Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

by H. J. Vine.

Fulfilments of Jeremiah’s Words

Although there were no startling or miraculous interventions on God’s part, to publicly justify the words of Jeremiah at the moment, nevertheless, the exact fulfilment of his words, though delayed apparently, was all the more striking afterwards. There was nothing immediate or sudden. Jeremiah spoke the word of the Lord and suffered for it. God in long-suffering mercy waited upon the people, patiently looking for their repentance. That did not take place; and meanwhile the prophet was reproached and ill-treated. Then, when the hearts of the people, the princes, the priests, the prophets and the pastors were hardened utterly, the fulfilments of Jeremiah’s words, were swiftly executed. Surprisingly so, both in public and private events; also in personal and particular details. To name them all would occupy too much space; but some of them should be mentioned here.

In Josiah’s day, things looked very prosperous at Jerusalem; nevertheless, the prophet foretold upon the city, “evil from the north, and a great destruction” (Jeremiah 4:6). This was exactly fulfilled, but we are apt to overlook its miraculous nature. Did some one emphatically announce today that St. Petersburg would be captured and destroyed, most people would smile and scout such an idea. If it took place, the fulfilment would be the more striking because of their scepticism. Thus it is with Jeremiah’s prophecy as to Jerusalem. Again, everything seemed to be outwardly flourishing with the temple worship; but as the Lord desolated Shiloh, where he set His Name at the first, so, said the prophet, should it be done to this house, because of their wickedness (Jeremiah 7:11-14). This too came to pass (2 Kings 25:8-17).

Such striking signs as the girdle (Jeremiah 13) were precisely fulfilled. Jehovah had taken up Israel for His honour; but having sought their own honour with “great pride” (verse 9), they should be destroyed as a nation. Similarly the potter’s vessel of Jeremiah 18; and the earthen vessel of Jeremiah 19. Also the bonds and yokes of chapters 27 and 28. Hananiah might oppose the truth of this last sign, and break the yokes of wood; but it only served to make the word of the Lord more impressive; calling for the prophecy concerning the yokes of iron, and Hananiah’s own doom. We know how all this came to pass, and in a way which leaves no room to question either the divine prediction, or the divine consummation.

The oft-repeated prophecies concerning the punishment of the people of Israel, and their fulfilment, might well impress the mind, but when Jeremiah foretells that the Lord “will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised; Egypt, Judah, and Edom and the children of Ammon, and Moab and all that are in the utmost corners” (Jeremiah 9:25-26), and we see Babylon a comparatively young power, rise up and do this, it is enough to fill us with astonishment, and to carry conviction to any thoughtful person that God rules in the Kingdom of men. Chapters 45 to 49 all had their fulfilment in this connection in a most marvellous manner.

The important and formal prophecy of Jeremiah 25 is still more impressive. It contains the well-known word as in the 70 years servitude (verses 9-16). It should be noticed, however, that this again includes the other nations, as well as Israel. And thus it was that all these nations served the King of Babylon 70 years.

A further word on this prophecy as to Israel must be added. In 29:10-12, we read, “Thus says the Lord, that after 70 years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. Then shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I wilt hearken unto you.” It was this word, evidently, that years after set Daniel praying: “I Daniel understood by books the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet.” So for the fulfilment of this promise Jeremiah was used in prophesy; Daniel in prayer; and Cyrus, a man who did not know the Lord, in providence. God had said of Cyrus long before, through Isaiah, “I have surnamed thee though thou hast not known Me … Thee I have raised up in righteousness.” Again we read, Now in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, King of Persia, that he made proclamation” etc. (2 Chr. 36:22). So exact, and so encouraging, is this word and its actual accomplishment, that it is full of comfort and cheer to the soul that trusts in the blessed God; knowing that, even at the present time, He makes all things work together for the good of His own, who have been called by His grace, according to His purpose. Even a detail such as buying a field (Jeremiah 32:7) is used of God to show in the very presence of the desolation, about to be brought upon the land, that His good word concerning His people should verily come to pass; and the fields should flourish and be fruitful again. And so it was Our God and Father is a faithful God, who fulfils His word.

Of individuals: that which was said concerning Jehoahaz or rather “Shallum” (Jeremiah 22:11-12) came to pass with solemn precision, as also did the word concerning Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 22:17-19). His son, called by his father Jehoiachin, but by the prophet Coniah, became another witness of the truth of God’s holy word (Jeremiah 22:24-30). The case of Zedekiah is perhaps even more astonishing, because of the exactness with which enigmatic details were executed. That Zedekiah should be delivered, with the city and the people, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 21:3-7), was plainly foretold and fulfilled. There was nothing obscure in that, although so solemnly true. Nor was there any enigma in Jeremiah’s words to Zedekiah in Jeremiah 34:2, that the city should be burned with fire; and his eyes should behold the eyes of the King of Babylon. Doubtless, after the words were verified, they would speak with a loud voice to Zedekiah. The very reference to his eyes, so often made, must have given him to feel afterwards that he had been in the presence of omniscience, when he heard, but heeded not the words of the suffering prophet. When we read, however, of Zedekiah, that he is to be taken captive to Babylon, to the land of the Chaldeans: “Yet he shall not see it” (Ezek. 12:13), we wonder how this can be, and feel it must have some covered significance. But all is clearly explained, when we read of the just but awful punishment which befell this wicked prince, who slighted God’s word, and dishonoured His holy Name: “The King of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes … moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with chains, to carry him to Babylon” (Jeremiah 39:6-7). Without eyes to see the land of his captivity, he would have leisure to remember the claims of the holy, omniscient God against whose word He had sinned so grievously; and it may be hoped, repent, and receive His forgiving mercy.

