WEAK MEN DEMAND RIGHTS BY TEARING DOWN STATUES, IRON PILLAR MEN DEMAND RIGHTEOUSNESS BY TEARING DOWN IDOLS ~ A study on Jeremiah

 

It is hard to miss the videos on social media today—videos that are disheartening and sickening. To watch cowardly, emotionally unstable, fragile little boys and girls justifying their malicious tantrums because they have supposedly been offended by everything in life is an abomination to God. Carrying cans of spray paint and sledgehammers as their weapons of choice and pulling down statues of men who were courageous in their own day, they foolishly believe they are invincible, taking their lives back from whom? God? They reveal their immaturity and rebellious hearts by their child-like tirades. I have known few children in my life who have ever behaved this badly.

 

Tantrum according to Wikipedia says: Tantrum, temper tantrum, or hissy fit is an emotional outburst, usually associated with those in emotional distress, that is typically characterized by stubbornness, crying, screaming, violence, defiance, angry ranting, a resistance to attempts at pacification, and, in some cases, hitting, and other physically violent behavior. Physical control may be lost; the person may be unable to remain still; and even if the “goal” of the person is met, they may not be calmed.

 

Let’s call them what they really are: They are thugs. The world does not need more weak men trying to get people to believe they are strong. The world needs men who know they are weak but whom God has made strong. If we study the tyrannical world leaders in the Bible and throughout history, we also see that it is these types of weak men God uses to bring judgment upon His own people when they drift into idolatry—when they forget God. Judgment came through enemy nations, nations that were enemies of God and His people. God brought these enemies against His own children for their own good and His glory. Some might say: “That’s messed up!” If I stop and look at that statement imagining someone reading it through the eyes of natural man, I would say someone who worshipped this God is crazy or there’s something I don’t understand about this God—there’s something I’m missing.

 

Jeremiah’s message was a hard one to deliver. “God is bringing judgment to our nation and He will use enemy nations to do it. Turn from your wicked ways.” Basically, their city was going to be taken, their people driven into exile, and judgment would fall upon their land they loved so dearly. Christian, if a prophet arose in the United States of America, “the land of the free and home of the brave”, how would you respond? How would you prepare? What if you were told your family was going to be torn apart and taken into exile? Some would run to their churches for answers. The problem is that in most churches in our land the message is always, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life!”

 

What if I told you that when God called Jeremiah He said to him: I love you, and I have a wonderful plan for your life! In fact, He did. Say what? God basically told Jeremiah, “I have loved you from the foundation of the world. I have a wonderful plan for your life (God’s plans are always only good for His own), and this is what it is going to look like: This wonderful plan will include you going to the nations and preaching a message in which everyone (and I mean everyone!!!) will turn from you, turn on you, and eventually have you killed. This is my will for you, and it is right and good.” Jeremiah was born “for such a time as this” (his day) just as much as you and I have been born for ours. The message never changes. Can you see how the message will weed out the false professors from true believers? Now, we say we have put our faith and trust in God. Have we?  

 

The word of the LORD came to me a second time saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north.” Then the LORD said to me, “Out of the north the evil will break forth on all the inhabitants of the land. For, behold, I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” declares the LORD; “and they will come and they will set each one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls round about and against all the cities of Judah. I will pronounce My judgments on them concerning all their wickedness, whereby they have forsaken Me and have offered sacrifices to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands. Now, gird up your loins and arise, and speak to them all which I command you. Do not be dismayed before them, or I will dismay you before them. Now behold, I have made you today as a fortified city and as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land, to the kings of Judah, to its princes, to its priests and to the people of the land. They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 1:13-19)

 

Jeremiah first saw a rod of an almond tree, and we looked at that in yesterday’s blog post. The rod of the almond tree symbolized that God was watching over His word to perform it. Everything He says will happen is going to happen. Now, Jeremiah sees a boiling pot facing away from the north. The Lord tells Jeremiah that He is bringing a boiling pot of nations from the north to come against all the cities of Judah in judgment. Emphasis on it was God who was bringing judgment upon His own people. Why? This is where we need to pay real close attention, Beloved. The reason God gives is the same reason any nation dies. Forsaking God, seen by burning incense before other gods. Chronic idolatry. We say, “Whew! We’re not doing that!” But we, the American people, are doing just that. The gods of our nation involve exalting the ideas and philosophies of men who worship the works of their own hands. Exalting man, saying man is the solution to our problems, instead of turning to God. Humanism is the false god of our nation.

