エレミヤ書1:4-10 Jeremiah 1:4-10, by Ms. ATSUTA Yoko
「見よ、わたしはあなたの口に／わたしの言葉を授ける。見よ、今日、あなたに／諸国民、諸王国に対する権威をゆだねる。抜き、壊し、滅ぼし、破壊し／あるいは建て、植えるために。」 （エレミヤ1:9-10）
神さまから召し出されたと言われてもためらっていたエレミヤでしたが、口に神の言葉を授けられて預言者として一歩を踏み出すことになります。神の言葉には、神さまがこれから行おうとされることが込められているので、預言者はその言葉を受けてそのまま伝えるのです。諸国民、諸王国に対する権威ある言葉をエレミヤが語りはじめるとき、諸国の民はそれに従わなければならないのです。
エレミヤの使命をあらわすような言葉が書かれています。抜く、壊す、滅ぼす、破壊する、というと、諸国民、諸王国の滅亡をもたらす言葉のようですが、それらの後に、建てる、植えるとの言葉を聞くと、荒れ果てた地に新たに建物が建てられ、荒地を耕して種が撒かれる光景が浮かびます。預言されることは、それがどのようなことであっても神さまのご計画があり、また神さまの不思議な力によって行われるので、何が起こるのかわたしたちにはわかりません。しかし厳しいことを経験しなければならないにしても、神さまが目指していることはイスラエルの地が再建されていくことではないかと思わされます。それが何であれ、いつ起こるのであれ、エレミヤは、いま、預言者として遣わされて神の言葉を語りはじめるのです。
預言する者は神さまから命じられる言葉をそのとおりに語ります。そのとき何を語るかは神さまから与えられ、語れるように支えてくださるのも神さまです。そのことをパウロも証ししています。パウロはアテネで伝道の困難を経験した結果、コリントでは、「わたしの言葉もわたしの宣教も、巧みな知恵や言葉によらないで、霊と力との証明によったのである」（一コリント2:1-5）。と述べています。パウロの伝道のときも、み言葉を語るときは、主イエス・キリストが共にいて聖霊の助けによって支えられてきたのです。
（2月25日の熱田洋子神学生の説教より）
Today’s Bible passage is about Jeremiah being set up as a prophet. Jeremiah was given the mission of a prophet to speak the word of God in the southern kingdom of Israel, Judah, in the 7th-6th century BC. Jeremiah was the son of a priest and was probably called out when he was around 20 years old. At the time Jeremiah prophesied, Judah was a small country threatened by neighbouring powers, and in 587 BC the invading Babylonian Empire caused Jerusalem to fall and its people to be taken captive by the Babylonians. The Babylonian Captivity, as recorded in history, took place. It was in the midst of this severity that Jeremiah would speak the word of God to the people.
By the way, prophets are thought of as being in the Old Testament, but prophesying is also found in the New Testament. If you read the letter to the Corinthians, you will see that there were prophets in the church who were involved in the ministry of the church (1 Corinthians 14). Today, the word of God is spoken and heard in the church. The preacher who speaks the word there has, from the point of view of ministry, the role of a prophet who communicates God’s will. The word of God is conveyed through the mouth of the one who speaks it. We can learn from God’s ministry to Jeremiah how he guided the one who speaks in order for his will to be done.
It began when Jeremiah was called by God. “The word of the LORD came to me,” so God speaks directly to Jeremiah. First, he is told, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” You don’t have to be Jeremiah to feel fear and surprise at these words. It means that God, who gave life to each one of us, knew our character and our conduct, and wanted to involve us in his work. This is what Paul also says in the New Testament. “God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace was pleased to reveal his Son in me” (Galatians 1:15, NIV 2011). Jeremiah is similarly treated as God wills. This means that God chooses people completely freely to use them for his work and has predetermined their duties. Does this not also apply to us who have believed in Jesus Christ and have been made members of his church? We who believe in Christ were also brought to faith by God’s choice. We should bear this in mind. Above all, the emphasis is on Jeremiah as one who has been called by God to a special ministry.
We are informed here that Jeremiah was consecrated before he was born to be used for God’s work, and that God had appointed Jeremiah as “a prophet to the nations.” The prophet’s task is to proclaim the word of God, the ruler of the whole earth, to Judah and the nations surrounding Judah and to those who would be its enemies. God made Jeremiah a prophet to speak these words, which, in the circumstances of the time, were expected to be harsh, to make the people realise their sins and to bring God’s judgement upon them.
The installation of Jeremiah as a prophet is a unilateral act of God. Looking at the Old Testament, we notice that it is different when God calls Isaiah. Isaiah is first asked by God, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” In Jeremiah, however, there is no question from God, but God unilaterally commands Jeremiah to do what he himself has decided. Here, too, we see God’s will that he had chosen Jeremiah to be a prophet to fulfil his plan even before he was born.
In response, Jeremiah calls out, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” Jeremiah has accepted God in himself, because he says, “Lord GOD!” As the son of a priest, he would have known God, but at this moment Jeremiah truly belongs to God. This is probably because he was caught up in God’s wondrous work when he realised that God’s holy choice had been made in his person. And not just because he was a young man, but because he realised that he was nothing, he could not help but humble himself before God.
This calling of Jeremiah by God seems to fit with what Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 1:26). That is, the believers of the Corinthian church were called to be united to Christ as brethren because God has chosen “what is weak in the world,” so that no one should boast before him. Jeremiah was one of “what is weak in the world.” Likewise, we who have been made Christians have nothing to boast about humanly, but only believe in Jesus Christ as Saviour and have been forgiven of our sins. We want to remember that and be humble before God.