Intensely interesting and instructive as all this is, we may not further follow out these fulfilments. But a short reference must be made to another class of prophecy, which has partly been fulfilled and yet awaits completion. There is much like this in the Old Testament. Take one verse: Isaiah 9:6—“Unto us a child is born.” That part has been fulfilled. “The government shall be upon His shoulder.” That part awaits fulfilment. In between, Christ has been rejected, and is hidden in the heavens, and His assembly is being formed during the time of His rejection. She will share in His glory, as His bride, when “the government shall be upon His shoulder.”

In Jeremiah 33:15 the Lord says: “I will cause to grow up unto David the Righteous Branch.” The opening of the New Testament shows us the fulfilment of this in our Lord Jesus Christ, of David’s line. But the word continues, “He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land”; and “In those days Judah shall be saved.” This is yet to come. In Jeremiah 23:5 we have the same truth in almost the same words; only, in the hatter, “He” is called Jehovah Tzidkenu: whereas in the other “she” (Jerusalem) takes the same name from Him whose city she is.

Chapters 30 and 31 can only be understood in the same way. Israel is to be restored and blessed under the royal line of “David their King” (Jeremiah 30:9); but before that, “the time of Jacob’s trouble must come” (Jeremiah 30:7). Nevertheless Israel shall be saved, and established again: “For I have loved thee with an everlasting love,” says the Lord (Jeremiah 31:3). A voice of weeping, however, is heard in Ramah. This has taken place (Matthew 2:17); but it will be heard again before the full blessing of Israel comes. Weeping for a night; joy in the morning. The cases of Rachel and of Jacob illustrate this principle of God’s dealing with Israel all along. This explains for us also a verse which has given so much exercise and thought (Jeremiah 31:22)—the “New thing.” It doubtless includes the truth of “THE SON GIVEN,” the child born of the Virgin Mary; but it takes in likewise the woman Israel, centring in the Metropolis Jerusalem, no longer compassing the Ark of the Covenant as of old (Jeremiah 3:16, 19), but A MAN, who is Himself the Covenant; everlasting, living beyond death, having once died, now alive for evermore. This is “new.” No other explanation answers to that word. It agrees, too, with the “New Covenant” spoken of a few verses after. Of Jerusalem it can consequently be said, in the very next verse, “O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness.” She then takes her name (which speaks also of her new character) from the Name which He bears in that day, as we have seen.

The two solemn chapters concerning Babylon (Jeremiah 50 and 51) are also explained on the principle of which we have been speaking. Desolation has indeed fallen upon that ancient city.

That has exactly fulfilled the word through Jeremiah so far as it goes. But Babylonish corruptions remain, and are reviving, and there is much that awaits a future fulfilment, according to this prophecy, and according to that of Revelation 17 and 18. In the meanwhile, we find in the last chapter of Jeremiah one who was an object of contempt at Jerusalem—Coniah! raised to eminence by Evil-merodach at Babylon. Like many who are unfaithful to God and His people, he is exalted amid the corruptions of Babylon, which was already beginning to sink, in the days of the intemperate Evil-merodach. He was himself afterwards murdered. This was the King who lifted up the head of Jehoiachin, and provided his diet, before whom he ate “all the days of his life” (Jeremiah 32:31-34). Of Daniel, at Babylon, we read, “He would not defile himself with the portion of the King’s meat” (Danel 1:8); and he represents the faithful remnant, who will be delivered in a future day out of Babylon.

The words of Jeremiah, or rather the words of the Lord through him, have been abundantly proved to be of divine origin, by the exactness of their execution; being fulfilled with such preciseness in public, private, and personal detail, as to exclude any upright questioning. And that which awaits accomplishment will doubtless be carried out with the same perfection. Our God who fixed the months and years, and timed the shining of the moon and of the sun, spake all the words of prophecy, and His word must be done,

The Book Itself and its Structure

The book of Jeremiah has an arrangement which is quite unique. Like the Gospel of Luke, which does not follow mere historical sequence, but nevertheless strictly observes the moral “method” (Luke 1:3), so in Jeremiah God has preserved an order, which, however, is not chronological. It is not the order of date; but an order beautifully ranged according to its central event. This event is formally set out in Jeremiah 25—the desolation of Jerusalem, when God forsakes “HIS covert,” His earthly centre, and the consequent overthrow of all the nations, whilst Babylon rises to supremacy. This is the solemn climax.

The Spirit of Christ in Jeremiah gave Him to feel keenly the destruction of Jerusalem. He knew what it meant to the Lord who loved it, and what it meant for men generally. Its importance was great and grave. Leading up to that central event then, his words are arranged with distinct method; not according to the order in which they are spoken, but according to their connection with that event. From that central event, the rest of the book follows in ordered arrangement, according to the effects of Jerusalem’s overthrow.

Jerusalem is seen to sink and Gentile Babylon is seen to arise, But looking beyond the times of the gentiles, the prophet is also allowed to see the shining supremacy of Jerusalem again, through the Man Christ Jesus—whilst Babylon suddenly sinks to rise no more, Jerusalem’s sun arises, never to set again. It is precisely the same in Revelation, in regard to the heavenly Jerusalem and Babylon from beneath, involving nevertheless greater and deeper questions than the earthly Jerusalem and Babylon of the Old Testament. Keeping in mind what we have said as to this, we shall be able to understand the Holy Spirit’s arrangement of this book, as God has graciously preserved it to us in His providential over-ruling.

