Jeremiah begins his prophetic ministry.

“Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, now I have put my words in your mouth. ‘See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant’” (Jer 1:9-10).

This was Jeremiah’s ordination: it was God’s act of initiating him into the ministry that he was to fulfil. His calling to ministry had been from pre-birth, when the Spirit of God began preparing him for ministry in his mother’s womb. Now, the moment had arrived when God spoke to him directly about the kind of ministry he was to fulfil.

Six Verbs, One Ministry

The six verbs in this sentence, four negative and two positive, indicate the direction Jeremiah’s ministry was to take. God was warning about the corrupt moral and spiritual state of the nation. This was so severe that much had to be torn down and removed from the nation’s life before there could be a positive outpouring of God’s blessing which would bring prosperity upon the land and its people.

These six verbs outline the whole of the ministry that Jeremiah was to fulfil over a 40-year period in Jerusalem. It would be a time of great turmoil and suffering. The uprooting and tearing down was to get rid of the greed, injustice, immorality and idolatry at the heart of the nation. Jeremiah eloquently describes this in his famous Temple Sermon in chapter 7. Corruption, greed and injustice were everywhere among the people and the leadership - both political and religious, from the King to the Chief Priest.

As Jeremiah said in one of his earliest declarations “From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, Peace’, they say, when there is no peace” (6:13-14).

The corrupt moral and spiritual state of the nation was so severe that much had to be torn down before there could be a positive outpouring of God’s blessing.

An Almond Tree and a Boiling Pot

Jeremiah’s ordination was immediately followed by a question from God: “What do you see, Jeremiah?” “I see the branch of an almond tree,” he replied. He probably spoke out loud saying the word ‘almond’ in Hebrew (shaqed), which sounded like the word ‘watching’ (shaqad). The pun was not lost on Jeremiah and the Lord immediately responded “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.”

This was just the kind of confirmation that the young man needed. It was his first test, showing that he was correctly interpreting the word of the Lord, which indicated that he was ready to receive a revelation of the task that lay ahead. A second question prepared the way for a major revelation: “What do you see?” asked the Lord; “I see a boiling pot, tilting away from the North,” Jeremiah answered.

Some biblical scholars believe that Jeremiah received some kind of picture or ecstatic vision in responding to each of these two questions. But this is unlikely – Jeremiah was not an ecstatic visionary like Ezekiel or Habakkuk. Jeremiah broadly stood in the same type of ministry as Amos, Micah and Hosea, who did not see pictures but heard God speaking his word to them. They were watchmen observing what was happening around them. They then spread it before God to give them understanding, while listening for his word in response. They were then able to declare with authority, “Thus says the Lord!”

At the beginning of Jeremiah’s ministry, seeing an almond tree simply confirmed his calling: that he was now ready to interpret rightly the things that God brought to his attention (later on, for example, he was told to go to the potter’s shop and watch the potter at work through which God would speak to him). In this first revelation he probably saw a housewife pouring out a pot. He noted each detail – even the direction in which the pot was pouring, and from this God gave him the warning that judgment was going to come from the ‘Land of the North’ which was the popular term for Babylon, whose army always skirted around the Golan Heights to the Sea of Galilee and entered Judah from the North.

Jeremiah, like Amos, Micah and Hosea, did not see visions but heard God’s word by observing what was happening around them, spreading it before God and listening for his response.

Judgment and Warning

From that moment, Jeremiah knew that disaster was on the horizon for the nation, as God was warning that he would not protect an unrighteous city filled with the blood of the innocent, with violence and murder on its streets as well as immorality and greed among the priests, and idolatry even practised in the Temple.

Jeremiah knew that his ministry was to uproot and tear down these abominable practices by telling both leaders and the people that God was deeply offended by their lifestyles. Jeremiah’s task was to call for repentance with the promise of forgiveness, while at the same time warning about the consequence of failing to listen.

Jeremiah had to declare that God was a covenant-keeping God who would undoubtedly protect his people and ensure their survival. But he was also a God of righteousness who would withdraw his protective covering over the land and the people, for a time, if they did not heed the words of warning that he was giving through his spokesman.

From this first direct encounter with God at the beginning of his ministry, Jeremiah knew the end from the beginning. Judgment and disaster would inevitably fall upon the land, the people and the city of Jerusalem. Even the Temple would be destroyed, although everyone believed it was inviolable as the dwelling-place of God.

From the beginning of his ministry, Jeremiah knew that he was going to meet bitter opposition. The word came to him, “Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them.” He received an assurance that God would give him extraordinary strength in the face of extraordinary opposition. Right from the beginning, he received a promise that was to strengthen and sustain him throughout his long and turbulent ministry: “They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declared the Lord (1:17-19).

Jeremiah was to declare that God was a covenant-keeping God who would not forsake his people, but he was also a God of righteousness.

Seeking the Lord’s Heart

It is this kind of ministry that we attempt to fulfil in Prophecy Today and Issachar Ministries: watching what is happening around us on the national domestic scene and observing the wider picture of what is happening among the nations in Europe and around the world, then spreading all this before the Lord and spending time listening for his response, so that we can know the word of the Lord for our times.

This is what the elders of the Tribe of Issachar did who came to King David at the time of his ordination, offering their services as watchmen and intercessors.

Of course, we don’t claim to be unique in this kind of ministry. We believe that all God’s people should be desiring to understand the times, and we are always open to hear from others who are seeking similarly to hear the word of the Lord.

But as Jeremiah was constantly troubled by false teachers and false prophets who gave words out of their own imaginations, promising peace and prosperity when God was calling for repentance and warning that disaster lay ahead, in the same way today there are many false teachers proclaiming another Gospel, and false prophets promising revival and glad tidings of peace and prosperity, when God is actually calling for repentance and turning.

This is why in recent weeks we have warned about the false teachings and false prophecies of the ‘New Apostolic Reformation’ (NAR). Of course, their messages are popular with the people, as were the false prophets in Jeremiah’s day. But those who know the whole word of God in the Bible and who genuinely seek for truth will surely recognise the true word of the Lord.

As Jeremiah declared in the letter he sent to the exiles in Babylon, the solemn promise of God is: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord (29:13-14).

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