13The word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north.” 14Then the LORD said to me, “Out of the north disasterb shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land. 15For behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the LORD, and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah. 16And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands. 17But you, dress yourself for work;c arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. 18And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. 19They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the LORD, to deliver you.” Jeremiah 1: 11-19
Then God asks Jeremiah to look again. One more time. Just for practice.
What do you see?
And what Jeremiah sees this time is also a promise. A promise of judgment. God will never tolerate sin. His people, called by His Name are going to be called to account. “The tribes of the Kingdom to the North” are the Chaldeans, and the Chaldeans are part of Babylon. God is using Babylon to discipline His people. To be clear, Babylon and Israel, were not friends. God is going to use their enemies to sit in judgment on them. SInce the JEws had stopped listening to His prophets, since they didn’t respond to teaching and warning, God was moving on to punishment.
Oh how often do we get disciplined in front of or by those who we most wish to look strong and clever to. If pride goes before a fall, some of us are tripping over thin air daily. And usually in front of people that it is physically painful to look the fool in front of. God so often uses those we fear here on earth to teach us to fear Him more.
As godly parents we are called to discipline our children. In our modern culture we hear “spank” or possibly “time out” when we hear discipline. HOwever, the root of that word is disciple. A disciple is one who takes instruction and correction and puts it into action. Instruction and correction. As the discipler we must first instruct. The greek word for disciple carries with it the image of a teacher wrapping their hand around the hand of their pupil and writing the word with the pencil in the student’s hand and the student’s hand in the teacher’s hand. No mistake can be made while the student submits to the pressure of the teacher’s hand. That’s instruction. Hand-over-hand. Watch me. Do with me. Do it yourself. But when that series ends in a mistake, as good teachers, as loving parents, then we correct. Depending on the severity of the mistake, we measure out the severity of the correction. We did not invent parenting. We are simply modeling our father.
Father has given instruction. Over and over again. Then he sent loving and gentle warnings. Then He increased the pressure with His faithful prophets. And now, with Jeremiah, we have arrived at the most strenuous form of correction. The painful kind. Loving parents don’t spank first and instruct after. But loving parents also don’t shy away from correction when a recalcitrant child is refusing instruction.
So God sends Jeremiah with the verdict: guilty, and the sentence: exile. Exile into their enemies’ lands. Banishment from home. Why? Why cast them away from Him and from their land He gave them? Because they have already cast Him out of their hearts. This movement away from HIm geographically was a mere technicality at this point. Israel had already moved far from Him in their hearts. Why keep up the pretense?
C. S. Lewis says that in the end there will only be 2 types of people: those who say to GOd, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, “Thy will be done.” The ultimate version of Hell is getting exactly what we always demanded and thought we wanted. Romans says that God hands them over to do their wicked desires. If God is letting you go into your self-centered and self-glorifying world, that is judgment. If He’s still disciplining you, be encouraged, you’re still in the family. Good parents discipline their own children, not the neighborhood kids!
So He sends Jeremiah out to this thankless job with these instructions: Suit up! He tells him to dress for work! This is not going to be easy. Don’t come in your bathrobe or your best suit. There may be some manual labor involved and without a doubt you’ll probably have to run from angry mobs. However, God leaves Jeremiah with hope. He will not allow these angry mobs to overtake him. He tells him to not be dismayed. Don’t falter. Don’t be swayed by their anger. God isn’t sending him on a popularity contest. He’s not campaigning for an election. He’s going to tell the truth. And the truth is notoriously unpopular.
The truth is still unpopular. The crowds still don’t much like hearing about their sin. Honestly, I don’t much like hearing about my sin. Except when I consider the alternative. To be instructed and corrected means I’m a disciple. I’m being called to action. That’s good news. I”m still in the fold. I”m still family.
Courage, Dear Heart 