"They knew not... the voices of the
prophets which are read every sabbath" (Acts 13:27).
"Which of the prophets did not your fathers
persecute?" (Acts 7:52).Thus far we have been occupied
with the many notes in the voice of the Prophet Jeremiah.
Before we leave this Prophet we want to say a word
regarding Jeremiah's representative and inclusive
position. Perhaps some readers have wondered why we
should have taken Jeremiah first in prophetic ministry.
Most writers would - most probably - have put Isaiah
first. "Jeremiah" is not an easy or happy
Prophet to read. Isaiah is so much more likeable and
readable. We may have our preferences among the Prophets,
but - preference apart - there are reasons why we have
commenced with Jeremiah, and there will be reasons why we
do what we do in other cases.
Our main reason for
this priority is that, in a fuller way than any other,
Jeremiah accentuates the features of all the Prophets.
What variety of features there is when we look at all the
Prophets! Sorrow, hope, despair, joy, bitterness, light,
darkness, love, anger, etc. While each Prophet may have
more than one aspect, each one has some predominant
feature. It is possible to say of each one: 'This is the
Prophet of...' (and give a respective definition). When
we look at Jeremiah we are impressed with many
characteristics. But there is an inclusiveness here. If
the predominant impression is tears and sorrow, this is
alternated with hope, promise, God's sovereignty, and day
of Salvation to come. The point is that many aspects go
to make up the calling and vocation of prophetic
ministry. Let us note some of these, to which Jeremiah is
a pointer. We have dealt with this matter much more fully
in our "PROPHETIC MINISTRY" and
"GOD'S REACTIONS TO MAN'S
DEFECTIONS",
but it will not be unhelpful to indicate some points
here. The Prophet and his ministry is the focal point of
God's
Recovery Movement
That means that the
function of prophetic ministry is introduced when things
have departed from God's full intention. But it means
more than that. The departure is marked by an element of
strength which involves the Prophet in positive conflict.
In such a ministry there is no passive accommodating to
the situation, no compromise or appeasement. There may be
appeal, entreaty, tears and sorrow, but there is no truce
with spiritual decline. This is very apparent in all the
Prophets from Samuel onward. They are fighting men, and
the Chief of all was Jesus Christ Himself. God has a
mind, and it is a full mind. This mind had been
intimated, and the Bible is the history of the battle for
its full realization. There is an intense downgrade
element in creation. Left to itself nature declines, runs
wild and loses character. Nothing rises - ascends -
without a counter to this propensity. The Bible sees this
element introduced as a part of one tremendous downward
step by man; thorns and thistles for ever became symbols
of a wrong direction, and toiling by the sweat of the
brow the warfare to overcome that tendency. This inherent
strain has marked man's relation with Divine things, and
the history of the things of God has been: God moves -
man countermoves - God moves again.
As we have said, the
prophetic function stands at the centre of this conflict.
It is here that the second of the two Scriptures at the
head of this chapter has its place. Indeed, it is here
that Stephen's martyrdom comes in.
"Which of the
prophets did not your fathers persecute?"
Because the fulfilment
of this kind of ministry means an unrelenting stand
against the incorrigible desire to play down to the easy
level, those who have this ministry committed to them are
not popular, and - like Jeremiah - are looked upon as
really not concerned for people's interests. This is
probably why Jeremiah, like Moses and Isaiah, did shrink
from such ministry. When Jeremiah said to the Lord:
"I am a child; I cannot speak", he referred to
his sense of not having the prophetic qualifications of
the prophet - to "speak". The ministry for him
held none of the attraction of preaching, as preaching
has for so many. It had to be thrust upon Jeremiah
against his own sense of insufficiency, for Jeremiah well
knew what he would be up against as a Prophet; and he got
what he expected. But, the very survival of these
Prophets through all that they encountered shows that God
was with them; that He had called them; and that their
ministry was of particular importance and value to Him.
The ministry of
recovery of lost values, lost standards, and lost
spiritual measure is a lonely way for those in it. The
Prophets were very lonely men, and their ministry was
very costly.
If Jeremiah did feel
himself to be so inadequate and such a "child"
alongside of the big situation to be met, the Lord -
while doubtless appreciating his sense of insufficiency -
would not allow His servant to limit Him (God) to
Jeremiah's measure. It is one of the paradoxes of
Scripture that, while the Lord takes care to have His
servants weak and empty in themselves, He will not permit
them to excuse or exempt themselves on the ground of this
insufficiency. So, an Apostle will cry out of an
overwhelming sense of inadequacy: "Who is sufficient
for these things?" and then answer his own cry:
"Our sufficiency is of God." Jeremiah had the
answer to his cry of weakness in: "I have this day
set thee over the nations." The voice of this
Prophet, and all the Prophets, says:
"My strength is
made perfect in weakness."
We must not forget that
the Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Zechariah, and more, are the
definite result of the ministry of Jeremiah. (See 2
Chronicles 36:22 and Ezra 1:1.)
But remember also that
Jeremiah's ministry and sufferings were vindicated in the
Remnant. First the Remnant that returned to rebuild the
temple and wall, and Jerusalem. Yes, but not only that
temporal Remnant, but an eternal spiritual remnant, for
the Apostle Paul uses this very truth in his argument
concerning the inclusion of a remnant of Israel in the
heavenly Zion, the New Israel (Romans 9:27-33). True, he
quotes Isaiah, but, as we have indicated, the whole of
the ministry of all the Prophets related to God's
recovery movement; and that recovery is always in
Remnants. May not the Overcomers of the Revelation be the
Remnant at the end, embodying God's full mind? It is in
those early chapters of the Revelation that we see that
downgrade tendency so evident. Let us beware of playing
down the full purpose of God. The false Prophets of
Israel were not false in the sense that they never had
been called to the Prophetic ministry. They were men who
had been in the School of the Prophets; academically
trained, and heirs of the tradition of Elijah, Elisha,
etc. They were false in the sense of declension,
compromise, time-serving; using their office officially
and not spiritually; to gain popularity; men of policy
and not principle; seeking to be men-pleasers, and to
keep on pleasant terms with the people; not true at great
cost to their trust and responsibility.
The criterion of our
ministry at the end will be: 'Did the people of God
really gain eternally by our having been with them, or
did they lose what God wanted them to have?' Is the
responsibility with us or with the people? This is the
inclusive "voice" of all the Prophets.