Prophecy according to Jeremiah
by DMM, 7-21-06.
My First study bible was “The Open Bible”, Authorized King James Version, by Thomas Nelson Publishers. Nelson’s introduction to the book of Jeremiah says this: “We understand Jeremiah’s personality more clearly than that of any other prophet. That he tenaciously clung to his assigned task through the succeeding years of rejection and persecution is a tribute both to the mettle of the man and to the grace of God.” I discovered this quote while researching the below listed verses. But, I thought I should post this at the beginning of these passages just to show that we’re on the right track in this study. The writer of Jeremiah’s introduction understood that prophecy is a manifestation of the grace of God.
Jeremiah 1:5 The section heading in the NIV Bible justifiably refers to this passage as “The Call of Jeremiah”. The passage contains the preparatory work which was done in and upon Jeremiah by the Lord before beginning Jeremiah’s public ministry. Some of these are noted as follows:
Vs 4- It is intrinsically necessary for a prophet to recognize the Word of the Lord, and Jeremiah recognized the Lord’s Word to him at a very young age.
Vs 5- Jeremiah was set apart and appointed a prophet while yet in his mother’s womb. Amos, however, was called as an adult with no prior claim to prophecy (Amos 7:14 & 15). It’s intrinsically logical though that a prophet would have to come to a point where he or she realized the permanent call of God to speak for Him. This is true for people who’s primary spiritual ability from God is prophecy. This would not be true, as an example, for King Saul or Enoch or Abraham, who are mentioned in Item # 1 of “Prophecy- An Exhaustive Study” as people prohecying only a few times. Also, prophets were given their calling for life, but not all the way up to their death. Jeremiah prophesied even after being forced into Egypt (Jeremiah 43:8). Daniel was told as an old man when an angel told him, “Go your way til the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the rest you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance” Daniel 12:13).
Vs 9- God effects his prophets so that what proceeds from their mouth is the Word (logos) of God. The Scripture, although seemingly inanimate, is also the Word (logos) of God because the Holy Spirit also works through the Scripture (II Timothy 3:16).
Vs 10- The power of God is through his “logos”. Jeremiah is appointed over nations and kingdoms. How? It’s through the power of God’s Word given through him. Recall that “By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made” (Psalm 33:6). There’s an old saying: “A believer in Christ would have to take a step down to be a king”. Do we actually believe this, or are we only toying with the idea of a personal relationship with the God of the heavens?
Vs 11 & 12- The Lord gave Jeremiah some prophecy training and testing, then quickly put Jeremiah in the midst of the Lord’s work beginning in verse 13. This is very similar to the Lord’s working with young Samuel. Samuel hand a little training from Godly Hannah and from Eli (I Samuel 3:7-18). Also, as with Jeremiah (vs 12), the Lord verified that His Word through Samuel was fulfilled (I Samuel 3:19).
Jeremiah 2:8 “Following worthless idols” is the chief motivator of false prophecy. This motivation can be through the demonic urgings of false gods (I Corinthians 10:20), or urgings by the god of this present age: the dollar bill (Jeremiah 6:13, Collosians 3:5, Titus 1:11).
Jeremiah 7:25 “From the time your forefathers 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”. This theme of God, continuously sending his “his servants the prophets”, is a recurring theme in Scripture. There are too many occurrences to sight here, but you can see these occurrences in Item #320 of “Prophecy, An Exhaustive Study”, which its own section of this “Grace Study”. The basic concept that the Scripture is bringing out is that the Lord has promised “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). So, God has always and still is sending his direct representatives to correct his people. Some would teach, though that the prophets extended only from Samuel to John the Baptist. They do this recklessly because this Scripture says such prophecy started at least at Egypt. So why should we accept any such manmade bounds to prophecy, especially since we have this verse saying that prophecy began in Egypt with Moses and Aaron, and we have another verse (I Corinthians 13:10) which guarantees that prophecy will continue until Christ comes. Has God become a mute idol in these times?! I don’t think so!