It begins with words which are quite unusual, and also ends with the same: “The words of Jeremiah”—the last chapter being added. Just as if the Holy Spirit would impress again upon our hearts the central event of this book, concerning Jerusalem and Babylon.

The main divisions are—

Jeremiah 1 to 24: The Moral Section; containing a moral pleading with the people.

Jeremiah 25 to 39: The Section of the Covenant, and the central event; containing promises, and Jerusalem’s fall.

Jeremiah 40 to 45: The Historical Section; containing the history of the remnant, with whom Jeremiah remained alter Jerusalem’s overthrow.

Jeremiah 46 to 51: The Gentile Section; containing prophecies concerning the nations.

Jeremiah 52: The Concluding Section.

The sub-divisions of these main sections are equally distinct and interesting; but we will notice them in going through the book itself. The Lamentations are of unique interest, having a peculiar acrostic order and structure except the last chapter, which purposely departs from this order.

We must mention a characteristic of this book, which conveys the intensity of feeling which filled the Lord’s heart for His people and city. Strong expressions are repeated over and over again. In his zeal for their good He speaks of “rising up early” to speak to them, time after time—eleven times at least! How this speaks of the Lord’s intense love for them! No wonder He wept over Jerusalem! They have “forsaken Me!” they have “forgotten Me!” they have “turned their backs unto Me!” He says again and again. This shows how He felt their treatment and the bitter suffering they were bringing upon themselves. It would be “as a woman in travail and anguish.” This is said several times: because of the “stubbornness of their hearts,” and because of “the evil of their doings.” There are many such repetitions; but these suffice to show us the heart of our blessed Lord, expressing its feelings through the tender heart of Jeremiah. It is indeed very touching to think of this alighted love, this love divine. Here again, the exaltation of the Lord in His deep love is seen. He has loved them with an ever-lasting love; and as we see, He will pursue them with mercy, till they are brought like ourselves to “GLORY IN THE LORD.”

“Israel’s race shall then behold Him

full of grace and majesty,

Though they set at nought and sold Him,

pierced and nailed Him to the tree.

Hallelujah! they shall praise Him,

and their Lord in glory see.”

Notes on Jeremiah

“The Exaltation of the Lord”

Section 1—The Moral Section (Jeremiah 1-24)

Our Lord Jesus Christ, that Prophet foretold and foreshadowed in the Old Testament, came to speak the words of God; also to do His will and His works. This brought upon Him opposition and persecution, sorrow and suffering. His grace and love were refused. They requited His labours for their blessing with rejection; they rewarded Him with hatred for His love. He nevertheless “set His face like a flint” to finish the work He came to do. It was thus with Jeremiah, in a measure more limited. “They shall fight against thee”, he was told by the Lord. Therefore he was to be purposeful, and gird up his loins, and arise, and speak unto them; for “I am with thee, says the Lord” (Jeremiah 1:17-19). To be true to his name, in “the exaltation of the Lord” amidst deceit and violence, encouragement is divinely given in this first chapter; where the details are recorded of his call and his commission.

In the first section (chaPsalm 1 to 24), the Lord pleads with the people, whilst warning and admonishing them also. The first twelve chapters, and the next twelve, equally subdivide this section; significant signs being given in the second twelve to illustrate truths stated in the first twelve.

Jeremiah 1: The Call, Commission and Encouragement of a Servant of the Lord

Of the early verses of chapter 1 we have spoken. Although at first Jeremiah felt he was but a child, it must have been a great stay for him afterwards to think of God’s foreknowledge of him, even before his birth, setting him apart, and giving him to be a prophet not only to Israel, but also to the nations (Jeremiah 1:4,10). This fact of God’s foreknowledge was made known to him at his call to the work, when the Lord touched him and put His words in his mouth. “I am with thee” is twice said to him (verses 8 and 19). Every servant of the Lord should have some sense of this, along with a settled conviction of the foreknowledge of God. This gives stability amidst trials and testings. The Lord said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee”. Paul constantly speaks of himself as “a called apostle of Jesus Christ, by God’s will”, and Peter reminds us that we are “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father”. The faithful servant may have to meet great difficulties and fierce foes, but he is encouraged like Jeremiah, who is again twice told not to fear (verses 8 and 17). God would fortify him against all opposition (verse 18), and however strong it might be, none should prevail against him. The greater the foe the greater becomes faith’s victory. “I am with thee, says the Lord, to deliver thee”.

We often find this honoured servant faltering afterwards, but he pursued the path to the end nevertheless. He might say to the Lord, “Woe is me”; and “Know that for Thy sake I have suffered rebuke”; and again, “Why is my pain perpetual?”, “Wilt Thou be unto me as waters that fail?”; but the Lord reminds him once more, “I am with thee to save thee” (Jeremiah 15:20). He might curse the day wherein he was born, and tell the Lord he had ‘enticed’ him (Jeremiah 20:7), and that he was a derision daily; but his faith however becomes strong again, and he says, “The Lord is with me” (Jeremiah 20:11)! Tossed and tried, opposed and persecuted, he nevertheless laboured on to the end of his long, toilsome journey.

