Oh, Jeremiah!

I have passed through the book of Jeremiah and I thought to myself … is there anywhere else in the Bible that I can find so many:

… this is what the Lord says:

… the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

… this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 

… this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:

(well I soon found out that Ezekiel had the same mission to accomplish)

What a life he had, Jeremiah. He was obedient to God and his obedience brought him one blow after the other. Yet he was calm in the calamity and he didn’t give in to all the threats and promises of death by his enemies.  Think about it; if you were in his shoes; receiving a direct word from God for 39 years and every time you spoke the word of God you gained only  hostility and a reputation as a traitor.

He was strong in God but in his weakest moments “he expresses regret at ever being born” The words of God was like a fire inside and he could not keep silent. He begged and pleaded but the people did not repent and they brought the foretold judgment over themselves.But there was also hope and God would not abandon his people as will be shown i the coming reading of the Old Tetament.

As I opened my Bible to a random place, it fell open to John 12 and approximately 620 years after Jeremiah Jesus cries out:

 “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. ⁴⁵ The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. ⁴⁶ I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.⁴⁷ “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. ⁴⁸ There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. ⁴⁹ For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. ⁵⁰ I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” John 12:44-50

Jerremiah didn’t speak of his own either but told everything God told him to say. Jeremiah’s words became a judgment because the people didn’t listen but continued their worship of baal and  murdered their own children. 620 years later God sent his only Son who spoke only what was given to him from his Father and his words became judgment or salvation depending on how people received them.

1979 years later Jeremiah and Jesus are still speaking the word of God to us for judgment or salvation. And as Jesus would say “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear”

Sincerely yours,Ida 

(image by Michelangelo.)