Jeremiah An Emotional Man
JEREMIAH
An Ancient Man with a Modern Message
Jeremiah 8: 18 – 9:11
“An Emotional Man”
What is it like to serve God in a culture that for the most part ignores Him? What is it like to serve God in a culture that ignores Him until a time of national tragedy and then cries out for God to bless their land? What is it like to faithfully serve God and see few if any people ever respond to your message? What kind of emotions does the one who serves God faithfully experience? A study of the book of Jeremiah answers all of those questions for us.
This morning I want to zero in on the emotions, the inner turmoil that any faithful servant of God will experience. We will do that by studying the emotions of Jeremiah as he recorded them for us. What we have in the record of Jeremiah is an honest and to some maybe even an embarrassing display of emotions. Jeremiah makes no pretense about the emotions he experienced as he faithfully served the Lord for over 40 years.
Philip Ryken opens his commentary on the book of Jeremiah with these words. “The rabbis called him ‘the Weeping Prophet’. They said he began wailing the moment he was born. When Michelangelo painted him on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, he presented him in a posture of despair. He looks like a man who has wept so long he has no tears left to shed. His face is turned to one side, like a man who has been battered by many lows. His shoulders are hunched forward, weighted down by the sins of Judah. His eyes also are cast down, as if he can no longer bear to see Gods’ people suffer.”
Listen for the emotion behind the prophet’s words.
"My joy is gone; grief is upon me; my heart is sick within me. Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people from the length and breadth of the land: “Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not in her?” “Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images and with their foreign idols?” “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded; I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored? Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Oh that I had in the desert a travelers’ lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, a company of treacherous men. They bend their tongue like a bow; falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, declares the Lord. Let everyone beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother, for every brother is a deceiver, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer. Everyone deceives his neighbor, and no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves committing iniquity. Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit, they refuse to know me, declares the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do, because of my people? Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully; with his mouth each speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he plans an ambush for him. Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the Lord, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this? “I will take up weeping and wailing for the mountains, and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness, because they are laid waste so that no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard; both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled and are gone. I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a lair of jackals, and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”" (Jeremiah 8:18-9:11ESV)
I just have one simple question that I want to answer this morning, what is it that causes Jeremiah to weep so? What is it that provokes such strong emotion in Jeremiah?
I believe Jeremiah’s emotions arise out of the fact that he knows both the state of the people of Judah as well as the fate of the people of Judah. He knows what their spiritual state, what their spiritual condition is and this knowledge breaks his heart. Added on to the weight of knowing his neighbor’s spiritual condition is the knowledge of the fate that awaits his neighbors. When both of these burdens are added together they are almost more than Jeremiah can bear. That’s where the emotion comes from.
What kind of emotions did Jeremiah experience? Let’s let Jeremiah speak for himself.
“My joy is gone; grief is upon me; my heart is sick within me.” (Jer 8:18 ESV)
“For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded;
I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.”
(Jer 8:21 ESV)
“Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears,
that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!”
(Jer 9:1 ESV)
Here is Jeremiah’s self-portrait! Here is Jeremiah’s autobiography! He is joyless, he is grieving, and he is heartsick! Then in verse one of chapter nine Jeremiah makes a startling confession, he wishes that his body were capable of fully expressing the pain and the anguish that he felt for his people. He has cried all the tears that his body is capable of producing and yet there is more grief, there is more anguish, and there is yet more pain inside waiting to be expressed but he has no tears left to shed. I have to ask myself why all the tears Jeremiah? Why have you no joy, why are you grieving, why are you so heartsick?
Jeremiah is distraught because he first of all understands the SPIRITUAL STATE of his culture. What I mean by that is that Jeremiah understood better than anyone else in his culture just what their true spiritual condition was. That knowledge, and that understanding was a source of grieving for him.
What was the true spiritual state of the people that Jeremiah found himself living in? From the opening chapters of Jeremiah we know that the people of Judah, as hard as it is to believe, God’s chosen people have forsaken him. They have exchanged the worship of the one true living God for the worship of dead lifeless idols. All of their other sins, their lying, their adulteries flow from this sin, the sin of forsaking God.