It was to encourage Jeremiah that the two visions in Jeremiah 1:11, 13 were given to him—the rod of an almond tree and the seething pot. Both spoke with significant eloquence. The first, like Aaron’s rod that budded, implied the watchfulness and wakefulness which were always active for the true interests of the Lord: the second, like the cauldron of Ezekiel, which was made to boil furiously by the fiery judgment from the north (Ezek. 11:7; 24:1-14) illustrates Jerusalem and the consuming judgments which should come from God by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.

An exceptional word (shaqed), a poetical expression, is used for the almond tree here. So in the next verse for ‘hasten’ it should read ‘wakeful’ rather. The word (shaqad) is from the same root. This divinely inspired use of words is exceedingly expressive. As to the seething pot, the word is the same as in Ezekiel, and referred to what was evidently a common saying at Jerusalem at that time—“This city is the cauldron”. There is no difficulty about the expression in verse 13—“From the face of the north” (margin). It means the pressure of judgment would come from thence, and the cauldron would lean in the opposite direction. All this is solemnly explained in the following verses, and the main reason given by the Lord is touching indeed. It shows how His heart felt the way they treated Him. They have ‘FORSAKEN ME’ and served other gods, He complains.

They worshipped the works of their own hands (verse 16). Sorrowful as it must have been to Jeremiah, yet, when it all came to pass, exactly as he was given to foresee, it must have given great stability to him amidst the trials of his later years, increasing his confidence in the One who had called commissioned, and encouraged him.

Chapters 2-3: The Lord Forsaken and Returned To, and the Consequences

Jeremiah 2 is the first recorded word to the people. It gives the first thought which filled the heart of the Lord, the main reason, as we have said, for all the sorrow.—Those who once loved Him had forsaken Him. He could not forget the kindness of their early years when they first went after Him. He remembered the love of their espousals, but now He complains again and again, they have “gone far from Me”; they have “forsaken Me”; they have “turned their back unto Me”; they have “forgotten Me” (see verses 2, 5, 13, 17, 19, 27, and 32).

This is written for our learning, and does it not remind us of the first word as to the declension of the assemblies (Revelation 2:4)?—“Thou hast left thy first love.” Oh! the sad results of this! ending as it does in what is said to the last of the assemblies, “I will spue thee out of My mouth” (Revelation 3:16). Such is the beginning and ending of the professing Christian assemblies. May those who understand this and have “ears to hear”—not what the church says—but what “the Spirit says to the churches”—have grace given to them to encourage a return to the first love again now at the end before Christ returns for His bride. There is Scriptural reason to expect a revival of this among the real, but our Lord Jesus Christ and His love must be ministered in the power of the Holy Spirit to produce this. “The exaltation of the Lord” before our hearts and eyes is necessary, if the heart of the bride, the assembly, is to be reached. The last picture given of her in the last chapter of the Bible, shows her responding to the presentation of the Lord Jesus as God and Man, and as the bright and blessed Hope of her heart. In unison with the Spirit SHE SAYS TO HIM, “COME”. At the same time there is living energy manifested in calling thirsty souls to come and drink and live; yea, in inviting “whosoever will” to take of the water of life freely (Revelation 22:16-17).

In our chapter we learn that the nation of Israel was seeking the lethal waters of Egypt and Assyria (verses 28 and 36). The people turned first to one and then to the other. They should, however, be made ashamed of both. They would learn that it was an evil and bitter thing to forsake the Lord (verse 19). With sorrowful eloquence and pitiful pleading He exclaims, “Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, says the Lord! For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the Fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:12-13)! Yet with what condescension and consideration He inquires of them, “Have I been a wilderness to Israel? a land of darkness” (verse 31)? But it is of no avail, they were shameless and idolatrous (verses 20-30). Pastors, prophets and people went after Baal; the priests said not, “Where is the Lord?” In vain had He chastised them; they received no correction. Wicked still, Israel said, “I have sinned not”; therefore the Lord righteously rejected their confidences (verses 35 and 37), they had become the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto Him.

Jeremiah 3 continues to lay bare their unfaithfulness and the present consequence of the same; pleading with them also to cry to the Guide of their youth (verses 1-5). Then the prophet foresees a turning to the Lord, with future consequences of astonishing splendour; when, in the exalted Lord, Israel shall be saved and the nations be abundantly blessed (Jeremiah 3:6; 4:2). This flows out of a special word of the Lord to Jeremiah in his early days, when Josiah was king (Jeremiah 6:11). The outward revival of those days was “with falsehood” (Jeremiah 10, New Translation). The call which follows to return and confess to the One who is married to them looks on to a future day, when the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord shall be outshone by a greater glory, when the true King shall reign, and “they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord”, when He shall be truly exalted, and when in a national sense Israel shall call Him “My Father”, and “not turn away from following Him” (verses 14-19). This has never yet taken place, as we know. It supposes the return of our Lord Jesus Christ to Israel as David’s greater Son. Their conscience will be truly reached then, and they will return to the One they had forsaken and forgotten. “Behold we come to Thee”, they say, “for Thou art the Lord our God” (verse 22). They confess their sin, owning that the salvation of Israel is in Him alone (verse 23).

