The Sadness of God

The eternal purpose of God doesn't merely consist in saving man, but that Christ's life be expressed in the believers.

Andrew Webb

Reading: Jeremiah 1, 2:5-14, 17-18.

The scripture which we have just read is beautiful. We know that the Bible has a single topic; Jesus Christ. And when we can find the eternal purpose of God hidden even here, at such a distant time from the Lord's coming, it really fills us with joy.

In Jeremiah's days, the people of God had already entered to Canaan; they were already in the Promised Land. We have also found salvation, in Jesus Christ our Lord who washed us with His precious blood. We have found our Canaan.

The sadness of the Lord

But here the Lord is sad, because they have entered into the land, but are not enjoying the abundance that there is within it: "What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain? Neither said they, Where is Jehovah that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that none passed through, and where no man dwelt?"

We know that we are called to enjoy the land of Canaan that is Christ. We know that salvation is only the first stage; that we have to continue ahead. So here, we find the eternal purpose of God. In these verses, we see that God is not content just to save us. He wants His people to continue seeking Him. The Lord wants mature children. These are those that have enjoyed the land, those who have walked through the whole land and have tasted and seen its fruits.

We find in verse 10: "For pass over to the isles of Kittim...." In the NIV version there is a foot note that says that Kittim represents the whole West. "..and send unto Kedar...." Which represents the East. So if we look at the world today, what do we find? We find that there are many people who are satisfied with their salvation. They are in exactly this same condition: "Neither said they, Where is Jehovah that brought us up out of the land of Egypt" They have left the slavery of the world, and they are happy with that.

If we look at verse 12, we find: "Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith Jehovah." Why do the heavens have to be afraid? Because even the angels yearn to look into these things. In the heavens there were still angels waiting for the Christ's coming. It says in several parts of the Scriptures that the angels waited, and the prophets searched the Scriptures to find when the Christ would come, and even the earth groans awaiting the manifestation of the sons of God when the Lord Jesus Christ is manifest in glory. God makes the heavens witnesses of the apostasy of His people. They entered into the land and they became comfortable. But the eternal purpose of God has to be completed. God is not only satisfied with our salvation.

So, what are the results of being satisfied in this way? We look to verse 13: "For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters,… They left Christ! "…and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." Today there are many Christians who have dug cisterns, and have left Christ to one side. They look to be filled with something, be it works, be it ministries, theologies, or even works of the flesh that don't have, as their ultimate goal and purpose, Christ being all and in all, and His body being edified.

Jesus said: "Remain in me." Often the smallest phrases contain tremendous mysteries; a transcendency that we don't manage to see. "Remain in me." It is so simple. The words so easily fall to the floor or are lost on a page; but these are eternal words. This is the eternal Word. This word shows the consequence of what happens when we change our priority; when we change the source of living water for some broken cisterns. We will never be satisfied with anything less than Christ Himself because the works of the flesh -like the cisterns- don't satisfy. It is always necessary to go on filling up those cisterns, never reaching satisfaction or peace, but rather, striving with increasing effort in order to please the Lord.

I don't consider myself any better than the Christians who today are making every effort to please the Lord with broken cisterns, because it is only by the mercy of the Lord that these things have been revealed to us. But how sad it is for these individuals who live with a constant feeling of failure or condemnation before the Lord! I believe that all the children of God have the same yearning to serve and to please their Master, but the question is how can one accomplish it?

There are two roads for those that have left the Way

The key is in the Scriptures, even though not all may have found it. Verse 18 shows us the effects of leaving Christ. Verse 17 says: "Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God, when he led thee by the way?" Again, it is such a simple word. I remember a sermon preached about the verse: "I am the way...." It is so simple; there is no other way. They were on the right way, but they didn't remain in the Lord. They left it. So, what is the result? "And now, what hast thou to do with the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Shihor? And what hast thou to do with the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?"

Here we can find two different results of leaving Christ. Those who don't continue on the way toward maturity, those who leave the only way, have to go to Egypt, or to Assyria. Egypt, as we know, represents the world. It means returning to the things that we practiced before knowing the Lord. But the Lord has mainly placed in my heart to see what Assyria means. I believe that the church has reached a certain maturity here and there are few who return to the world.

There is another very dangerous temptation. Assyria was externally a very great nation. All looked to Assyria and trembled. The Kingdom of the south, Judah, was taken captive by Assyria. Externally, they had a very powerful army and were a very dominant nation. But intimately, they didn't have the Lord, they didn't seek the Lord. This speaks to us of a false spirituality.

There are brothers who have received a great deal of revelation about the church and of what it means to live in the body. When we see the church as a body; we understand that the building doesn't mean anything, and that the life of the body is lived everywhere. There is therefore a tendency of putting on a spiritual face when we meet together. But what happens in our homes? How are we relating to others? Husband and wives, parents and children, children and mothers. The life of the body is lived everywhere. The eyes of the Lord are on us twenty-four hours of every day, and he wants to see the body working in each moment.

Often we see our spiritual leaders, and yearn for their maturity, yearn for their experiences. We don't want to have to wait a whole lifetime to reach maturity. We see those that are around us and in some way desire to imitate their prayers, their form of speaking; but this is not the way.

