A TIME TO WEEP #13: The Stones August 5-6, 2017

Introduction: One of the most fascinating and revealing aspects of Jeremiah is the prophet’s employment of symbolic acts in communicating God’s Word to God’s people. On eleven separate occasions, God instructed Jeremiah to utilize symbols to convey his message. The symbol of the imbedded stones reminds us that we cannot escape God’s judgment or its consequences.

1When Jeremiah had finished telling the people all the words of the Lord their God—everything the Lord had sent him to tell them— 2Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are lying! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt to settle there.’ 3But Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Babylonians, so they may kill us or carry us into exile to Babylon.” 4So Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers and all the people disobeyed the Lord’s command to stay in the land of Judah. 5Instead, Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers led away all the remnant of Judah who had come back to live in the land of Judah from all the nations where they had been scattered. 6They also led away all those whom Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan—the men, the women, the children and the king’s daughters. And they took Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah along with them. 7So they entered Egypt in disobedience to the Lord and went as far as Tahpanhes. 8In Tahpanhes the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 9“While the Jews are watching, take some large stones with you and bury them in clay in the brick pavement at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes. 10Then say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will set his throne over these stones I have buried here; he will spread his royal canopy above them. 11He will come and attack Egypt, bringing death to those destined for death, captivity to those destined for captivity, and the sword to those destined for the sword. 12He will set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt; he will burn their temples and take their gods captive. As a shepherd picks his garment clean of lice, so he will pick Egypt clean and depart. 13There in the temple of the sun in Egypt he will demolish the sacred pillars and will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.’” Jeremiah 43 NIV

I. Symbolic Acts A. The eleven symbolic acts of Jeremiah are found in 5:1-2, 13:1-11, 16:1-9, 18:1-12, 19:1-15, 25:15-29, 27:1-28:17, 32:1-15, 35:1-19, 43:8-13, and 51:59-64. B. Jeremiah used symbol in very powerful ways to convey God’s words to people who did not want to hear them. C. Symbolism and symbolic acts function to translate ideals held implicitly into things that can be experienced explicitly. D. It is interesting to note that God directed Jeremiah to employ symbols and symbolic actions while forbidding the worship of idols. II. The Imbedded Stones A. A leader names Azariah led a remnant of people from Judah to seek refuge in Egypt. B. As is human nature, these citizens of Judah took what they wanted from Jeremiah’s prophecy and rejected the rest. C. God directed Jeremiah to bury large stones on the site of Nebuchadnezzar’s future throne, at the very seat of Egyptian power. D. God would not allow his people to find sanctuary from his judgment and its consequences. III. Implications A. It is not possible for us to run away from our problems, and we must face them head-on. B. Sin has inevitable and inescapable consequences. C. Trading one set of idols for another accomplishes nothing. D. We cannot pick and choose when, where, and how we will be faithful to God. E. When we run from God, we only exacerbate our problems and delay the inevitable.

Conclusion: Running away is never the right answer when dealing with sin and shame. As David asserts in Psalm 139, there is nowhere we can go to flee from God’s active presence.