The reply of the ever blessed Lord is given in the first two verses of Jeremiah 4. Let them return to Himself, putting away the abominations which have been a snare to them: let them thus return, and they should be nationally established, and widespread blessing should also be secured for the nations around: let them return to the Lord, not to national greatness, but to the Lord their God, and the other would follow: let them “Return unto Me”, not to national salvation, but to their Saviour God, all else would then come right: let them “RETURN UNTO ME”, not to fullness of blessing, but to the Blesser Himself, overflowing blessing would consequently result: let them “RETURN UNTO ME, says the Lord”, not to be the head of all the nations, but to be the King of nations (Jeremiah 10:7), the King of Eternity (Jeremiah 10:10), the living God; national headship should follow: “And thou shalt swear, The Lord lives, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him shall they glory” (Jeremiah 4:2).

This is a beautiful picture, painted by the Spirit of God Himself. It is a true picture, animated, moving, and in few words, showing us the happy administration of earthly blessedness in the coming age after the assembly is taken to her heavenly home, and after the great tribulation which follows. Israel is seen saved and exalted in the Lord, in Whom also the nations ranged around Israel shall bless themselves, and glory! The vivid scene of the last two chapters of the Bible is necessary to explain and complete this picture. The Old Testament never gives this. It is the assembly, the bride of Christ coming out from her heavenly home (to which she had been previously taken) as the City of heavenly administration, having the throne and the glory of God. She is given her place above the earth in relation to Israel and the nations. This brings the heavens and the earth together for administrative purposes. God and the Lamb are in the heavenly city and the light of the glory shines with royal radiance to Israel and the nations below. Gloriously great, bountifully blessed, and divinely delightful, is this completion and explanation of the Old Testament promises. They find their “Yea” and “Amen” in Christ, for the glory of God by us, who are now brought into the assembly before that joyful day dawns with all its beauty, brightness and blessing.

“Then the wide earth, in glad response

To the bright world above,

Shall sing in rapturous strains of joy,

In memory of Thy love.”

Chapters 4-6: A Man Wanted; The Man Found

From Jeremiah 4:3 to end of Jeremiah 6 the prophet Jeremiah deals with the state of Israel. Like the chaos which overtook the distant creation of Genesis 1:1, ignorance of God and injustice were bringing the same upon the nation. There was no man to save the sorrowful situation (Jeremiah 1:22-26 and 5:1)! Therefore the instrument of God’s anger is raised up! The event to which the book points is to take place! Nebuchadnezzar—the lion of Babylon—the destroyer from the north is coming! The battle standard is unfurled! The trumpet sound is heard! Evil comes and a great destruction! Set up a sign of fire!

With such language Jeremiah seeks to arouse the people (Jeremiah 4:6-7:21, and 6:1). Dismay and distress take hold of his own being as scenes of suffering and desolation are divinely depicted before him,—“My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart!” He cries—“O my soul, the sound of the trumpet! the alarm of war! destruction upon destruction is cried” (Jeremiah 4:19-20).

Whilst thus foretelling the doom which was coming upon Jerusalem by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah labours to reach the heart of the people. And it is important to notice it is in this connection we have the first mention of circumcision after the book of Joshua (Jeremiah 4:4). Jeremiah 9:25-26 gives the last mention of it in the Old Testament. The prophet seeks true circumcision “to the Lord”, the circumcision which touches the heart, preparing it for Him. With pleadings and warnings he labours thus to reach them. It is the same today. Unless we have been reached in the heart, and in the spirit, in the very centre of our being, we are alienated from the living God, though like these Jews we call ourselves “the people of God” and have priests and a form of religion. What though they claim to be a religious nation if the Lord be not exalted! What though religionists claim to be the church if the true Head be displaced. Israel made high claims, but they knew not the Lord! They were “sottish children”, they had “no understanding”, they were “wise to do evil”, but to do good they had no knowledge (Jeremiah 4:22). Woe and anguish must therefore come upon them (verse 31). But, as at all times, God reserves a remnant. Such turn in reality to the Lord Himself, and they are true in heart to Him (Jeremiah 4:27 and 5:18); therefore, He will not make a full end of the nation.

From the king down to the man in the street not one could be found to meet the situation. We are told, “There was no man”! There were plenty of strong men and hard men, but they knew not the way of the Lord (Jeremiah 5:3-4). “I will get me to the great men”, said the prophet, but they were alike evil. The eyes of the Lord are upon the truth, yet not one man could be found in accord therewith. The nation was in a pitiable plight. It was the same cry then which we sometimes hear now—“Wanted a man”! Only it was God Himself who said at that time to his servant, “If ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; I will pardon” (Jeremiah 5:1). God claimed recognition and honour in every circle, but politically they were corrupt, socially they were debased (Jeremiah 5:7-9), and religiously they were abandoned to idolatry (verse 19); whilst prophets, priests and people were allied in falsification (verses 30-31). Some specially wicked men are singled out in verses 25 to 29. They have no thought for the needy, yet they prosper themselves. They are cunning, they craftily lie in wait to catch men. From these verses the Holy Spirit seems to take for the letter to the Ephesians to illustrate the sort of men who ensnare feeble Christians today—especially “the babes” in Christ; as we read, “By the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive” (Ephesians 4:14). As in Israel’s day, these deceivers were prominent and great among God’s people, even so now in this day of Christian profession and the assembly, or the church as it is commonly, though erroneously, called.

