(An introduction)
By Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
This wonderful book is scheduled for reading on August 24th – 28th in the excellent Robert Murray M‘Cheyne’s Bible Reading Calendar.
In 1965, while a first year student in the Theological Hall of the Free Presbyterian Church, I was told by Dr S B Cooke, one of the lecturers, that the prophecy of Jeremiah was ‘the book for today’.
In 1966, during the three month’s imprisonment (July – October) that I shared with Dr Ian Paisley and Rev John Wylie, both of whom have gone to glory, I was led to carefully read the book of Jeremiah. During that time, I gained a little understanding of the work, witness and wretched circumstances the prophet was put through during his 40+ years of serving the Lord and the clear similarity between his times and those coming upon us in Ulster.
Over the subsequent years, I have ever returned to the book and gained a deeper insight into the workings of apostasy and the wonderful mercy and long-suffering of the Lord and also His terrible judgment upon those who reject His mercy, abuse His patience, mock His Word and defy His power and authority.
Christians should study the writings of the ‘weeping prophet’ for it will enable them to understand just what is happening on a universal scale and most definitely here in Ulster. Furthermore, it will enable us to know what the Lord would have us to do in the midst of this rebellion.
I say this chiefly to ministers. Upholding and declaring God’s Word in a time of apostasy is not easy at all. It was for this reason young Jeremiah recoiled from the charge God gave him.
“Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child,” Jeremiah 1:4-6.
The Lord’s response to Jeremiah’s shrinking back from the task laid upon him, indicates that Jeremiah’s response was very natural and understandable!
“But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD. Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant,” Jeremiah 1:7-10.
(1). He had grounds for fearing the reaction of those to whom he was sent with God’s Word. The Lord’s reply indicates that there was much to fear ‘from their faces’, for his preaching would not be welcomed by the general population.
(2). The duties given him by the Lord were daunting indeed. “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant,” Jeremiah 1:10.
In farming, sowing and planting are much less laborious than is the entering into a field neglected and overgrown for a long period and where weeds have taken a deep hold. Preparing it for sowing involves the task of rooting out, pulling down, destroying, and throwing down.
When it is such that has to be done to strongly held and much loved false notions and practices, that will make the preacher most unpopular indeed.
That is the task to which faithful men are called in this day, which is so similar to that of Jeremiah’s era. In Jeremiah’s day, the ‘enemy’ had ‘come in like a flood,’ (Isaiah 59:19). There was widespread falsehood and deceit embraced and the Word of God cast away. Baal had replaced the Lord as the object of worship.
“The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit,” Jeremiah 2:8.
“For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal,” Jeremiah 11:13.
This ‘Baal’ was also known amongst many nations under different names, Chemosh, Bacchus or Priapus. The name Baal means ‘Lord’. The name indicates how easy it was for the evil falsehoods of Baal worship to supplant the truth of God. They were still serving a god called ‘Lord’!
Something similar happened during the wilderness wanderings. “And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD,” Exodus 32:2-5.
The golden calf, verse 4, was most certainly not ‘Jehovah’ as Aaron declared but it must have made the worship of the calf easier for any with doubts!
We can see the same process at work today. The name of the Lord Jesus Christ and other titles of the Triune God have been retained but the teaching regarding them, their will and purpose as revealed in Holy Scripture, has been replaced by a returning to the falsehoods of Romanism, as the long-help purpose of ‘Ecumenism’ is wrought out amongst the churches.
The ultimate goal of ecumenism is the recognition of sacramental validity, eucharistic sharing, and the reaching of full communion between different Christian denominations. That was stated at the first meeting of the World Council of Churches in 1948.
Here is the view of the work of Ecumenism as seen by Free Presbyterians in the past, set forth from the pen of Dr Ian Paisley and published in the ‘Revivalist’, which was the official organ of our church and once circulated amongst our congregations.
There is a spirit at work amongst the so-called Protestant churches today which is but the outworkings of the connivances of Romanism in keeping with its ‘Decree on Ecumenism’. The ‘Decree’ states the methodology Rome employs to undo the Protestant Reformation and bring back all ‘Christendom’ under the rule of the pope.
The Decree explains how that:
“Today, in many parts of the world, under the inspiring grace of the Holy Spirit, many efforts are being made in prayer, word and action to attain that fullness of unity which Jesus Christ desires. The sacred Council exhorts, therefore, all Catholic faithful to recognise the signs of the times and to take an active and intelligent part in the work of ecumenism,’ chapter 1, paragraph 4. That paragraph continues: ‘Such actions, when they are carried out by the Catholic faithful with prudent patience and under the attentive guidance of their bishops, promote justice and truth, concord and collaboration, as well as the spirit of brotherly love and unity. The result will be that, little by little, as the obstacles to perfect ecclesiastical communion are overcome, all Christians will be gathered, in a common celebration of the Eucharist, into the unity of the one and only Church, which Christ bestowed on His Church from the beginning. This unity, we believe, subsists in the Catholic Church as something she can never lose, and we hope that it will continue to increase until the end of time.”
In Jeremiah’s day the same devilish scheming was afoot.
“For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” Jeremiah 5:26-31.
The Lord said: “Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?” Yes, Indeed, He was avenged for the rebellion and apostasy of His people. The Book of Lamentations is the sad obituary written by Jeremiah to record the tragic results of disobeying the Lord.
Let Ulster Christians learn. The present departure will not go unpunished. Jeremiah, out of concern and compassion for the foolish erring people sought to warn them of what the harvest would be, but all he received was abuse and being despised and ignored. He was accused of being a traitor and sorely persecuted for what he most certainly was not!
“And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the LORD, which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah,” Jeremiah 37:1-2.
“Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to separate himself thence in the midst of the people. And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans. Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Irijah took Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes. Wherefore the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the prison. When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon, and into the cabins, and Jeremiah had remained there many days,” Jeremiah 37:12-16.
Yet, in spite of the treatment he had received for some 40+ years, the godly prophet mourned at the sad consequences the rebellious Israelites brought upon themselves from the hand of God.
Here is how the Book of Lamentations starts:
“How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary! She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies. Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits,” Lamentations 1:1-3. Note the reference to weeping in verse 2. “She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks.”
But then again, note the tears of the maligned and rejected faithful man of God. He did not rejoice at his rejectors getting what they deserved but out of a loving heart for his own people and a high regard for the holy name of the Lord, he wept bitterly.
“Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city. They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers’ bosom. What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? for thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee? Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment. All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth? All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it. The LORD hath done that which he had devised; he hath fulfilled his word that he had commanded in the days of old: he hath thrown down, and hath not pitied: and he hath caused thine enemy to rejoice over thee, he hath set up the horn of thine adversaries,” Lamentations 2:11-17.
This is what lies ahead for the professing people of God and their offspring in Ulster if there is a continuation of the departure so very obvious at present.
Let all remember:
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting,” Galatians 6:7-8.
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
29th August 2024