Rev. Dr. M.J. du Plessis Reformed Church, Bellville 23 December 2001. Scripture quoted from NASB.

REFORMED CHURCH, BELLVILLE: SUNDAY 23 DECEMBER 2001: MORNING SERVICE

Our help is in the Name of the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
Beloved, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, through the mighty working of God the Holy Spirit.

AMEN.

Psalm of praise: 146:1,8.

Nicene Creed

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all the worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.
Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life; who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spake by the prophets.
And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.
AMEN

The Law : Ex. 20:1-17

Psalm 19:4.

Prayer

Psalm 81:1,4,12.

Scripture reading: Jeremiah 1

Text: Jeremiah 1:10

See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, To pluck up and to break down, To destroy and to overthrow, To build and to plant.

Have you ever considered that Christmas is an event which testifies that the Lord Jesus had to be born to do that for which He was ordained from all eternity before all time?

Christmas testifies to it that God ordained in His council a specific vocation for His Son.
This was that He should become a man, live without error or sin, and bear the wrath of God on account of the sins of mankind, in order to atone for the sins of all the elect before God.

Let us examine the passage of Scripture which we have read together. We will consider the following two aspects of the contents:
1.    Jeremiah's predestined purpose
2.    God's support.

1.    Jeremiah's predestined purpose

The Lord called Jeremiah as a prophet. He stated very clearly His purpose in doing so.

He declared that He had known Jeremiah before his mother had given birth to him.
Note how the Lord Himself put it: The Lord did not merely know Jeremiah because He had known that there would be someone like him. The Lord Himself formed him in the womb.

The Lord had also made him to be someone very special: the Lord had made him to be a prophet to all the nations.

For this purpose the Lord had chosen and dedicated Jeremiah to His service even before he was born.
In most translations it is stated unequivocally that the Lord had consecrated him, in other words, set him apart, dedicated and sanctified him to be His prophet after his birth and when he was a grown man.

There is something very important about this:

You must note that it was not on account of Jeremiah's qualities that he became a prophet.
He possessed those gifts and qualities as a person because the Lord had determined beforehand that Jeremiah was to be a prophet, and had created him with that in view.

There are many aspects of the calling of Jeremiah (and also in the things the Lord planned in advance) which are very similar to the calling of Jesus Christ.

For instance, Jeremiah was planned and prepared for his life-task before his birth.
In the same way there were prophecies regarding Jesus Christ centuries before the time of His birth:

not just that He would one day come to live on the earth,
but even that He would do everything He later did,

for example, that He would heal the blind and the lame;
and, naturally, specifically that He would bear our sins.

Jeremiah was also sent not merely to his own people!

He was sent to all nations, just as Jesus Christ later came to redeem all whom the Father had given Him.
And these people, whom the Father had given Him, were from all nations, and peoples, and tongues, but just like Jeremiah, Jesus Christ also had to begin among the Jews.

It has never been easy for anyone to do as the Lord requires, because the devil always has some or other obstacle to put in the way. He sees to it that we come up against pain or fear whenever we have to obey the Lord. Jeremiah experienced the same tribulations in carrying out his calling that all men do.

He complained to the Lord that he was not an eloquent speaker,
and that he was still young.
He felt himself to be incompetent to undertake the task the Lord now set him, because did not see his way clear to do as the Lord asked of him.

Then the Lord showed him the other side of the matter. The Lord told Jeremiah that he had to go to whomsoever the Lord sent him. He must not be afraid, because the Lord would be with him!

The Lord would be with him to deliver him, should difficulties arise (verses 7,8).
There was only one Messenger who could not rely on this, and that was Jesus Christ when He hung on the cross and called out that God had forsaken Him.

There was, of course, a sound reason for this, because it was part of the anxiety and punishment which Jesus had to bear for all our sins:

so that God could, on the one hand, forgive our sins,
but so that He might, on the other hand, never again depart from us.
The night before His arrest, Jesus already knew that He would undergo extreme loneliness and anxiety when He was arrested, judged, betrayed and eventually rejected.
He knew of all the pain He would suffer when He was nailed to the cross by the soldiers and then hoisted upright to enable the cross to be set in the earth.
For that reason He sweated blood when He prayed that this cup might pass Him by.

That Jeremiah was frightened merely underlines the fact that he knew from experience that the prophets of the Lord landed in tremendous conflicts.

Jesus also experienced this, and every true believer will know from experience that honestly living in accordance with your faith will arouse opposition and hostility towards you.

That is why the Lord promises that He will never leave His servants to face their problems alone.
No matter what danger might threaten - He will deliver those who are His.

For that reason the Lord appointed Jeremiah over all the nations. It is as if the Lord appointed him to be in overall charge of the proclamation of the Word in that time.

He must proclaim to the nations the will of the Almighty.
Verse 10 defines exactly what his preaching of the Word must deal with:

He must preach of judgement, so that the people may come to repentance.
He must pluck up and break down.
He must address their sins directly
and destroy the foundations of falsehood and idolatry among them.
Jeremiah had to destroy and lay waste, said the Lord. He had to proclaim the judgement of the Lord in such a way that it clearly depicted the signs of destruction and devastation to his hearers.
The people had to hear that, without God, there was only death, and that there was no chance that any of them would survive unless they repented.

