I receive words almost every week that the Lord is going to open up "The Book of Jeremiah" to me. Note none of these people know that I have had encounters with the book dealing with the end of the age. Dreams about being hated in Israel, hung from tops of buildings stones thrown at my head. It's been said that Isaiah presented the suffering servant but Jeremiah incarnated the suffering servant.
About two years ago now, I was in Alabama for a short season helping set up prayer meetings and an internship, and Jeremiah's book kept being highlighted to me over and over again. So I decided to embark on a journey with this book while I was in Alabama. Needless to say I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Two months later I found myself kinda depressed and thinking everyone was evil.
My first time through the book I really got caught off guard with how intense the book is. Touched in chapter one by the Lord marking a youngster, rebuked in chapter two by the Lord saying "the prophets prophesied by "baal"". I was roaring threw the book finding myself on the floor repenting more than touched by the kindness of Jesus. Two months in I was kinda depressed, not fun to be around, and thought all men were evil (which we are). I had to just get it over with and speed read to the end and kinda shut off my emotions. No one was liking me anymore. So I completely missed the reality of the book the first time through. The point of the book of Jeremiah is the kindness of Jesus and the tug of war in His heart of being a just judge and desiring to display mercy.
The way the book starts is just so moving to me. A youth just seeking after the Lord and He gets to become apart of History. This young guy on a hill just praying and then suddenly the word of the Lord comes to him and He is forever changed. The Lord breaks off disqualification and tells him "My words are with and in you". Then starts the address to Israel with "I remember you in the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal, when you went after me in the wilderness." "what injustices have your fathers found in Me, that they are so far gone from Me?" "They do not say, "where is the Lord who brought us from Egypt?"" The tenderness and brokenness of the Lord's heart is so clearly displayed in Jeremiah two. You can feel the hurt in the questions of "what injustice have I done to deserve this rejection." Him reflecting back on the days when Israel was coming after Him and following Him in the wilderness. He is longing for them to return to Him and be with Him again. But they are two far gone to turn to Him, the prophets are not giving the people the word of the Lord, they are saying peace and safety, blessings and prosperity. When destruction is on the door step and the heart of the Lord is broken over it. Jeremiah comes out of no where with a word going totally against the grain of the popular words of the hour. Rejected, beaten, hated, left for dead, He stood before kings yet was a mockery among the son's of Israel, and at the end of His life the rest of the world was counted not worth of him though he was a reproach among men.
I believe that this book is such a picture of the end of the age and the prophets that will come forth. 1 Thessalonians 5:3 "when they say peace and safety sudden destruction will come." I can just see in my mind and in the scripture with the wave of deception that coming, and the great falling away, the heart of the Lord going "Oh i remember you in the kindness of your youth when you went after me. What injustice have you found in me?" With destruction at the door the people turn to the mark instead of Jesus and the judge does what a judge does He brings forth justice. Just like in Jeremiah's day the Lord said, "Don't pray or fast for this people I won't hear you." In that day when those people take that mark, the Lord will say, "Do not pray, do not fast for this people, its to late."
This is way the book so grabbed me, because it took me on a journey of the heart of the Lord at the end of the age. A merciful King and a just Judge in one being called God.
Jonathan
No comments:
Post a Comment