The Ambassador Group

Jeremiah

00. Jeremiah: Introduction

01. Jeremiah: The Prophetic Calling of Jeremiah

02. Jeremiah: The Crisis Within and Without

03. Jeremiah: The Last Five Kings of Judah

04. Jeremiah: Rebuke and Retribution

05. Jeremiah: More Woes for the Prophet

06. Jeremiah: Symbolic Acts

07. Jeremiah: The Crisis Continues

08. Jeremiah: Josiah’s Reforms

09. Jeremiah: Jeremiah’s Yoke

10. Jeremiah: The Destruction of Jerusalem

11. Jeremiah: The Covenant

12. Jeremiah: Back to Egypt

13. Jeremiah: Lessons from Jeremiah

Welcome to an in-depth exploration of the Book of Jeremiah Written by Imre Tokic, Ph.D., LLD Edited for audio and produced by The Ambassador Group Exploration 1 The Prophetic Calling of Jeremiah Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.

I ordained you a prophet to the nations." Jeremiah 1, verse 5.

We know more about the life of Jeremiah than we do about any other Old Testament prophet.

The biographical facts in his book help us understand better his work as a prophet.

Jeremiah had such an effect on history that even at the time of Jesus, he was a revered prophetic figure.

At the same time, the prophet's work, judged by human standards, shows only slight success.

Despite decades of fervent warning and pleadings, the people for the most part didn't listen to the messages he gave them from the Lord.

Nevertheless, despite the opposition, Jeremiah could not be bought or sold.

He stood as a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall, Jeremiah 1 verse 18, not in his own strength but in the Lord's.

Jeremiah's lot in life wasn't a happy 1 in many ways.

His Calling brought him suffering, woe, rejection, even imprisonment.

Worse still was the fact that so many of these troubles came from the very ones whom he was seeking to help, seeking to point in the right direction.

So in his own way, Jeremiah prefigured what Jesus himself would face hundreds of years later in the same land.

You The Prophets The Prophets, according to their calling, were determined protectors of God's law.

They stood on the ground of the covenant and the 10 Commandments.

Jeremiah 11, verses 2-6 Hear the words of this covenant, or solemn pledge, and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Say to them, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Cursed is the man who does not heed the words of this covenant or solemn pledge, which I commanded your fathers at the time that I brought them out of the land of Egypt from the iron furnace, saying, Listen to my voice, and do according to all that I command you, so will you be my people, and I will be your God, that I may perform the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day.' Then I answered, Amen.

So be it, O Lord.' And the Lord said to me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem.

Hear the words of this covenant, or solemn pledge, and do them.

Micah chapter 3 verse 8 gives 1 summary of the prophet's work, which was to declare unto Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.

Romans 7, verse 7 reveals the concept of sin, of course, is meaningless apart from the law.

Nevertheless, if it had not been for the law, I should not have recognized sin or have known its meaning.

For instance, I would not have known about covetousness, would have had no consciousness of sin or sense of guilt, If the law had not repeatedly said, you shall not covet and have an evil desire for 1 thing and another.

What was the prophet's message to the people?

In what ways is that message the same to us today?

Let's consider 3 Old Testament scriptures and 1 from the New Testament.

If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land, Jeremiah 7, 5-7.

For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly and truly execute justice between every man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the transient and the alien, the fatherless and the widow, or shed innocent blood by oppression and by judicial murders in Jerusalem, or go after other gods to your own hurt, then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers, to dwell in forever.

Jeremiah chapter 7 verses 5-7 For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly and truly execute justice between every man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the transient and the alien, the fatherless and the widow, or shed innocent blood by oppression and by judicial murders in Jerusalem, or go after other gods to your own hurt, then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers, to dwell in for ever.

Ezekiel 18 23 Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked?

And not rather that he should turn from his evil way and return to his God and live?

And Matthew chapter 3 verses 7 through 11.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee and escape from the wrath and indignation of God against disobedience that is coming?

Bring forth fruit that is consistent with repentance.

Let your lives prove your change of heart.

And do not presume to say to yourselves, we have Abraham for our forefather, for I tell you God is able to raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones.

