“I Have Made Thee This Day …
an Iron Pillar”
Lesson 41 – Jeremiah
1-2; 15; 20; 26; 36-38
Jeremiah 1:17-19 – The phrases
in verse 18 were used by the Lord to describe Jeremiah as he set out to fulfill an assignment from the Lord. Kings, princes, priests, and all the
people of the land opposed Jeremiah in his mission, but he valiantly did as the
Lord commanded. Jeremiah was an “iron pillar” who had great strength in times
of adversity and did not bend or break.
This lesson should encourage each of us to
remain faithful in times of opposition and adversity.
Background: Jeremiah ministered during the reigns of
five kings, from Josiah to Zedekiah (626 to 586 B.C.).
With Josiah, he tried to turn the people from idolatry and immorality. But the
kings after Josiah ruled in wickedness, and the people were in total apostasy.
Jeremiah’s mission was to raise a voice of warning to these people, and his
denunciations of their wickedness are among the strongest in all scripture. His
was one of the last voices of warning before the Babylonians conquered Judah.
Jeremiah’s life was full of sorrow, but his
response to trial can teach and inspire us. He was beaten and imprisoned for
prophesying against the kingdom of Judah. His life was constantly threatened.
But through all the adversity and opposition, Jeremiah was like an “iron
pillar” (Jeremiah 1:18).
The book of Jeremiah provides a personal,
faith-promoting record of the prophet’s response to his life’s sorrow and
frustration.
Jeremiah was called of God to be a prophet.
Jeremiah 1:5
- Jeremiah’s call as a prophet unto the nations teaches us that the doctrine of
foreordination is exemplified in his life and service. As we review today’s scriptures, consider
his foreordination and see if you think it helped Jeremiah to know that in the
premortal existence he had been foreordained to be a prophet.
The Prophet Joseph Smith said, “Every man who
has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to that
very purpose in the Grand Council of heaven before this world was”
(History of the Church, 6:364).
Jeremiah 1:6-10
- When Jeremiah felt inadequate to fulfiill his calling, the Lord spoke
reassuringly to him and touched his mouth, giving Jeremiah the Lord’s words to
speak.
When we have felt inadequate in a calling or
assignment, the Lord has also strengthened us if we were simply willing to
follow his instructions and be obedient. He supports his servants.
Many people opposed
Jeremiah and tried to prevent him from fulfilling his mission.
Jeremiah faced opposition as he fulfilled the mission given to him by the Lord:
§
Jeremiah 20:1-6
- Displeased with Jeremiah’s prophecies,, Pashur, the chief governor of the
temple, had Jeremiah beaten and put in the stocks. Jeremiah prophesied that
Pashur, his family, and his friends would be taken captive by the Babylonians
and would die in Babylon.
§
Jeremiah 26:7-15
- Most of the people in the land, includding the priests, opposed Jeremiah and
his message. However, Jeremiah courageously delivered the message the Lord had
commanded him to give. Jeremiah 11:19-21; 12:6 - Jeremiah was even
opposed and hated by his relatives and his neighbors in the city of Anathoth.
§
Jeremiah 36:1-6,
20-32.
The words of Jeremiah’s prophecies were written down and read to the people.
The king burned these words, and the Lord commanded Jeremiah to record them
again.
§
Jeremiah 37:12-15;
Jeremiah 38:4-13.
Jeremiah was accused unjustly and put into prison. He was later cast into a
dungeon, where he sank into the mire. By order of King Zedekiah, Jeremiah was
released from the dungeon and put back in prison.
Jeremiah 20:14-18
reveals how Jeremiah felt as he endured such overwhelming opposition.
Obviously, he was somewhat discouraged at this time.
Jeremiah 26:12-15
- To help us when we experience adversitty, we can learn from Jeremiah that he
continued to obey the Lord and fulfill his calling even when he was persecuted
and discouraged.
Jeremiah 2:13
– The Lord said his people had committed two evils. They had forsaken him, the
fountain of living waters. And they had made for themselves broken cisterns
that could not hold the Lord’s living water, meaning they had sought
fulfillment and security in worldly things.
