Jer 1:11-19 I Will Utter My Judgments Against Them Touching All Their Wickedness

[Study Aired December 13, 2020]

Jer 1:11  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.
Jer 1:12  Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.
Jer 1:13  And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is toward the north.
Jer 1:14  Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.
Jer 1:15  For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah.
Jer 1:16  And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.
Jer 1:17  Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.
Jer 1:18  For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.
Jer 1:19  And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.

As I have pointed out earlier, Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4 both make it clear that each of us must inwardly personalize all the plural pronouns of scripture if we are to benefit from reading any of these prophecies:

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man [G444: ‘anthropos’, mankind, (you and I)] shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Luke gives us our “second witness” to this Truth:

Luk 4:4  And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

Living by every word does not mean performing every word of scripture. What it means is that we are to believe and obey every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. We must accept with complete faith “that every imagination of the thoughts of [our natural] heart [is] only evil continually.” Therefore, “[we] are the man” who committed adultery and then murdered the woman’s husband to cover it up. If we believe that every sin of mankind is within our own flesh, then we will understand who Christ was talking to when He said:

Luk 11:50  That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation [“let him that readeth understand” (Mat 24:15)];

The words of Jeremiah were given to him by “the Lord” to give to us. Therefore, these words have proceeded out of the mouth of God. These words are part of “every word of God” which we will do well to believe and act accordingly:

Jer 1:11  Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.
Jer 1:12  Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.

“You have well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.” (??) What, pray tell, does “a rod of an almond tree” have to do with “I will hasten my word to perform it?” That will become much easier to understand when we see the similarity between the Hebrew word for ‘almond’ and the Hebrew word of ‘hasten’. Here is the Hebrew word for ‘almond’:

H8247
שָׁקֵד
shâqêd
shaw-kade’
From H8245; the almond (tree or nut; as being the earliest in bloom): – almond (tree).

The almond tree is the earliest blooming tree in any orchard. I have an almond tree, peach trees, apple trees, pear trees and one apricot tree. The almond blooms in January before any of the other fruit trees.

The Hebrew word for ‘almond’ is ‘shaqed’ to which James Strong has assigned the number H8247. Notice that we are told this Hebrew word, number H8247, is “from H8245”, and when we look up that word, this is what we find:

H8245
שָׁקַד
shâqad
shaw-kad’
A primitive root; to be alert, that is, sleepless; hence to be on the lookout (whether for good or ill): – hasten, remain, wake, watch (for).

Where do we find this word H8245 from which the word ‘almond’ comes? E-sword tells us it is in the Old Testament twelve times, and one of those twelve times is in the very next verse, verse 12, where this word H8245 ‘shaqad’ is translated as ‘hasten’:

Jer 1:12  Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten [H8245: ‘shaqad’] my word to perform it.

What the Lord is telling us through Jeremiah is the very same message He gives us in the New Testament via the agency of “the fig tree”:

Mat 24:32  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Here in Matthew 24:32-35 Christ is essentially saying… “I will hasten My Word to perform  it.”

He repeats the same message in:

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

That is the significance of why the Lord showed Jeremiah an almond rod. The pouring out of His wrath upon His own people was imminent, typifying this spiritual Truth:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Isaiah gives us the same timetable with the same sense of urgency:

Isa 10:12  Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.

If we fail to discern the order in which the Lord is judging His creatures, then we will fail to know Him, and we will not know His Son. We will fail to acknowledge that we are being judged in “this present time” and that we are therefore the first of all of mankind to be judged. If we believe this, then we are beginning to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. “Judgment must begin at the house of God” [and] “when the Lord has performed His whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem [His elect then, and only then] will [He] punish the stout heart of the king of Assyria…”

Later in this same prophecy, the Lord, through Jeremiah, will repeat the message of Isaiah 10:12. In chapter 25 the Lord will again state that He has already determined He will judge His own people first, and then He will judge the rest of the nations of this world:

Jer 25:15  For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
Jer 25:16  And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.
Jer 25:17  Then took I the cup at the LORD’S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:
Jer 25:18  To wit, [“begin at”] Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;

The Lord has determined to judge His own people first:

Jer 25:29  For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.

The Lord goes on to make it clear He is not speaking only of the judgment which is taking place at this very moment within His elect. He makes clear that after He pours out His wrath upon His saints, then He will also judge the rest of the kingdoms of this world, but always beginning with Jerusalem, His own people, His own “house” (1Pe 4:17):

The reason for starting with His own house is for the very reason of using His own house as His instrument to save all the rest of mankind. Those few who are first judged in this present age, will be sent by Christ “that the world through [their] mercy might receive mercy.”

