At far left: painting of Jeremiah from the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, by Michelangelo. Near left: Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem by Rembrandt.
Jeremiah is one of my Bible heroes.
He wasn’t successful, at least according to most definitions of success. In fact, today he might be labeled a loser.
The Man
He had an unenviable assignment, to preach repentance to the Jews in the latter years of the nation of Judah. His message was mostly one of judgment, calling the people back to God and away from idolatry and their other sins.
Preaching judgment and repentance will rarely win you friends. His reward for telling God’s truth was not praise but receiving threats on his life, imprisonment, being put in the stocks, and being dropped into an empty cistern to die.
He did not suffer gracefully. He tells God about it in unvarnished complaints. He speaks more about his feelings than any other Bible prophet.
John Bright, in his excellent book Covenant and Promise (pgs. 165-168), says this about the prophet: “Only a saint of a man of steel could have endured such treatment with equanimity. And such Jeremiah was not….He hated his prophetic office and the misery that it had brought him, and he longed to quit it…The prophet was neither a saint nor a hero, nor one who was a stranger to doubt, weakness, and despair. He was a man–a weak mortal, a human being very like ourselves. But it was this man who–in his weakness and in spite of his weakness–was nevertheless God’s prophet, commissioned to speak his judging and saving word to his people…So he went on, warning of the judgment to come, pleading with this people to repent, praying for them, interceding with God for them and, in the end, weeping over the ruin that had come upon them.”
It’s hard for me to read those words without tears coming to my eyes.
Here was the lonely faithful prophet! That’s why he is one of my Bible heroes.
The Message
The Israelites were sinning. There was much injustice. There were violations of God’s law left and right. There was idolatry, even idolatry that involved the sacrifice of their children to the idols. And the false prophets, who preached ‘peace and safety’, were favored.
Jeremiah didn’t preach ‘peace and safety’; instead, he called the people back to God’s known law. In chapter 6, verse 16 he says: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, “‘We will not walk in it.”’”
This was a generous offer of repentance. God would avert the judgment of a Babylonian invasion if they would repent.
But they didn’t take the offer.
Later, God gave Jeremiah an updated message to preach. Since the Israelites did not take the earlier generous offer; judgment would come and the Babylonians would invade. Nothing could be done to stop it. But there was still a chance to make things better: if they surrendered to the Babylonians, the takeover would be peaceful. If they resisted, the takeover would be violent.
But the king and people rejected this offer too. The invasion came and it was just as awful as Jeremiah had predicted.
Jeremiah did not see the fruit of his labors while he was alive. However, he was vindicated after he died. It was to his message, not that of the false prophets, that Israel later turned to for hope. The exile came, just as he predicted, but it would also have an end, just as he predicted. In Daniel 9:2-3 it says, “…I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.”
It’s also worth noting that Jeremiah’s message and reputation were echoed in the ministry of Jesus. Some thought that Jesus was actually a resurrected Jeremiah (Matthew 16:14).
True prophets only seem to be accepted after they die. Their graves are often well-decorated…after they are safely dead and can’t speak anymore.
One wonders what our society would do with Jeremiah’s message today.
It’s not looking good.
At a recent Kamala Harris rally, she responded to protesters who said, “Jesus is Lord!” by saying, “Oh, you guys are at the wrong rally.” The crowd cheered. Then she added, “No, I think you meant to go to the smaller one down the street.” I think she said more than she knew.
Those cheers, along with polls that put Harris as having a 50 percent chance of being elected president, do not suggest that our nation is eager for Jeremiah’s message of “ask where the good way is, and walk in it.”
But there is always hope, as the prophet himself expressed: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness,” (Lamentations 3:22-23). It is not too late to repent.