Jeremiah by the Bite Rebuilding Shattered Lives: Jeremiah's Word of Renewal and Hope Appeal Pain in Speaking Word Prophet for Proclaiming Truth Rejected to the Repentance the Word to Power Judgment First: Hear the Call in the Catastrophe Nations 2-10 11-20 21-24 Fixed Second: Accept God's Diagnosis and The Rejection of the Message 1 25 Prescription The Agony of the Messenger Third: Push Through Pain to Total Devotion Word The Fulfillment of the Message Fourth: Discover the Keys to Serenity Rejected The Path of the Messenger Sum- Fifth: Walk In Hope!! Nations False Hope Where Were You Turning to the Addressed Vs When the Lights Gentiles: mary We Resume our Story on the Eve of True Hope Went Out? Preaching to Jerusalem’s Fall to Nebuchadnezzar… 25 Judgment Falls Nations 2 26-36 37-45 46-51 52
Jerusalem to Babylon: About 830 Miles Jeremiah's Via Dolorosa: Chapter 37-45
"Neither [the king] nor his servants,nor all the people of the land ! listened to the words of Yahweh ! Over 800 Miles which he spoke through the prophet Jeremiah" 37:1-2!
37-38 39-44 “the king and all his “all the people of the servants” reject God’s land” word and the city is reject God’s word & flee destroyed to Egypt and Apostasy Through It All, Jeremiah Stays Locked On Course More than Serenity: Hope Was His Homing Beacon!! Look Back to Jer. 30-36
True Hope: The New Covenant (Jer 30-36) Images of Restoration ■ The Content of the New Covenant (30-31) ■ The Community of the New Covenant (32-33) (Jer. 30:1-31:26) Land Ch.32! Liberation: The Yoke of Bondage Removed City 33:1-13! 30:5-11 Leadership (David and Levi) 33:14-26! Regeneration: an Incurable Wound Healed ■ The Crisis of the New Covenant (34-36) 30:12-17 Demands Choices!! Reconstruction: Destroyed Community Restored A Choice of Integrity (34) Judeans break their covenant 30:18-22 to free slaves! Reconciliation: Divided Nation Re-United 31:1-26 A Choice of Perseverance (35) Rechabites! A Choice to Heed the Word of God (36) Jehoiakim! Now the word appears as a book! The New Covenant What's New About the New Covenant “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make ■ Not "Totally Different! Hebrew term for "new" means a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, "renewed, refreshed, re-invigorated” not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took ■ Internal not external them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their master, says the Yahweh was “master"—now the law is "written on their LORD. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house hearts" of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law ■ Relationship Over “Religion” within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be “they will all know me” their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the ■ Grace Over Guilt: LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the “I will forgive their iniquity, greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I their sin I will remember no more” will remember their sin no more." Jeremiah 31:31-34 Solution to the Hopelessness of Sin's Power to Addict, corrupt, and degrade!
The Jeremiah Insight Hope In Jeremiah ■ Amidst judgment, God revealed to Jeremiah a ■ Hope is not based on the events around us: not NEW COVENANT (30-34) seeing a silver lining in a dark cloud ■ Jeremiah's serenity& poise in his suffering , and ■ Hope is not part of the shallow, short-term false his hope moving forward, arose from a single hope of avoiding the consequences of sin revolutionary insight: ■ Hope is envisioned in terms of ordinary living When God is in Control, The Death of the Old is ■ The Darkest hour of Jerusalem was the pivot of the Birth of the New! prophecy and the basis for a message of hope! ■ The Ashes of Judgment are the Seed of Hope But How can God Cause a Catastrophe of Well- ■ The Ruins and Wreckage of Sin can be the Deserved Judgment become the beginning of hope? scene of rebuilding and renewal How can this be true?
1-Hope Enabled Jeremiah to Endure Because of What Kind of God we have! Unjust Persecution (Jer 37-38) ■ Jeremiah Imprisoned, Released, Consulted, ■ ‘Ah Lord GOD! It is you who made the heavens Reimprisoned… and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you ■ A Bureaucratic nightmare in the midst of a …“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; genuine tragedy is anything too hard for me? Jer 32:17, 27 ■ Every moment someone is plotting ■ Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you Jeremiah's death! great and hidden things which you have not ■ Yet he remains calm, in control, even of the known. Jer 33:3 king ■ Reminds me of someone else in the Bible… 2-Hope Enabled Jeremiah to Maintain His Integrity (37-38) 3-Hope Enabled Jeremiah to See God ■ Consultations with the King amidst violence, suffering, and tragedy (39) ■ Temptation to say whatever would get him ■ Everything they loved and believed was released and spared murder and torture burned to the ground! ■ Maintained his integrity! ■ Many Jews concluded their whole religion and ■ No "peace" is worth the loss of integrity! faith had been false, delusion Integrity is not rigidity: ■ Jeremiah still sees the purpose and he could & did seek to have his suffering relieved, ! providence of God! he could accommodate Zedekiah's need for ■ Ruthlessly goes around offering hope! confidentiality without compromising his witness ■ Faithfulness to our calling keeps us God ■ Integrity : Principles more than rules centered when all else fails!
