to the correction, advice, and input of others or have I closed myself off, convinced that I have things under control and comfortable in the patterns I have already set? I am reminded of Proverbs 13:10, Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.

The hardness of my heart is measured by the openness of my ears to God and to others.

Lord, keep my heart soft and open to the promptings of Your Spirit and the input of others.

Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for You are the one I praise. They keep saying to me, “Where is the word of the LORD? Let it now be fulfilled!” I have not run away from being Your shepherd; You know I have not desired the day of despair. What passes my lips is open before You. (17:14-16)

There is much to consider in Jeremiah 17 but I was drawn to Jeremiah’s words in verses 14-16. it is Jeremiah’s relationship to the Lord that keeps jumping out to me in this book.

Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for You are the one I praise. Jeremiah has full confidence in God. He is the epitome of the blessed man who trusts in the Lord and not in his own strength (17:5-8). That really is the ultimate question in life, the dividing line between the blessed life and the cursed life–do I trust in my own strength and ability (or in the strength and ability of others) or do I trust in the LORD? It is oftentimes hard to know because our hearts are deceitful and can fool us into thinking we are more spiritual than we are. However the best indication probably comes from our prayer life. The less we pray, the more we are trusting in our own strength or in something else to get us through.

They keep saying to me, “Where is the word of the LORD? Let it now be fulfilled!” Jeremiah faced mocking resentment almost daily from the people he ministered to. What was his response?

I have not run away from being Your shepherd… He endured. He kept moving forward. He stayed faithful. You know I have not desired the day of despair… He did not enjoy the prospect of God’s judgment or revel in the fact that God was going to wipe out his nation because of sin. In fact, he pleaded with God over and over to spare His people to the point that God had to tell him to stop. What passes my lips is open before You. Jeremiah was an open book before God. He openly shared what was on his heart with God in prayer.

Those thoughts hit me this morning…I put my confidence in God…I do not run away from being a shepherd…I do not desire the day of despair (for myself or for others)…my heart is an open book before God.

Trust…endurance…sensitivity…honesty and integrity before God.

I do not know what God has in store for our nation today. I do not know what opposition, persecution, or ridicule we as Christians may face in the days ahead. But Jeremiah’s commitment would be the same prescription today. Put your confidence in the Lord not in man. Don’t run away from speaking God’s Word and ministering to others. Keep your heart sensitive and honest with God.