Jeremiah 30:4-5 – Renewed by the Confronting Word

4 Now these are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah.

5 “For thus says the Lord:

‘We have heard a voice of trembling,
Of fear, and not of peace. Jeremiah 30:4-5, New King James Version

"Jesus overcame temptation," sources Russell Moore in Tempted and Tried, "because he consistently believed God's Word about him – 'You are my beloved Son – even when he walked in the wild places."

As powerfully as the contrast of Christ authoritatively declaring the Word in the wilderness resonates, so does the opening juxtaposition of Jeremiah 30:4-5. Before we even get to the content of God's next message, we dare not throw away the envelope of its introduction.

God speaks to Israel and Judah. These nations have been separated by the contentions of men, the folly of Rehoboam, although with the ultimate, condescending blessing of the Almighty. Furthermore, as if putting the two neighboring, bitter rivals in twin harness under the authority of His Word were not enough, citizens of these two nations have been scattered by the exile. There is no government in London to rally them, as there was for many of the powers overrun by the Nazis during World War II. There is no radio. There is no Internet. There is no mass media of any kind. Yet, still, as clearly as in the opening verses of Genesis, God speaks and is heard to effect.

Lest we attribute His certainty that He will be heard to His people's training and habit of spiritual discernment,.give space in His Word to describe the static in his people's hearts, and on their lips. While He broadcasts Truth in authority undiminished by Nebuchadnezzar's pretensions, His people give bandwidth to fear. They rehearse it one to another. They use the gift of speech He gave, the gift of inference given to man as His image-bearer, to murmur against Him and His ability to bring about the salvation Jeremiah is proclaiming.

Note God says, We have heard, another level of contrast. People use each other as receptacles, echoes, and confirmations for our fears. The We on high operates in perfect unity and with perfect perspective. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are not guessing. They are not trolling for dissent or shaping a compromise policy out of a perspective not heretofore considered. In the stillness of perfect unity, They can turn Their attention to the murmurs of men, consider at once what we say in our tents and how it differs from the theology we may profess publicly on the Sabbath. Beloved, there is no shadow of turning with the Trinity, no minority opinion suppressed for later backbiting.

Note the difference in tone of the two uses of speech. Human voices, even together, notes the Lord, tremble. They redouble dear and make obvious the absence of peace. Even the efforts at unity at the Tower of Babel didn't impress the Lord. After the scattering there, even in the din of differing tongues, accents, and educational levels, He can read hearts with authority. Fear sets itself up against him and his fishing for allies.

He moves with boldness, and grace, against these tremulous councils. So often, He does not allow our fears to come fully to fruition, does not treat these sense of slander and presumption as they deserve. He contrasts them with the authority by which He speaks, again. He reminds us in the resonance that rang above the chaos of the deep that He is still in charge of statecraft and individual souls. He speaks peace even where, by habit, it isn't always welcome.