Thanks be to God we have no need now to cry out “A man wanted”! The king of Israel might fail as the head of the nation, or, even if faithful, he nevertheless died. The man Christ Jesus, however, who is the Head of the assembly today, never fails and never dies. The high priests of Israel were sometimes good and sometimes corrupt; but Jesus, the only High Priest provided for us now, is altogether perfect, and He “continueth ever”. No man, no mediator ever lived, who could bring God and man together for abiding blessing; but now there is “One Mediator between God and man The Man Christ Jesus”. With Him there is no failure. This is important for us to lay hold of. It gives stability to the believer. A perfect Man, in whose hands all is maintained for God’s glory and for our blessing, has been raised up. He first died, making purification of sins; He then ascended to the place of power in the heavens, and took the highest seat. Faith answers the question “What is man?” by saying, “We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour” (Hebrews 2:9); He is exalted, and all authority is in His hands. God has provided a perfect Man, a Man who has settled the sin question, who has overthrown Satan, and redeemed us to God by His blood; a Man who has taken the sting out of death, who has robbed the grave of its victory, who has risen from the dead, and taken the highest place in the universe at God’s right hand. This is the Man; the Man of resurrection; the Man of ascension and of glory, who is provided by God for us. When the heart truly grasps this in faith, and in the Spirit’s power, the unbelief which marks many, as they look hither and thither for “A man” will be altogether foreign to our hearts. We shall rejoice in the Lord always, looking to Him who never fails, to Him whose fullness is always the same. “The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.” He alone is sufficient for these things; and grace, divine grace, has given our glad hearts to know this ever blessed Man, whose name is not only called “Wonderful”, but—let our adoring souls be reminded also—“The Mighty God”! Here we find the secret solved. This marvellous Man is “the Christ, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen” (Romans 9:5); all is in safe keeping in His hands. May we be kept in the power of the Holy Spirit ungrieved so that He may make His glories known to us; thus the exaltation of the Lord shall be before us, and not the exaltation of self, individually or collectively.

Covetousness—loving self, money and pleasure—and violence and hatred mark the close of this period. The Lord will bring judgment upon it all. The way of deliverance, however, is always the same; it is found alone in Christ. In Jeremiah 6 we find the same state then: “Every one of them is given to covetousness” (verse 13). As in 1 Thessalonians 5:3, just before Christ comes, so here, they say, “Peace, peace” (Jeremiah 6:14). Earnestly the prophet seeks to awaken them as to the old paths, the good way, where they should “find rest for their souls; but they said, We will not walk therein” (verse 16). When the blessed Lord was here upon earth, He graciously invited them to come to Him, and they should find rest for their souls; but man will not take that way. He chooses other ways; so he finds no real rest. Like the troubled sea in its agitation and tossing, he knows no abiding quietude of heart, no peace of mind, no divine tranquillity.

In these chapters (4 to 6), the Lord again declares the cause of all their distress. He says, “They have forsaken Me, they have not known Me, they do not fear Me” (Jeremiah 4:22; 5:7, 19, 22). This is so at times. Therefore “Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord has rejected them” (Jeremiah 6:30). There was no man to stand in the breach, there was none that executed judgment, there was none who even sought the truth. What else could come! The desolation of such a nation, which had turned its back to the Lord, was inevitable. Corrupt princes and a corrupt people called for this. The wise man had said before, “By the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof, but by a man of understanding and of knowledge, its stability is prolonged” (Proverbs 28:2). The man was not there. Both the land and the nation must await the coming again of “The Man Christ Jesus”, raised from among the dead, of the seed of David, now hidden in the heavens. They shall not wait in vain!

“He’ll come to break oppression,

To set the captive free,

To take away transgression,

And rule in equity.”

Chapters 7-9: The Place of the Lord’s Name

Chapters 7 to 9 have an interesting and peculiar character of their own, inasmuch as the important truths of the house of God and the people’s relation to it are prominent.

If the prophet begins by exposing the unreality of those that go to the temple and “enter in at these gates to worship the Lord” (Jeremiah 7:2); if he ends by pronouncing punishment upon them along with the “nations that are uncircumcised” (Jeremiah 9:26), showing up in between the vanity of those who boastfully say, “The law of the Lord is with us” (Jeremiah 8:8); he nevertheless calls to any that may have ears to hear, to glory alone in the Lord, who exercises loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things He delights (Jeremiah 9:24). It is His exaltation which is always before the mind of the Spirit.

The house of God is that which bears His holy Name, as He says, “which is called by My Name” (Jeremiah 7:10-11, 12, 14, 30). In Old Testament times this could be said of either the Tabernacle or the Temple, but of no other such structure then or since. Both are mentioned here (verses 1-11, 12-14).

The house of God today is a building not made with hands, for in such God has no pleasure now, nor does He dwell in them as He deigned to do provisionally in the two structures named (Acts 17:24; and Hebrews 9:1; 10:9). Believers on our rejected Lord are the ‘living’ material of which the present house of God is constructed, as 1 Peter 2:4-5 explains. Christ is the Living Stone, and we are builded in relation to Him—“a spiritual house” in contrast to what went before. It is wrong to own any other structure as “The house of God”. It is a denial of the true nature and character of this house (which is the assembly of the living God) to apply the name to any building of brick or stone.

And what a solemn fact it is—judgment fell upon the house “which was in Shiloh”, where the Lord set His “Name at the first” (Jeremiah 7:12); again it came upon the house at Jerusalem, as He said, “Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by My Name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh” (verse 14). And thus it happened. Likewise the apostle Peter again tells us in the epistle from which we have already quoted, “Judgment must begin at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17). We see it in the symbolic history of the churches in Revelation 2 and 3. Corrupt Christendom will be judged no less than corrupt Judaism was. According to the thought of God as to it, His house, which is “the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15), is marked by the mystery of piety, as it is seen perfectly expressed in our Lord Jesus Christ personally—God manifested in the flesh. When the truth is falsified and true piety is gone, what can come but judgment from God? and more especially so, if this false thing bears His holy Name.

