Fall 2024             Jeremiah 1–10

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Introduction

The most dreadful calamity to fall upon Israel in Old Testament times was the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. However, those who suffered this catastrophe could not say that they hadn’t been warned. Throughout the forty years leading up to this event, the prophet Jeremiah pleaded with the people to turn from their sins. He warned that deserved judgment was looming if they refused to repent.

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Jeremiah 1–10 is one collection of Jeremiah’s pronouncements. In these chapters, the Lord, through his prophet, accuses Judah of three sins: idolatry, unfaithfulness to God, and unjust violence being enacted by the powerful in the land against their fellow citizens. What is more, the people of Judah are living in denial with respect to these sins and their consequences. Chapter 10 rounds out this subsection of the larger prophecy with notice that the Lord’s agent of judgment, the Babylonian army, is at the door: “A voice, a rumor! Behold, it comes!” (10:22). 

 

Numerous concepts from Jer 1–10 are picked up in the New Testament. For example: God as the source of “living waters” (2:13); the travesty of turning the temple into “a den of robbers” (7:11); and the call to boast only in the Lord (9:23–24). One theme, however, that is especially meaningful to Jeremiah is the necessity of circumcision of the heart (4:4; 9:26; see similarly 6:10 and 31:33). Our hearts were once hardened toward God, but may we as New Testament believers continually appropriate the softening and humbling of our hearts that has been accomplished in Christ and by his Spirit (Ezek 36:26–27; Col 3:11).

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Schedule

Sept 29: Jer 1:1–10               “I have put my words in your mouth.”                    (Stefan Matzal)

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Oct 6:     Jer 1:11—2:13          “My people have committed two evils.”                (Nathaniel Jackson)

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Oct 13:   Jer 2:14–37             “Have you not brought this upon yourself?”        (Stefan Matzal)

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Oct 20:   Jer 3:1—4:4            “Return, O faithless children.”                                (Ram Stewart)

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Oct 27:   Reformation Sunday Pulpit Exchange                       (Rev. Rob Gates, Lafayette Alliance Church)

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Nov 3:    Jer 4:5–31              “I bring disaster from the north.”                            (Stefan Matzal)

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Nov 10:  Jer 5                       “How can I pardon you?”                                        (Nathaniel Jackson)

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Nov 17:  Jer 6                        “Flee from the midst of Jerusalem!”                      (Stefan Matzal)

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Nov 24:  Jer 7:1—8:3            “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house.”               (Nathaniel Jackson)

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Dec 1:    Jer 8:4—9:1             “Is there no balm in Gilead?”                                 (Stefan Matzal)

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Dec 8:    Jer 9:2–26             “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom.”        (Nathaniel Jackson)

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Dec 15:  Jer 10                      “Learn not the way of the nations.”                       (Stefan Matzal)

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Dec 22:  Christmas Sunday                                                                                  (Nathaniel Jackson)

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Dec 29:  New Year’s Sunday                                                                               (Stefan Matzal)

 

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--The Eldership: September 2024