THE FIRST PART: A BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF THE OLD TESTMENT

From Captivity to the Return
Message Four—Jeremiah / Lamentations

Scripture Reading: Jer. 1:1-5; 2:13; 23:3-8; 31:33-34; Lam. 1:1-11, 5:1-7, 16

I. The subject of the book of Jeremiah is Christ being made the righteousness of Jehovah to God’s elect as their center and circumference in God’s dealings with Israel and the nations; no matter how stubborn, wicked, and corrupt Israel, God’s elect, may be, God will eventually make Christ the righteousness of Jehovah to them—Jer. 13.

II. In the book of Jeremiah four parties are revealed; the first party is God, who is tender, loving, compassionate, and righteous; the second party is Jeremiah, a timid young man raised up by God to be His mouthpiece; in contrast, Israel, the third party, is evil and stubborn, and the fourth party, consisting of the nations, is even worse—31:33-34:

A. God’s carrying out of His economy through the chastisement of Israel, His elect, in love with His tender care, compassion, and sympathy, and His judgment upon the nations in righteousness to match His love, that Israel may manifest Christ by their being made a new creation with the inner law of the divine life and the capacity of this life to know God—Jer. 31:33-34.

B. A timid young man raised up by God to be His mouthpiece to speak for Him and express Him; as God’s mouthpiece, Jeremiah is one with God in being tenderhearted, loving, and righteous—Jer. 1:8, 17.

C. According to the book of Jeremiah, Israel was wicked and provoked God’s wrath, and because of this God came in to punish and chastise them; actually, their unrighteousness and sinfulness provided the opportunity for Christ to come in and be made the righteousness of Jehovah to them—Jer. 13:10.

D. The basic element of the divine word in Jeremiah is not Israel’s sin and God’s chastisement; the basic element is God’s economy; God’s economy is to make Christ everything, to make Christ the centrality and the universality, for the producing of God’s increase, God’s enlargement, which is the church, and consummation of New Jerusalem.

III. The kernel of the book of Jeremiah includes three matters—what God wants from us, what we are in our fallen condition, and what Christ is to us; in order to see these three things, we need to “crack” the shell of Jeremiah and concentrate on the kernel inside, which is the complete teaching of the entire Bible—Jer. 2:13, 1 Cor. 12:13:

A. What God wants from us is mentioned mainly in Jeremiah 2:13, which reveals that God is the fountain of living waters:

1. God wants us to take Him as the fountain of living waters for our living; this means that He wants us to take Him as the source, the fountain, of our being; the only way to take God as the fountain of living waters is to drink of Him day by day.

2. God’s intention in His economy is to be the fountain, the source, of living waters to satisfy His chosen people for their enjoyment, with the goal of producing the church as God’s increase, God’s enlargement, to be God’s fullness for His expression—2:13; Lam. 3:22-24; 1 Cor. 1:9.

3. Our drinking of the one Spirit in resurrection makes us members of the Body, builds us up as the Body, and prepares us to be the bride of Christ—1 Cor. 12:13; Rev. 22:17; John 4:14b.

4. John 4:14b reveals a flowing Triune God—the Father is the fountain, the Son is the spring, and the Spirit is the flowing river, issuing in the totality of the eternal life, the New Jerusalem. apart from God Himself dispensed into us as living water, nothing can quench our thirst and make us God’s increase for His expression.

B. Another aspect of the kernel of Jeremiah is the exposure of what we are in our fallen condition—17:9; 13:23; 32:39-40:

1. “The heart is deceitful above all things / And it is incurable; / Who can know it?”—17:9.

2. “Can the Cushite change his skin, / Or the leopard his spots? / Then you also may be able to do good, / Who are accustomed to do evil”—13:23.

3. As fallen human beings, in ourselves and by ourselves and with ourselves we are incurable and unchangeable—32:39-40; Rom. 7:18; Matt. 12:34-35; 15:7-11, 18-20; 1 Chron. 28:9; Ezek. 36:26-27.

C. The third matter in the book of Jeremiah is what Christ is to us—23:5-6; 31:33-34:

1. “Indeed, days are coming, / Declares Jehovah, / When I will raise up to David a righteous Shoot… / And this is His name by which He will be called, / Jehovah our righteousness”—23:5-6:

a. Jehovah our righteousness refers to Christ in His divinity, and a righteous Shoot, to Christ in His humanity.

b. The name here, Jehovah our righteousness, indicates that Christ, as a descendant of David, is not merely a man but is also the very Jehovah who created the heavens and the earth, selected Abraham, established the race of Israel, and was the Lord of David, the One whom he called Lord; Christ came as a Shoot (the son of David) who is Jehovah Himself (as the Lord of David) to be the righteousness of God’s people—Matt. 22:42-45; Rev. 5:5; 22:16.

