Will you please turn to the book of Jeremiah? Jeremiah Chapter 1.
We will read from Jeremiah 1:9.
And the Lord put forth His hand, and touched my mouth; and the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put My words in thy mouth.
See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy, and to overthrow, to build, and to plant.
And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.
Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I watch over My word to perform it.
And the word of the Lord came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is from the north.
Then the Lord said unto me, Out of the north evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.
For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the Lord; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah.
And I will utter My judgments against them touching all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken Me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.
Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at them, lest I dismay thee before them.
For, behold, I have made thee this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.
And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.
Two weeks ago, we started to fellowship on the book of Jeremiah. God called Jeremiah to be a prophet when he was in his youth.
He started to prophesy from the thirteenth year of the reign of King Josiah. We remember that Josiah came to the throne of Judah when he was eight years old. When he was sixteen, he sought the Lord with all his heart.
When he was twenty, he began to cleanse and purge the land of the idols and all abominations. That was in his twelfth year of reign. The very next year, God called another young man, Jeremiah, to be a prophet.
The king, with all his power and authority, could bring a reform to the nation because the people followed him. Yet it took a prophet, with revelation and discernment, to penetrate the heart of the people.
The king could bring the people back to God outwardly, but only a prophet was able to bring the people back to God inwardly. God was not satisfied merely with outward reform, good as it was. God desired a heart return unto the Lord, and that was the mission of the prophet Jeremiah.
Jeremiah was to exalt the Lord among a rebellious people. He was to suffer much because of his faithfulness unto God.
When the calling of God came to Jeremiah, he said, “O Lord, I cannot speak, because I am a child.” In other words, Jeremiah knew that he was but a child.
He was not like many young people—if you will excuse me for saying that. Many young people think that they know everything, and suddenly they can talk. But not Jeremiah.
Jeremiah must have had a history with the Lord. Because he knew the Lord, he knew that he was but a child, and he could not speak by himself.
The one whom God can use is one who is humble and childlike. If we are proud of ourselves, of our talents, of our knowledge, or of our eloquence—if we are wise in our own eyes—God can never use us.
God can only use a person who is humble before Him, a person who is childlike. This is the reason why God chose Jeremiah.
Now this morning, we would like to go on to see the commission that God gave to this young man, Jeremiah.
In Jeremiah 1:9–10, we are told:
And the Lord put forth His hand, and touched my mouth; and the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put My words in thy mouth.
See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up, to break down, to destroy, to overthrow, to build, and to plant.
God called Jeremiah to be a prophet. Now, what is a prophet? A prophet is God’s mouthpiece. He is a spokesman of God. He is to speak for God.
So, in the case of a prophet, you find that his mouth is very, very important. You remember when God called Isaiah? Isaiah cried out and said, “I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.”
Who can speak for God? What kind of lips do we have? If we know ourselves under the light of God, we will discover that our lips are unclean. We are unfit to speak for God.
How we speak for ourselves. How we speak many words—vain words. How we speak words that are contradictory to the Lord. Our lips are unclean.
Isaiah cried out, and God cleansed his lips so that he might be a prophet of God. Now, in the case of Jeremiah, you find that God touched his mouth with His hand and put His word in him.
There is a definite relationship between God’s hand and God’s word. The hand represents God’s work. You work with your hands. Here you find that God put His hand upon Jeremiah’s lips and gave words to him.
How did God create the universe? How did God do the work of creation? By His word. God does His work by His word. His words are not vain; His words perform.
You cannot separate God’s work and God’s word. God put His hand upon Jeremiah’s lips, and thus God’s word came to Jeremiah.
In the case of the prophet Ezekiel, when you read the book of Ezekiel, you find that Ezekiel often mentioned how the hand of the Lord came upon him. When the hand of the Lord came upon him, he prophesied. Of course, that also means that when the burden of the Lord came upon him, then he began to speak.
How can we speak for God? We need to be cleansed. We need to receive a burden from Him. We need to see His hand, and thus we are able to speak for God.
Now, of course, brothers and sisters, we mentioned last time that God does not call everyone to be a prophet. If we were all mouths, then where would be the eyes? Where would be the ears? Where would be the hands and the feet?
In other words, if we are all one member, then where is the body? What God has in mind is the body. Christ is the Head, and we are the body of Christ.
In the body, there are many members. Some may be hands, some may be feet, some may be eyes, some may be ears, and some may be mouths. We are not all mouths. Why? Because, for the building up of the body, you need different gifts and different ministries.
Therefore, we are not all called to be prophets. Yet, in a sense, we are all called. There is no believer, there is no Christian, there is not one redeemed of the Lord, who is not called for some purpose.
We are all called to serve the Lord. We are all called to function according to the gift and grace that God has given to each one in the body, for the building up of His body.