Not only have they forsaken God they have redefined God to suit themselves. Look at verse 19
“Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people from the length and breadth of the land:
“Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not in her?” “Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images and with their foreign idols?”” (Jer 8:19 ESV)
One of the reasons that Jeremiah is so distraught is that he understands that the people in his culture have tried to redefine who God is. The sense of verse 19 is that the people of Judah were treating Jehovah as simply another one of the gods to be worshipped. They were guilty of mistaking the one true living sovereign God for another one of their gods that they could call on when they choose too. They wanted God to be on their beck and call! They had redefined God in their own terms to fit the way they wanted to live. Beloved that practice is still going on today. Here in America many have redefined God on their terms and they do it for the same reason, they want a God who will endorse and not interfere with the way that they live! That’s why you hear so many say things such as “Well I believe in a God that” then fill in the blank. Would never send anyone to hell. Forgives everyone. Is not in control. Is not the only way of salvation, and on and on goes the list. A redefined god is no god at all! To believe that we can somehow change God is to try and pull a role reversal. God can change us through Christ, but we can’t change God because God needs no change. God is perfect; in what way would you change a perfect God?
Jeremiah why do you weep so? Jeremiah why all the emotion? I weep, my emotions are raw and exposed because my family, my neighbors, all of my countrymen have forsaken God and they have redefined God and I know the judgment that is going to come!
The people of Judah were guilty of forsaking God and redefining God on their own terms but all they had to do was to take an inventory of the moral condition of their culture and they would have been confronted with folly of their decisions. Mankind has always believed that it can do without God and that the world be a better place. The cry of the humanist – we’re getting better all the time! But history tells us something different. When we try and live without God, we don’t get better, cultures don’t get better things get worse. Let’s survey the moral climate in Judah as recorded for us by Jeremiah.
“They bend their tongue like a bow; falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, declares the Lord. Let everyone beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother, for every brother is a deceiver, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer. Everyone deceives his neighbor, and no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves committing iniquity. Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit, they refuse to know me, declares the Lord.”
(Jer 9:3-6 ESV)
“Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceitfully; with his mouth each speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he plans an ambush for him.” (Jer 9:8 ESV)
What was the moral climate now that the people had forsaken God and redefined God to suit themselves? Had the moral condition of the land gotten better without God in the way? According to Jeremiah the culture was defined by lying, which always leads to a lack of trust, people became deceivers, and slanderers. Jeremiah says that they have turned their tongues into a deadly weapon, they lie with it, they deceive people with it, they slander others with it, and Jeremiah says they have taught their tongue to speak lies!
But not only do they lie they wear themselves out committing iniquity, in other words they wear themselves out as they sin against God and they violate His law. Not only do they wear themselves out with sin they heap up oppression and deceit! Again in verse eight Jeremiah likens their tongues to a deadly sharp arrow, a deadly weapon and with it they speak peace to their neighbors face but all the while he has hate in his heart. As I studied these verses it became apparent that the culture in Judah during the time of Jeremiah is very similar to the culture that we live in. Violations of God’s law abound, in fact they are even celebrated and flaunted for all to see. Certainly we can identify as Christians with Jeremiah.
If you notice that all the things that the people of the land were doing was a direct contradiction of the way God expects us to live. God expects us to use our tongue not as a weapon of destruction but as a tool to build others up and. God expects us to use our tongues as a source of truth and not a source of deception. God expects us to live our lives doing good works for others not using our lives to oppress others and to take advantage of others.
The Scriptures teach and history proves that whether it be a nation or an individual that forsakes the One, True God or seeks to redefine the One, True God that nation or that individual does not get better they only get worse.
Jeremiah why all the tears? Jeremiah why the overflowing of emotions? Jeremiah would reply to us just look at the spiritual state, look at the moral condition of my people.
Not only did Jeremiah understand the spiritual state of the people he also understood the ULTIMATE FATE of the people.
