It’s an interesting thing, a boiling pot, because it means something is cooking, something could simmer for a while, something could boil over.
And then again, someone could tip it over too…
Boiling water could surface cleanse, like baby bottles, or could cook, like dumplings, or could scald, like skin. And as for the Lord’s story to prepare prophet Jeremiah, He gave him imagery of a boiling pot of the northern enemies – that was about to spill over into attacking His chosen people, on purpose and in measured punishment – another exile. (Old-Testament-correction of the re-wandering people, yikes)… Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality. How then have you turned before Me into the degenerate plant of an alien vine?
Times were about to change, the Lord’s long term plan was on the move, like tectonic plates shifting – hold on. And surely that’s happening today as well. Sometimes tectonic plates shift slowly then WATCH OUT) Aren’t we blessed to have Jesus to cling to?! Savior and Fulfillment of the Law!)
The Lord’s Word rumbled through Jeremiah in late times of a divided kingdom, Judah and Jerusalem. God sent His prophet for His people, and as we know from scripture that over and over again the people were not just disobeying the proper sacrifices, they were also worshiping false gods. They were building their lives on active tectonic plates and the Lord’s boiling pot was being rumbled. Splashing. And therefore this prophet became the steaming streaming mouthpiece for God. WARNING. If anything, over and over again, GOD DOES TELL US what’s going to happen, tells us to be braced in Him, “times they are a changin”. And HE tells us that HE will handle it.
If Jeremiah (or we) said to the Lord: ‘Things are not good. My path is tough’, then how or what would God help and remind us? He surely would say: ‘I’m already ahead of you. Stay close to Me.’ … ‘I’ve got this.’…
God prepared Jeremiah, prepared Israel’s peoples, and prepares us today, to STAY CLOSE TO HIM. These Prophets and their Psalm songs reminded there’s a seed planted of His kingdom line (Jesus Messiah) that God rooted INTO the Line of Jesse to David, sprouted and nourished. Not an alien Vine but the True Vine.
God’s Promise made this clear but the people themselves lived cloudy lives. Even the priests fell short, forgetting how God delivered them – unable to fully see Jesus coming into the fulfillment of the Prophets… to deliver them and us – in order to bring us back to fulfillment with God.
Let us keep looking towards Jesus, remember Him. God got us this far, under His Wing. The Holy Spirit fills us anew with HOPE. Jesus is the PROMISE, we praise that He gave His All
Amen
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Jeremiah 1:13-2:13, 19, and excerpts all the way to chapter 6
New King James Version
And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, and it is facing away from the north.” Then the Lord said to me:
“Out of the north calamity shall break forth on all the inhabitants of the land. For behold, I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” says the Lord; “They shall come and each one set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around, and against all the cities of Judah. I will utter My judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, Because they have forsaken Me, burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.
“Therefore prepare yourself and arise, And speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed before their faces, lest I dismay you before them. For behold, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land – Against the kings of Judah, Against its princes, Against its priests, and Against the people of the land. They will fight against you, But they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you,” says the Lord, “to deliver you.”
God’s Case Against Israel
Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I remember you, The kindness of your youth, The love of your betrothal, When you went after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holiness to the Lord, the firstfruits of His increase. All that devour him will offend; Disaster will come upon them,” says the Lord.’ ”
Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob and all the families of the house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: “What injustice have your fathers found in Me, that they have gone far from Me, Have followed idols, and have become idolaters? Neither did they say, ‘Where is the Lord, Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, through a land of drought and the shadow of death, through a land that no one crossed and where no one dwelt?’ I brought you into a bountiful country, to eat its fruit and its goodness. But when you entered, you defiled My land and made My heritage an abomination. The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’ And those who handle the law did not know Me; The rulers also transgressed against Me; The prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.
“Therefore I will yet bring charges against you,” says the Lord, “And against your children’s children I will bring charges. For pass beyond the coasts of Cyprus and see, Send to Kedar and consider diligently, And see if there has been such a thing. Has a nation changed its gods,
Which are not gods? But My people have changed their Glory for what does not profit. Be astonished, O heavens, at this, And be horribly afraid; Be very desolate,” says the Lord. “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.
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Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backslidings will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that you have forsaken the Lord your God, and the fear of Me is not in you,” says the Lord God of hosts. “For of old I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds; and you said, ‘I will not transgress,’ When on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down, playing the harlot. Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality. How then have you turned before Me into the degenerate plant of an alien vine? For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, Yet your iniquity is marked before Me,” says the Lord God.
“How can you say, ‘I am not polluted, I have not gone after the Baals’? See your way in the valley; Know what you have done: You are a swift dromedary breaking loose in her ways, A wild donkey used to the wilderness, that sniffs at the wind in her desire; In her time of mating, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves; In her month they will find her. Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst. But you said, ‘There is no hope. No! For I have loved aliens, and after them I will go.’
“As the thief is ashamed when he is found out, So is the house of Israel ashamed; They and their kings and their princes, and their priests and their prophets, Saying to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ And to a stone, ‘You gave birth to me.’ For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise and save us.’ But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble; for according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah.
“Why will you plead with Me? You all have transgressed against Me,” says the Lord. “In vain I have chastened your children; They received no correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a destroying lion. O generation, see the word of the Lord! Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of darkness? Why do My people say, ‘We are lords; We will come no more to You’? Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number.
“Why do you beautify your way to seek love? Therefore you have also taught the wicked women your ways. Also on your skirts is found the blood of the lives of the poor innocents. I have not found it by secret search, but plainly on all these things. Yet you say, ‘Because I am innocent, surely His anger shall turn from me.’ Behold, I will plead My case against you, Because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’ Why do you gad about so much to change your way? Also you shall be ashamed of Egypt as you were ashamed of Assyria. Indeed you will go forth from him with your hands on your head; for the Lord has rejected your trusted allies, and you will not prosper by them.
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Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord. I am weary of holding it in. “I will pour it out on the children outside, And on the assembly of young men together; For even the husband shall be taken with the wife, The aged with him who is full of days. And their houses shall be turned over to others, Fields and wives together; For I will stretch out My hand against the inhabitants of the land,” says the Lord. “Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even to the priest, Everyone deals falsely. They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, Saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ When there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; Nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time I punish them, They shall be cast down,” says the Lord.
Thus says the Lord: “Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’ Therefore hear, you nations, And know, O congregation, what is among them. 19 Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people – The fruit of their thoughts, Because they have not heeded My words Nor My law, but rejected it. For what purpose to Me comes frankincense from Sheba, and sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, Nor your sacrifices sweet to Me.”
Therefore thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people, And the fathers and the sons together shall fall on them. The neighbor and his friend shall perish.”
Thus says the Lord: “Behold, a people comes from the north country, And a great nation will be raised from the farthest parts of the earth. They will lay hold on bow and spear; They are cruel and have no mercy; Their voice roars like the sea; And they ride on horses, As men of war set in array against you, O daughter of Zion.”
Here is more chapters 3 to 6:
Debbie Upper 