Jeremiah

Among the Old Testament prophets, perhaps none is as heart-broken and devastated as Jeremiah, the weeping prophet. As a young man living in the darkest period of Judah's history in which spiritual and moral decay was prevalent, Jeremiah was called to the unenviable task of preaching and proclaiming judgment on the unrepentant nation for forty long years. The result was alienation, opposition, imprisonment, berating and beatings from his countrymen.

The book of Jeremiah is the largest in the Hebrew scripture, surpassing the whole Psalms collection in length. It portrays a holy and patient God who delayed judgment on a rebellious people with longsuffering and pleadings to no avail. Divine retribution inevitably followed as the city and temple were destroyed and the people carried away into captivity.

Unlike Isaiah with its chronological organization, Jeremiah is a collection of the prophet's oracles using words, illustrations and his own life as a living witness. God promised to preserve him and his scribe Baruch as they proclaimed God's messages to the wicked nation, though that did not spare Jeremiah the heartbreak and trauma as he poured out his life in tearful intercession for an unrepentant people. God finally had to tell Jeremiah to stop praying for them on two separate occasions as He would no longer bear with their sins (7:16; 11:14).

The true test of a prophet is not just in the words he brings but the spirit and heart of the man behind the message. Jeremiah's tender spirit and sensitive heart caused him much grief over the deplorable state of his people, but that did not stop him from ministering to the very end, even when he knew they would not listen to him and turn back:

9:1 Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

OUTLINE OF JEREMIAH

1. The Calling (1:1-19)
Jeremiah's Commission | Visions | Protection
2. The Condemnation (2:1-25:38)
Message   1:  Judah's Willful Sin
Message   2:  Judah's Coming Judgment
Message   3:  Judah's Hypocrisy in Worship
Message   4:  Judah's Breach of the Covenant
Message   5:  Judah's Relationship with God
Message   6:  Jeremiah's Intercessions
Message   7:  Jeremiah's Singlehood
Message   8:  Potter | Persecution | Pashur
Message   9:  Zedekiah | Shallum | Jehoiakim | Coniah
Message 10:  Judah's False Prophets
Message 11:  Two Baskets of Figs
Message 12:  The Seventy-Year Captivity
3. The Conflicts (26:1-45:5)
The Nation | False Prophets | Hananiah | Shemaiah
Future Restoration of Israel and Judah
Rebuilding of Jerusalem
Reaffirming of the Covenant
Present Challenges
Messages to Zedekiah | the People | the Rechabites
Interrogations and Imprisonments
Release and Reward | Remnants
4. The Confrontations (46:1-51:64)
Against Egypt | Philistia | Moab | Ammon | Edom
Damascus | Kedar and Hazor | Elam
Babylon's Defeat | Desolation | Destiny
5. The Captivity (52:1-34)
Jerusalem Captured | Temple Destroyed
People Exiled | Jehoiachin Restored