Jeremiah 14:14 “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries, and the delusions of their own minds”.
Jeremiah 11:21 The men of Anathoth threatened Jeremiah. God’s judgment on them was swift and calamitous. The point brought out herein is that the flesh always wars against the Spirit of God; “They are in conflict with each other” Galatians 5:17. If you take your Christianity seriously, know that you’ll be battling a lot of flesh, the flesh of saved and unsaved people, and battling your own flesh too (I Corinthians 9:27). Of course, there’s many instances in Scripture where the flesh has warred against the Spirit of God. Other such instances are found in Jeremiah 2:30, 32:2, 38:9-14, Matthew 23:29, etc..
Jeremiah 19:14 Sometimes prophets are sent to a place to prophesy, as was Jeremiah sent to Topheth. Sometimes public prophesy is needed so Jeremiah is found in the temple. Note that Jeremiah makes it clear who is saying this: “The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says”. By this Jeremiah is communicating three things: first, that his words are the Lord’s; second, Almighty God is the one the people are dealing with; third, He’s communicating the content of the prophesy.
Jeremiah 20:2 “Pashtur son of Immer, the chief officer in the temple of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the upper gate of Benjamin at the Lord’s Temple.” Now picture for a moment what the Lord and his angels might have thought when they looked down at the Lord’s Temple and saw his faithful servant Jeremiah sitting in stocks after he’d been beaten by the Temple officials. A local gathering constructively does the same things when it rejects New Testament prophets and their prophecy. The stocks are the church traditions and false church discipline sometimes imposed and the beatings are with the tongue and general meanness. So, if you reject New Testament prophecy, even though the Scripture guarantees it until Christ’s coming, then know on which side of the fence that you’re placing yourself. “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt.” This is God’s command from the New Testament book of I Thessalonians 5:19 & 20.
Jeremiah 23 The entire chapter is resplendent with the teachings of the difference between true and false prophecy, and also the results.
Vs 10- “The prophets follow an evil course and use their power unjustly”.
Vs 11- They are godless.
Vs 12- “They will be banished to darkness”.
Vs 13- “They prophesied by Baal”.
They “led my people Israel astray”.
Vs 14- “They committ adultery and live a lie.”
“They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his wickedness”.
Vs 15- “From the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land”.
Vs 16- “They will fill you with false hopes”.
“They speak visions from their own mind, not from the mouth of the Lord.”
Vs 17- “To all who follow the stubborness of their hearts they say, ‘No harm will come to you.’”
They have not “stood in the council of the Lord to see or hear his word”.
Vs 21- “I did not send those prophets, yet they have run with their message”.
“I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied”.
Vs 22- “If they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people”.
Vs 25- They “prophesy lies in my name”.
Vs 26- The lies and false dreams “continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds”.
Vs 27- “Their fathers forgot my name through Baal worship”.
Vs 28- The difference between false and true prophecy is like the difference between straw and grain. (Grain is useful for food and seed.)
Vs 30-32- “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me. … Who wag their own tongues and yet declare, ‘The
Lord declares’. …’Who prophesy false dreams’. Declares the Lord. ‘They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them’”.
Vs 34- “If a prophet, or a priest or anyone else claims, ‘This is the oracle of the Lord,’ I will punish that man and his household”.
Jeremiah 25:2 “For twenty three years…the Word of the Lord has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened”. This generally is the plight of even New Testament prophecy. Any true servant of the Lord will soon realize that he’s not to have his ears focused on the Church but rather on the Lord, and know that even the believers have flesh that will resist the Spirit. Beware, lest you be found to “gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” (II Timothy 4:3). The point here is that the Holy Spirit’s fire will never make fleshly people feel comfortable: not in the Old Testament times, and not in this age either. So we must preach God’s word, as a fire, knowing that we serve the Lord not men, and our reward will be from the Lord not men (which is a far better arrangement in the long run).
