Jeremiah was God’s prophet in his time and yet he was
mistreated, beaten and imprisoned for aligning himself with God’s
purposes. It is hard to deal with
persecution and hardship when you know you are simply being obedient to God. We
expect that if we do what He asks us to do then He will protect us from harm,
not allow us to suffer. We live in a
world that doesn’t know or care about God and we will suffer for His Name’s sake
if we persevere in the work we are given to do.
Jeremiah is the lone voice among those who call themselves prophets who
was speaking for God. The others believed
that the coming of Pharaoh’s army would save the city from the Chaldean and the
Lord told Jeremiah otherwise, that nothing and no one could save the city. This was the judgment of God against His
people. Jeremiah knew that ultimately he
had to be true to the word he was given and was unwilling to compromise, even
if that meant he was misunderstood to be cooperating with the enemy.
Jesus prepares His disciples for the reality of suffering. The opposition against Him is beginning to
find its voice and His warning is that they too will face such opposition. At this juncture they could not conceive what
was to come in the crucifixion. If, as they thought, Jesus was Messiah, His
talk of suffering and persecution was completely misguided. They would sit on thrones, receive great
acclaim, for having had the good sense and good fortune to have been with Him
when He ascended to the throne of Israel.
Jesus, however, knew better and spoke of death for allegiance to
Him. We have had a long season of time
in the west when we were well-treated and well thought of for being Christians
but that season, I fear, is done. We need
to be prepared to suffer well and gladly for His Name’s sake. Our faith will be tested by the times and we will
have to choose whether we serve Him or the state. The only way to overcome fear is by faith,
knowing what you believe and why and that ultimately there will be a greater
judgment, a judgment unto eternal death or life. Knowing what to fear is important.
The prophetic word was considered of primary importance by
Paul. He thought it far more important
than tongues in spite of the fact that he says that he spoke in tongues more
than all of them. The critical thing to
see in the passage contrasting tongues and prophecy are the words, “in church.” Paul seems to indicate that his use of tongues
was a private thing, perhaps connected more with prayer. The prophetic word is to convict, the work of
the Holy Spirit was to convict the world of sin and righteousness in order that
repentance was made possible. Truth is
to be made known clearly and plainly in order that people are able to discern
what to do with it. We are, primarily,
to be witnesses to the truth, all else is secondary.
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