And already the axe is lying at the root of the trees.

Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

I indeed baptize you in and with water, because of repentance, that is because of your changing your minds for the better, heartily amending your ways with abhorrence of your past sins.

But he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy or fit to take off or carry.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." God's judgment was not inevitable, but it would come if the people did not turn from their evil ways.

Change, however, is not so easy, especially when people get accustomed to doing evil.

Who hasn't seen how people get used to the evil that at 1 time had appalled them.

The message of the prophets was to let people see just how bad their evil was, and what the consequences were of not turning away from it.

This message, of course, wasn't the prophet's.

The prophets do not mention how God's Word was revealed to them or how they heard it.

Other times, the Holy Spirit touched them in dreams or visions or perhaps through a still, small voice.

First Kings chapter 19 and verse 12 reports that was Prophet Elijah's encounter with God.

And after the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.

And after the fire, a sound of gentle stillness and a still, small voice.

However their messages came to them, the prophets had a mission not only to transmit God's will to the common people, but also if need be, to deliver it before kings, emperors, and generals.

If they told the truth, these powerful people could kill them.

But if they did not represent the truth, God's judgment could also come upon them.

To be a prophet is a heavy calling, and from what we can tell from the Bible, those who were given that call took it seriously.

We can be glad they did, for their messages have come down to us in the Bible.

In that sense, their words still speak, even today.

The question now, as in Jeremiah's time, is the same.

What are the prophets, even after all this time, still telling us?

At the core, what is their basic message to God's people?

Jeremiah's Family Background First Kings chapter 1 and First Kings 2 verse 26 reveal the background story of what led to the exile of Abathar to his home in Anathoth.

1 Kings chapter 1 Listen for the name of Abathar.

And King David was old and advanced in years.

They covered him with bedclothes, but he could not get warm.

So his servants, the physicians, said to him, let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin, and let her wait on and be useful to the king.

Let her lie in your bosom, that my lord the king may get warm.

So they sought a fair maiden through all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite and brought her to the king.

The maiden was beautiful, and she waited on and nursed him, but the king had no intercourse with her.

Then Adonijah, son of David's wife, Haggith, exalted himself, saying, I, the eldest living son, will be king.

And he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, with 50 men to run before him.

David's father had never in his life displeased him by asking, Why have you done so?

He was also a very attractive man, and was born after Absalom.

He conferred with Joab son of Zerui, David's half-sister, and with Abiathar the priest, and they followed Adonijah and helped him.

But Zadok the priest, Banea son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Re and David's mighty men did not side with Adonijah.

Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fatlings by the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside the wall in Erogel, and he invited all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the royal officials of Judah.

But Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he did not invite.

Then Nathan said to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, have you not heard that Adonijah, the son of Haggath, reigns, and David our Lord does not know it?

Come now, let me advise you how to save your own life and your son Solomon's.

Go to King David and say, Did you not, my lord, O king, swear to your handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne?' Why then does Adonijah reign?

Behold, while you are still talking there with the king, I also will come in after you and confirm your words." So Bathsheba went into the king in his chamber.

Now the king was very old and feeble, And Abishag, the Shunammite, was ministering to him.

Bathsheba bowed and did obeisance to the king.

And she said to him, My lord, you swore by the Lord your God to your handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and sit upon my throne.

And now, behold, Adonijah is reigning, and my lord the king, you do not know it.

He has sacrificed oxen, and fatlings, and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the king's sons and Abathah the priest and Joab the commander of the army, but he did not invite Solomon your servant.

Now my lord, O king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, to tell who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after you.

Otherwise, when my Lord the King shall sleep with his fathers, I and my son Solomon shall be counted as offenders." While she was still talking with the king, Nathan the prophet also came in.

The king was told, here is Nathan the prophet.

And when he came before the king, he bowed himself before him with his face to the ground.

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Series

Jeremiah

01. Jeremiah: The Prophetic Calling of Jeremiah

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

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24 The Sanctuary and the Testimony of Jesus

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Plenary Sessions

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03 Final Character

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Jeremiah

03. Jeremiah: The Last Five Kings of Judah

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