Jeremiah 26:12 “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city”. While the word apostle means sent one in the Greek. Prophets are also sent by God, but the two have different longterm functions. (Prophets speak from God to correct and edify, while apostles establish local gatherings in other places.)
Jeremiah 28:9 “The prophet who prophesies…will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if his prediction come true”. This is very easy. A prophet of God will be speaking truth, and will be sent by God, or sometimes urged by the Lord if he’s already standing in the correct location. So, if what a person is saying isn’t true, we can not conclude that he’s sent by God or speaking for God.
Jeremiah 37:13 Jeremiah asks Zedekiah, “Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, ‘The king of Babylon will not attack you or this land?’”. This is a very logical approach to battling false prophesy. Jeremiah rehearsed the false prophesy in the king’s ear. The king must have been confronted with the obvious falsehood of his prophets.
Jeremiah 42:2-7 Jeremiah prayed to the Lord for an answer to a question from the people, and knew beforehand that the Lord would give him an answer. It took ten days until the Lord spoke the answer to Jeremiah. The people who promised that they would obey the Lord’s answer didn’t.
Jeremiah 50:2 The importance of speaking forth the Lord’s corrections and edifying statements to the Church as well as the gospel to the nations is decried in this verse. The Lord instructs Jeremiah, “Announce and proclaim…keep nothing back”. Every word of the Lord is precious and needs to get out to the Church and the nations.
Jeremiah 51:49 You’ve heard of the “golden rule”. “Do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12). Well, this verse is typical of the role of the prophetic books in the “golden rule”. Babylon practiced violence against the nations, and so Babylon falls violently. What was done to them was what they did to others. Many other verses in the prophetic books show the same type of balanced justice happening to other people. Also see Joel 3:4-8, Jeremiah 25:14, and other such prophecies of violence against violent people. So, in the Law and the Prophets we see the fairness and also God’s historical practicing of the “golden rule”.
END HOME
by DMM, 7-21-06.
My First study bible was “The Open Bible”, Authorized King James Version, by Thomas Nelson Publishers. Nelson’s introduction to the book of Jeremiah says this: “We understand Jeremiah’s personality more clearly than that of any other prophet. That he tenaciously clung to his assigned task through the succeeding years of rejection and persecution is a tribute both to the mettle of the man and to the grace of God.” I discovered this quote while researching the below listed verses. But, I thought I should post this at the beginning of these passages just to show that we’re on the right track in this study. The writer of Jeremiah’s introduction understood that prophecy is a manifestation of the grace of God.
Jeremiah 1:5 The section heading in the NIV Bible justifiably refers to this passage as “The Call of Jeremiah”. The passage contains the preparatory work which was done in and upon Jeremiah by the Lord before beginning Jeremiah’s public ministry. Some of these are noted as follows:
Vs 4- It is intrinsically necessary for a prophet to recognize the Word of the Lord, and Jeremiah recognized the Lord’s Word to him at a very young age.
Vs 5- Jeremiah was set apart and appointed a prophet while yet in his mother’s womb. Amos, however, was called as an adult with no prior claim to prophecy (Amos 7:14 & 15). It’s intrinsically logical though that a prophet would have to come to a point where he or she realized the permanent call of God to speak for Him. This is true for people who’s primary spiritual ability from God is prophecy. This would not be true, as an example, for King Saul or Enoch or Abraham, who are mentioned in Item # 1 of “Prophecy- An Exhaustive Study” as people prohecying only a few times. Also, prophets were given their calling for life, but not all the way up to their death. Jeremiah prophesied even after being forced into Egypt (Jeremiah 43:8). Daniel was told as an old man when an angel told him, “Go your way til the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the rest you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance” Daniel 12:13).
Vs 9- God effects his prophets so that what proceeds from their mouth is the Word (logos) of God. The Scripture, although seemingly inanimate, is also the Word (logos) of God because the Holy Spirit also works through the Scripture (II Timothy 3:16).