But if we want to fulfil our calling, first we need to be cleansed. We need to receive the burden from the Lord. We need to believe in the power of His word.
God set Jeremiah to be a prophet—a prophet to the nations, not only a prophet to the nation of Judah alone. His prophecy was directed to the nation of Judah, but it was for all the nations.
He was not merely to be a mouthpiece. He was not merely to deliver some messages. As a matter of fact, you find that he and the messages he delivered were one.
A prophet is not just a person who speaks for God. A prophet is not merely a person into whose mouth God puts words, so that he speaks mechanically or technically.
Of course, there are prophets like that. Balaam was that kind of prophet, but that was the lowest kind of prophet.
A prophet in the fullest sense is one who not only receives God’s word, but literally, he and God’s word become one.
In the case of Ezekiel, God commanded Ezekiel to take the book and eat it. In the book of Revelation, the apostle John was told to take the little book and eat it. It became sweet in his mouth, but bitter in his belly.
In other words, when God’s word comes into a prophet, it so affects that prophet that the prophet and the word he is to deliver become one. The messenger and the message are all one.
That is what Jeremiah was. When you read the prophecies of Jeremiah, he did not just deliver these messages casually, as if he were not involved. When he delivered his messages, he was deeply involved himself.
He moaned, he groaned, he wept, he cried. The very word of God devoured him; a fire burned within him. He was one with the message he delivered. That is a prophet in the full sense.
Brothers and sisters, when we all function in whatever capacity we may be in the body of Christ, we are not just doing it mechanically.
Gift alone does not constitute a ministry. If God gives you certain gifts, of course you should serve the Lord with that gift. But when you exercise a gift, you do not do it merely technically.
Your life must back up that gift. There must be a life with God in you. Then, when you exercise a gift, you find that this life behind it constitutes a ministry.
Lots of people have gifts but no ministry. Why? Because it is not backed up by a life.
We must be involved ourselves, and then exercise whatever gift God may give to us. That will constitute a ministry. We thank God that this was the way Jeremiah prophesied.
What was his commission? His commission was to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant. In other words, his commission was both negative and positive.
There seem to be four negatives: pluck up, break down, destroy, and overthrow. These are strong words. Then there are the two positives: to build and to plant.
God never does patchwork. When God works, He works thoroughly. Whatever is not of Him must be plucked up, destroyed, broken down, and overthrown.
God will not allow things that do not belong to Him to remain as they are, and then build and plant something of His own into them and mix them together. He never does such a work.
Before God can build and plant, He must first take away everything that is not His. God’s work is very thorough—very thorough.
With us, we always feel, “Now, why waste time? Whatever is already there is not perfect, but it is not too bad. Why can You not just reform it a little bit, refine it a little bit, improve it a little bit, add something to it, and then make it all right?”
God says, “No, I never do such a work.”
You remember in the New Testament, our Lord Jesus says that you do not tear out a piece from a new, unshrunk cloth and try to mend your old garment. If you do that, the new cloth is still shrinking, and it will tear the old garment into greater holes.
Neither do you cut off a piece from a new garment. You spoil the new garment and do not mend the old garment. You do not do that either.
You do not put new wine into an old wineskin. Why? Because the new wine is still fermenting, and the old wineskin has no elasticity anymore. It is fixed; it is completely fixed.
If you put new wine into an old wineskin, it will burst the old wineskin, and worse than that, the new wine will be poured out and wasted.
So far as God is concerned, He never mixes these things together. He will never be satisfied by trying to mend and improve.
When God works, the first thing He does is pluck up, break down, overthrow, and destroy.
That is the reason why, before the coming of Christ, John the Baptist had to come first. Why did John the Baptist come? He came to break down, to pluck up, to destroy, and to overthrow.
John’s message was a message of repentance. To whom was the message directed? To the Jews, the chosen people of God, with the oracles of God, with the temple in Jerusalem, with the priesthood functioning, and with the law in their hands.
This was a people supposed to be God’s chosen people. Yet John the Baptist came and said, in effect, “Repent. Turn around completely. Whatever you had and whatever you depended on was nothing.”
“If you do not repent, the axe is already at the tree. You will be completely cut off.”
God’s work is always thorough. If you know anything of God’s work in your life, that is what it is.
If you feel that God will allow you to remain as you are and then add something to you, brothers and sisters, you are deceived. There is no such thing.
The first thing that God will do in our lives is to break down, destroy, overthrow, and pluck up everything that is not of Him. God has no pity and no mercy over what is not His.
How often we cry out and say, “Lord, can You just let a little remain? Do You mean to say that everything that is me must go? Am I altogether bad? Is there not something good in me—something I have developed, something I have cultivated, something I have improved?”