Jeremiah warns them against “lying words” in verses 4 and 8. “Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these.” This might sound very pious and religious, but they themselves were given to oppression and idolatry (Jeremiah 7:6, 9, 18), and wicked trafficking was practised in His house (verses 10-11 and 30). Therefore His anger and His fury should be poured out upon this place (verse 20). They went backward and not forward; truth had perished from their mouth; they had become the generation of His wrath; their evil practices caused the voice of gladness to cease; judgment from the Lord, who had called so often to them, must fall upon them (verses 21-34). “This evil family” should spread out the bones of the departed before the host of heaven, and even desire death themselves; yet they knew no shame, “neither could blush”; and no man repented him of his wickedness. The prophet feeling all this cries, “Astonishment has taken hold upon me! Is there no balm in Gilead, is there no physician there” (Jeremiah 8:21-22)? None could be found. There was no man. The coming of Christ is the only hope.

“Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears”, mourns the prophet. Adultery, treachery, lying, slander, deception, iniquity, duplicity and ignorance of God marked the people (Jeremiah 9:1-8). “Shall I not visit for these things?” says the Lord; “yea, I will make Jerusalem heaps”. Who is the wise man, that may understand this? He asks. Wormwood and water of gall should be theirs. Let the mourning women be called; let them teach their daughters wailing; desolation and death comes (verses 9-22). And in the last two verses, 25 and 26, he shows that the punishment is not to be confined to Israel; but that it is to fall upon “all nations”. In the two verses between (verses 23-24), Jeremiah, true to his Name, exalts the blessed Lord before the eyes of faith, saying, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glories glory in this, that he understandeth and knows ME, that I am the Lord which exercises loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the Lord”.

“Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust Him for His grace;

Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face.”

That which Jeremiah speaks of in these two verses can only be understood rightly by those who have a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the One who is appointed to administer righteousness in the habitable earth, having been raised from among the dead (Acts 17:31); and it is by Him God is made known to us now. The Father’s Name is declared to us by Himself, so that whatever failure may be connected with that which outwardly bears His Name, we can still rejoice in the perfectness of the Son, and our joy be full in communion with the Father and with the Son.

The Name is now connected with a Person, rather than with a place. Though there might be little to glory in outwardly, yet we can always glory in Him. This is pleasing to the Father, and for this reason the Holy Spirit of God is in and with us during the time of His rejection by Israel. Those who own the Lord now are growing to a holy temple in Him, and will be displayed as such in glory when complete; but even at the present time, whilst they wait that day, they are builded together “in the Lord” for a habitation of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:21-22).

Chapters 10-12: The Living Lord, dead idols, oppressive pastors

These chapters show us that the Living Lord, the King of nations, the King of eternity, the Creator, is the God of truth; also that He shall triumph in spite of the people’s idolatry and the brutishness of their pastors. When the people failed in the wilderness after He had redeemed them out of Egypt, unfaithful and untrue to Himself though they were, He said to Moses, “As I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord” (Numbers 14:21). Blessing and order shall consequently follow, notwithstanding the repeated failure of those He took up in view of this. The goodness of Jehovah will only be made more distinct and distinguished before men’s eyes; for, coming down in the person of Jesus (“Jehovah Saviour”), by death and resurrection He laid the stable foundation to bring it all about in righteousness. Christ is now alive for evermore, and the pleasure of the Lord, and the exaltation of the Lord, as well as the blessing of men, are safe in His hands. In due time it shall be accomplished in Divine perfection.

The wise men with their doctrine of vanities, and the workmen with their cunning arts in silver and gold and wood, may labour together with Chaldean scholarship to hold the nations by idolatry; but they are all the works of error; therefore, “they shall perish” (Jeremiah 10:15). The God of truth shall triumph over this falsehood! It is in this chapter where the greatness of His glorious Name is declared, the fact that these false gods shall perish utterly is recorded by the Spirit in verse 11, in the Chaldean language! This is exceedingly striking and significant. It is the only verse so written in the whole book. The idolatrous Chaldeans were to take Israel captive, but in their very language God records the utter overthrow of their false gods, and proclaims that Israel, whom he allows to be carried into captivity by them, is His rod (Jeremiah 10:16), and by them He will yet bring about order when they turn to our Lord Jesus Christ.

The signs of heavens dismay the nations! With axe and hammer they make their gods! They cannot speak! They have to be carried! For they cannot go themselves! Silver and gold and blue and purple may cover them, but they are just stocks! There is no breath in them! The “wise men” who teach their doctrines are foolish (Jeremiah 1:15). Thus the prophet exposes the utter vanity and emptiness of idolatry. The nations vie in curious and cunning arts to form these vanities, but “The Portion of Jacob is not like them; for He is the Former of all things,” rejoicingly exclaims the prophet (verse 16). “Israel is the rod of His inheritance, the Lord of hosts is His Name.” Bye and bye Israel shall own Him truly to be the Living Lord; they shall swear “The Lord liveth”; and great shall be the blessing that shall follow. Great, because of the greatness of this Living God, whom Israel shall then own; and before whom Jeremiah here shows these dead idols and their votaries to be vanity and falsehood also.

