Verse 19
The people of Judah would fight him and try to destroy him, but the Lord promised again to be with Jeremiah and to protect his life (cf. Jeremiah 1:8). The Lord would "rescue" him, as He had rescued the Israelites in the Exodus (cf. Exodus 3:8; Exodus 18:4; Exodus 18:8-10; et al.).
". . . if you are a Christian looking for an easy ministry in a post-Christian culture where Christians are a minority, you are unrealistic in your outlook. It was not to be so in Jeremiah’s day, and it cannot be so in a day like our own." [Note: Schaeffer, p. 37.]
"For Jeremiah as for us, his [God’s] way in general is not to stop the fight but to stand by the fighter." [Note: Kidner, p. 28.]
"Prophets are almost extinct in the religious world today. The modern church is a ’non-prophet’ organization." [Note: Vance Havner, cited by Dennis J. Hester, compiler, in The Vance Havner Quotebook, p. 179.]
"The account of the vocation in Jeremiah 1 has set the stage for reading with understanding the chapters of the book that follow. But now that the stage has been set, the reader must be careful not to forget this account of vocation, for its memory will return to haunt the prophet in later years (and subsequent chapters). The memory will emerge openly in the ’Confessions’ that ensue from later trials, but still its shadow is felt in the last years of the prophet’s life as a refugee in Egypt, cut off from the land in which the call came." [Note: Craigie, p. 18.]
Jeremiah’s calling was not really that unusual. God has also chosen every Christian before the foundation of the world (Romans 8:29-30; Ephesians 1:4). He has chosen us to follow Him faithfully (1 Corinthians 6:20). He has also called every Christian to announce His Word (Matthew 28:19). He has called us to follow Him as He leads us through life by His Spirit (Romans 8:14; Galatians 5:25). And He has promised to be with us, and to preserve us eternally, even though we live as aliens and strangers in a hostile world (Matthew 28:19-20; Romans 8:31-39; 1 Peter 1:1-2; 1 Peter 2:11-12).
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