But remember: God has no mercy over such things. He has no pity over such things. If you know His work, you will find that everything that is not His must go. Then He will plant, and He will build.
Of course, the negative is not His purpose. The negative is necessary because we stand in His way. If we did not stand in His way, He would not need to do the negative work.
How sad it is that there are many who seem to have built a lot; therefore, they have a lot to be destroyed. How much better if God can start to build and plant in virgin soil, as it were.
In 1 Corinthians 3, we are told that Paul said, “We are God’s fellow workers; ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.”
Here you find two thoughts. One is that we are God’s husbandry—God’s field, God’s vineyard. Because we are God’s husbandry, God’s work is to plant.
We are also God’s building. Because we are God’s building, God’s work is to build.
So far as husbandry is concerned, so far as planting is concerned, the emphasis is on life. We are God’s husbandry. He plants. What does He plant? He plants His life in us.
Oh, how He plants His seed in us. The seed has to grow. Life has to grow in us, and that is God’s work. When God works, life grows.
It is not merely that your mental knowledge grows. Our mental knowledge can grow without God working. Our mind can work and accumulate information. We may know a lot, but that is not growth.
Real growth is a matter of life, and that is the work of God. He plants, He waters, and He gives the increase.
Building is in relation to character building. Not only must there be life, but there must also be character building.
That is to say, as the life of Christ begins to grow in us, we take upon us His character. His character will characterise us. That is transformation.
As our brother mentioned just before, it is the fruit of the Spirit, not the fruits. Why? Because we can, in a sense, produce perhaps some among the many.
For instance, we may try to control ourselves, and with an iron will, probably we can control ourselves to a certain extent. But the problem is, if it is our own work, we may produce self-control, but at the same time we will be very much lacking in the other things—meekness, for example.
The more you can control yourself, the more proud, strong, and arrogant you become.
But it is life that includes all these elements, because it is Christ. It is Christ who begins to be incorporated into our very fibres. It is Christ who is being manifested in us. That is building.
Not only is God building individuals, but you find that we are a harvest. We are the house of God—not just one plant, but a field of harvest.
One day He will come back and harvest His field to His glory. One day He will come and dwell eternally in His building.
So you find that the work of God, the commission Jeremiah received, was not purely negative. He had to do something negative, but the purpose was very positive: to plant and to build.
Without God, how often we destroy what should be built up, and build up what should be destroyed. We are able to do all these confused things.
Unless the Spirit of God is upon us, we will not be able to pluck up that which needs to be plucked up. We have too much pity.
We will not be able to build what must be built. We do not have that insight. We do not have that ability. It must come from God.
That was Jeremiah’s commission, and in a sense, that is our commission. Negatively, we are to see that everything that is not of God must be overturned. Positively, we are to see that what is of God must be planted and built.
In order to confirm that commission, God gave Jeremiah two visions. God said, “What seest thou?” Jeremiah said, “I see a rod of an almond tree.” The Lord said unto him, “Thou hast well seen: for I watch over My word to perform it.”
The first vision God gave to Jeremiah was the vision of the rod of an almond tree. That is a consolation.
We know that Jeremiah came from a priestly family. He was brought up, or trained, to be a priest. But before he entered into the priesthood, he was called to be a prophet.
A priest did not enter into the priesthood until he was thirty years old, although before that he was trained from childhood. God called Jeremiah to be a prophet before he entered into his priesthood.
With his training and background, when he saw a rod of almond tree, he understood. Why? Because the rod of almond tree is related to priesthood.
You remember when the children of Israel were in the wilderness. Korah and his company rebelled against Moses and against Aaron. Korah was a Levite, and yet he was ambitious; he wanted the priesthood.
The children of Israel rebelled against God in a great rebellion. But after that rebellion was over, God wanted to settle the question once and for all.
How did God settle that question? He asked every tribe to prepare a rod. A rod represents authority. Every tribe prepared a rod, and the name of each tribe was written upon its rod. The name of Aaron was written upon the rod of Levi.
These twelve rods were put before the testimony of the Lord overnight. The next morning, when Moses went into the tent of meeting and picked up the twelve rods, Aaron’s rod had blossomed and brought forth almonds.
When the children of Israel saw that, they knew whom God had chosen to serve as priests. There was no more question. It was forever settled.
This rod, which budded with almond fruit, was placed before the testimony of God as a testimony and a memorial.
Jeremiah, being trained to be a priest, was familiar with this. When he saw a rod of almond tree, it immediately brought back to him Aaron’s rod that budded.
In other words, how can you function as a priest? Not by your natural strength, but by the power of His resurrection. Resurrection is the only ground for priesthood.
The almond, in Scripture, represents resurrection because it is the first tree to bloom after winter. It speaks of resurrection. Aaron’s rod was dead, but now life came out of death. How beautiful that is.
