Lesson 118: Jeremiah’s Call And Ministry
Jeremiah 1:1—2:19
Golden Texts Proverbs 29:25

I. The Historic Setting; 1:1-3. The decline of the nation of Judah due to its disobedience to the word of God and its sinful practices. Cp. 2 Chronicles 36:14-16. Jeremiah has been well called “The prophet of the bleeding heart and the iron will.”

II. The Divine Call; vs. 4, 5. Note its prenatal character. Cp. Galatians 1:15; Romans 8:29-31; Ephesians
1:4; John 17:2, 6, 9, 10, 11. 12, 24; 1 Peter 1:2; Romans 11:33, 34. Here is the glorious truth of God’s foreknowledge and predestination. Isaiah 40:28; 46:10; Acts 15:18.

III. The Response; V. 6. A sense of his weakness, ignorance and inexperience. Cp. Other calls and other responses. Moses, Exodus 4:10; Isaiah, Isaiah 6:5; Solomon, 1 Kings 3:7.

IV. The Divine Encouragement; vs. 7-19.

1. Divine Promise; v. 7. Think of Who is speaking! God’s promises are His enablings. Ephesians 3:20.

2. Divine protection; v. 8. “I am with Thee.” Cp. Hebrews 13:5; Matthew 28:19, 20; Isaiah 41:10; Deuteronomy 31:6; 2 Timothy 4:16, 17; Psalm 23:4.

3. Divine enduement. V. 9. Here is verbal inspiration Cp. 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21. Cp. 2 Samuel 23:2. “Thus saith the Lord.” Emphasize this.

4. Divine plan; v. 10. Note the order. First to pull down ere setting up. Man needs to be brought down. Matthew 9:12, 13? Luke 19:10. There must be repentance, humiliation, self judgment and confession of sin before there can be a building up in the holy faith. The great need of many is to unlearn their false theories before they can take in God’s truth.

5. The Divine illustration; vs. 11-16. All through this book symbols and pictures are used to convey the lesson.

Preface.

The work, now presented to the reader, cannot be said to be uncalled for; as the Book of Ezekiel is one of those least entered into and expounded as a whole in the Bible. There is little to reward the student in the Greek comments of Origen, Ephraem Syr., Greg. Naz., or Theodoret, less, if possible, in the Latin of Jerome or Gregory the Great. One need not speak of Mediaevals or Reformers, of Jesuits or Puritans, of modern Germans or their English admirers. All lacked the key. Which of them saw the heavenly glory of Christ and the church, as a distinct thing from the kingdom? Which of them did not deny the hopes of Israel? Hence, save pious moral reflections, there is nothing to speak of in these writings, some of them voluminous, like the architectural work of H. Pradus and J. B. Villalpandus, in three enormous folio volumes without a ray of heavenly light.

I am far from pretending, in this brief exposition, to do more than help the Christian to a general but true notion of the contents, aim, and character of the prophecy, as far as I at present understand it, though sensible of the defects of my little book more than most are likely to be.

Blackheath, London, January, 1876.

Introduction.

Of the prophet on whose book we enter we know few circumstances, none save the scanty personal particulars which he gives in the course of his prophecies, bound up with them and expressive of their character. We are told that he was a priest, son of Buzi; also of his wife and her sudden death, a sign to Israel; and of his residence at Tel-abib by the Chebar in the land of the Chaldeans. He speaks of Daniel his contemporary, in his own day famous for righteousness even as Noah and Job.¹