Vs 10- The power of God is through his “logos”. Jeremiah is appointed over nations and kingdoms. How? It’s through the power of God’s Word given through him. Recall that “By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made” (Psalm 33:6). There’s an old saying: “A believer in Christ would have to take a step down to be a king”. Do we actually believe this, or are we only toying with the idea of a personal relationship with the God of the heavens?
Vs 11 & 12- The Lord gave Jeremiah some prophecy training and testing, then quickly put Jeremiah in the midst of the Lord’s work beginning in verse 13. This is very similar to the Lord’s working with young Samuel. Samuel hand a little training from Godly Hannah and from Eli (I Samuel 3:7-18). Also, as with Jeremiah (vs 12), the Lord verified that His Word through Samuel was fulfilled (I Samuel 3:19).
Jeremiah 2:8 “Following worthless idols” is the chief motivator of false prophecy. This motivation can be through the demonic urgings of false gods (I Corinthians 10:20), or urgings by the god of this present age: the dollar bill (Jeremiah 6:13, Collosians 3:5, Titus 1:11).
Jeremiah 7:25 “From the time your forefathers 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”. This theme of God, continuously sending his “his servants the prophets”, is a recurring theme in Scripture. There are too many occurrences to sight here, but you can see these occurrences in Item #320 of “Prophecy, An Exhaustive Study”, which its own section of this “Grace Study”. The basic concept that the Scripture is bringing out is that the Lord has promised “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). So, God has always and still is sending his direct representatives to correct his people. Some would teach, though that the prophets extended only from Samuel to John the Baptist. They do this recklessly because this Scripture says such prophecy started at least at Egypt. So why should we accept any such manmade bounds to prophecy, especially since we have this verse saying that prophecy began in Egypt with Moses and Aaron, and we have another verse (I Corinthians 13:10) which guarantees that prophecy will continue until Christ comes. Has God become a mute idol in these times?! I don’t think so!
Jeremiah 14:14 “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries, and the delusions of their own minds”.
Jeremiah 11:21 The men of Anathoth threatened Jeremiah. God’s judgment on them was swift and calamitous. The point brought out herein is that the flesh always wars against the Spirit of God; “They are in conflict with each other” Galatians 5:17. If you take your Christianity seriously, know that you’ll be battling a lot of flesh, the flesh of saved and unsaved people, and battling your own flesh too (I Corinthians 9:27). Of course, there’s many instances in Scripture where the flesh has warred against the Spirit of God. Other such instances are found in Jeremiah 2:30, 32:2, 38:9-14, Matthew 23:29, etc..
Jeremiah 19:14 Sometimes prophets are sent to a place to prophesy, as was Jeremiah sent to Topheth. Sometimes public prophesy is needed so Jeremiah is found in the temple. Note that Jeremiah makes it clear who is saying this: “The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says”. By this Jeremiah is communicating three things: first, that his words are the Lord’s; second, Almighty God is the one the people are dealing with; third, He’s communicating the content of the prophesy.
Jeremiah 20:2 “Pashtur son of Immer, the chief officer in the temple of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the upper gate of Benjamin at the Lord’s Temple.” Now picture for a moment what the Lord and his angels might have thought when they looked down at the Lord’s Temple and saw his faithful servant Jeremiah sitting in stocks after he’d been beaten by the Temple officials. A local gathering constructively does the same things when it rejects New Testament prophets and their prophecy. The stocks are the church traditions and false church discipline sometimes imposed and the beatings are with the tongue and general meanness. So, if you reject New Testament prophecy, even though the Scripture guarantees it until Christ’s coming, then know on which side of the fence that you’re placing yourself. “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt.” This is God’s command from the New Testament book of I Thessalonians 5:19 & 20.
Jeremiah 23 The entire chapter is resplendent with the teachings of the difference between true and false prophecy, and also the results.