Jeremiah's preaching was therefore not exclusively judgemental, it was also an act of grace, because he was commanded also to build and to plant.

In his preaching he was to proclaim clearly the grace of God for those who were established in the Lord - they were planted and built.
In the language of the New Testament we could say that this refers to those who come to repentance.

For such people there is a clear future in their redemption, for they will grow in the grace of the Lord, as a tree steadily grows larger, or like a building which is built ever higher.

2. God's support.

For these reasons, Jeremiah saw two visions.

The first of these was a branch of an almond tree.

The almond tree is the first fruit tree in Palestine to burgeon. While other trees are still dormant, these trees are covered in blossoms.
The Lord mentions this tree because it is a symbol that the Lord is ever watchful over His Word, and fulfils His promises.

The aspect of judgement in Jeremiah's preaching is also true. The Lord shows him a vision of a boiling pot which is poured out over Jerusalem and Judah from the north.

In fact it happened in that way: Jerusalem was eventually besieged and destroyed from the north.
Because the people did not repent, the Lord then proceeded to fulfil Jeremiah's proclamation of judgement, that He would pluck up and break down and destroy and overthrow.

It is now perhaps fitting that we, in the times in which we live, and especially within the context of Christmas, consider the things which are happening in our day from the perspective of Jeremiah's calling and prophecy.

Consider the fact that God promised for centuries before that the Messiah would come. The promise of His coming had two clearly distiguishable elements.

The one was that He would come to redeem and atone for those who believed in Him.
He would manifest His divine power by performing miracles of all kinds - the sick would be healed, the blind would see again, etc.

All these things were already a foreshadowing of the eventual re-creation which would be accomplished through Him.

It is as if we can hear, in the prophecies of the Old Testament and in what later happened in the course of history, the words of the Lord in Jeremiah 1:5:

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
And before you were born I consecrated you;
I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.

As Jeremiah was ordained to be the prophet to the nations, Jesus was ordained from the beginning to be the Messiah.
# Do not think for a moment that all were impressed by these "good" deeds of Jesus.
# In the words of the Lord to Jeremiah we have a prophecy of the attitude with which the preaching and works of Jesus would be received.

They frequently tried to kill Him.
Just as often there were hostile discussions with Him.
They continually sought opportunities to make accusations against Him.

Here we recall the words of the Lord in Jeremiah 1:7,8:

...Because everywhere I send you, you shall go,
And all that I command you, you shall speak.
Do not be afraid of them,
For I am with you to deliver you...

That is why we must also at Christmas think of the judgement which comes through the birth and crucifixion of Jesus Christ!

He did not only die so that people could be redeemed.
He Himself once said that He had come to bring division among people.

If you consider the matter carefully, you will realize that Jesus' redemption of those who believe in Him, does not mean that all the others suddenly become simply neutral.

The one group can only be saved if the others are destroyed by the judgement of the Lord.
THat is why the Lord says that there will be destruction and devastation.
What the Lord said to Jeremiah, God, of course, fulfilled in Jesus Himself.

Jesus was crucified (in that there is something of a plucking up and a breaking down) so that He could bear the punishment which God had pronounced over us.
Jesus had to die so that the judgement of God could destroy the foundations of falsehood and idolatry among us.

Jeremiah had to proclaim the judgement of the Lord in such a manner that that it clearly depicted the signs of destruction and devastation to his hearers.

All those who stood around the cross - and also we who today read and hear of it - saw and experienced how this prophecy of destruction was fulfilled in what happened to Jesus Christ.
He bore this punishment of God so that we might live.

The birth and death of the Lord Jesus proclaim that without the Lord Jesus there is only death, and that there is no possibility that any of us will survive if we do not repent, and believe that Christ was born so that He could, as a man, bear the punishment for our sins.

Let us now see what will become of this text in the time to come:

If the people in the time of Jesus were so antagonistic towards the Gospel, how much the more will it not be so in our time.
And the people who must now believe and live fearlessly in this Gospel are you.

The Lord also ordained you already before your birth to be believers -just like Jeremiah.
And just as in the case of Jeremiah you were already equipped before birth with the innate abilities to live for the Lord, and to be absolutely obedient to Him in your worship.

Jesus' death on the cross is the guarantee for this, because His death and resurrection provide the guarantee for your faith and redemption, but also that you will have the gifts and abilities to persevere in your belief under the harshest circumstances.

This is what is meant by the statement that there will also be built and planted. In our time the Holy Spirit accomplishes these things in consequence of the merit won by Jesus Christ through His crucifixion.

Like Jeremiah and also Jesus Christ you will be exposed to all kinds of threats on account of your faith.
But then you must know that the Lord will not forsake you - no matter whom you are up against.

Let Christmas strengthen you once again and may you realize afresh that Jesus was born to be delivered to the powers of hell in order to vanquish them, so that you may now persevere in the true faith to the honour of Triunal God.

AMEN.

Closing prayer.

Closing Psalm 89:1,6.

The Lord bless you, and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine on you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance on you,
And give you peace.
AMEN.

Rev. Dr. M.J. du Plessis
Reformed Church, Bellville
23 December 2001.
Scripture quoted from NASB.