We therefore find in verse 14, that it says: "Is Israel a bondman? Is he a home-born slave why is he become a spoil?" This whole chapter speaks to us of people who were not found in Christ. They reached salvation, and they were content with that. And in one way or another will continue onward, but at a price: they will continue being children, or they will have a false appearance of spirituality. May the Lord help us to live the life of the body twenty-four hours a day.

Why was Jeremiah sent?

It is interesting, when we read Jeremiah chapter 1, to see that there is a very great contrast with chapter 2. It speaks of a remnant, be it individually or collectively as a body. It is such a different case to the rest of the people. Verse 2 of the chapter 1: "To whom the word of Jehovah came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign." If we turn to 2 Chronicles 34:3-4, we find this: "And in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the Asherahs, and the graven images, and the molten images.

And they broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence; and the sun-pillars that were on high above them he cut down; and the Asherahs and the graven images and the molten images he broke in pieces, and made dust of them."

As we see, in the days of Josiah, many external works had begun amid the people of God. There were many reformations; many of the idols were falling. There was a lot of work, but even so, their hearts were far from God. How is Jeremiah's ministry justified, if at the same time they were doing all this work for the Lord? 2 Chronicles shows that in the twelfth year of Josiah's reign they began the work, but then God spoke Jeremiah in the thirteenth. They had been doing many works in that year, but Israel's hearts were not surrendered to the Lord. For that reason God had to send Jeremiah.

There may be a lot of work going on in the church today, but the Body truly has to be living Christ's life in people's homes as well as in the church. The Lord is interested in people's character and their hearts, not simply their works. We cannot live this life in Egypt or in Assyria. There is only one narrow, difficult way. But it is the only way. He is the way.

An overcomers' profile

In chapter 1 we find an overcomer. Let us examine, what is the first thing that one needs in order to be different from those satisfied people? Verse 4 of chapter 1: "And the word of Jehovah came unto me." How blessed is the revelation that the Father has given us today: His Son Jesus Christ, because in him, by means of him and for him all things were created! He is all and in all. We know the eternal purpose of God! How blessed is the revelation that the Father has given us, because without it we would be like those individuals found in the chapter 2. How great is the mercy of the Lord!

And what does that revelation say? "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee; I have appointed thee a prophet unto the nations." That greatly resembles the book of Ephesians, where it says: "...even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love: having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will." We are living in times in which the Lord is bringing deeper revelation of what means to live on this earth knowing the eternal purpose of God.

The Lord showed Jeremiah that He had separated and sanctified him for a purpose. It was not simply for salvation. We are here to serve the King of kings, we are here to see that His bride is in the right conditions for him to return; so that Jesus Christ returns for His lover. He chose us before the foundation of the world with a purpose. We are not here by chance.

And, how does this man respond? He responds in a way which we have learned is the necessary answer for any man or woman who wants to be an overcomer in Christ Jesus. Jeremiah says: "Then said I, Ah, Lord Jehovah! behold, I know not how to speak; for I am a child." (1:6). Jeremiah was not a boy; he was probably already twenty or so years of age. And if we read in verse 1 of chapter 1, we find that he was son of Hilkiah, of the priests in Anathoth. He was a priest's son, that is to say, he already had many years of learning in the Lord.

So when he says: "Then said I, Ah, Lord Jehovah! behold, I know not how to speak; for I am a child.", Jeremiah is speaking of what we find in Romans 7: "... in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells." He is saying: "I am not capable in myself." When the Lord responds to him, I don't believe that He is reprimanding Jeremiah. I always read it in this way before. The scripture says: "But Jehovah said unto me, Say not, I am a child; for to whomsoever I shall send thee thou shalt go, and whatsoever I shall command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid because of them; for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith Jehovah." (1:7-8)

Yet it is as though the Lord tells us: "Don't worry about not being capable, don't worry about what you will do, don't worry who you will go to, don't worry about what you will say in that moment." The Lord is not angry with Jeremiah, but rather, He is consoling his heart, and is teaching him the first necessary things to be an overcomer. He didn't have any expectations of Jeremiah in himself; He wasn't waiting for Jeremiah to go on his own behalf, in his own strength or with his own agenda. "I knew you before I formed you." It is the Lord who speaks and who sends. It is the Lord who does the work.

What a great difference there is between chapter 1 and 2! "Is Israel a servant? Is he a home-born slave?" Are we called to be defeated by Satan, to fight against sin every day of our life? Israel is not slave! By means of our Lord Jesus Christ's blood, never again will we be slaves.

Jeremiah's experiences in this whole book are in fact those which show how the rest of God's people failed. Jeremiah was taken along a road way, many times suffering afflictions, but he had nevertheless received and believed the promises of the Lord; "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 "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."

How wonderful this Scripture is, because in it we see the eternal purpose of God: that we be not satisfied with salvation alone, nor live in a religious appearance of spirituality, but rather that Christ's true life be expressed. May we increasingly take hold of our Lord Jesus Christ's character every day, so that we prepare His bride, that we be presented to Him as a holy Bride, holy and without blemish.

Synthesis of an oral message.