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

God sent His Son into the world that the world through Him might be saved, and Christ says this of those few who are chosen in “this present time” (Rom 8:18) to endure hardship and tribulations to the end:

Joh 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

We are also sent by Christ to be the first to be judged so we can be “saviors” who will be the first to judge the world and then the angels:

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

‘Saviors’ are righteous, just and merciful judges:

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might [through His elect of this present time] have mercy upon all.

That is both the physical and the spiritual significance of showing Jeremiah an almond rod. It signifies both physically and spiritually the eminence of the “rod of [His] anger, and… indignation” which the Lord first brings upon His own house, His own people:

Isa 10:5  O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
Isa 10:6  I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

The Babylonians were the Assyrian people who typify and signify those whom the Lord has chosen to punish His own people. Like the Egyptians before them, the Assyrians, who are the same people as the Babylonians, are a very self-righteous religious people, who in type have a special hatred for “the Lord and His Christ” (Act 4:26). It is ‘Babylon’ whom the holy spirit has chosen to typify “the great city wherein our Lord was crucified” (Rev 11:8) It is the Lord’s own apostate people. It is those who claim to be the Lord’s people who hate the Lord and His Word even more than the nations around them do. These are those whom the Lord calls a spiritual “harlot”:

Isa 1:21  How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
Isa 1:22  Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:
Isa 1:23  Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.
Isa 1:24  Therefore saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies:
Isa 1:25  And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin:

Rev 11:8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

“The faithful city” is the subject of this chapter, and it is the subject of this entire prophecy:

Isa 1:1  The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Isa 1:2  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
Isa 1:3  The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Isa 1:4  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

The prophecy of Isaiah revealing “Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children” to be “a harlot” gives these verses of Revelation much greater meaning within and outwardly than simply seeing “Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of abominations of the earth” as Judaism, the Anglican church or the Catholic church. “Babylon the great, the mother of harlots” rules over the kings of the earth. Inwardly she rules us with her doctrines. Outwardly she is all the religions of this world all of whom reject the Lordship of Christ.

John was “carried away in the spirit” and made to see this very same ‘harlot’ spoken of in Isaiah 1:21:

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. [“…but now murders… lodge in it” (Isa 1:21)]

What exactly is the spiritual significance of this great harlot? This is who she signifies in both the Old and the New Testaments:

Rev 17:18  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

The Lord has divorced and banished His harlot wife:

Isa 50:1  Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away [“banished”].

However, the Lord has devised means by which even His banished are reconciled to Him:

2Sa 14:14  For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.

The Lord blots out the names of all who sin against Him:

Exo 32:33  And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.

Since we “have all sinned and come short of the glory of God” we are all at birth ‘blotted out’ of His book and are under His wrath:

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life [“blotted out of His book” (Exo 32:33)]; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

Rom 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

That ‘wrath of God’ is obviously upon all flesh, but it is “[His own] house”, His elect, who are “chastened… and scourged” first:

Jer 1:13  And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is toward the north.
Jer 1:14  Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.
Jer 1:15  For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah.

“The north” in scripture typifies impending judgment upon the Lord’s chosen people. Ezekiel uses this same imagery:

Eze 9:1  He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.
Eze 9:2  And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar.
Eze 9:3  And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side;
Eze 9:4  And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
Eze 9:5  And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
Eze 9:6  Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.

“Begin at my sanctuary” is the foundation for Peter saying:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1Pe 4:19  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

We suffer along with the rest of mankind, but knowing the purpose for our suffering grants us to be the first to be judged. Those who are not given the blessing to see and to hear the things of the spirit, groan in pain together with us in this present time, only to have to do it all over again in the lake of fire:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. [“The redemption of the purchased possession” (Eph 1:14)]
Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

These very words are “the mark” which is upon those who are spared. The only reason for which they are spared is that they, like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, have judged themselves already, and they are now being used to judge others by remaining faithful to all these thundering judgments of the Lord.

Inwardly the “fiery… words, the hailstones the weight of a talent, the water of life and the light of the world” all come down on all the false doctrines of the great whore which reside within me. Outwardly and dispensationally, the nations of this world will be “dashed to pieces as the vessel of a potter”:

Jer 1:16  And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.

The incense is “the prayers of the saints”:

Rev 5:8  And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.

Rev 8:3  And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
Rev 8:4  And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.

When we are yet in rebellion in Babylon we are praying to “another Jesus… unto other gods”:

2Co 11:4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

This is what is taking place within each of us if we are predestinated to be those “who first trusted in Christ” and upon whom His judgments of this prophecy of Jeremiah are taking place in this present time:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

We “who first trusted in Christ… have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who works all things after the counsel of His own will.” These words have no application to those who are not the first to trust in Christ. ‘Who first trusted in Christ’ is a phrase which qualifies this group as ‘the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb’:

Rev 14:1  And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
Rev 14:2  And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
Rev 14:3  And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
Rev 14:5  And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.

