Skip to main content

Jeremiah, Surrender

There are few people in the Bible that endured as much as the prophet Jeremiah. God called upon him to prophecy to Judah during a time when no one would listen. He was arrested, beaten, ignored, and cut off from his own people. In fact throughout his forty some odd years of ministry, there are only two people shown to have listened. Two! 

The time frame of Jeremiah's ministry is very different from that of Isaiah's. Isaiah prophesied during the days of a good king, Hezekiah, who listened for God. There was still a chance for Judah to be spared from judgment and repent. Jeremiah's message is much more bleak than Isaiah's. He preaches that the judgment is coming no matter what, the only thing the people can do is surrender.

Background

The book of Jeremiah was written by Jeremiah with some assistance from his scribe, Baruch. It was written in pieces over the course of Jeremiah's ministry, which roughly ranged from roughly 630 BC to 590 BC. The pieces were then collected and put into one book.

The book of Jeremiah can be somewhat tricky because of this. The pieces aren't always in an order that makes sense. There are time jumps backwards and forwards in time, and it can seem like Jeremiah is suddenly changing the subject. This is simply due to the fact that the pieces were simply put together into one book. It's like if Paul's letters weren't divided up in the Bible. It would still always be the same author with the same theological message, but writing at different times to different audiences.

Themes

Jeremiah is the longest book in the Bible. Psalms may have the most chapters, but Jeremiah has the most words. As you can probably surmise, this means there are several themes that run throughout the book. Today we are going to look at the central theme; surrender.

Now surrender is definitely not new to the book of Jeremiah. In fact one could argue that the Bible's theme is surrendering to God. In Jeremiah this theme is particularly strong. The people are so depraved, so caught up in sin, that the only way for them to be saved is to surrender to God's judgment.

Jeremiah repeatedly calls the people to surrender to what God is going to do. He urges them not to fight the Babylonian army that will come and destroy the nation. He pleads with them to accept God's punishment as just and righteous. Jeremiah argues that salvation for Judah can only be obtained through surrender to judgment.

Theological Point

This idea of surrendering to God's judgment has not gone away for us. One of the great misconceptions we have in churches is that because of Jesus we will avoid God's judgment. This is simply not true. Because of Jesus we will SURVIVE God's judgment. 

Think about it. Are we not called to become living sacrifices, to crucify ourselves, and to die with Christ? Are we not supposed to die while Christ lives in us? God's judgment of our sin is death. No matter what, we are called to die for our sin. The question is do we face God having died with Christ and therefore being alive with him? Or do we try to face God alone?

Jesus died so we can live, but not as we are. He did not die so our sinful nature can rule supreme. He died so we can be utterly transformed by the Spirit, putting to death the sinful and letting the holy live. This is something we will definitely revisit later, as I think we have skewed what the cross of Christ does for us.

Conclusion

God calls us to surrender, just as he called Judah to surrender. It is only through surrendering to God that we can have true life. Jeremiah also serves as a role model for us today. We stand in a world that does not want to listen and is hostile to the Word of God, much like Jeremiah did. He surrendered to God's will and persevered, as should we.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thankful

Today is Thanksgiving, the day that we are supposed to celebrate all the things we are thankful for. It is a time of family reunions, football, and turkey eating. I sincerely pray that each and every one of you has a good day today. I'll admit that being thankful has not been easy for me this year. As pretty much all of you know, my mother passed away December of last year. Though she had been in the hospital for months, we were not expecting it. In fact I was sure she would be finally able to come home within a matter of weeks. Instead she peacefully passed on into the arms of Jesus, whom she loved more dearly than anyone else. As you can imagine, the entire family was heart broken. After what can easily be described as the worst Christmas ever, I returned to home to Illinois. It was here that I finally broke down. I spent the next months doing everything except being thankful. I cursed God, wept, screamed, begged to have her back, and was generally not the nicest person to be
3 comments
Read more

Matthew, The Promised Messiah

Imagine, if you will, living as a Jewish Christian in the first century. You grew up following the Mosaic Law and have studied the Old Testament backwards and forwards. The life of the synagogue, that shared community of faith, is precious to you. It was, for the longest time, the cohesive core of your walk of faith. You grew up waiting on the promises of God to be fulfilled. Now you've heard the good news you've been waiting for; the news the entire Jewish people have been waiting for. God has acted decisively! The covenant promises made to Abraham have at last been fulfilled! The Messiah has come! Eagerly you listen to those proclaiming the Messiah, a man named Jesus from the town of Nazareth. You listen and are astounded at his life and teaching. Truly this man was a great prophet, just as Moses promised. You listen in awe as your entire concept of royalty is turned on its head, as this Jesus assumed the throne as the promised king of Israel not by war or riches but by a
Post a Comment
Read more

Reading Aloud

What is the primary way we use Scripture today? I think the answer, at least in our society, is private reading and study. The majority of our spiritual advice can be summed up in "study the Bible more." The moral of many sermons is simply that we don't read the Bible enough. I think that this is absolutely true, but I probably mean something a little different. While I obviously agree that we, in general, don't read the Bible enough individually that isn't actually my main gripe. I think we don't read the Bible enough out loud, in community, as a part of worship. This, I think, should be a central part of our gatherings every week. We should simply read the Bible out loud and listen together in community. How much is the Bible read aloud in your gathering? I'm talking specifically about just reading, not during sermons or classes. How often is the Bible simply read without someone commenting on or explaining it? Just the Scriptures read aloud for all to h
Post a Comment
Read more