People described with these characteristics
would have great difficulty accepting the words of Jeremiah because they were
not spiritually attuned to the message.
They would, therefore, be unable to respond to adversity as Jeremiah did
with faith and continued diligence.
Elder Marion D. Hanks said: “Material
objectives consume too much of our attention. The struggle for what we need or
for more than we need exhausts our time and energy. We pursue pleasure or
entertainment, or become overinvolved in associations or civic matters. Of
course, people need recreation, need to be achieving, need to contribute; but
if these come at the cost of friendship with Christ, the price is much too
high. ‘For my people have committed two
evils,’ said the Lord to Israel; ‘they have forsaken me the fountain of living
waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.’ (Jer. 2:13.) The substitutions we fashion to take the
place of God in our lives truly hold no water. To the measure we thus refuse
the ‘living water,’ we miss the joy we could have” (Ensign,
July 1972, 105).
Jeremiah’s prophecies that the Babylonians would
destroy Jerusalem were fulfilled, as recorded in chapters 39-40 of Jeremiah.
Jeremiah had been in prison during the siege, but afterward the Babylonians
freed him and allowed him and a remnant of the Jews to remain in the land of
Judah.
Jeremiah 42:1-6
- Johanan, the leader of those who remaiined, asked Jeremiah to seek the Lord’s
will for them and promised to obey it.
Jeremiah 42:9-22
- Through Jeremiah the Lord told the peoople to stay in the land of Judah and
promised to bless them if they would do so.
Jeremiah 43-44
- But Johanan led the people into Egypt,, where most of them continued in their
wickedness.
Jeremiah was strengthened in adversity
by his love for the word of God.
The following scriptures show how the word of God helped Jeremiah remain strong in times of adversity.
Jeremiah 1:9 - The
Lord put his words into Jeremiah’s mouth.
Jeremiah 15:16
- Jeremiah ate the words of the Lord, whhich is poetic language meaning that the
word of God became part of him.
We can “eat” the words of the Lord as Jeremiah
did by studying the scriptures and the counsel of latter-day prophets.
2 Nephi 32:3
- The Book of Mormon prophet Nephi counsseled us to “feast upon the words of
Christ”.
Jeremiah 20:9
- Jeremiah described the word of the Lorrd inside him as a “burning fire” in his
bones.
Jeremiah could not, therefore, hold back from
teaching the word of the Lord because it was so strong within him.
Jeremiah’s visit to the potter is recorded in Jeremiah 18:1-4.
Jeremiah 18:5-10
- The Lord taught his people through Jerremiah’s experience that if they would
repent, he would mold them into something better, just as the potter had
reshaped the marred vessel. He also reminded them that he had the power to destroy
them if they did not repent.
This comparison applies to us today in that we can become better clay in the Lord’s hands by being humble—by obeying, repenting, trusting the Lord, and seeking his will.
President Heber C. Kimball provided the following
insights into the comparison in Jeremiah 18:1-10: “All [who] are pliable in the hands of
God and are obedient to His commands, are vessels of honor, and God will
receive them” (History of the Church, 4:478).
“There are many vessels that are destroyed after they have been
moulded and shaped. Why? Because they are not contented with the shape the
potter has given them, but straightaway put themselves into a shape to please
themselves; therefore they are beyond understanding what God designs, and they
destroy themselves by the power of their own agency. [These people] have to go
through a great many modellings and shapes, then … have to be glazed and
burned; and even in the burning, some vessels crack”
(in Stanley B. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball: Mormon Patriarch and
Pioneer [1981], 270).
Today we have seen an excellent example in
Jeremiah and we have noted the need for us to be faithful in times of adversity
as Jeremiah was. We should search and
ponder the words of the Lord until these words become fire in our bones,
strengthening us as we do the Lord’s work.
Like Jeremiah, our challenge is to become an “iron pillar” for the Lord.
These
lessons are posted on the Internet at http://www.geocities.com/jeninstitute/