Fenced Brass Wall

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RETURN TO SYLLABUS

JEREMIAH 15
Lesson #16
THE FENCED BRASS WALL

• Memory verse: Jer 15:21
• Historical Overview:
  • When Israel was established as a nation under the covenant God made with Moses, God promised to bless His people if they would acknowledge Him in obedience.
    • We have examined this conditional covenant and the blessings and cursings that were a part of it in Deu 28.
    • We have examined the concept of God’s discipline as a loving parent. How far should discipline go?
      • God is the perfect parent. He has ultimate wisdom and knowledge.
      • God will never go too far in punishing His people, but only far enough to bring them to reconciliation with Him. This is God’s magnificent mercy and love.
  • Through Israel’s history God has always preserved a faithful remnant.
    • Why is a faithful remnant important to God?
    • Because of the unconditional promises that God made to Abraham (Gen 12:15) and David (2Sam 7), He must preserve a remnant to prevent the total annihilation of the Jews so as to have a means of fulfilling His Old Testament promises.
  • The removal of multitudes of people from the Promised Land occurred in stages through the following events. Each event was designed to be a warning to Israel:
    • =1= The first to go into captivity was the Northern Kingdom of Israel taken by Assyria in 721 BC.
    • =2= Good King Josiah died in a battle with Egypt’s Pharaoh at Meggido in 609 BC. King Josiah attempted to stop Egypt from coming to the aid of Assyria against Babylon. (2Chr 35:20-27)
    • =3= The first group from the Southern Kingdom to go into captivity occurred in 606 BC.
      • This was the famous battle of Carchemish when Egypt’s Pharaoh went through Israel to attack the rising Babylonian Empire. The defeat of Egypt brought the entire region under the domination of the Babylonian Empire.
      • The prophet Daniel was part of this group deported to Babylon. This was the beginning of the period called the Babylonian Captivity.
    • =4= King Jehoiakim, placed on the throne by Egypt, became a vassal king under the authority of Babylon with the defeat of Egypt in 603 BC.
    • =5= The priest Ezekiel was deported to Babylon with a second group of 10,000 from the Southern Kingdom in 597 BC. (2Chr 36:5-8 2Kin 24:10-16)
      • The evil kings after King Josiah did not seek God’s help nor did they have the power or personal integrity to save the nation.
      • Every time Israel gave Babylon problems, like withholding the money of tribute, Babylon would attack to enforce their power of Israel.
      • King Jehoiakim rebelled and was bound in chains and died. The temple was robbed of its treasures.
      • King Jehoiachin was placed on the throne.
        • He was the last legitimate descendent of David to occupy the throne.
        • After Jehoiachin, Babylon put Zedekiah on the throne. He was the remaining son of Josiah.
    • =6= The third group from the Southern Kingdom was deported to Babylon in 586 BC.
      • Babylon finally destroyed the temple and Jerusalem.
      • It was the end of the priesthood and the end of independent government in the Southern Kingdom of Judah and the end of the nation.
      • This date of 586 BC marks the beginning of the prophetic period of time called “the times of the Gentiles”. This period will end at the event of the second coming of Christ.
• Read Jer 15:1-9
  • What was wrong with Jeremiah’s prayers that God did not protect Israel from the coming destruction?
    • Nothing was wrong with Jeremiah’s prayers. Sometimes God says yes, sometimes God says wait, and sometimes God says no.
    • God said no to Jeremiah’s prayers because Israel had crossed that invisible spiritual line into apostasy and sin.
  • God said that even if Moses and Samuel stood before Him and begged for Israel’s protection, God would not respond to them in the way Jeremiah wanted.
  • “…I am weary with repenting…” (6)
    • Usually we think of repentance as something that man is supposed to do because of sin.
    • God has no sin. He does not need to repent of anything.
    • What does God mean when He says that He is weary of repenting?
      • Remember that the meaning of repentance is changing and going in the opposite direction.
      • When Hezekiah’s son, King Manasseh, was so evil that he practiced child sacrifice in the Hinnon Valley south of Jerusalem, God declared judgment on Judah. (2Kin 21:1-18 2Kin 24:3-4) (4)
      • However, God delayed that judgment when King Josiah reigned and brought reformation and revival. In other words, God repented of the judgment He promised. (He changed direction for a time.)
      • After King Josiah, the people have returned to idolatry and sin, so now God will not delay the judgment. (6)
      • God has given them over to their own desires so they must suffer the consequences of their decisions and desires.
  • There are 4 destroyers that will come upon Israel as punishment: (2-3)
    • =1= The sword which is warfare with Babylon.
    • =2= Pestilence such as drought and starving animals which is the result of God removing His blessings.
    • =3= Famine which is the result of drought. Also famine as the result of a siege around the city of Jerusalem by Babylonian armies.
    • =4= Captivity which is the final judgment when Jerusalem and the nation are destroyed in 586 BC.
  • Even the next generation will not fare better than those of Jeremiah’s day. (7) Why? Because the Babylonian captivity would last 70 years which is more than one generation.
• Read Jer 15:10-14 The prophet’s personal life in distress
  • Jeremiah’s distress:
    • “Woe is me…” (10)
    • The dual message:
      • Jeremiah sees the languishing mother as the city of Jerusalem, called the mother of cities, weeping for her dead inhabitants.
      • Because Jeremiah identifies himself with his people, Jeremiah is picturing his own mother’s distress that God gave her a child that would be hated among his people without cause. For example:
        • He did not borrow money from anyone and not pay it back.
        • He did not lend money to anyone at high interest rates.
        • Jeremiah did not preach for money or personal gain.
    • He was a man of peace, but had peace with no man.
      • Read Mat 10:34-38 Peace brings division.
        • God’s message means a person must decide to separate himself unto God or follow the world. In the last days as persecution comes and the world situation gets worse, that decision will be extremely important for either you stand with God or you are against God.
        • Jesus Christ is the great divide between those who are saved and those who are not saved.
        • The same was true of Jeremiah’s day. God’s messages through Jeremiah brought division, accountability, and judgment.
      • Jeremiah was feeling the hatred of his people and it distressed him greatly because he was a person with the gift of mercy.
        • His family rejected him.
        • The people in his hometown rejected him.
        • But more than this, his neighbors and fellow priests looked for ways to kill him.

