JEREMIAH 15A

LORD would not help even if … verse 1

Then said the LORD unto me
Though Moses and Samuel stood before ME
                        yet MY mind could not be toward this people
                                    cast them out of MY sight – and let them go forth

LORD states outcome for Judah verse 2

And it shall come to pass – if they say unto you
            Whither shall we go forth? then you shall tell them
Thus says the LORD
            Such as are for death – to death
                        and such as are for the sword – to the sword
                                    and such as are for the famine to the famine
                                                and such as are for the captivity – to the captivity

LORD gives reason for outcome verse 3- 4

And I shall appoint over them four kinds – says the LORD
            the sword to slay – the dogs to tear – and the fowls of the heaven
and the beasts of the earth – to devour and destroy
And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth
            BECAUSE of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah – king of Judah
                        for that which he did in Jerusalem

Long-suffering of LORD had ended verse 5- 9

For who shall have pity upon you – O Jerusalem? – or who shall bemoan you?
            or who shall go aside to ask how thou do?
You have forsaken ME – says the LORD – you are gone backward
THEREFORE will I stretch out MY hand against you – and destroy you
I am weary with REPENTING

And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land
I will bereave them of children
                        I will destroy MY people
                                    SINCE they return not from their ways
Their widows are increased to ME above the sand of the seas
            I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men
a spoiler at noonday
            I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly
                        and terrors upon the city
She that has borne seven languishes – she has given up the ghost
            her sun is gone down while it was yet day
                        she hath been ashamed and confounded
                                    and the residue of them will I deliver
                                                to the sword before their enemies says the LORD

Jeremiah’s complaint verse 10

Woe is me – my mother – that you have borne me a man of strife
and a man of contention to the whole earth
I have neither lent on usury – nor men has lent to me on usury
YET every one of them does curse me

The LORD said
            Verily it shall be well with your remnant
            Verily I will cause the enemy to entreat you well in the
time of evil and in the time of affliction
            Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?
            Your substance and your treasures will I give to the spoil
without price – and that for all your sins
even in all your borders
            I will make you to pass with your enemies into a land
                        which you know not – for a fire is kindled in MINE anger
                                    which shall burn upon you

Jeremiah states that he has been faithful verse 15- 18

O LORD – YOU know – remember me – and visit me
and revenge me of my persecutors
take me not away in YOUR long-suffering
know that for YOUR sake I have suffered rebuke
YOUR words were found – and I did eat them
and YOUR word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart
for I am called by YOUR name – O LORD God of hosts
I sat not in the assembly of the mockers – nor rejoiced
I sat ALONE because of YOUR hand
for YOU have filled me with indignation
Why is my pain perpetual – and my wound incurable – which refuses to be healed?
Will YOU be altogether unto me as a liar – and as waters that fail?

LORD asks Jeremiah to repent verse 19- 21

THEREFORE thus says the LORD
If you return – then will I bring you again
and you shall stand before ME
and if you take forth the precious from the vile
you shall be as MY mouth – let them return unto you
but return not you unto them
And I will make you unto this people a fenced brazen wall
and they shall fight against you
BUT they shall not prevail against you
for I am with you to save thee and to deliver you
says the LORD
            And I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked
                        and I will redeem you out of the hand of the terrible

COMMENTARY:

DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers

: 6 You have forsaken me, says the LORD, you are gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against you, and destroy you; I am wearywith repenting. (3811 "weary" [la'ah] means to become emotionally tired, to be disgusted, to be impatient, to be offended, to faint, to grieve, or to lothe.
DEVOTION: There is a point of no return for those who are rebellious against the LORD. The New Testament book of Romans instructs us in the fact that there is a point when the LORD turns them over to their desires. The people were guilty of uncleanness. The people were guilty of worshiping and serving the creature more than the Creator. The people were guilty of vile affections. The people were guilty of a reprobate mind. God gave them up to their desires.
Jeremiah lived in a time period where this was happening in Judah. The LORD stated that they had forsaken HIM. HE stated that they were going backwards. We understand what it meant to go backwards in our faith. The book of Hebrews stated that there were people in the church who should be teachers because they have received instructions but they were still children in the faith.
We find today that there are many people who attend church for over thirty years but stay one year old in the LORD. They don’t want to grow. They don’t want to get closer to the LORD. Are they born again? That is in the LORD’S hands. We might not think so. Ours is not to judge their salvation but their growth can be observed.
Remember that the LORD gave the disciple John a vision of seven churches. One of the statements made was that the LORD could come and remove the candlestick from the church if they don’t turn around.
The challenge is given to become more active for the LORD. If their actions don’t show their love for the LORD, HE will come in judgment.
The children of Judah showed that they were not going to return to the LORD. The long-suffering of the LORD was at the point of judgment. HE was offended that their actions. HE had kept all HIS promises.
CHALLENGE: Remember to examine your habits. There might be a time the LORD’S patience might end because HE is tired of our lack of growth in our life. Continually ask the LORD for wisdom from above to have victory over that sinful habit.)

DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers

: 15 O LORD, You know; Remember me and visit me, And take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In Your enduring patience, do not take me away. Know that for Your sake I have suffered rebuke. The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982).
Devotion: Prayer is such an important part of the believer’s life. Yet sometimes we are overwhelmed by the circumstances and situations that come upon us that we forget to pray. Jeremiah was a man acquainted with grief and overcome with sorrow, yet he often cried out to the Lord in prayer. In our own prayer life we need to lay hold of the prophet’s three affirmations. This all-knowing God by His very nature remembers, visits, and avenges. He remembers even when I feel forgotten and forsaken. These three affirmations may help us when we are feeling like God has forgotten or our enemies are overwhelming our positions of biblical integrity.
The reality of Scripture is that He has not forgotten us when we, like Jeremiah, suffer rebuke, mockery and loneliness. He still visits us through His word and Spirit and confirms our relationship with Him. Finally, He does exact vengeance in His time.
Application: The Lord’s protective presence is real as we are obedient to Him. The reassurance of this fact is found in v.19-21 of this chapter. Do not compromise and do not go back to the ways of the past. Victory is built in to perseverance! It is like playing a game we used to play when I was a young boy. The last one standing on the top of the hay pile was the winner. Stand for the Lord and see what He can do for you in prayer! (Dr. Brian Miller – board member)

DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers

: 20 And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brazen wall: and they shall fightagainst thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, says the LORD. 3898 “fight” [lacham] mean to war, overcome, devoured, to engage in battle, wage war, come to close quarters, or attack.
DEVOTION: Do you think it is wrong to question the LORD? Do you think that we should call God a liar? Here we find that the prophet who has been accused by his family and his nation of being a traitor. He seems to be at the end of his rope. He was questioning the way the LORD did things.
What was the LORD’S response? HE told Jeremiah to repent and return to following HIM. HE promised to take care of him. HE promised HIS presence in his life. HE promised to deliver him from all of his enemies.
If you are faithful to the LORD there will be enemies. If you are faithful to the LORD you will have questions. This is normal. This is what Jesus promised would happen to the disciples.
Jeremiah got discouraged. So did Elijah and other prophets. It seemed that their message was hitting deaf ears. Their ministries seemed to be failures. They might have been like Jeremiah and wondered why the LORD even called them to serve HIM.
Each time the LORD gave them the message that HE was still sovereign and they were to trust HIM. HE also allowed them to question what was happening to a point. Once the point was crossed the LORD asked Job questions that he couldn’t answer. Jeremiah was in the same position.
There might be times that we are in the same position. What does the LORD expect of us? TRUST.
HE has promised to never leave us or forsake us. HE has promised to give us wisdom from above if we ask for it. There are many promises. HE never LIES!! HE never allows more in our life than HE knows we can take. Jeremiah might have thought it was too much but the LORD knew his limit.
CHALLENGE: When discouraged go to the LORD and be honest with HIM. Don’t ever call him a liar. HE is holy. Ask for wisdom instead to understand your present circumstances.)

DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:

BODY

Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)

SOUL

Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)

SPIRIT

Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)

Jeremiah’s prayer for deliverance verse 15- 18
LORD answers the prayer verse 19- 21

Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)

DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:

Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)

God’s Word verse 16

God the Father (First person of the Godhead)

LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal) verse 1- 3, 6, 9, 11,
15, 16, 19, 20
Weary with repenting verse 6
Anger of God verse 14
Longsuffering verse 15
God – Elohim (Creator, Sovereign) verse 16
LORD God of hosts verse 16

God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)

All kingdoms of the earth verse 4
Widows verse 8
Enemies verse 9, 11, 14
Persecutors verse 15

SIn (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)

Sin of Manasseh verse 4
Forsaken God verse 6
Gone backward verse 6
Return not to LORD verse 7
Strife verse 10
Contention verse 10
Lent with usury [interest] verse 10
Curse God verse 10
Evil verse 11
Sins verse 13
Assembly of mockers verse 17
Liar verse 18
Vile verse 19
Wicked verse 21

Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)

Repent verse 6
Return verse 7, 19
Remembers us verse 15
Visit us verse 15
Revenge us verse 15
Suffer rebuke verse 15
Meditate on God’s word verse 16
Joy verse 16
Rejoicing verse 16
Called verse 16
Sat alone verse 17
Filled with indignation verse 17
Pain perpetual verse 18
Wound incurable verse 18
Precious verse 19
Stand before LORD verse 19
Save verse 20
Deliver verse 20, 21
Redeem verse 21

Israel (Old Testament people of God)

Moses verse 1
Samuel verse 1
God’s people verse 1, 7, 20
Manasseh the son of Hezekiah verse 4
Judah verse 4
Jerusalem verse 4, 5

Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)

QUOTES

15:5–7. God asked Jerusalem.… who would pity her or mourn for her when she was judged. The only One who had ever cared for her was God, but she had rejected Him. Therefore God vowed to destroy her without compassion. He would winnow her as a farmer winnowed his grain to remove the unbelievers who were like chaff. (Dyer, C. H. (1985). Jeremiah. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, pp. 1148–1149). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)

Before the Jews even entered the Promised Land, Moses had rehearsed with them the terms of the covenant, warning them that He would remove them from the land if they refused to obey His voice (Deut. 28:63–68). No sooner did Joshua and that generation of spiritual leaders pass from the scene (Jud. 2:7–15) than the nation turned to idolatry and God had to chasten them. First, He punished them in the land by allowing other nations to invade and take control. Then, when the people cried out for help, He raised up deliverers (vv. 16–23). By the time of Jeremiah, however, the sins of the people were so great that God had to remove them from the land and punish them in distant Babylon. Two responses are recorded in this chapter: the Lord’s response to Jeremiah’s prayer (Jer. 15:1–9), and Jeremiah’s response to the Lord’s answer (vv. 10–21).
The Lord’s response to Jeremiah’s prayer (vv. 1–9). No matter who sought to intercede for Judah, God’s mind was made up, and He would not relent. At critical times in Jewish history, Moses and Samuel had interceded for the people, and God heard and answered (Ex. 32–34; Num. 14; 1 Sam. 7; 12; Ps. 99:6–8). But God’s heart would go out to the people no longer. Instead, His people would go out into captivity. “Send them away from My presence! Let them go!” (Jer. 15:1, NIV)
The people faced four possible judgments: death from disease, war, starvation or, if they survived these calamities, exile in Babylon. The bodies of those slain by the Babylonian army would be desecrated and eaten by dogs, birds, or wild beasts; none would have a decent burial. It wasn’t a bright future that God revealed to His people, but it was a future they themselves had chosen by refusing to repent of their sins. You take what you want from life and you pay for it.
God had chosen the Jews to be a blessing to the nations of the world (Gen. 12:1–3), but now they would become “abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth” (v. 4, NIV; see 24:9; 29:18; 34:17; Deut. 28:25), an object of scorn, “a byword among the nations” (Ps. 44:14, NIV). Not only that, but Jerusalem and the land itself would bear witness to God’s judgment of their sins. “Their land will be laid waste, an object of lasting scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and will shake their heads” (Jer. 18:16, NIV; see 19:8; 25:9, 18; 29:18).
One of the causes for this terrible judgment was King Manasseh, who reigned for fifty-five years (697–642) and was the most wicked king in Judah’s history (2 Kings 21:1–18; 2 Chron. 33:1–10). He was the son of godly Hezekiah and the grandfather of godly Josiah, and yet he himself was an evil man who encouraged Judah in the sins that brought about the downfall of the kingdom. God wasn’t punishing the nation for the sins Manasseh committed but because the nation imitated Manasseh in their sinning.
In fact, the Lord lamented over the suffering that would come to His people because of their disobedience (Jer. 15:5–9). Would anybody pity Jerusalem or even ask about her welfare? Nehemiah did (Neh. 1:1–3), and centuries later, Jesus wept over the city (Matt. 23:37). For God to postpone judgment would have meant encouraging the nation’s sins even more, and this He would not do. He was “weary with repenting” (Jer. 15:6). (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be Decisive (pp. 71–73). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)

15:6 I am tired of relenting! God often withholds the judgment He threatens (cf. 26:19; Ex 32:14; 1Ch 21:15), sparing men so that His patience might lead them to repentance (cf. Ro 2:4, 5; 3:25). (MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Je 15:6). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)

The solemn answer of Jehovah in the first nine verses of chap. 15 gives no hope of deliverance. Even though Moses and Samuel stood to entreat for them, they would not be heard. The people must “go forth;” and if they despairingly ask, “Where?” the awful answer is, “Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity” (ver. 2). The sword, the dogs, the fowls, and the beasts of the earth, are alike appointed to carry out the work of destruction: and any escaping these would be carried into all the kingdoms of the earth; and this because their share in the sin of Manasseh had never been repented of. None should pity nor care; for having forsaken the Lord, He would stretch out His hand against them. Young and old must be destroyed. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God;” for “our God is a consuming fire.”
As the full extent of God’s sentence bursts upon his soul, Jeremiah is overcome by a sense of almost unutterable desolation. How deeply he feels his helplessness and loneliness, as one man endeavoring to stand for God and seeking the good of those who hate and despise Him! His prayers seem to be unavailing. God apparently refuses to hearken to his voice. The people, on their part, turn a deaf ear to his messages. He cries out in anguish, “Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor have men lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me” (ver. 10). (Ironside, H. A. (1906). Notes on the prophecy and Lamentations of Jeremiah (pp. 69–70). Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers.)