Because the people of the land had forsaken God and redefined God they had sealed their own fate. The judgment of God was coming and there was not anything that anyone could do about it. Look at verse 20
“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” (Jer 8:20 ESV)
What does Jeremiah mean by that? In Israel they had two times of harvest. The first harvest was in the spring. If for whatever reason that harvest didn’t produce as it should they knew they had a second harvest at the end of the summer. Jeremiah uses these two harvests to describe the fate of Judah. The spring harvest was a bust, the summer harvest didn’t produce – the summer has ended and judgment is coming.
“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will refine them and test them,
for what else can I do, because of my people?” (Jer 9:7 ESV)
“Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the Lord, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?” (Jer 9:9 ESV)
You certainly do not have to read between the lines to see the sense of certainty and a sense of finality in God’s Words. He has pleaded with his people; he has sent prophet after prophet to them warning them to return, pleading with them to return to him but all to no avail. Their rejection of God is complete, judgment is coming and no one can do anything to stop it.
God is gracious and God is longsuffering but there all limits to his patience and you test those limits at your own risk. Let me point out to you the thoroughness of God’s judgment. Verse 11 of chapter 9
“I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a lair of jackals, and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.” (Jer 9:11 ESV)
How thorough would God’s judgment be? Jerusalem the crown jewel of Judah would be tuned into a pile of rubble, Solomon’s temple destroyed! The walls built by David torn down! The only thing Jerusalem would be good for would be as a home for jackals, jackals are similar to hyenas. They are scavengers, they feed on dead carcasses, and the word picture that God paints is that the land wouldn’t be fit to live in once his judgment was complete.
Because Jeremiah understands the ultimate fate of his people he utters these final and fateful words in 8:22
“Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?” (Jer 8:22 ESV)
Gilead was a portion of land just east of the Jordan River. It was known for it’s medicinal balms made from the resins of the trees that grew there. When Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, he was sold to a caravan taking balm from Gilead down to Egypt. The balm was some sort of a healing cream. Jeremiah laments the fact that he has gone to the pharmacy at Gilead and there was no balm to be found for his people, he had gone to Gilead seeking medical help for the wound of his people only to be told the Doctor is out! There is no help for you today Jeremiah! There is no hope for the people of Judah. It was the pronouncement of a terminal diagnosis! The patient is terminally ill there is nothing that can be done, they have crossed the point of no return.
Jeremiah why do you weep so? Jeremiah why the raw exposed emotions? Jeremiah why do you wish that you had more tears to shed for your people? I weep; I wish I had more tears because I know what the ultimate fate is going to be for my people.
Do we brothers and sisters have the same depth of emotion for our families who are facing the judgment of God? Do we as Christians have that kind of emotion, do we shed the kind of tears that Jeremiah did in light of the spiritual state and the ultimate fate that awaits so many of our neighbors and the 300 million people in America or the 6 billion people around the world. When it the last time you gave 10 seconds thought to the fate of the unsaved? We have so little emotion for the lost because we spend so little time thinking about the consequences of rejecting Christ.
Do we mourn over the spiritual state of our country? Do we weep over the widespread rejection of God? Do we wish that we had more tears to shed in light of the rejection of Christ by so many?
As I studied this passage one of the first notes that I made was this “Jeremiah cared for them even though they didn’t care for God!” That is the attitude that we must hold as Christians. We must care for those who care little for God.
We differ from Jeremiah in this one respect. Jeremiah lamented that there was no balm in Gilead. There was no healing to be found, the Physician was not to be found there was no hope of healing.
But we have by God’s grace access to the Great Physician. We have what the people of Judah needed, they needed a Savior, they needed Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ like Jeremiah wept over the sins of the people of Jerusalem. Jesus Christ unlike Jeremiah had the power to do more than weep the Bible says Jesus went around preaching the good news of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.” But he did more than that, he died to heal them from the wounds of sin. Today Jeremiah there is balm in Gilead, there is healing to be found. Jesus Christ is the balm of healing for our sin sick souls. Jesus Christ is the Great physician who can heal our wounds.