268
Prophets and Kings
impending doom, and share in the sorrow and woe that should follow
the destruction of the fated city.
Yet amid the general ruin into which the nation was rapidly passing,
Jeremiah was often permitted to look beyond the distressing scenes of
the present to the glorious prospects of the future, when God’s people
should be ransomed from the land of the enemy and planted again in
Zion. He foresaw the time when the Lord would renew His covenant
relationship with them. “Their soul shall be as a watered garden; and
[409]
they shall not sorrow any more at all.”
Jeremiah 31:12
.
Of his call to the prophetic mission, Jeremiah himself wrote: “The
Lord put forth His hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said
unto me, Behold, I have put My words in thy mouth. See, I have this
day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to
pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.”
Jeremiah 1:9, 10
.
Thank God for the words, “to build, and to plant.” By these words
Jeremiah was assured of the Lord’s purpose to restore and to heal.
Stern were the messages to be borne in the years that were to follow.
Prophecies of swift-coming judgments were to be fearlessly delivered.
From the plains of Shinar “an evil” was to “break forth upon all the
inhabitants of the land.” “I will utter My judgments against them,” the
Lord declared, “touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken Me.”
Verses 14, 16
. Yet the prophet was to accompany these messages with
assurances of forgiveness to all who should turn from their evil-doing.
As a wise master builder, Jeremiah at the very beginning of his
lifework sought to encourage the men of Judah to lay the foundations
of their spiritual life broad and deep, by making thorough work of
repentance. Long had they been building with material likened by
the apostle Paul to wood, hay, and stubble, and by Jeremiah himself
to dross. “Refuse silver shall men call them,” he declared of the
impenitent nation, “because the Lord hath rejected them.”
Jeremiah
6:30
, margin. Now they were urged to begin building wisely and
for eternity, casting aside the rubbish of apostasy and unbelief, and
[410]
using as foundation material the pure gold, the refined silver, the
precious stones—faith and obedience and good works—which alone
are acceptable in the sight of a holy God.
Through Jeremiah the word of the Lord to His people was: “Return,
thou backsliding Israel, ... and I will not cause Mine anger to fall upon