4-Hope Enabled Jeremiah to See More Friends than He Thought Persons in a Sea of Sin & Judgment In addition to Baruch and Ebed Melek:! ■ Ebed Melek: A mere slave Rescues Jeremiah ■ Ahikam (26:11, 24): official who prevented (38:7-13), risking his own position & life to appeal Jeremiah's execution directly to the king ■ Elasah & Gemariah #1 (29:3): Slipped Jeremiah's ■ Jeremiah gives him a word of salvation, promising letter to Babylon into the diplomatic pouch God will preserve him through the crisis (39:15ff) ■ Gemariah #2 (Son of Shaphan)-provided the ■ Baruch — Scribe and Secretary; faithfully assisted chamber for Baruch to read Jeremiah’s scroll; gave Jeremiah through thick & thin, a true friend J&B warning & time to seek safety (36:11-19) And being Jeremiah's friend was TOUGH! ■ Gedaliah (40:5-6): official, future governor, opened ■ Jeremiah gives him a personal message of his home to Jeremiah encouragement & assurance along with a gentle ■ Shaphan: royal secretary, father of E&G, warning to be cautious about his personal associated with Josiah's reform expectations during a time of crisis (45)
Real People Real People: Bad Guys Too! • Gedaliah Son of Pashur Gemariah #2 (Son • Jer 38:1-8 Official of Zedekiah, urged that of Shaphan): An Jeremiah be put to death official who reviewed Baruch’s Scroll and, prior to its being sent to the king, gave Jeremiah Gemariah and Baruch warning Son of Shaphan and time escape capture A Remarkable Personal Ministry And Jerusalem Fell! ■ Jeremiah, moving through the ruins, pulling lives out of the wreckage! ■ The nation is lost, no sparing Jerusalem ■ But Jeremiah knows that here and there, people are ready to say YES ■ He Finds them, because he has somehow learned to see them In self-Surrender, he stopped "servicing" his own pain, now he has room in his heart to care for others!
5-Hope Enabled Jeremiah to Remain in a 6-Hope Enabled Jeremiah to Resist Pressure to Hard Place of Service 39:11-14; 40:1-6 Conform ■ After the murder of the governor, the Judean ■ When Jerusalem Fell, the Babylonians released leaders feard Nebuchadnezzar would retaliate! Jeremiah and entrusted him to the care of the ■ Planned to flee to Egypt, asked Jeremiah's advice! Judean governor! ■ "whatever the Lord says… we will do" 42:1-6! ■ Offered Jeremiah safe passage & assistance to ■ They wanted to go to Egypt, and clearly hoped to travel to Babylon—promised him the favor of the ingratiate themselves to Jeremiah! Babylonian King! ■ The pressure was on to "Just Say Yes!"! ■ Jeremiah chose to stay in devastated Judah, BUT GOD SAID NO! ! among people who ignored, then despised, ■ They questioned his motives, his sincerity, the persecuted, and tried to kill him! Why?! reality of his divine word,even blamed Baruch!! ■ Calling gives us the strength to stay in the hard ■ but Jeremiah stuck to his message! places of service! 7-Hope Enabled Jeremiah to Live Faithfully in a Toxic Community ■ Jeremiah's Final Appeal in 44! ■ Don't they realize the meaning of all this?! "As for the message you have spoken to us in the name of Yahweh, we will not listen to you! …but rather we will certainly fulfill what we say: we will sacrifice to the Queen of Heaven …" 44:15-19! ■ He simply proclaimed his message & awaited vindication from the God who had called him! And [they] … shall know whose word will stand, mine or theirs. Jer. 44:26-28
8: Hope Enabled Jeremiah to See the World With Jeremiah, We Are CALLED Far Beyond Judah and Jerusalem (Jer 46-51) ■ To confront the powers—gods—of this world! ■ To unmask the bondage of sin and addiction! ■ We Know nothing of Jeremiah's death! ■ To live out the revolutionary truth of God's Word ■ Last seen doggedly reminding the backslidden as it "breaks all the rules" of an evil world! Jews in Egypt of God's Truth! ■ The Book ends, not with Jeremiah's death, but with ■ To unmask the illusions & sell-job that the world his message to the nations.! does on us! ■ Ultimately, Jeremiah did not belong just to the Jews, ■ To demonstrate to a lost world a life free of sin’s but was "appointed a prophet to the nations" 1:5! entanglements, to live in Hope amidst chaos! “He was last seen heading for the summit!”! TO SEND A MESSAGE TO THE FATHER OF ■ He Still prophesies to us, 2600 years later! LIES AND ALL HIS GANG: IT’s OVER! ■ Still Calls us to Join him in his calling…
“Behold, I am the LORD the God of all flesh; is anything too hard for me? Jer 32:27