Jeremiah 1:8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.
The ever increasing pressure of living in turbulent times only clarified things for Jeremiah. On a daily basis he witnessed how evil and twisted the human heart could be. His culture, which once loved the one true God, now worshiped idols. The northern kingdom (Israel) and much of the southern kingdom of Judah had fallen to foreign control. The once great city of Jerusalem was all that remained of a free Israel and Judah.
Jeremiah, a young man at the time he was called by God, spent nearly forty years warning the people of Jerusalem to repent, or suffer the same fate as the northern kingdom. Jeremiah begged the people to repent so God could bless them; but they ignored him, and rejected God.
Jeremiah watched 5 different kings occupy David’s throne. Only the first of those 5 kings, Josiah, was a good king, one that sought to follow the Lord. The last 4 were all evil. Jeremiah prophesied to the southern kingdom of Judah during the reigns of these last 5 kings and during the early days of the exile (626-585 B.C.). During this time, Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon were competing for world domination. By the end of Jeremiah’s life, Babylon had become supreme, and the land of Judah had been decimated.
Jeremiah watched through a veil of tears when Judah desperately needed strong leaders but was denied. He wept as he saw the children slaughtered, the famine spreading, the chains of captivity shackled, his message torn to shreds, and the Word of God cast into the fire. Jeremiah represented the loving God who was broken over the degradation of His people. Jeremiah stood alone in faithfulness and obedience. When Jerusalem fell to Babylon, Jeremiah was the only one still standing proclaiming the message of God; stand alone if you must, but stand.
This Sunday’s lesson will come from the book of Jeremiah. We will look at God’s message to the exiles recorded in Jeremiah 29:4-14. We will live stream the lesson on our face-book page beginning at 12:30 and an audio version will be available here on the web site sometime Sunday.
Praying everyone is staying safe and healthy.
In Christ,
Gary T.