You take a rod: it is a dead rod, dead authority—able to put people to death, but never to bring people to life. There is human authority.
But the authority that comes from God is life out of death. It is resurrection life. With resurrection life, there is power to put people to death as well as to bring people to life.
You read 2 Corinthians, and you find Paul said, “We have the fragrance of Christ in us. To those who are perishing, it is unto death; and to those who are being saved, it is unto life.” Who is competent? Our competency is of God.
Our ministry is a ministry of the New Testament. It is not a ministry of the letter; it is a ministry of the Spirit. Because it is a ministry of the Spirit, it ministers life—not merely condemnation, but life.
How can we minister unto the Lord? How can we minister unto the church? How can we minister unto the world? The secret is in the power of His resurrection.
Not in our own strength, not in our own power. That can only bring people to condemnation and bring people to death. But our ministry is to impart life—the life of Christ—to other people.
So the principle is this: priesthood is realised through resurrection, and prophethood, if I may say that, also comes through resurrection. Any ministry that comes from God is on resurrection ground.
It is His life out of death that will bring people to God, that is able to destroy the right thing and to build up the right thing.
First of all, God showed Jeremiah this vision and said, “Thou hast well seen: for I watch over My word to perform it.” In other words, God made sure that Jeremiah saw the right vision.
Now, brothers and sisters, do we see the vision rightly? Have we seen that vision? If we do not see that vision, and do not see it rightly, then our ministry will be affected.
After that, God gave him another vision: a seething pot pouring out from the north.
The seething pot pouring out from the north meant that God would raise nations from the north. They would pour out their wrath upon the nation of Judah.
Why? Because God’s people had gone away from God and worshipped idols and abominable things. So God used the northern nations, the Babylonian kingdom, to come and execute the judgment of God upon His own people.
Here God gave the nation of Israel another chance in the person of Jeremiah the prophet. Why did God send a prophet to the nation of Judah?
God sent the prophet to the nation, hoping that they might receive Jeremiah’s ministry and thus be delivered from the judgment that was to come.
But unfortunately, they rejected Jeremiah and his ministry. Because of the rejection of Jeremiah’s ministry, judgment became unavoidable. Judgment would come upon that nation.
Oh, how sad it was that the people of God rejected God’s word. The result was that they were taken into captivity to Babylon.
So, brothers and sisters, if we do not accept God’s ministry—that which comes from God—then there is nothing left but judgment.
Knowing the heart of the people, God knew that Jeremiah’s mission was an impossible one. He would meet with great difficulty. So God said, “I appoint thee this day as a fortified city, an iron pillar, and brazen walls.”
He would stand against the whole land: against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land. They would fight against him, but they would not prevail against him, for the Lord was with him to deliver him.
In God’s foreknowledge and in God’s love, He sent the prophet. Yet, in His foreknowledge, He knew that the people were stiff-necked and would not listen. Jeremiah’s mission was an impossible one.
Yet God, in His love, still sent him there. God said, “Jeremiah, do not be afraid. I am with you. I have set you up as a fortified city, an iron pillar, and brazen walls.”
Jeremiah stood against kings, priests, false prophets, and all the people—everybody.
Jeremiah was, if you will, an Antipas. In the book of Revelation, in the church in Pergamum, before Antipas was martyred, they still kept the word of God. But after Antipas passed away, the whole situation began to degenerate.
Who was Antipas in church history? We do not see such a name. Some commentators say that you have to read into that name: anti means against, and pas means all—against everybody.
Here was a person who was against everybody. Of course, that does not mean like lots of the young generation today, who rebel against everything and everybody—against authority, against parents, against government, against everything. That is the spirit of rebellion.
But, on the other hand, those who follow the Lord closely seem to be against everything. Why? Because the whole world lies under the wicked one.
Jeremiah was an Antipas—against everything that was not of God. That included kings, priests, false prophets, everybody, and the nations.
But God said, “I am with you. They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you.”
Oh, brothers and sisters, how we thank God. If we follow the Lord, we will not be popular.
You will find that, as it were, you will be against everything, and everybody will be against you. But do not be afraid. The Lord is with you. They can fight against you, but they cannot prevail over you.
So may the Lord help us that we may be faithful like Jeremiah. We are living in a time just like Jeremiah’s.
Jeremiah lived at the end, at the closing, of the nation of Judah. Things were very bad, and God raised up Jeremiah, hoping that through his prophesying there might be a recovery.
How much more today, as we look into the world situation? It is degenerating very fast. God will raise up people in His church who will be faithful unto Him like Jeremiah.
Hopefully, some more will listen to God. What a tremendous responsibility.
The speaker then provided a brief summary in Chinese for those who did not understand English.