Jeremiah's fire in the bones

Jeremiah 19 ends with, [14] Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD's house; and said to all the people,

[15] Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.

"Tophet was a place of fire; it was like the city dump," explains Richard Jordan. "Tophet is that place in Isaiah 30 where He puts the Antichrist and people can look down into hell.

Jeremiah 20 begins: [1] Now Pashur the son of Immer the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things.

[2] Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the LORD.
[3] And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The LORD hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magor-missabib.
[4] For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword.

"Jeremiah wasn't just put in jail; he was put 'in the stocks.' You put someone in stocks to restrain them, but also to torture them. This was the first real taste of physical violence Jeremiah experienced.

"He's been preaching and people haven't been getting it; they've been mocking him, laughing at him, calling him names. But now you have an official from the government take him and throw him in jail and torture him. Things have escalated.

"Jeremiah ends up in jail five times. In chapters 37-38 you see some more of it. If you notice verse 3, that name Magor-missabib means 'terror on every side.' Pashur means tranquil; it's what Israel should be. They should be at rest. You know, 'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want . . . '

"But because of the apostasy of the nation, especially in its spiritual leadership (the priests were the leaders of the nation), he said, 'You guys are going to be at peril on every side. There's destruction coming.'

Verse 7: [7] O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.

"Jeremiah is struggling with what's going on in his life. What he's saying is, 'Lord, where is your promise to deliver me?! Look what they're doing to me. They mock me, laugh at me, reject what I'm saying, and now they're beating me up! They got me in jail. They're thumping me on the rack and they're turning the screws. You said you were going to deliver me.'

"There's this inner tension, turmoil of, 'Thou hast deceived me.' Verses 8-10: [8] For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.

[9] Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.

[10] For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him. 

"Jerry says, 'I know what I'll do; I'll just quit.' When he says in verse 8 that the 'word of the Lord was made a reproach unto me,' come back to Jeremiah 15:16: [16] Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.

"Jeremiah, by the way, was a man who went through fits of depression. At the end of chapter 20 is an illustration of it and in chapter 15 is another case of it.

"He says, 'Thy words were found, and I did eat them.' Remember when his daddy found the Word of God in the temple? When they found it, Jeremiah became a man of the Book and studied that. He says, 'I consumed them; thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.'

"He began to understand who Israel was; he saw the identity God gave that nation. He got it out of the Word. Jeremiah was a man who loved the Word of God.

"When his daddy found that copy of the law and gave that out, you see, they weren't privileged like you and everybody who's got a copy of the Bible. They weren't getting it that way and it had apostasized. So, Jeremiah is a guy who the Word of God means something to. It was the ecstasy of glory for him.

"In Jeremiah 20:8 it's, ''That word that was so thrilling to me--I go preach it and everybody just hates me for it!' So what does he want to do? Verse 9: 'I will not make mention of it.' He's just got this torment: 'I'll just quit. Phooey if that's what it gets me.'

"But don't you just love all the 'buts' of the Bible? He goes on, "But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay."

"How did it get in his heart? 'Thy words were found, and I did eat them.' Jeremiah had this intake. David said it: 'Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.'

"You see, Jeremiah put it in his heart as a 'burning fire shut up in my bones.' Someone wrote a book years ago on the Book of Jeremiah and called it, 'Fire in the Bones.' That's what it was to Jeremiah. He HAD to speak; he couldn't quit.

"Even when it got him into trouble, even when nobody thanked him, God's Word had a grip on his heart that wouldn't allow him to be quiet. He was more weary trying to NOT tell people than to tell them.

"Verses 10-11: [10] For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.

[11] But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.

"They're trying to tear him down: 'We're going to watch him to see if he fails.' But Jerry responds with, 'But the Lord is with me as a mighty terrible one. They want to fight--the Lord's with me and He knows how to fight. He's the Man of War.'

Verses 12-13: [12] But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I opened my cause.

[13] Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.

"What Jeremiah's doing in verses 11-13 is he just recites what God has told him and says, 'I'm going to trust God.' It was his faith in God's Word that came to the rescue for Jerry and got him out of the punk he was in." 

(new article tomorrow)