PROPHETIC MESSAGES Lesson # 12
Jeremiah 4:5-31
PASSIONATE PREACHING
I. Introduction:
Q How many of you can remember a significant time when you were disciplined by your parents as a child?
Q How many of you once thought your parents were mean and unreasonable in their discipline?
Q Over what issues were they mean and unreasonable?
Q Have you changed your mind about some of their actions now that you are older?
Q Has this happened with other authorities in your lives like a boss or school teacher, minister, etc.
Q What gave you a new perspective on these mean and unreasonable people?
An = Usually, the new perspective came because you matured or are now a parent or authority yourself and see it from their point of view, or you gained specific knowledge that you did not have before. The key to the new perspective was insight/knowledge. It was more than just “academic knowledge” but often included a knowledge that comes from experience.
Q What does God have to do to give us a proper perspective?
Note: The Jewish society, nation and culture was meant to be the vehicle to bring the messiah to the world. It was meant to be the cocoon, so to speak to deliver the viewpoint and outlook needed to understand the Messiah. However, the Jewish society became corrupt and was no longer a fit vessel. They had become like a dirty needle that was supposed to bring the life giving medicine to a dying and sick world.
God was going to discipline and punish them. They were going to be tremendously hit but God did not want to completely destroy them. His wrath was to help them, it was another form of His love. God is a good parent.
>>>> Have someone read Jeremiah 4:27. God knew there would be a future after the great destruction and so He wanted them to understand why the judgment fell. If they had the understanding of why the judgment fell they could use such knowledge to their benefit and blessing in the centuries and generations to come. This is part of the reason for the prophetic preaching.
Q How would you communicate such knowledge?
An = Perhaps warn them what was going to happen before it came. Give them the reasons for the judgment, try to talk them out of their destructive behavior before it produced the evil consequences.
The prophesy of disaster before it happened helped them see that the disaster was under His Sovereign reign over His world.
Prophetic preaching was not meant just to save the present generation but to preserve and bless the future generations as well. Had the Jewish people experienced judgment and not had the preaching of the prophets they would never have gained the perspective they needed to see why what happened to them took place. They would have disappeared as a people, like so many nations have that have experienced such disaster, because they might have thought that their God was too weak to protect them from the gods of the other nations, or that they did their rituals incorrectly, or God did not care. They needed knowledge so as to gain perspective and survive successfully.
Let us see how these prophets accomplished this part of their task….
II. Pronouncement of Judgment: Jeremiah 4:5-17.
>>>> Have someone read Jeremiah 4:5-7.
Announce in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say: ‘Sound the trumpet throughout the land!’ Cry aloud and say: ‘Gather together! Let us flee to the fortified cities!; Raise the signal to go to Zion! Flee for safety without delay! For I am bringing disaster from the north, even terrible destruction.” A lion has come out of his lair; a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place to lay waste your land. Your towns will lie in ruins without inhabitant.
Note: God seems to give a series of commands in verses 5-6.
Q What do the commands tell the people to do?
An = To warn of a coming invasion, to sound the alarm, then to encourage them to run from the country side to the fortified towns in their area, because destruction is coming down on them from the North.
Q What do we learn about this invader from the North in 4:7?
An = A metaphor of a lion is used. It is used to depict forceful destruction. The land will be laid waste and their cities ruined and depopulated. We learn later in 4:13 that they will come on their enemies with great speed. Again, I believe the Lord is speaking here and the enemy from the North will move like the whirlwind, swifter than eagles.
Note: The Lord announces in these three verses that destruction is coming. Now the prophet himself speaks in the next verse….
>>>> Have someone read Jeremiah 4:8.
So put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned away from us.
Q What does the prophet tell the people to do?
An = To put on sackcloth (a sign of mourning), lament, and wail.
Q What is the cause of their coming defeat that will destroy their cities and depopulate them?
An = The cause is their own God. The cause of their destruction is God Himself. Rolf Knierim insightfully used to say: “Israel’s greatest peril was God Himself”. The prophet declares that the cause of their coming destruction was the fierce anger of the LORD and it was unstoppable.
Note: The Bible says judgment is due to God’s will. It is His intention. That is not very comforting and may not fit the view of the God we want, but this is the consistent view point of both the Old and New Testament.
The Lord speaks again in verse 9….
