Jeremiah 25:1-3 – God, Our Legacy's Defender
1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), 2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying: 3 “From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the word of the Lord has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened. Jeremiah 25:1-3, New King James Version
"'O earth, earth, earth, hear the Word of the Lord," intones Charles Spurgeon in his sermon, "Human Responsibility,"' for as far as our ministry is true and untainted by error, it is God's Word, and it hath the same right and claim to your belief as if God himself should speak it from the top of Sinai, instead of speaking it through the humble ministry of the Word of God."
The same anchored validation Spurgeon claims is what God's prophet experiences in Jeremiah 25:1-3. The Word of the Lord comes again, this time not foretelling the fate of nations. The Word of the Lord comes again, to be issued FROM Jeremiah at least in part FOR Jeremiah. Irrespective of the fruitlessness from the hard human hearts the Lord foretold in Jeremiah 1, God prioritizes that Jeremiah and his hearers understand in no uncertain terms that Jeremiah has been doing God's work. In hearing from and dismissing Jeremiah, they have been doing the same to God.
How sweet to have waited for this! How much more resonant is this verdict from the court of the Lord than if Jeremiah had spent his own words, his own moments, before men pleading that they give him the respect he deserves? Instead, Jeremiah faithfully centered his utterances on God's glory, and took his complaints, his feelings of being forsaken, directly to the Almighty. Thus, his testimony is untainted by contending for his own legacy. He has left that in God's capable hands.
God has seen, then, when Jeremiah rises early day after day to contend with the culture around him, and says so. Oh, brothers and sisters, how we wait for that day when what faithfulness He has made possible in us will be recognized! How our injured pride would preempt that unimpeachable reward by carping with the audience among whom God has placed us about what reception, what respect we deserve! Wait for the Word of the Lord, brothers and sisters, here or hereafter. We use our earthly utterances as He directs, readily admitting, in fact, before the same audience we would convince, how easy it is for us to stray from the same faithfulness we would see in those we influence.
But for His steadfastness, as Casting Crowns has phrased it, we would lose our follow-through between the altar and the door, and we can say so. This will stay self-pity. This will allow our hearts to hear gratitude and humility in our own cadences from our own hearts. As we realize, and re-realize, the faithfulness of God to us and reflect that to men, we can more patiently await the day when His, "Well done," overshadows every possible commendation from people. A quarter-century in His service is but a moment-by-moment reliance on and renewal in Him.
"'O earth, earth, earth, hear the Word of the Lord," intones Charles Spurgeon in his sermon, "Human Responsibility,"' for as far as our ministry is true and untainted by error, it is God's Word, and it hath the same right and claim to your belief as if God himself should speak it from the top of Sinai, instead of speaking it through the humble ministry of the Word of God."
The same anchored validation Spurgeon claims is what God's prophet experiences in Jeremiah 25:1-3. The Word of the Lord comes again, this time not foretelling the fate of nations. The Word of the Lord comes again, to be issued FROM Jeremiah at least in part FOR Jeremiah. Irrespective of the fruitlessness from the hard human hearts the Lord foretold in Jeremiah 1, God prioritizes that Jeremiah and his hearers understand in no uncertain terms that Jeremiah has been doing God's work. In hearing from and dismissing Jeremiah, they have been doing the same to God.
How sweet to have waited for this! How much more resonant is this verdict from the court of the Lord than if Jeremiah had spent his own words, his own moments, before men pleading that they give him the respect he deserves? Instead, Jeremiah faithfully centered his utterances on God's glory, and took his complaints, his feelings of being forsaken, directly to the Almighty. Thus, his testimony is untainted by contending for his own legacy. He has left that in God's capable hands.
God has seen, then, when Jeremiah rises early day after day to contend with the culture around him, and says so. Oh, brothers and sisters, how we wait for that day when what faithfulness He has made possible in us will be recognized! How our injured pride would preempt that unimpeachable reward by carping with the audience among whom God has placed us about what reception, what respect we deserve! Wait for the Word of the Lord, brothers and sisters, here or hereafter. We use our earthly utterances as He directs, readily admitting, in fact, before the same audience we would convince, how easy it is for us to stray from the same faithfulness we would see in those we influence.
But for His steadfastness, as Casting Crowns has phrased it, we would lose our follow-through between the altar and the door, and we can say so. This will stay self-pity. This will allow our hearts to hear gratitude and humility in our own cadences from our own hearts. As we realize, and re-realize, the faithfulness of God to us and reflect that to men, we can more patiently await the day when His, "Well done," overshadows every possible commendation from people. A quarter-century in His service is but a moment-by-moment reliance on and renewal in Him.
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