Jeremiah has long – been one of my favorite biblical heroes and idols.
Just a young kid himself, (a teenager really) that few would listen to … he went on to become one of the greatest prophets of old.
Of all the prophets – Jeremiah was perhaps the most demonstrative. He did whatever it took to get his point across. Often times he was theatrical. He was “showy.” His attempt – was to make things understandable. He acted things out.
Unless you did a study on Jeremiah you would probably never know this – but Jeremiah is commonly known as being the “weeping prophet.”
At one point he says that he wishes that he had a “fountain of tears” with which -he might weep for the slain – of his own people.
He was a sensitive kind of guy, living in a very insensitive kind of age! Something tells me, he wept a lot!
From the time he stated that, he almost automatically became known as “the weeping prophet.”
He is also known a being a prophet of “doom and gloom.” Therefore, he is not necessarily a fun read.
But it is “the lengths” that he is willing to go to – to warn and to defend his people, that attracts me to him. He is relentless for the people of God. He loves them that much and more! His love and respect for God is without end.
The fifty-two chapters that make up his work of “oracles” – also includes his startling promises of hope, hope found not merely in the possibility of “human repentance” – but grounded squarely in the amazing “grace of our God.”
Jeremiah is just plain awesome.
Again, something else that a lot of people do not know – is that the very language of this “promised new covenant” – would later lend its name to what we call the Early Christian Writings, the “New Testament” or the idea of the “New Covenant”…comes from Jeremiah!
When God originally called Jeremiah to be his spokesman, he received a six-fold-task: to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow and to build and to plant.
Jeremiah spends the bulk of his prophetic career announcing “the former” four demands, but now in his advancing age – he can turn to “the later two.”
Jeremiah mellows out…so I guess there is hope for us men, after all! We will hopefully become one day – mellow fellows.
A new thing is going to happen, Jeremiah announces. A “new day” is on the horizon…it is coming.
We will not be judged on the sins of our ancestors…or on the sins of forefathers. Instead, we will all be judged on our own individual behavior. This was big stuff!
From Jeremiah on: there is no one to point the finger at – except for yourself.
God is about to do a “new thing.” He is going to create “a new covenant…” This is at the very heart of Jeremiah’s prophecy. God is going to act…and he is going to act in a “new and startling way!”
There is good news…and it comes from the mouth and the lips of Jeremiah…
It was the early Christian community that saw this “new covenant” as dawning in the life and ministry of the one they called “Lord.”
And yet, I still eagerly long for that day when all will know the Lord, from the least to the greatest. I long for that time when all people will know and understand just “how awesome” my God truly is…
I so want his law, his statutes, his covenant, his testimonies, his ways, his commandments, his torah, his instructions, to be written on the hearts of men and women everywhere.
And how awesome that day will be – when God remembers our sin – no more…
Very much unlike us, God does not hold grudges. He does not hold our past against us. We are judged based on our heart!
We are the ones – on the other hand who wish others ill will, who want to keep score, and keep track, we are the ones who can be filled with resentment and bitterness…not God.
We are the ones that are known for malice, envy, hatred, spite, animosity and hard feelings toward others…
Not God. Don’t project on to him – what is your stuff!
Jeremiah, the “weeping prophet” of “doom and gloom” in one fell swoop, lays at our feet, the God of forgiveness and reconciliation and understanding.
Long with me, for that day, when all will know and love our gracious, loving God. I pray it is so.