Exalting the Lord in His Divine eminence, and contrasting His marvellous might and majesty with the mean impotence of these dead and dumb idols, the prophet says, “There is none like unto Thee, O Lord; Thou art great, and Thy Name is great in might. Who would not fear Thee, O King of nations?” (verse 6). Again, “The Lord is the God of Truth, He is the Living God, and, the King of Eternity” (verse 10). He is the Creator, and His power, wisdom and understanding wrought in creating and establishing the earth and the heavens (verse 12). The wind he bringeth out of His treasures; and just here the Spirit records a scientific fact, made known over 2500 years ago: “He maketh lightnings for the rain” (verse 13). Scientists have only recently discovered this relation of lightning and rain. Like many other discoveries, in a few words it was stated in the Scriptures of Truth ages ago. God is the Creator and Former of all things; He has hidden vast riches as yet undiscovered in the created universe; and far greater riches still in the new creation, of which true believers through grace form part in Christ; yea, in the mystery now made known to us “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). This latter is beyond anything to be found in the Old Testament, although it is the same blessed God Who has graciously wrought it out; the same God whom Jeremiah rejoices to exalt; known then as “Jehovah”; known to us now as “Father,” in a relationship of love and life eternal, which cannot be broken. THE GOD AND FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST IS OUR FATHER NOW THROUGH DIVINE GRACE AND LOVE: WORSHIP BECOMES THE RECIPIENTS OF SUCH HIGH FAVOUR.

It was because Jeremiah knew the love of the Lord for Israel, and the importance of their national position before Him that he cries out in pain when he pronounces again their overthrow (Jeremiah 10:17-25). In Jeremiah 2:1-17, he once more warns the people, and charges them with unfaithfulness and sin. Therefore, evil should come, and Jeremiah is told not to pray for them. How deeply all this touched the heart of the Lord is discernable in His expressions concerning the sinful nation. “My Beloved,” He calls her; “A green olive tree”; but she rejoiced in evil, and evil should come upon her. In the presence of all their sinful doings, and with full knowledge of it, the prophet suffers like His Lord, of whom he is a type. He is brought “like a lamb” to the slaughter. They had devised wicked devices against him, to “cut him off from the land of the living” (verses 18-19). How like this is to what is said of our blessed Lord in Isaiah 53; but how unlike His prayer is that of the prophet in the next verse as he asks for vengeance upon his persecutors. Truly it was a perfectly righteous prayer for a Jew to make, with earthly promises and hopes, and it should be answered (verses 21-23), but the Lord Jesus asked His Father to forgive His enemies.

“RIGHTEOUS ART THOU, O LORD,” exclaims Jeremiah (Jeremiah 12:1); yet he pleads with Him about the prosperity of the wicked—“Thou art near in their mouth and far from their reins,” he says. This describes a state which is sadly in evidence in Christendom today. The Lord shows His servant that contending with these things is not wise, for even his own nearest relatives had dealt treacherously with himself, he must therefore trust in the Lord. Though the people connected with the place of His name were His heritage, yet He had left them; yea, He had given the beloved of His soul into the hand of her enemies. The true servant must cleave to the righteous Lord (verses 5-9) that is his wisdom.

There were plenty of servants enriching themselves at the expense of God’s glory and of His poor people. The true servant stands out in contrast to this. The pastors many, destroyed the Lord’s vineyard (verse 10), instead of tending it with knowledge and care, so that it might bring forth fruit well-pleasing to the Lord. These pastors had become brutish also and had not sought the Lord (Jeremiah 10:21). The Lord’s honour was not in their thoughts, the true servant was to seek the exaltation of the Lord. These pompous pastors with their oppressive officialism and with their weighty self-importance had trodden the Lord’s precious plants under their feet. Creating, it may be, for their own ends, an unreal conscience, instead of building them up in the truth. “They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness” says the Lord (Jeremiah 12:10). It mourned unto Him, and the spoiler should come up upon it. All this is repeated in the history of Christendom, and judgment must necessarily follow, as is so often affirmed in the New Testament. We must be like Jeremiah, keep near to the Lord, and labour for His honour and exaltation, and so for the real help of all His own loved ones.

“Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture, says the Lord.” The scatterers have His frown and not His favour. “Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed My people; ye have scattered My flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them; behold I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, says the Lord” (Jeremiah 23:1-2). The gatherers of the true sheep are with Him in their labours, for He adds, “I will gather the remnant of My flock.” There is One Shepherd and one flock now, as we read in John 10. His sheep follow Him. They know Him; and they know His voice. He gives them eternal life and they can never perish. They are safe in His hand and in the hand of the Father. True servants encourage the sheep to follow our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and not to follow themselves. He is the “Good Shepherd” who died for them; and He is the “Great Shepherd” raised from among the dead, who lives for them. He is also the “Chief Shepherd” who is coming again; yea, Jehovah says, He is “My Shepherd.” The sheep belong to Him, and the confident soul can also truly say, He is “my Shepherd”.

“Their times are in His hand,

Jesus, once crucified,

Now leads them on with tender care,

Their Shepherd, Guard, and Guide.”

He is alive for evermore! Our well-loved Lord and Saviour is the living One! It is very precious to be reminded in the last few verses of Jeremiah 12 that He will gather Israel again, and they shall own “The Lord lives.” For the fulfilment of this they must come under the new covenant of which we will speak later. The pastors then will not oppress His people. He says, “I will give you pastors according to Mine heart, which shall FEED YOU WITH KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING” (Jeremiah 3:15).

This ends our reading for this session. Until next time, have a great day, and God bless.