 

A definition of humanism found in a simple Google word search is: Humanism is an outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters. Humanist beliefs stress the potential value and goodness of human beings, emphasize common human needs, and seek solely rational ways of solving human problems. Humanism is in direct conflict with the message of the true Gospel.

 

Jeremiah saw kings overtaking and dominating a subservient Jerusalem. The “gates of the cities” were places where justice was administered. The enemies were going to assume the reigns of government, laying the whole country under their own laws. The Jewish people would no longer have any political power. Jeremiah is to go to his people and tell them what was coming. There have been strong godly men in our country who have been warning of judgment to come since the very foundations of our existence as a nation. God has been more than patient with us as we continue to shake our fist in His face rebelling against His Word. What is a prophet to do considering this hard message he is being called to deliver?

 

In our day, we might be tempted to fear the people. In fact, many a corrupt leader in this nation has fallen under this temptation. But, make no mistake about it, the weak leaders only cave to the whims of the weak people they lead. When those weak people become the majority, the nation is in trouble. The Lord tells Jeremiah to gird up his loins and arise, speak all that He had commanded him to speak, and not to be dismayed before them. The warning was that if he were dismayed before the people, God would dismay him before them. You are going to be put in some fearful circumstances. Do not fear men, Jeremiah. Fear God!

 

It is important to note that when God calls a man, within that calling is the very strength and courage supplied to them by God that makes them invincible. They become dangerous to the world. But God will not use men who will be influenced by the fear of man. All believers are called to be unashamed of the Lord they serve and the message that saved them. It is going to take spiritual courage and boldness to stand firm in the face of ridicule and persecution. That can only come from the supernatural strength that God provides.

 

How strong will Jeremiah have to be? He will need to be as strong as a fortified city. He will be a city on a hill with walls and strong towers defended by Lord Sabaoth and the armies of heaven. The One in the book of Revelation who will rule with a rod of iron makes His warriors iron pillars of truth in His Temple. God is bringing judgment, but He is giving them a man who will support and uphold the people of God with the truth. How we need men like this today who only speak the truth of God’s Word. We live in a day when everyone who leads us in the world speaks lies to benefit themselves or their own agendas. Jeremiah needed God’s strength for he was going to stand up for the truth against kings, officials, priests, and the people of Judah. They would all turn against him—every last one of them. God told him in advance that they were going to fight against him. Using words for military conflict, God was telling Jeremiah that everywhere he went, those he spoke to were going to declare war upon him. God was telling Jeremiah to put on his war gear. Put on your battle fatigues, My man, because it is going to get rough! Jeremiah was not going out in his own strength, and he knew it. He knew that his strength for this battle could only come from God. God made Jeremiah a warrior for the truth—he wasn’t trying to be somebody to impress God or man when God called him. When God said, “I have made you,” Jeremiah knew His creator was speaking to him.

 

Lastly, God didn’t just make Jeremiah strong then throw him to the wolves. He assured the prophet that He would be His protection. He would go with Him and have his back. God promised He would not allow the enemy to overcome him. He is the God of the almond tree—watching over His word to perform it.  Jeremiah, a fortified city, stood strong even when his beloved city Jerusalem fell.

 

When we are swimming upstream against the tide, standing alone, exiled, ridiculed, mocked for our faith, we are also called to stand firm in the same faith God gave Jeremiah the prophet. Ephesians 6:10 tells us to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. We do not profess to be strong in ourselves. Putting on the full armor of God, we are to gird up our loins standing firm with the belt of truth buckled around our waist. God calls those who are not wise according to the flesh, not mighty, not many noble. He has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, the base things of the world, and the despised—these are those God chooses to do His work His way. The world would look at the modern-day Jeremiah and say, “What a waste of a life!” However, God says: Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:58)