Call to Ministry

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RETURN TO SYLLABUS

JEREMIAH 1
LESSON #02
JEREMIAH’S CALL TO MINISTRY

• Memory Verse: Jer 1:5
• Read Jer 1:1-3
  • Verses 1-3 were not written by Jeremiah. It is an introduction by an unidentified person to set the scene.
  • Getting acquainted:
    • Jeremiah’s family:
      • Jeremiah’s father was the High Priest.
      • His name was Hilkiah. He was the man who found the Word of God forgotten in the temple.
      • Jeremiah’s hometown was Anathoth. This was a small town just north of Jerusalem.
    • King Josiah:
      • Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign in the Southern Kingdom of Judah.
      • Josiah was 18 years old when they found the Word of God in the temple.
      • King Josiah and Jeremiah were close in age.
• Read Jer 1:4-12
  • Jeremiah’s call to ministry:
    • “Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” (5)
      • There is no verse more beautiful concerning the foreknowledge and predestination of God in a person’s life.
      • This verse clearly tells us that the fetus is a viable person whose life has a plan ordained by God.
        • Therefore, abortion is murder based on scripture and God’s perspective of life.
        • Read Psa 139:1-17
      • What does it mean that Jeremiah was sanctified before he was born?
        • The word sanctified means = to set apart for God’s use. In other words, God had a plan for his life even before he was born.
        • How does that relate to the New Testament believer in Jesus Christ?

The New Testament believer is set apart for God to mold and make him into what God wants him to be so that He can use that believer for His glory.

Read 1Cor 6:11

Read 2Tim 2:21

• • • In the same way, God calls people today to give their lives to a work that serves Him.
      • It is a life commitment.
      • It is both very exciting and very scary.
  • “Then said I, Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.(6)
    • Jeremiah’s response is amazement. He is speechless.
    • He says he is a child. But he was about 20 years old at that time. The word “child” can be translated as young man. The idea is that he is young and too inexperienced to serve God.
      • This same attitude is what we see for all the people in the Bible that God used.
        • Moses is a good example.
        • It is a mark of humility that pleases God, for this person knows he cannot do it on his own, but he will need God’s help to do what is required.
      • Read 1Cor 1:27
    • God’s response:
      • You only have to be obedient in two areas of life: (7)
        • Go where God sends you.
        • Speak what God tells you to speak.
      • You only have to know by experience, holding on to two concepts: (8)
        • Do not be afraid because God is with you.
        • Do not be afraid because God will deliver you.

As Jeremiah will eventually experience, sometimes it is not God’s will to deliver a believer from a dangerous situation.

However, that did not mean God abandoned him, but that God did not deliver him in the way the believer thinks. In Jeremiah’s situation, God delivered him from this earth to heaven.

• • • The anointing of Jeremiah’s speech: (9)
      • God anointed the words that Jeremiah spoke.
      • Therefore, this book contains God’s anointed words spoken through the prophet.
    • The details of Jeremiah’s ministry: (10)
      • The scope of Jeremiah’s ministry:
        • =1= “…I have this day set thee over the nations…”
        • =2= “…over the kingdoms…”

Jeremiah prophesied during the reigns of the following kings, Josiah, Jehoiakim, Jehoahaz, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah.

But these kings did not pay any attention to Jeremiah. They had their own political projects and plans. They would do things their own way and ignore God.

• • • • The purpose of his messages:
        • =1= “…to root out…”
        • =2= “…o pull down…”
        • =3= “…to destroy…”
        • =4= “…to throw down…”
        • =5= “…to build…”
        • =6= “…to plant…”

As we examine in detail his messages in this book, we will see exactly these same purposes.

As we examine in detail his messages we will discover what was to be rooted out, what was to be pulled down and destroyed, and what was to be planted and built.

• • • God’s sign of confirmation: (11)
      • “…a rod of an almond tree.”(11)
        • The significance of the almond tree because of its nature:

The almond tree was the first tree to come out of a winter season to bloom and produce fruit.

It was called the “waker” or the “watcher” tree.

In other words, you would watch the almond tree for signs that it was awake and that spring was here.

The almond tree was the first tree to know the season was changing.

Jeremiah’s role would be a “waker or a watcher” to warn Israel that the spiritual and political seasons were changing.

• • • • • The significance of the almond tree in scripture:

The almond blossom was a symbol used in Exodus in two ways:

It was first used as a symbol of the anointing of Aaron. When his almond rod bloomed, it was God’s confirmation that the Holy Spirit was giving life to his ministry. (Num 17:8)

Then it was used as symbolic decoration in the tabernacle in the making of the lampstand (Exo 25:33-34) to indicate that God’s anointing produces fruit.

Jeremiah’s ministry would be anointed to produce fruit for the glory of God, even though Jeremiah never saw the fruit. But God has promised that His word would not return void, but would accomplish all that God planned. (Jer 1:12)

• Read Jer 1:13-19 Jeremiah’s first message
  • The message of the seething pot:
    • What is a seething pot?
    • It is a large pot on the stove filled with liquid at the point just before it boils.
      • Geographically Egypt on the south had long been Israel’s enemy that at times caused political and military problems for Israel. But it was not a seething pot for Israel was always watching what Egypt would do so as not to be caught by surprise.
      • Geographically Assyria on the north had taken the Northern Kingdom of Israel captive and from time to time threatened the Southern Kingdom. But it, too, was not the seething pot for Israel was always watching what Assyria would do. In Jeremiah’s day Assyria was becoming weaker.
      • The “seething pot” was the gradual rise of the Babylonian empire that eventually conquered the Assyrian empire to the north. Notice that verse 13-14 tells us it is toward the north.
        • “For lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the Lord, and they shall come,…” (14)

This refers to all the ethnic people that made up the Assyrian empire would be conquered and joined with the Babylonians in one huge empire.

This seething pot was about to boil over but as the saying goes, a watched pot never boils. No one was watching with alarm the rise of the Babylonian empire.

And before they knew what happened, this pot would boil over and consume them all.

Jeremiah was the only prophet giving this message. Many false prophets were saying that the Southern Kingdom was spared from the Assyrian attacks and God would spare them from the Babylonians in the same way.

• • • • • “…and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah.” (15)

No city of the Southern Kingdom would be spared. They would all be destroyed including Jerusalem.

Jeremiah’s prophecy is about 42 years before it actually happened in 586 BC.

• • The people’s reaction to Jeremiah’s prophecy: (19)
    • God tells Jeremiah that his own people would fight against him but to pay no attention.
    • God reconfirms His call to Jeremiah by reminding him that God will be with him and will deliver him.
• Application:
  • If we were to look around at the world scene, we see a number of “seething pots”. What are they?
  • Is anybody watching the “seething pots”?
    • For one, we know that God is watching.
    • His message to the watchful believer is the same as the message to the watchful Jeremiah:
      • “Do not be afraid for I am with you,” God says.
      • “I will deliver you.” God says.

HOMEWORK
Jeremiah 2

• Application of Jer 1
  • Read 1Pet 2:9
    • God has called you to the ministry as he did Jeremiah.
    • What are you going to do with God’s calling?
    • What do you think God has called you to do?
• Preparation for Jer 2
  • Read Jer 2:1-37
    • What were Israel’s failures as listed in this chapter?
    • What things did God do for His people that they forgot?
• Memory Verse: Jer 2:9