At this point, it is also plausible that Jeremiah says: “I do not know how to speak.” To preach God’s word is to tell what God is going to do, so it is natural to think that we who have no knowledge of God’s plan cannot do it. But Jeremiah commands us to prophesy it to the nations.
Even if we want to share the word we have heard, it is hard enough to do it privately, or even to our nearest and dearest, or to our family members. And if we have the responsibility to speak the word of God to the kings and leaders of the nations, as is said here, we wonder who can do such a thing. And if I were to speak it because it is God’s word, I would be worried that I would be rejected, criticised and attacked. So it would seem understandable that Jeremiah would defend himself against God’s command in an overwhelming way.
But the Lord says, “Do not plead that you are too young; for you are to go to whatever people I send you, and say whatever I tell you to say. Fear none of them, for I shall be with you to keep you safe” (REB). The point to note here is the exhortation, “Fear none of them, for I shall be with you.” This is typical biblical language. Fear is a strong feeling when we are confronted with God and his work. It can be the fear of having to face God, or the fear of not being able to do what God is commanding us to do. The Bible tells several stories of people who had fear when they were called to God’s work.
One such example can be found in Moses. Before Moses is to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt to God’s promised land, there is a scene where God gives Moses a mission. When Moses met God at Horeb, the mountain of God, he covered his face for fear of seeing God (Ex. 3:6). But as well as giving the hesitant Moses his mission, God says: “I will be with you” (Ex. 3:12). Here the anxiety and fear of one man in the light of the greatness of God’s work is well illustrated. But God says, “I will be with you,” removing the fearful heart and giving strength to go on the mission God has commanded.
In the face of Jeremiah’s anxious thoughts, God speaks strongly of his determination to accomplish what he has set out to do and promises that he will always be with Jeremiah whom he sends as a prophet. God’s commands are always accompanied by the promise to save. As was the case with Moses, this promise gives strength to the one who is sent. Jeremiah cannot choose where he goes. And it is the prophet’s duty to say all that is commanded. Despite the efforts of the one who speaks, he may be ignored and despised by his listeners, or the powers may try to silence him by threatening him with punishment. And the people are not settled, either accepting or envying him. But God says that he will be with those he sends and protect them.
So God, who has made promises, works concretely on Jeremiah, and not just verbally. God stretches out his hand and touches Jeremiah’s mouth, and bestows God’s various words into Jeremiah’s mouth. God’s involvement at this time also differs from the case of Isaiah. When Isaiah says that he is a man of unclean lips and sinful, God makes fire touch Isaiah’s mouth. Then Isaiah’s iniquity is taken away and his sins are forgiven. In this way Isaiah is sanctified and then used as a prophet of God. Perhaps because Jeremiah was chosen before he was born, he did not experience the forgiveness of sins, but God directly sanctified Jeremiah’s mouth and gave him God’s holy word there. I believe that God the Holy Spirit worked here to make him a speaker of the word of God.
This is a good indication that the one who speaks God’s word becomes God’s mouth. The word spoken by the prophet is the word of God. Therefore, it always has the power to come true. God is the creator of heaven and earth, even if the person he is prophesying to is a king of a great nation. Those who are called to speak the word of God are entrusted with God’s authority to speak, even if they themselves do not have the authority or ability to do so. For he who is sent to speak does not proclaim his own thoughts, but speaks the word of God.
Jeremiah was hesitant when he was told that God had called him, but he was given the word of God in his mouth and took a step forward as a prophet. The word of God contains what God is going to do, so the prophet takes the word and delivers it as it is. When Jeremiah begins to speak authoritative words to the nations and kingdoms, the peoples of the nations must follow.
In verse 10 the words are written in such a way that they represent Jeremiah’s mission. “To pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow,” seem to be words that bring about the destruction of nations and kingdoms, but when we hear the words “to build and to plant” after them, we see new buildings being erected on desolate land, and the wasteland being ploughed up and seed being sown. Whatever is prophesied, we do not know what will happen, because it is God’s plan and it is done by his mysterious power. But even though we will have to go through hard things, it seems that God’s goal is for the land of Israel to be rebuilt. Whatever it is, and whenever it happens, Jeremiah is now sent as a prophet to begin speaking the word of God.
Those who prophesy speak the words that God commands them to speak as they are commanded. God gives him what to say and supports him to speak. Paul also testifies to this. As a result of the evangelistic difficulties Paul experienced in Athens, in Corinth he said, “My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Cor. 2:4). Even during Paul’s ministry, when he spoke the word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ was with him and supported by the help of the Holy Spirit.
Thus, God, who promised to be with Jeremiah when the word of God was spoken, was with Paul and supported him when he spoke the word of God in his ministry, even in the New Testament era. Even now, when the word of God is spoken in the church, God is with us, guiding us to do his will. In the sermons of worship, God provides us with the word we need to live by faith today. Whether the word is to lead the hearers to repentance or to encourage and strengthen them, God is at work in each case. And when it is spoken, the Holy Spirit sanctifies the mouth of the one who speaks so that the will of God may be conveyed, and the ears of the hearers so that they may listen to and follow the word. God is also with us when we preach the gospel of Christ, giving us the word to speak. We should walk with the word of God, believing that when the word is preached, God is with us and will continue to support us so that his will is done. Where God’s word is preached and heard correctly, new people will surely be invited to the church by God. And they will be called to the path of salvation through faith in Christ.