There is just something about the Book of Jeremiah that makes it one of my favorite Old Testament Books. For those who seem to think the Old Testament is no longer valid today, they are very much mistaken. The whole Bible reveals God to us. He speaks to us, reveals His love for us, points to the promise of the Messiah, reveals the fulfillment of the Promised One, and tells us of our future throughout all the Bible. Not one word is irrelevant.
As far as the Book of Jeremiah is concerned, it is heavy and many times depressing. Jeremiah became known as the “weeping prophet” because no one ever responded to the message God was speaking through him to His people. However, there are also some very hopeful messages and some beautiful language within the Book, such as:
- “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5)
- “Do not be afraid of them, For I am with you to save you” (Jeremiah 1:8)
- “I have put My words in your mouth” (Jeremiah 1:9)
- “And they will fight against you but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to save you,” declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 1:19)
One of the most famous passages from Jeremiah is this one:
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV
And yet another prophetic passage that we as Christians today enjoy the fulfillment of is:
“‘For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ declares the Lord: ‘I will put My law within them and write it on their heart; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,’ declares the Lord, ‘for I will forgive their wrongdoing, and their sin I will no longer remember.’” Jeremiah 31:33-34 NASB
However, the majority of the Book of Jeremiah is filled with words of warning that God spoke to the people through Jeremiah. The people of Judah had already seen Israel fall. It would seem that seeing their brothers in Israel fall due to not following God would cause them to repent. If seeing Israel fall was not enough, then surely you would think that if God was sending them prophets to warn them of their need to repent before they fell to their enemies, that they would listen. However, they did not listen, they did fall, and they were carried into captivity. Thus, Jeremiah wept for his nation.
As I was recently reading this Book again and I got to chapter 26, these verses hit me:
“In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord, saying, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah who have come to worship in the Lord’s house all the words that I have commanded you to speak to them. Do not omit a word! Perhaps they will listen and everyone will turn from his evil way, and I will relent of the disaster which I am planning to inflict on them because of the evil of their deeds.’ And you shall say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: “If you do not listen to Me, to walk in My Law which I have set before you, to listen to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have been sending to you again and again, but you have not listened; then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.”’” Jeremiah 26:1-6 NASB
God had tried to warn the people again and again. He had sent prophet after prophet. He longed to bless the people. Contrary to what people believed, He was not withholding His favor and love. The people’s sin was blocking their reception of His blessings, and that ushered in the wrath and punishment of which He had warned.
The reason this hit me so hard was because of the imagery I had in my mind of my own nation. We live in a nation that was founded on Godly teachings and principles. As I look at news and comments people make on social media, it is so very obvious that our nation has strayed far from God. Christians are mocked for believing in the truth of God’s Word. We are labeled as intolerant or racist for not approving of some people’s lifestyle choices. We have even witnessed the support of an assassination by “tolerant” people who are blatantly intolerant of Christians to voice their opinions.
And so, I find myself weeping for our nation.
What are we to do? We look again at Jeremiah. He obeyed everything God told him to do, shared every message God told him to share. He remained unmarried. He endured imprisonment and beatings. He endured ridicule and mockery. Yet, he remained faithful even when everyone around him was unfaithful to the God who longed to love, forgive, and bless the people.
Unlike Jeremiah who never saw a convert, we can see a glimmer of hope. In the process of preparing this article, I found survey after survey that the sales of Bibles have increased. We have seen the outbreak of revival on some college campuses. People are searching for the answer to the longing in their hearts that “there has to be more to this life.” We as believers have the answer to that longing. His name is Jesus. The One God said would fulfill that new covenant. The One Who will place Himself, the fulfillment of all laws and prophecies, in our hearts. The One Who can forgive our sins, never to be remembered again.
So, weep for our nation. Weep for the ones who need to hear. Share the message of the One Who has the answer to our longings. Then weep with joy at the fulfillment of His promise to give us everlasting life!