THIS IS WHAT THE LORD SAYS: About 2600 years ago, the “weeping prophet” Jeremiah urged God's chosen people and their leadership to look to Him for their strength, not other people or governments. Thousands of years later, God’s Word continues to reverberate this same truth to ALL His people.

The focus verses of this lesson represent a succinct synopsis of the entire book of Jeremiah. “This is what the LORD says: ‘Cursed are those who trust in mortals, who depend on flesh for their strength and whose hearts turn away from the LORD… But blessed are those who trust in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.’"  Jeremiah 17:5,7

In Jeremiah’s day, religious folks in Judah had come to believe that God would always preserve and protect their nation, no matter what. They were dead-wrong.

“’The people of Israel and the people of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to me,’ declares the Lord. They have lied about the Lord; they said, ‘He will do nothing! No harm will come to us; we will never see sword or famine. The prophets are but wind and the word is not in them; so let what they say be done to them.’ Therefore this is what the Lord God Almighty says: ‘Because the people have spoken these words, I will make my words in your mouth a fire and these people the wood it consumes.’ Jeremiah 5:11-14

When we read that God's word will be the fire in Jeremiah’s mouth that will consume those who have been unfaithful to Him, we should sit up and take notice. No one has ever used words as precisely as God does in the Bible. Through 200 varieties of figures of speech, The Almighty imparts the depth of His wisdom to His people. Jeremiah repeated these creative words, designed to get people to think and respond to God's message of deliverance.

In verse 5 of the very first chapter Jeremiah painted a beautiful and stirring word-picture of how he was called by the LORD. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Jeremiah uses a figure of speech called hyperbole, which intentionally uses exaggeration or overstatement for emphasis and effect. Hyperbole occurs often in the Bible, but since we are thousands of years removed from the culture and language, we are apt to miss this nuance and prone to take it literally.

The setting of the hyperbole and its intention are revealed in the context of the verses before and after it. Here the Almighty was making the point to Jeremiah that there was no way he could fail as a prophet, because God Himself was fully vested in him and had prepared the way. Indeed, the first verse of the book of Jeremiah provides context for this understanding when Jeremiah stated that his father was a priest in a Levite city, which meant that his family came from a long line of Levite priests. Jeremiah most certainly had been immersed in God’s Word from the very beginning of his life, and through his parentage, even before his birth.

Verses 6-8 reveal that the Lord’s intention through the hyperbole was solely to encourage Jeremiah in the face of his predictable youthful hesitation. “’Alas, Sovereign Lord,’ I said, ‘I do not know how to speak; I am too young.’ But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am too young.” You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,’ declares the Lord.”

Jeremiah uses other figures of speech in verses 9-10 of the same chapter. “Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me,” I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.’”

The apostle Peter helps us understand the word-pictures painted in the first sentences in the above passage. “For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:21

Jeremiah was not only creative with his words, he also dramatized his actions to make a point, crediting the LORD with the idea. In chapter 27, he put a yoke on his own neck and went about urging all the people, priests, and even King Zedekiah, to submit to the yoke of Babylon so they could live and be restored to peace in the future by the Lord Himself.

What followed is a cautionary tale about the prophet Hananiah who removed the yoke from Jeremiah’s neck, announcing that God was going to remove the yoke of Babylon from the people of Judah in the same way. God’s fifth month on our Gregorian calendar runs from the evening of July 18-August 17, so this accounting is positioned perfectly for our consideration today.

“In the fifth month of that same year…After the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “Go and tell Hananiah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but in its place you will get a yoke of iron. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will put an iron yoke on the necks of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I will even give him control over the wild animals.’” Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies. Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the Lord.’” In the seventh month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died.” Jeremiah 28:1,13-17

Long-story-short, Jeremiah spent 40 years telling the people exactly what would happen, but they didn't listen. Even his own family turned against him, hostile because he was also holding the priestly religious leaders, as well as the monarchy, accountable for the moral decline and rebellious attitude of the people.

“Among my people are the wicked who lie in wait like men who snare birds and like those who set traps to catch people. Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful and have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not seek justice. They do not promote the case of the fatherless; they do not defend the just cause of the poor.  Should I not punish them for this?” declares the Lord. “Should I not avenge myself, on such a nation as this?“ A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?” Jeremiah 5:26-31

Ignoring Jeremiah’s prophesy warning to wear the yoke Babylon would lay on them, and rely solely on God to deliver them, King Zedekiah chose to align Judah with the nation of Egypt to gain the strategic advantage over their nemesis, Babylon. Enraged, the King of Babylon not only continued to attack Jerusalem, he broke down the walls, burned the temple, killed many of the leadership and assigned most of the population to Babylonian exile.

Even when the army of the king of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem in a series of assaults, Jeremiah bought land in the city to make the point that one day God’s chosen people would return. Jeremiah 32:6-25

In the midst of one of the Babylonian sieges, in one of the most famous passages in the Bible, Jeremiah 29:11, God addresses the captive Jews. “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

Jeremiah was there when Jerusalem finally fell on the tenth day of the 5th month on God’s calendar, around this time of the year, and its people were taken as captives by the Babylonians, and every building and house, including the Temple was set on fire. Jeremiah 52

The words of Jeremiah end with God directing oracles or curses against many surrounding nations including Egypt, the nation Judah had aligned themselves with strategically and the hiding place many fled to after Jerusalem fell. Jeremiah 51

In the end, making a strategic alliance to gain strength, instead of depending on God's promise of future restoration, cost His chosen people more than they could ever have imagined. They refused to accept the yoke that God’s Word placed on them, so God placed a yoke of iron on their necks. Listen now, as the words of Jesus speak truth to us all. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

THIS IS WHAT THE LORD SAYS: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the LORD. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”