Vs 10- “The prophets follow an evil course and use their power unjustly”.
Vs 11- They are godless.
Vs 12- “They will be banished to darkness”.
Vs 13- “They prophesied by Baal”.
They “led my people Israel astray”.
Vs 14- “They committ adultery and live a lie.”
“They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his wickedness”.
Vs 15- “From the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land”.
Vs 16- “They will fill you with false hopes”.
“They speak visions from their own mind, not from the mouth of the Lord.”
Vs 17- “To all who follow the stubborness of their hearts they say, ‘No harm will come to you.’”
They have not “stood in the council of the Lord to see or hear his word”.
Vs 21- “I did not send those prophets, yet they have run with their message”.
“I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied”.
Vs 22- “If they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people”.
Vs 25- They “prophesy lies in my name”.
Vs 26- The lies and false dreams “continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds”.
Vs 27- “Their fathers forgot my name through Baal worship”.
Vs 28- The difference between false and true prophecy is like the difference between straw and grain. (Grain is useful for food and seed.)
Vs 30-32- “I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me. … Who wag their own tongues and yet declare, ‘The
Lord declares’. …’Who prophesy false dreams’. Declares the Lord. ‘They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them’”.
Vs 34- “If a prophet, or a priest or anyone else claims, ‘This is the oracle of the Lord,’ I will punish that man and his household”.
Jeremiah 25:2 “For twenty three years…the Word of the Lord has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened”. This generally is the plight of even New Testament prophecy. Any true servant of the Lord will soon realize that he’s not to have his ears focused on the Church but rather on the Lord, and know that even the believers have flesh that will resist the Spirit. Beware, lest you be found to “gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” (II Timothy 4:3). The point here is that the Holy Spirit’s fire will never make fleshly people feel comfortable: not in the Old Testament times, and not in this age either. So we must preach God’s word, as a fire, knowing that we serve the Lord not men, and our reward will be from the Lord not men (which is a far better arrangement in the long run).
Jeremiah 26:12 “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city”. While the word apostle means sent one in the Greek. Prophets are also sent by God, but the two have different longterm functions. (Prophets speak from God to correct and edify, while apostles establish local gatherings in other places.)
Jeremiah 28:9 “The prophet who prophesies…will be recognized as one truly sent by the Lord only if his prediction come true”. This is very easy. A prophet of God will be speaking truth, and will be sent by God, or sometimes urged by the Lord if he’s already standing in the correct location. So, if what a person is saying isn’t true, we can not conclude that he’s sent by God or speaking for God.
Jeremiah 37:13 Jeremiah asks Zedekiah, “Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, ‘The king of Babylon will not attack you or this land?’”. This is a very logical approach to battling false prophesy. Jeremiah rehearsed the false prophesy in the king’s ear. The king must have been confronted with the obvious falsehood of his prophets.
Jeremiah 42:2-7 Jeremiah prayed to the Lord for an answer to a question from the people, and knew beforehand that the Lord would give him an answer. It took ten days until the Lord spoke the answer to Jeremiah. The people who promised that they would obey the Lord’s answer didn’t.
Jeremiah 50:2 The importance of speaking forth the Lord’s corrections and edifying statements to the Church as well as the gospel to the nations is decried in this verse. The Lord instructs Jeremiah, “Announce and proclaim…keep nothing back”. Every word of the Lord is precious and needs to get out to the Church and the nations.
Jeremiah 51:49 You’ve heard of the “golden rule”. “Do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12). Well, this verse is typical of the role of the prophetic books in the “golden rule”. Babylon practiced violence against the nations, and so Babylon falls violently. What was done to them was what they did to others. Many other verses in the prophetic books show the same type of balanced justice happening to other people. Also see Joel 3:4-8, Jeremiah 25:14, and other such prophecies of violence against violent people. So, in the Law and the Prophets we see the fairness and also God’s historical practicing of the “golden rule”.
END HOME