“The voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, …as the voice of a great thunder: and… the voice of harpers harping with their harps” are one and all the words of the Lord in the mouths of His elect. The “many waters” are the Words of the Lord as a whole. The “great thunder” are His judgments in His Words throughout the law, the Psalms and the apostles and the prophets. What John was hearing were the judgments being pronounced upon the house of God by all of His prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and all the other Old Testament prophets are types and shadows of “the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb” who in the New Testament become “the voice of many waters… the voice of a great thunder”. John is hearing the words of God in the mouths of those who have been given the eyes that see and the ears that hear the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven and who know that “the hour of His judgment” is the judgment which is now upon the house of God within each of us.

If we are granted to hear and understand the Lord’s word, then this is what we will be found doing:

Jer 1:17  Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.

When in the process of opening Job’s eyes and ears to His words, this is what the Lord twice told Job:

Job 38:3  Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.

Job 40:7  Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.

When Elisha sent his servant Gehazi or one of the children of the prophets to give the Lord’s words to others, He told them:

2Ki 4:29  Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go thy way: if thou meet any man, salute him not; and if any salute thee, answer him not again: and lay my staff upon the face of the child.

2Ki 9:1  And Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets, and said unto him, Gird up thy loins, and take this box of oil in thine hand, and go to Ramothgilead:

Now notice how Peter applies this phrase in the New Testament:

1Pe 1:13  Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

The grace of God comes to us only through “the revelation of Jesus Christ”, therefore we are being told to “gird up the loins of your mind” [to] read, hear, and keep the “revelation of Jesus Christ”:

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Therefore, the Lord is telling us the same thing He told Jeremiah:

Jer 1:17  Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.

Along with this commission comes these words which are designed to prepare our hearts for the thunderous judgments which are coming down upon the house of God within us:

Jer 1:18  For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.

The only way any of us will be “faithful to the end” is if “the Lord has made us [to be] a defenced city… an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings… the princes… the priests, and against the whole land.” Christ gave us this very same message:

Mat 10:16  Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Mat 10:17  But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;
Mat 10:18  And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.

Mat 10:21  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Mat 10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Mat 10:35  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Mat 10:36  And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Here is the ultimate fulfillment of these words as lived out by “the captain of our salvation”:

Act 4:25  Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
Act 4:29  And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,

When Jeremiah was put in the pit with no water and nothing but miry clay, like Joseph before him, he was typically put into his grave. These events both typify the death and resurrection of our Lord. Look at what the Lord has promised us using Jeremiah as a type of Christ and a type of us, ‘the Lord’s Christ’:

Gen 37:23  And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him;
Gen 37:24  And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.

Jer 38:6  Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.

Both these men, as type of Christ and His Christ, prevailed over their enemies and over the power of the pit:

Jer 1:19  And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.

What the Lord’s own people did to Jeremiah was a type and a shadow of what they would do to their own Creator who also appeared to be a mere man. Indeed, He was man enough to be put to death through crucifixion on the cross. Just look at what that accomplished:

Heb 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;

Joseph came up out of the pit into life. Jeremiah came up out of the pit unto life, and Christ came up out of His grave alive.

I remember well when my carnal mind, with absolutely no appreciation of the things of the spirit, thought, “What do you mean, …and was heard in that He feared… He was crucified and He died.” What total spiritual blindness I was bound up in at that time. A physical body, like the body of Lazarus, still must die and return to dust. A resurrected body is no longer subject to death, and a physical body “cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption.” Christ’s prayer was not just, “Father, if you be willing remove this cup from me.” Rather, it was also… “nevertheless not My will, but Thine be done… and He was heard in that He feared… God rather than men.”

Luk 12:5  But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

Act 5:29  Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

Christ’s flesh identified with our flesh and cried out “Father, if you be willing, remove this cup from me”, but His spirit submitted to His Father’s will, and He also prayed, “Nevertheless, not My will but thine be done… and He was heard in that He feared.” His gift of placing the things of the spirit ahead of the things of the things of the flesh produced life “through death” and gave us a Savior.

Col 1:22  In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

If we are granted to do the same in this present time, then we, too, through Christ, will be made to be “saviors” of this world:

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

Rev 17:14  These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

That is our study for today, and these are the verses for our next study:

Jer 2:1  Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jer 2:2  Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.
Jer 2:3  Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD.
Jer 2:4  Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel:
Jer 2:5  Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?
Jer 2:6  Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?
Jer 2:7  And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination.
Jer 2:8  The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.
Jer 2:9  Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children’s children will I plead. Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,