2. “This is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares Jehovah: I will put My law in their inward parts and write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. and they will no longer teach, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for all of them will know Me, from the little one among them even to the great one among them, declares Jehovah, for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more”—31:33-34; Isa. 42:6:

a. The center, the content, and the reality of the new covenant is the inner law of life; in its essence this law refers to the divine life, and the divine life is the Triune God, who is embodied in the all-inclusive Christ and realized as the life-giving Spirit and who has been processed and consummated to be everything to His chosen people—Rom. 8:2; Col. 2:9; 1 Cor. 15:45.

b. The writing of the law of life on our heart corresponds to the New Testament teaching concerning the spreading of the divine life from the center of our being, which is our spirit, to the circumference, which is our heart; God writes His law on our heart by moving from our spirit into our heart to inscribe what He is into our being—Heb. 8:10; Rom. 8:9; Eph. 3:17; 2 Cor. 3:3.

IV. Lamentations, written by Jeremiah, the weeping and lamenting prophet, contains five lamentations expressing Jeremiah’s sorrow and love—Lam. 2:11; 9:1; 3:48:

A. Lamentations 3:22 says, “It is Jehovah’s lovingkindness that we are not consumed, / For His compassions do not fail;” here Jeremiah speaks not of God’s love but of His lovingkindness and of His compassions, compassion is different from mercy, compassion is a tender, inward feeling, and mercy is the outward expression of this feeling; Jehovah’s compassions, like the dew, are new every morning.

B. Prior to 5:19, Jeremiah was writing according to his personal, human feeling, but in this verse he leaps out of his human feeling into God—5:19.

C. Jeremiah speaks to Jehovah a challenging word, even a commanding and reproving word, however, Jehovah did not answer him but remained silent, all Jeremiah’s challenges and questions are answered in the following books of the Bible; the consummation of this answer will be the New Jerusalem, hence, Jeremiah must wait until the New Testament age, until the age of the millennial kingdom, and until the New Jerusalem, then he will be fully satisfied—5:20-22.

 

Ministry Excerpts:

THE SUBJET OF THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH

The subject of the book of Jeremiah is Christ being made the righteousness of Jehovah to God’s elect as their center and circumference in God’s dealings with Israel and the nations. No matter how stubborn, wicked, and corrupt Israel, God’s elect, may be, God will eventually make Christ the righteousness of Jehovah to them. Today Israel does not have any righteousness, but when Christ becomes the righteousness of Jehovah to them, no one, including Satan, will be able to accuse them.

Furthermore, when Christ becomes righteousness to God’s elect, He also becomes their center and circumference in God’s dealing with them and with the nations. Jeremiah is a book concerning God’s dealing first with Israel and then with the nations. The center and circumference of God’s dealing is Christ. As God deals with Israel and the nations today, Christ is the center and circumference. For example, the recent changes in Europe and Russia are God’s doing for Christ to be the centrality and universality. The book of Jeremiah is not concerned merely with God’s tenderheartedness and righteousness and with His chastisement of stubborn, stiff-necked Israel. The intrinsic reality of this book is God’s dealing with Israel and with the nations for Christ to be the center and circumference in everything.

His Book Being a Collection of History,
an Autobiography, and His Prophesying

Jeremiah’s book is a collection of history, of his autobiography, and of his prophesying. He spoke much concerning the history of Israel, he presented a full story of his life, and he uttered many prophecies. Some of Jeremiah’s prophecies were negative, and others were positive. Negatively, Jeremiah predicted that Israel would be captured and that the temple would be destroyed. Jeremiah told Zedekiah to welcome the Babylonian army and thereby save the entire city of Jerusalem and the temple; otherwise, the city would be destroyed. However, Zedekiah was stubborn and refused to take Jeremiah’s word. When Zedekiah tried to escape, he was captured and brought to Nebuchadnezzar. The king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in fetters of bronze to bring him to Babylon (39:4-7). Jeremiah witnessed these things.

The positive side of Jeremiah’s prophecy was wonderful. For example, he prophesied that Israel would be restored by God (23:3-8). He also prophesied that God would raise up to David a righteous Shoot who would reign as a King and act prudently and whose name would be called “Jehovah our righteousness” (vv. 5-6). This is a great prophecy concerning Christ, a prophecy not found in any other book. Furthermore, Jeremiah prophesied concerning the new covenant which God would make with Israel (31:33-34). Paul quoted this prophecy and applied it to the covenant in the New Testament (Heb. 8:10-12; 10:16-17). Although this covenant is good for the New Testament believers, the Jews presently have no part in it because of their unbelief and rebellion. I. (Life-study of Jeremiah, Msg. 1)

WHAT GOD WANTS FROM US

What God wants from us is mentioned mainly in 2:13, which reveals that God is the fountain of living waters. God wants us to take Him as the fountain of living waters for our living. This means that He wants us to take Him as the source, the fountain, of our being. How can we take Him as our source? The only way to take God as the fountain of living waters is to drink of Him day by day. By drinking we take into us the living water that issues from God as the fountain.

