Jeremiah the Prophet

In the book of Jeremiah, chapter 1, starting in verse 4, God told Jeremiah, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”

Now why did God need a prophet for the nations? Well, it all started way back when Mosses was the leader of the children of Israel. God brought the children of Israel out of bondage from Egypt. God was so good to them as they journeyed. He sent them sweet mana from heaven. He caused water to gush from a rock. He protected them, won their battles for them. He showed them over and over again how mighty he was and that he was their God. Yet, they were so ungrateful. Their trouble all started when they began to complain and murmur against God and Moses. Their sin began with unthankfulness. The unthankfulness led to idolatry, and from there, many wicked, abominable sins were committed. God loved the children of Israel so much because they were his chosen people. Even though they hurt him terribly, and their sin was such a stink in his nostrils, he decided to send prophets to them. The prophet’s job was to warn the children of Israel of what would come if they did not obey God, and turn them from their idolatry. A prophet’s job back then, would be the same as a preacher’s job today.

We have already learned some truths about the prophets Elijah, Elisha, and Jonah. Now I’d like to toss you a few little golden nuggets the Lord gave me from the life of Jeremiah.
The first unique thing that I have learned about Jeremiah, is that the Lord knew Jeremiah before he even formed him inside of his mother’s belly. The Lord sanctified him, and ordained him a prophet to the nations before he was even born. After God told Jeremiah this, he said to the Lord, “But Lord, I cannot speak, for I am just a child.”

The Lord said to Jeremiah, “Don’t say you are just a child, but go to whoever I send you, and say what ever I command you to say. And don’t be afraid of their faces, for I will be with you and I will deliver you.”

Do you know what? As small as you may seem, God has a perfect plan for your life. Oh yes, he knows what the future holds for you, but it’s up to you to carry out his will for your life. It’s up to you to be obedient to the word of the Lord like Jeremiah was. Do you know what God’s word says about the job he’s given you? Yep, that’s right. Ephesians 6:1-3. “Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Honor thy Father and thy Mother,(which is the first commandment with promise) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.”

When you obey your parents, you are obeying the word of the Lord. Do you think the Lord wants to use a child in his service who will not even obey mom or dad. How can God use you in the future if you can’t obey now. God’s word says “To obey is better than sacrifice.” 1 Samuel 15:22. God would rather you simply obey than to sacrifice everything you have or even your whole body to some cause of your own. If you can’t obey, then all of your sacrificing will not amount to a hill of beans to God. Do you know why God told Abraham, in Genesis 22:18, “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Well, you have to keep reading the rest of the verse. The Bible will always give the answers if you keep reading it. The rest of the verse says, “Because thou hast obeyed my voice.” God will bless us if we obey. As much as he wanted to, God could not bless the children of Israel because of their disobedience. He sent them prophet after prophet to compel them to come back to him. He loved them so much.

You know, after Jeremiah complained to God that he was only a child, and that he could not speak, do you know what the Lord did? The Bible says in verse 9 that the Lord put forth his hand and touched Jeremiah’s mouth, and said to him. “Behold, I have put my word’s in your mouth.”

Wow, God actually touched Jeremiah!! Have you ever had the Lord touch your heart about something? I have. There have been many times when I was reading my Bible, and the Lord touched my heart with his words. It actually felt like he just reached down and put his finger right on my heart, and said, “Now, you need to do this”, or, “you need to watch out for this,” or, “you need to confess this.” I love it when God reaches down and touches me through his word.
Not only that, he’ll touch my heart to pray for someone, or help someone, or talk to someone. You see, God touches us in many ways spiritually. But for Jeremiah, it was a physical touch. What a special moment, to be touched by the hand of God.

Shortly after God touched Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah saying, “ Jeremiah, what seest thou?”

And Jeremiah said, “I see a rod of an Almond tree.”

The Lord said, “Thou hast well seen, I will hasted my word to perform it.”

Well, I wondered why in the world Jeremiah saw a rod of an Almond tree. What was so special about an almond tree? There has to be a reason for everything God put in his word. Every word of God is pure. What about this rod of an almond tree? Well, here’s a little something the Lord showed me about the almond tree. The first time almonds are mentioned in the Bible is in Genesis 43:11. When Jacob sent his sons down into Egypt during the time of the famine. He told his son’s to bring down a present with them for the Pharoh that was in charge of all the food, not knowing that the person in charge was his own son, Joseph. Jacob wanted to send the present down as sort of a peace offering. Jacob said, “Take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds. “

God could have just left off at nuts, couldn’t he? I mean an almond is a nut, right? Well, there are a lot of special things about that almond, the almond rod, and the almond tree. It was considered among the best fruits of the land.

