Jeremiah's call to ministry.

“The word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations’” (Jer 1:4).

This was Jeremiah’s personal testimony which laid the foundation for his life’s work. His ministry was not a personal career choice; it was a response to the compulsion to declare the word of God, similar to that which Paul felt when he declared “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel” (1 Cor 9:16).

The phrase “The word of the Lord came to me” means ‘came into being’ or was ‘birthed’ within him. This birthing actually took place in the womb, where the Spirit of God began forming the word of God in the unborn child from the moment of conception. Before the tiny body of Jeremiah began to take shape within the womb of his mother, God was planning to use him as a prophet to the nation.

From the moment of conception, God was moulding the character of the man he was preparing for the most difficult and exacting ministry of any of the biblical prophets. Before he was born, Jeremiah was set apart for this special task of conveying the word of the Lord to the nation in the most critical period of its history since its formation in the wilderness, under the prophetic leadership of Moses.

A Prophet in a Priestly Family

Like the Prophet Samuel, whose mother gave him to the Lord while he was still in her womb, Jeremiah must also have had a special mother – a woman of prayer and faith. We know nothing about her except that she was the wife of a priest, a descendant of Zadok and Abiathar, whose heritage went back to the time of Eli and Samuel.

Like the Prophet Samuel, whose mother gave him to the Lord while he was still in her womb, Jeremiah must also have had a special mother – a woman of prayer and faith.

Abiathar had been King David’s chief priest. He was dismissed by Solomon in an effort to prevent opposition to his taking the throne from his older brother Adonijah who he murdered (1 Kings 2:25-27). Abiathar and his descendants were exiled from living in Jerusalem to live in the village of Anathoth. Although only two miles distant, it was a million miles away in terms of social influence. Jeremiah was raised far away from the aristocratic priestly families of the Temple.

Jeremiah’s family must have suffered from a strong sense of social inferiority which made them incredibly sensitive to having a pariah amongst them. The priest’s role was to maintain the religious traditions of the nation and to oppose any changes, whereas the role of the prophet was to challenge the status quo in the name of God. To have a prophet in a priest’s family would have been seen as a tragedy, and as Jeremiah notes, even his own family sought to take his life, but God revealed their plot to him (Jer 11:18-23). As Dean Inge once said, a priest is never so happy as when he has a prophet to stone!

God’s Creation from Conception

Jeremiah’s testimony that the word of the Lord was birthed in him from the time of conception is a recognition that the pre-birth period in the womb is of great importance for character formation. Yet in contemporary Britain, 8.7 million babies have been destroyed since the legalisation of abortion in 1967. We are a nation steeped in the blood of the innocent – throwing away as unwanted, unloved and uncared for, the most precious gift of life that only God can give.

The record of Jeremiah’s birth shows that God knows each one of those whom he creates in his own image from the moment of conception. At the end of every working day in our hospitals, a black bag full of babies is taken out of the back door and thrown into the incinerator. What is God saying to the men and women who care so little for the gift of each tiny life? How many great men and women who could have served the nation have been burnt in the fire – who could have discovered a cure for cancer, become a great preacher or a righteous Prime Minister? What if Jeremiah’s mother had aborted him?

The record of Jeremiah’s birth shows that God knows each one of those whom he creates in his own image from the moment of conception.

Jeremiah speaks of God’s horror at the detestable practices of burning babies in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom outside Jerusalem. He links this directly with God’s judgment coming upon the nation (Jer 7:30-34). This is a sobering thought for us today.

Only a Child

When the call of God came to Jeremiah, his response was “Ah, Sovereign Lord, I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.” But the Lord said “’Do not say, “I am only a child”. You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you’, declares the Lord” (Jer 1:7-8).

Jeremiah was probably still in his teens when this message came to him and he protested at his youthfulness and his inability to undertake such an enormous task. Yet, as the son of a priest he would have been schooled for the priesthood; an important part of which would have been learning the Torah – the teaching that God gave to Moses. He would also have been taught the history of the nation and would have learnt to understand God’s dealings with his covenant people.

Jeremiah’s training for the priesthood was part of God’s intended preparation for his prophetic ministry, despite the fact that his family did not know that they were training a prophet – not a priest! It was probably at this point, as a teenager, that Jeremiah began refusing to undertake the duties of a priest. The word of the Lord was already stirring within him, alerting him that he would not be taking his turn as a minor priest on duty in the Temple. He was destined to preach outside the Temple, not inside its precincts!

If this was the first time that Jeremiah had distinctly heard the Lord speaking directly to him, it was right that his reaction was that he was unfit for such a task. Like Isaiah of Jerusalem some 200 years earlier, who had felt his own inadequacy and cried out “For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips”, Jeremiah also recoiled from the awesome task of taking the word of God to the nation. But immediately the word came “Do not say, ‘I am only a child’. You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.”

Jeremiah’s training for the priesthood was part of God’s intended preparation for his prophetic ministry

Trusting the Promise of God

Then came the promise in which Jeremiah was to trust for the rest of his life; “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you”.

The very fact that he was going to need divine power to rescue him must have been a daunting experience for the young man. Certainly, that promise would be put to the test as Jeremiah later faced angry mobs, or outraged priests, or a cruel king. But the God who had watched over Jeremiah’s earliest character formation in the womb was a God who keeps his word and never forgets his promises.

There would be many times when Jeremiah’s faith would be severely tested, but the strength of the Lord was always sufficient for him, even when he was in the stocks being pelted by a mob, or dropped down a well to sink in the mud. God never deserted him and always enabled him to bring the word of the Lord to a generation who had ears to hear but never heard, and who had eyes to see but never saw.

They had minds to understand, but were never able to interpret what they saw or heard because they rejected the word of God through his chosen one. This would eventually bring tragedy upon the nation.

What is happening today when God is clearly shaking the nations and the whole natural Creation? Will the prophetic word of God be heard in the land and heeded by men and women in time to prevent tragedy? Or, will our generation, like that of Jeremiah, live to see the warnings of God ignored and tragedy unfold?

This article is part of a series. Click here to read other instalments.