>>>> Have someone read Jeremiah 4:9.
“In that day,” declares the LORD, “the king and the officials will lose heart, the priests will be horrified, and the prophets will be appalled.”
Jeremiah then adds:
>>>> Now have someone read Jeremiah 4:10-12.
Then I said, “Alas, Sovereign LORD! How completely you have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying ‘You will have peace,’ when the sword is at our throats!” At that time this people and Jerusalem will be told, “A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward my people, but not to winnow or cleanse; a wind too strong for that comes from me. Now I pronounce my judgments against them.”
Q What does Jeremiah accuse the Lord of doing in 10?
An = Of misleading the people to think there was a safe future in store for them. Actually, there were other prophets, false prophets, saying such things. The Lord did not say this to this generation, as we have seen all along in Jeremiah’s preaching. However, the prophet is distressed over what is going to happen to his people, and he reaches out and accuses God.
Just like we grab rumors and attribute that to authorities when we do not know if they really said such things…. Look at what Jeremiah will later say about the false prophets and why he was so tempted to accuse God of never warning him. Jeremiah speaks of the poor leadership the people have had…
>>>> Have someone read Jeremiah 8:8-12.
“How can you say, “We are wise, for we have the law of the LORD,” when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely? The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the LORD, what kind of wisdom do they have?
Therefore I will give their wives to other men and their fields to new owners. From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit.
They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. “Peace, peace,” they say, when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished, says the LORD
Note: Note the leaders were motivated for gain and so told the people what they wanted to hear, not the unpleasant truth that was able to warn them and save them.
Note: God has consistently told them the truth.
>>>> Have someone read Jeremiah 7:25-26.
From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their ancestors.’
Note: God had been warning right from the beginning. Let’s go back to chapter 4:11 and hear more of the message.
>>>> Have someone read Jeremiah 4:13-17.
Look! He advances like the clouds, his chariots come like a whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! We are ruined! Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts? A voice is announcing from Dan, proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim. Tell this to the nations, proclaim concerning Jerusalem: ‘A besieging army is coming from a distant land, raising a war cry against the cities of Judah. They surround her like men guarding a field, because she has rebelled against me,’” declares the LORD.
Note: I think the last phrase of 4:13 is the people speaking, but the rest is from the Lord.
The prophet then tells the people the knowledge that no one wants to hear. Yes, God will judge (no one wants to hear that), but His judgment is just and a response to our own behavior.
IV. Reasons For Judgment:
>>>> Have someone read Jeremiah 4:18.
Your own conduct and actions have brought this on you. This is your punishment. How bitter it is! How it pierces to the heart!”
Q What are the reasons God is going to judge the Israelites?
An = Their own actions and deeds brought on the judgment. Their greatest enemy was themselves.
>>>> Have someone read Jeremiah 4:19-21.
Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me, I cannot keep silent. For I have heard the sound of the trumpet; I have heard the battle cry. Disaster follow disaster; the whole land lies in ruins. In an instant my tents are destroyed, my shelter in a moment. How long must I see the battle standard and hear the sound of the trumpet?
Note: This is the prophet’s response to the news.
Q If America is going to be judged, how should we feel if the prophet is our guide?
>>>> Have someone read Jeremiah 4:22.
My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.”
Q What are they accused of in this verse.
An = Foolish, ignorant of God, stupid, without understanding, shrewd to do evil, but ignorant of how to do good.
Note: Most of us worry about offending against what others think of us, but Jeremiah says, what God thinks of us is vitally more important. Listen to the consequences of being ignorant of good, of God and instead have the skill to do evil in verse 4:21.
Note: As we read these texts, they alternate between pronouncements of God and responses by the prophet and some cries of anguish from those being judged.
Q Where did the anguish of the prophet come from as he hears the trumpet and the battle cry? An = Seemingly from the Word of the Lord. The prophet has become one with the heart of his Master
>>>>Have someone read Jeremiah 4:19.
Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me, I cannot keep silent. For I have heard the sound of the trumpet: I have heard the battle cry.
V. Next Lesson. It seems incredible that the Israelites did not heed the voice of the prophet Jeremiah. His messages are filled with passion as well as logical reasons for the people to repent and avoid judgment. However, they were hearing from other prophets besides Jeremiah. So, next week we will take a look at these other voices. Read Jeremiah 23:13-32