Other prophets before Jeremiah foretold where the disobedient and rebellious ways of Israel would lead them, but it was Jeremiah’s lot to be on the ship when it went to pieces. He warned and warned again of the rocks that were ahead, but Israel did not heed. Up to the last moment he was used of God to press home on their consciences their sad condition, but without avail. Even after the captivity, he remained to guide the wayward remnant of those left in the land, only to experience the same obstinacy and self-determination.
In Elijah’s and Elisha’s days we see God’s goodness to an unfaithful people, but if we ask what were the results of Jeremiah’s prophecies, we see nothing but desolation and ruin, and, finally, we lose him in the great confusion. At the same time, we see his incessant service, unwearied faithfulness, so long as there remained a part of the wreck to be faithful to.
The Joy of the Revival of Josiah
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign. Now this was a period of blessing — of revival. It was in the eighteenth year that the Passover was kept, of which it was said, “There was no Passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet.” Jeremiah would have his share in that joy. I have often thought how much depends on the start of a Christian. To have the lot in early life cast among the fresh provisions of God’s house and amid the energies of His own Spirit will give advantages to such a soul, which are not the common lot of the church of God. Such were Jeremiah’s first days — the days of Josiah. He was cradled in blessing, such too as had not been tasted in Israel since the days of Samuel. He lamented the death of Josiah. These joys so fresh were of short duration. But there is an intimate connection between the joys of communion and faithful warfare. There will be little of the one without the other.
Jeremiah had drunk of the sweet draughts of blessing, which had been so richly provided, and therefore he was able to feel the bitterness of that cup which Israel had to drink. The last chapter of 2 Chronicles shows how prominent he was as a prophet. His words were despised, and the result was the casting off, for a season, of God’s people. One of the services of Jeremiah during this period was to break the fall of Israel (if I may so express my thoughts). Careful reading will show how tenderly the prophet applied himself to the then-existing needs of the people, and it is wonderful to see the compassion of God as exhibited by him. Jonah regretted that God’s judgment did not fall on Nineveh, but the solicitudes of Jeremiah were those of the tender parent who would fain prevent the calamity befalling a disobedient child. When failing there, he carries still the parent’s heart, the parent’s tears, to soften the rebellious woes of that child.
How often do we, in our dealings and fellowship with our brethren, act otherwise. If I see willfulness and disobedience, I warn, I tell the consequences, I press home with diligence those warnings; all are unheeded, and the calamity comes, bad or worse than I foretold. How ready is the heart to triumph in its own faithfulness, and the poor victim of his own rashness is left to himself. In triumph I tell him, “It is all deserved.” The heart of Jeremiah could say, “But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride; and mine eye shall weep sore, and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock is carried away captive.” Such hearts are needed now.
It is in the Book of Jeremiah that we have the history of that part of Israel which was not removed out of the land. Jeremiah’s service did not close even when the city was taken and the wall broken down. The heart that is like this prophet’s is true to God and His people and will always have something to do. The special place he held was to seek to draw the people into repentance, to warn even when he was unheeded and the judgments of God fell on them.
Another Field of Duty
No sooner had the captives been borne away than quite another field of duty rose before him. In chapter 42 we see this new labor that Jeremiah found. The destroying flood had swept away all that he had formerly been among — the kings, the priests, the princes, the temple and the vessels. The glory of Israel had departed. How often have we seen that when services have been apparently disowned, the servant retires. When we have been laboring for an object and suddenly find all dashed from our hands like a goodly vessel and our labor seems to have been in vain, then the heart faints and grows weary. Never was there a more complete failure than that before the eye of the prophet. His heart alone remained whole amid it all; he was ready for fresh service. The remnant muster to him; their confession seems honest; their hearts seem true. “Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the Lord thy God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:) that the Lord thy God may show us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do” (Jer. 42:23).
Jeremiah had the human heart of experience; he was ready to act as aforetime. He says, “Whatsoever thing the Lord shall answer you, I will declare it unto you.” After ten days the answer was given to the same company (vss. 9-22). The leaning of the hearts of the people was toward Egypt. There is something in Egypt, with all its bondage, that the heart naturally clings to. The remnant, wearied with the struggles through which they had passed, sought for rest to the flesh. “Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt” every now and then oozes from the hearts of Israel. There is something in Egypt to attract all our hearts, something that flesh values. We say, “No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread” (Jer. 42:1414Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell: (Jeremiah 42:14)). The Lord keep us from this repose of death! The disappointed heart is in danger of turning back here.
When the people came to Jeremiah, their words were, “That the Lord thy God may show us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do.” God had provision for this time of need. There never was a time when the Lord would not bless those who trust in Him; there never was a place, however desolate or forlorn, where God could not meet His afflicted ones. His word was, “If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down; and I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for I repent Me of the evil that I have done unto you. Be not afraid of the king of Babylon.” “And I will show mercies unto you . . . and cause you to return to your own land.”
The Descent to Egypt
The prophet’s words are despised, and, notwithstanding the threats if they returned to Egypt, they soon descend to Egypt, once more to contend against the judgments of God. Once more Jeremiah finds himself despised. He was unable to keep them by promises of blessing or to deter them from going into Egypt by threats of judgment. The power of unbelief swept the land. It had set in so strongly that spite of the warnings, Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces took Jeremiah along with the rest into the land of Egypt. But even here we find him with a word from God. Once in Egypt, the people were soon burning incense unto other gods. Once we get into a current, it will carry us far beyond our intentions. This remnant hoped to reach Egypt that they might see war no more nor hear the sound of the trumpet nor suffer hunger, but they went into all the idolatry of that people. How often have we seen the same thing in principle. In all the periods of Israel’s history we shall not find a more hardened state than that into which the remnant sank. See chapter 44:15-19. Here we appear to lose the prophet, and might he not say, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nought”?
Résumé
There is blessing lost if we do not follow on in the track of God’s grace to His people. To do so we must keep side by side with Jeremiah. Others had their service away in Babylon. God remembered His own there. But where there is a heart to trust Him, in following with this prophet, we learn the inexhaustible grace there is in God, while at the same time seeing the evils of the human heart becoming greater and greater as that goodness is put forth.
What varied scenes did this man of God pass through, from the time when with joy he partook of the Passover in the days of Josiah, till he saw the utter desolation which he so pathetically describes in his Lamentations — oh for hearts like his! “Mine eyes do fail with tears . . . for the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
As we have before observed, those who beforetime had served their generation by the will of God saw around them the fruits of their labors. In none of them, however, do we see the same measure of tenderness of heart. God had reserved Jeremiah for his day and had given him the heart for his work —a heart sorely tried, but one that could weep for Israel’s woes. This prophet was the expression of God’s heart toward Israel too. “How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?” was Jehovah’s language, and His prophet was there as the proof of God’s grace.
In looking back on the history of the church of God, we see a constant raising up of one after another to step in to meet the church’s needs. The Spirit of God acts according to His perfect knowledge of present needs. Sometimes instruments not marked either for correctness of knowledge or even purity of walk (when judged by the Word as to their associations) have been much used of God. In the latter days of Christendom, I doubt not that, however lavish the hand of God may be in giving hearts like those of Jeremiah to meet the needs of His saints, the apostasy will be so dark that labor therein, even of the most devoted character, will scarce leave a trace of itself. The nearer we draw to the end, there will be, on the one hand, the arduousness of service, and, on the other, the profitlessness of it to the human eye. But “let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Gal. 6:99And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. (Galatians 6:9)).
Adapted from Christian Truth, Vol. 3, p. 66