Rev. Nate Hill, pastor at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Winchester, TX, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Jeremiah 20:1-18.
Passhur the priest listened to Jeremiah’s preaching concerning the broken flask, and he didn’t like what the prophet of the LORD had to say. He beat Jeremiah and put him in the stocks, a foreshadowing of Jesus’ passion. Upon his release, Jeremiah proclaimed judgment upon Passhur; he would be a terror to himself and his friends in the suffering and death endured at the hands of Babylon. Having endured such persecution at the hands of Passhur and others for the sake of preaching the Word of the God, Jeremiah turns in lament to the LORD. As much as he would have stopped preaching, he simply could not; he calls upon the LORD to deliver him and trusts that his God will save. Jeremiah’s inner life of faith provides us a picture of what every Christian experiences; God invites us to pour out our complaint to Him and to find strength in His promise.
“A Time to Destroy and a Time to Build” is a mini-series on Sharper Iron that goes through the book of Jeremiah. The prophet calls the people of Judah and Jerusalem to repent of their faithless idolatry and warns them of the destruction that is coming in the Babylonian exile. Yet Jeremiah does not leave us without hope in the midst of such dark days. Jeremiah and all who believe the Word of God he preached survive because of hope that is found in the righteous Branch from the line of David, Jesus Christ.
