Jeremiah 30:1-3 – Be well-versed with God’s Written Word

At the onset of Jeremiah’s calling, God already told him what his ministry would entail.  Very specifically God told him in Jeremiah 1:9b-10, saying:

“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.”

 

So in his ministry, Jeremiah spoke both to uproot and destroy and also to build and plant. He had prophesied much of God’s judgment due to the sins of Judah, its kings, priests, prophets, and people. He told them they would be uprooted and sent into their captivity in Babylon. And they indeed were uprooted from their homeland and sent to captivity.

 

The good news was that in their judgment, they still had hope.  For their judgment was not going to be forever. They would not be in captivity indefinitely but for a specific duration of seventy years. In chapter 29 we already saw how he urged them to live life normally in Babylon and to continue to build their community in exile, for God was going to bring them back to their homeland after their seventy years of exile.

 

Here beginning in Jeremiah 30 and the next few chapters, his message would center around the theme of hope. God assured them in verse 3 that He was going to restore the fortune of His people, both from Israel and Judah.  Israel as we know was destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. and Judah was now in Babylonian captivity. Yet God’s promise was that the fortune of both would be restored.

 

Here in Jeremiah 30:1, God specifically instructed that what He said to be recorded in a  book. Why did want that to be done? Here are three good reasons. Firstly, what He said could be verified in the future. Truth can stand scrutiny. By recording it in a book, the truth of God will be verifiable. How could the truth be verified if they were not recorded? Secondly, what’s written can be perpetuated. The promises made can be kept safe for future generations to impact them. Thirdly, written words can reach a far wider audience than spoken words. In Daniel 9:2, we saw how Jeremiah had recorded in his book had impacted the Prophet Daniel.     

Thankfully we have the Bible, the Word of God. It had impacted many generations past and will continue to impact many more to come. We all can attest that have been enriched by the Written Word. And it will continue to enrich us. So we must continue to come to it and read, study, analyze, digest, assimilate, meditate, and memorize it. “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).