SHUT UP AND SHOUT OUT

#086                                                            SHUT UP AND SHOUT OUT                                                                                   

Scripture  Jeremiah 33:1-7 NIV                                                                                                                          Orig. 1-7-62

                                                                                                                                                                                  Rewr. 9-12-89 

Passage:  1 While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him a second time: 2 “This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it—the LORD is his name: 3 ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ 4 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the houses in this city and the royal palaces of Judah that have been torn down to be used against the siege ramps and the sword  5 in the fight with the Babylonians : ‘They will be filled with the dead bodies of the people I will slay in my anger and wrath. I will hide my face from this city because of all its wickedness.  6 ‘Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security.  7 I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before.’”

Purpose:  Continuing a study emphasis from the prophets, here concluding a brief synopsis of some of the teaching of this book.

Keywords:          Bible Study                                                                         Series, Jeremiah

                                                                                                                                Series, Old Testament Prophets

Timeline:             Sequential         

Introduction

                The Biblical text writers are not strangers to persecution.  The path woven through the Old Testament prophets reveals to us again and again the hatred of those who protested against what the prophet had to say.  Not only did Jeremiah, as almost the last of the line, know about the others, he experienced it himself under the most adverse of circumstances.  

                Jeremiah has been accused of capitulation to the enemy (Jeremiah 37:13), and summarily taken away to prison.  The immediate event seems to have taken place at about the time Jehoiakim was relieved of the throne and taken to Babylon.  According to 37:1, Zedekiah has come to the throne, the third son of Josiah.

                The political leaders were among the arch enemies of the prophet and his message from God.  Jehoiakim, you remember, after the second Temple sermon had cut the segments from the scroll and burned them.

                The message of Jeremiah (36:32) seems, however, to have been written before the time spent in prison.  Jeremiah’s emotional warfare had been going on all the time in his own spirit.

                Paul, we know, wrote some of his letters from prison.  Consider Ephesians 6:12:

                “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

John Bunyan, also, in Pilgrim’s Progress:

                “If you will go with us, you must go against wind and tide; you must own religion in his rags as well as in his silver slippers; and stand by him, too, when bound in irons; as well as when he walketh the streets with applause.”

                Interestingly, Jeremiah came to write perhaps the single most significant statement of hope to Judah from this prison cell.  Chapter 33 is headed, “Prosperity will return to Jerusalem.”

                V14f “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and the house of Judah.  In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up into David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.  In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness.”

I.             This chapter gives us a glorious view of what the prophet perceived of God.  He saw one who was absolute.  V2, “maker,” suggests first cause; “formed it” is utilitarian; “to establish it” may mean to keep it on target.

                He saw unlimited intercession.  V3 “Call unto me, and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.”

                He saw the extent of their blessing.  V6-9: v6 Health and cure; v6 peace and truth; v7 restoration.

                V8 is about forgiveness—“cleanse,” “pardon;” it means to purify for ritual participation, the nearest Old Testament concept to forgiveness.  This last is the same used Jeremiah 31:34, “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.

                V9 is about blessing, the opposite of what they were.  Others will know. Jeremiah would be appointed prophet to the nations. Jeremiah 1:5 (“I have appointed you a prophet to the nations”); 10: “See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms.”

                In vs 10-11 he saw future joy, praise, and mercy.  V11 “The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, ‘Give thanks to the Lord of hosts, For the Lord is good, For his lovingkindness is everlasting.’”

                He saw the promised Messiah in v14-16.  “I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth.”

***THE REMAINDER OF THIS SERMON HAS BEEN LOST***