Another place where almonds are mentioned in the Bible is in Numbers 17. The children of Israel were murmuring against Moses and Aaron. They were jealous of the leadership that God had given to Moses and Aaron. Finally God had enough of their complaining. He told Moses to speak to the children of Israel and tell them to take twelve rod’s to represent each prince of all the house of their father’s, and write every man’s name upon each rod. He told Moses to write Aaron’s name upon the rod of Levi. Then he told Moses to lay all the rod’s up in the tabernacle. The Lord said, “ It shall come to pass in the morning, that the man’s rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom.”

This was to be a sign to all the children of Israel, so that there would be no more complaining. So Moses did as God commanded, and the next morning when he went into the tabernacle, he found Aaron’s rod in full blossom. Not only did that rod blossom, but the Bible says that it yielded almonds. Wow! How special.

Also I’m sure you all know that inside the tabernacle was a candlestick. Do you remember how it was described in Exodus 37? Well, let me refresh your memory. It was made of pure gold. There were six branches to this candlestick. Three on each side. And in one branch there were three bowls made after the fashion of almonds, the Bible says. Also the candle stick itself had four bowls made after the fashion of almonds. So all together, there were twenty-two almond shaped bowls in that candlestick. Pretty neat huh?

Then again I wondered, why the almond. Why not hickory nuts, walnuts, or pecans for that matter.

Well, here’s what I found out about the almond. First of all, there are two types of almond, bitter, and sweet. That’s sort of like black and white, right or wrong, hot or cold. Also the almond trees are valued chiefly for its nut. Jordan almonds are the most valued. The almond tree has hard wood of reddish color. The blossoms of the almond tree are white, and rose. The flowers are mostly pink, and arrange in pairs. Do you know what the colors red and white make? That’s right, pink. Well, to me that says, the red blood of Jesus Christ has washed my heart white as snow, and now together, we’re a pair. In Isaiah 1:18, God pleads with Israel and says, “Come now, and let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

Lastly, the Hebrew word for almond means, “to wake,” or “to watch.” It gets that name because it is the first to awake from the sleep of winter.

What a special tree, the almond tree. Well, the children of Israel were God’s special people. They were number one to God. They were his chosen people. In Isaiah chapter 5 we learn the parable of the vineyard, and how that vineyard represented the children of Israel. We learn how God takes care of that vineyard. How he removed all the stones. How he planted it with the choicest vine. He loved that vineyard so much. He took very special care of that vineyard, but that vineyard brought forth wild grapes. All of that work the Lord put into it, all the time he spent on it, and all it did was bring forth wild grapes. What a disappointment to God. God was so very good to the Children of Israel. He led them, fed them, fought their battles for them, yet they were such an ungrateful, rebellious people.

Then a second time the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, and God asked him again. “What seest thou?”

And Jeremiah said, “I see a seething pot, and the face thereof is toward the North.”

Do you know what a seething pot is? It is a pot used for boiling. Remember when Elisha said to his servant, “Go and seeth potage for the sons of the prophets.” That meant, put some potage on to boil.

Well, it sure looked like things were fixing to boil for the children of Israel. The reason the face of that pot was toward the north, was because that’s where the enemy was going to come from.
Do you know that when you boil something, it kills all the germs. In Haiti we had to boil all of our water to kill the germs before we could drink it. It looked like God had to do a little scalding here, before he could have any fellowship with his children.

When you do wrong, does your Dad and Mom reward you? No way, I bet you get a little heat to the seat, huh? Well, God couldn’t reward his children, nor could he have any fellowship with them until they were cleaned up. So he allowed the King of Babylon and his great army to come from the North and surround Judah. They took all of Judah captive, and marched them right into the land of Babylon as slaves. What a horrible life, to be captive to the enemy. But the Lord allowed it to happen. The Lord said in Jeremiah 20:4, “and I will give all Judah into the hand of the King of Babylon , and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword. Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city, and all the labours thereof, and all the precious things thereof, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give unto the hand of their enemies, which shall spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.”

Hey, do you know who gets blessed when you do wrong? That’s right? The devil our enemy. Just like the king of Babylon received all the kings treasures, and precious things, the devil just soaks up the blessings when we live in sin. I’m sure you remember what happened to Judah. The Kings army surrounded it, so that no one could leave the city. The People inside the city were starving to death, and growing weak. They didn’t have the strength to fight the enemy if they wanted to. I’m sure it was quite easy for the king to go into the city and take the people captive without much of a fight. They didn’t have God on their side, and without him they couldn’t fight against the enemy at all.

Do you know what? We can’t fight the devil in our own strength. We need the help of the Savior. How can we expect God to be on our side, and help us through the battles of life, if we are disobedient and we have no intentions of doing right? If we are spiritually weak, then it won’t take much at all for the enemy to take us captive. Right?

Jeremiah was known as the Weeping Prophet. Jeremiah 9:1, Lamentations 1:16, 2:11-12. He wept day and night for the Children of Israel. He was so deeply moved for them. The Lord had shown him what was about to happen to them, and it grieved his heart. Jeremiah was so affected by the sins of the people. You see, we need to realize that our sin does not only affect us, and the Lord Jesus, but it will affect others as well.