Jeremiah 2:13 says, “My people have committed two evils: / They have forsaken Me, / The fountain of living waters, / To hew out for themselves cisterns, / Broken cisterns, / Which hold no water.” The most evil thing in the eyes of God is to forsake Him as the source, as the fountain of living waters, and to turn to some other source. All other sources are idols. In this verse the idols are likened to broken cisterns, which cannot hold water. People today are busy hewing out for themselves all kinds of cisterns. Actually, these cisterns are idols. As we consider this situation, we need to realize that God wants us to take Him as the fountain, the source, of our life and our being.

WHAT WE ARE IN OUR FALLEN CONDITION

Another aspect of the kernel of the book of Jeremiah is the exposure of what we are in our fallen condition. In this matter Jeremiah is very deep but also very simple. In 17:9 he speaks regarding the human heart, saying, “The heart is deceitful above all things / And it is incurable; / Who can know it?” Our heart is deceitful to the uttermost and incurable. Just as our heart is incurable, so our fallen nature is unchangeable. Thus, in 13:23 Jeremiah says, “Can the Cushite change his skin, / Or the leopard his spots? / Then you also may be able to do good, / Who are accustomed to do evil.” In our fallen condition we are corrupt and rotten; there is no way for us to change, correct, or improve ourselves. The disciples of Confucius tried to use his teachings to improve themselves, but they have failed. As fallen human beings, we are incurable and unchangeable.

The Shoot of David

Jeremiah 23:5 and 6 say, “Behold, days are coming, / Declares Jehovah, / When I will raise up to David a righteous Shoot…And this is His name by which He will be called, / Jehovah our righteousness.” Although Christ is God, He became a Shoot, or Sprout, of David. This means that He was incarnated to be a descendant of David. As a Shoot, the Sprout, of David, Christ is tender, living, and fresh.

Jehovah Our Righteousness

Christ, the righteous Shoot of David, is called Jehovah our righteousness. In our fallen condition we are corrupt, sinful, deceitful, incurable, and unchangeable. How could we ever be righteous before God? In ourselves this is impossible, but we can become righteous in Christ. Christ came to die on the cross for our sins, accomplishing redemption for us. Based upon Christ’s redemption, God is able to forgive our sins, to forget our sins, and to justify us. Furthermore, with the redemption of Christ as the foundation, Christ Himself has become our righteousness. Not only have we been justified by God, but God has given Christ to us to be our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30). It is a wonderful fact that Christ has become one with us to be our righteousness.

The Divine Life

Outwardly, we are justified, having Christ as our righteousness, but inwardly we are still empty. Therefore, we need Christ to be something else to us. We need Christ as the divine life, the divine life that is wrought into our inner being (Jer. 31:33). This life is a law which works in us to dispense into our being all that God is in His rich being. As a result of this dispensing, this transfusing of God Himself into us, we are no longer empty. On the contrary, we are filled with the dispensing Triune God.

The inner law of the divine life within us has the capacity to make us one with God. In this life with its law, God is our God, and we are His people. The way for God to be our God is His divine life, and the way for us to be His people is also the divine life. Eventually, in the divine life and by the working of the law of the divine life, God will be wrought into us, and we will live Him and be constituted with Him in His life and nature but not, of course, in His Godhead.

Now we can see what God wants from us, what we are in our fallen condition, and what Christ is to us. God wants us to take Him as our source and to drink of Him every day so that He may become the river of the water of life within us. In our fallen condition we are hopeless, utterly corrupt, incurable, and unchangeable. But Christ has come to be our righteousness and our inner life. Outwardly, He is our righteousness for us to be justified by God. Inwardly, He is the divine life to fill us, to make us one with God, and even to constitute us with God that we may live God. Then we will be a corporate Body, the organism of the Triune God. This is the kernel of the book of Jeremiah. (Life-study of Jeremiah, msg. 40)

JEREMIAH’S QUESTIONS AND CHALLENGES
AND JEHOVAH’S SILENCE

Although Jeremiah realized that God’s being is eternal and His throne remains forever, he still had something within him that caused him to end his lamentations with questions and even with challenges. In 5:20-22 he said to Jehovah, “Why do You forget us forever / And forsake us for so long a time? / Turn to us, O Jehovah, and we will be turned; / Renew our days as before. / Or have You utterly rejected us? / Are You exceedingly angry with us?” Here Jeremiah speaks to Jehovah a challenging word, even a commanding and rebuking word. However, Jehovah did not answer him. Instead of answering Jeremiah or telling him to be quiet, Jehovah remained silent. At the end of Lamentations, the time had not yet come for God to answer Jeremiah’s questions.

All Jeremiah’s challenges and questions are answered in the following books of the Bible. The consummation of this answer will be the New Jerusalem. There he will see everything clearly. Until then, Jeremiah must wait on Jehovah, just as he said in 3:25: “Jehovah is good to those who wait on Him.” Jeremiah must wait until the New Testament age, until the age of the millennial kingdom, and until the New Jerusalem. Then he will be fully satisfied. IV. (Life-study of Lamentation, msg. 5)