I don't think Jeremiah was anyone special, just a priest in Anathoth, but then 'the word of the LORD came' to him (Jeremiah 1.2). The message he was to bring to Judah was that of the boiling pot of God's judgement (1.12, 16), as the kingdoms of the north were to descend on Judah and Jerusalem. What had Judah done? Forsaken God, made offerings to other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands (1.16). Idolatry! Sin! Rebellion!
It's the same message that Paul brings in Romans 1.18-32: Man is without excuse before God, for suppressing the truth of who God is and not responding to Him as He is due. Israel had already been taken captive to Asyrria in 722 B.C., and now it was the turn of Judah.
The command to Jeremiah was big enough: to say everything that God has commanded, and to not be dismayed by those he is to say it to. And the assurance was equally massive: God would make Jeremiah a fortified city, an iron pillar... 'for I am with you, declares the LORD, to deliver you.' (1.19).
Little Jeremiah and BIG God, a God-given message in a jar of clay, 'to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us' (2 Cor 4.7). The gospel, a message of reconciliation, has been entrusted to the church with the duty of holding it out to this generation.
Will I take up the challenge of telling a world in rebellion they need a Saviour?
Will I be indifferent to whether or not the One who deserves all glory gets it?
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