If his friends, family, and neighbors hated and abused him, what would his enemies do when they came?

This was Jeremiah’s personal concern.

• • What should the believer do when God’s message makes him hated?
    • Jeremiah turned in prayer and to the Word of God for consolation. (16)
      • This is the same Word of God that was found in the temple during the reign of Josiah.
      • It was not just a light reading of the Bible that gave Jeremiah consolation.
      • Notice he says that he ate the words. What does he mean?
        • From the time of the Israelites in the wilderness, the manna that God gave them in the desert represents the Word of God.
        • The Word of God is spiritual food to the believer.

Therefore, the believer that does not read the Word of God is starving himself spiritually.

This lack of spiritual food is what causes weak Christians. Weak Christians fall in times of trouble and persecution.

• • • • • To eat the Word of God means to dig deep into it and digest it so it is part of your being.

=1= Hunger for spiritual things is the first step.

=2= Reading and studying the Bible is the next step.

=3= Making the application of the Word of God to your own personal life experiences is the final step.

• • • It is this three step process that brings consolation.
      • Jeremiah was not responsible for how the people would receive and respond to God’s messages.
      • Jeremiah was only responsible for his obedience to give the messages that God gave to him at the time God wanted them given.
        • Jesus tells us the same thing through His experiences.
        • Read Joh 15:18-25
  • God makes promises to Jeremiah:
    • Because of Jeremiah’s despair, God gives him some personal promises.
    • This is the result of Jeremiah’s time and effort placed in reading and studying the Word of God.
      • God will cause his enemies to treat him well. (11)
        • This promise was fulfilled when King Nebuchadnezzar told his Babylonian general to be kind to Jeremiah and let him go.
        • Read Jer 39:11-12
      • While thousands were killed in the Babylonian attack, Jeremiah was miraculously liberated.
• Read Jer 15:15-21 God’s special blessing on Jeremiah
  • Jeremiah must get back to work and not indulge himself in self pity.
  • God will make Jeremiah a “fenced brazen wall”. (20)
    • What does that mean?
    • Through the Bible the element of brass has a special three-fold meaning. It means suffering, testing, and judgment.
    • A wall was the means of strength. The fact that the wall had a fence around it is an added protection.
      • Jeremiah is the wall that God will strengthen with courage.
      • God will put a fence of protection around him.
  • In other words, God will make Jeremiah a means of judgment that will come upon his people through the messages that God is giving to Jeremiah. As we have seen, Jeremiah’s messages were messages of judgment.
    • His people will suffer because they are accountable to God for the warnings God gave them through Jeremiah, yet they reject God, His message, and God’s messenger.
    • The testing for Jeremiah is this…will he stay and continue preaching God’s Word?
      • If Jeremiah continues being the prophet of God, God promises He will protect him from his enemies until God’s plan is completed for his life.
      • Jeremiah needs to trust God for his life.
        • His enemies will continue to fight against Jeremiah.
        • God promises to be with him, to save him, and to deliver him. (21) In the rest of the book of Jeremiah, we will see how God does this.

HOMEWORK
Jeremiah 16

• Application of Jer 15
  • Have you ever felt alone like Jeremiah in the midst of wolves? If so, what did you do?
  • Compare what you did with what Jeremiah did. Did you go to prayer and the Word of God?
  • How did God give you consolation?
• Preparation for Jer 16
  • Read Jer 16:1-21
    • Why is Jeremiah denied a wife and children? What do you think is the significance? (Luk 20:34-35)
    • How is God going to make himself known to a people that constantly reject him? (15-16)
    • Why do you think Jer 16:19 was important to the founding fathers of America?
• Memory Verse: Jer 16:19