Category: Jeremiah (Page 5 of 6)

“Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.'” (Jeremiah 9:23-24)

“There was one central pleasure in the life of the prophet that eclipsed all of the pain and rejection and failure that were forced upon him. He had an intimacy with God. When he was doing what he was commissioned and designed to do, Jeremiah felt the pleasure of God.” Dr. John Guest

Jeremiah 1.1-19.outline

Jeremiah 1.1-19.slides

“And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin King of Judah … Evil-merodach King of Babylon … lifted up the head of Jehoiachin King of Judah and brought him out of prision.” (Jeremiah 52:31)

Jehoiachin, at just eighteen years of age, became king of Judah. His biography is sad, but easily and briefly written: “he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done” (2 Kings 24:9).

His “reign” lasted a mere three months before the inevitable dawned upon him and he surrendered the city and its people to Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon. Jehoiachin and about ten thousand of his leading citizens were led off captive to that foreign land. He spent the next thirty-seven years in the Babylonian prison system. Think of that! That’s 148 times the length of his reign as king in Jerusalem. How brief and fleeting did those days seem during the long years in prison? How humbling was that nearly four-decade span of “life”?

Yet, in the end, Jehoiachin outlived his conqueror Nebuchadnezzar. The great Babylonian king’s son Evil-merodach, upon ascending to the throne, lifted Jehoiachin up to a place of relative dignity, which he enjoyed to the day of his death.

If God would have permitted us a more expansive biography of Jehoiachin I think I’d have liked to read it. What does prison do to a man? It humbles him, surely. But does he humble himself? Did he ever wonder: “Was it worth it?” Three months of glory; thirty-seven years of ignominy.

Surely it wasn’t. How could it have been?

But then I wonder if, during his imprisonment, Jehoiachin came to embrace Psalm 131?

“O LORD, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.

But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.

O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore.”

This is one of the Psalms of Ascents—hymns sung by seekers traveling up to Jerusalem to worship God at the annual Jewish festivals. Confined in a foreign prison in a pagan land, under compete defeat, and covered with shame (and who knows what else!), did Jehoiachin ever let his humbled spirit make the journey to Jerusalem in his heart? Did his heart ever set out in pilgrimage to truly know God?

Makes you wonder if it’s worth it, doesn’t it?

I guess it all depends upon what the “it” is.

If by “it” we mean our fifteen minutes of glory (or 3 months of regal status), then the answer is surely “no.”

If we mean the opportunity to know God deeply, then the answer is “yes” … even if it requires thirty-seven years of heart-travel while confined in a prison cell.

It is usually a pretty good idea to figure out where you want to come out before you go in. Determine your destination before you set out. Figure out the endgame and then plot your way.

So, what do you want out of life? What’s your goal? What’s your endgame?

Paul stated his pretty simply: “I want to know Christ” (Philippians 3:10, NIV). All else was streamlined to that one goal. So much so that he could say, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (v.8).

But that’s not always the way it is—even among the most religious of people. It broke Jeremiah’s heart when it struck him. God pointed out what was already probably becoming all too obvious to Jeremiah: “… they do not know me, declares the LORD … they refuse to know me, declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 9:3, 6)

Then God set the goal before his prophet: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me …” (vv.23-24a)

The people of Judah had all the trappings of religion: Temple, sacrifices, holy days, priests, heritage, Law, etc. The only problem was, they did not know God. They had wise men (8:9; 9:12, 23). They had strong men (20:1-2). They had rich men (9:23). But they had none who sought intently to know God. The whole lot of them should have known God; it’s not the preoccupation of a specialist or an elite corps. But, alas, they knew Him not.

The logic was pretty simple: They “know not the rules of the LORD” (8:7). Therefore “they did not know how to blush” (8:12). They not only “do not know me” (9:3), says the LORD, “they refuse to know me” (v.6)!

What good is religion if you don’t know God? Religion without the knowledge of God soon grows foul, festering and putrid to the Lord to whom it is offered. Someone once said “There is nothing so foul as the scent of goodness gone bad.” The forms of religion can inoculate against the missing knowledge of God. They blind the eyes of the participants to the fact of their barrenness. They stop-up the ears of the people so they cannot hear the truth about their standing. They deceive the minds of the people so they cannot understand. And all that is left is for God to keep calling to His people through a weeping prophet, right up until “the end” (5:31).

In fact, that’s the endgame Jeremiah set before the people: “the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?” (5:31). When “the end” arrives, the best of our wisdom, might and wealth will fail. All that will matter is that a person “understands and knows” the Lord.

America needs to answer Jeremiah’s question. Americans need to answer that question. America’s religious people need to answer that question. OK, we need to answer Jeremiah’s question.

Is Jesus—“the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3, NASB)—truly our endgame?