Jeremiah's Call and Arrest October 5, 2025

Background Scripture: Jeremiah 1:1 - 10; 8:18; 9:2; 26:1 -24 Lesson Passage: Jeremiah 1:6 10; 26:8, 9, 12 - 15 Jeremiah's life and ministry as a prophet of God should serve as a reminder of the heavy burden God's prophets carried. Many of them were arrested, beaten, and even killed for doing God's will. They spoke to the people the words that God gave them to deliver. God's words were often received with contempt and anger. Their anger was directed towards the servant of God who delivered the message. Anger turned into hostility, and many recipients responded with violence towards those prophets. In today's lesson, Jeremiah received his calling as a prophet of God when he was a young person. Jeremiah was born into the family of priests. His assignment in life was specified in the Law. However, God had other plans for Jeremiah. God told Jeremiah that He knew him before He formed him in the womb. Furthermore, God ordained Jeremiah to be His prophet before he was born. In other words, although Jeremiah was born into the family of priests, he was born to do God's will as a prophet rather than performing the duties of the priests that are specified in the Law. Some prophets had minor roles, but Jeremiah was not given a minor role as a prophet of God. God declared that Jeremiah would be a prophet that would speak to the nations and national leaders in His name. Jeremiah was an eyewitness of the spiritual decline of God's people. Despite being rescued from their enemies repeatedly by God, His people continued to revert to worshiping idols, Jeremiah grew tired of seeing it. He wanted to run away and seek refuge so he would not have to continue to see the nation's spiritual corruption and downfall. Instead of being allowed to run away, God sent Jeremiah to prophesy to His people in the courtyard of the temple. Jeremiah was sent to confront God's people as they entered the temple to worship. As he stood in the courtyard, he prophesied about the destruction that would come upon the people of God. That was a difficult message for the people to receive when they arrived for worship. However, God said if the people listen to Jeremiah and repent, He will not allow the calamities prophesied to occur. When Jeremiah finished speaking in the courtyard, the priests and other prophets took him into custody because of the message he proclaimed to them in God's name. They threatened Jeremiah with death because of the message. Jeremiah insisted that he was only doing what God instructed him to do. He acknowledged that he could not defend himself against them if they chose to put him to death. But he told them that if they were to kill him, they would have innocent blood on their hands. He had not spoken in his own name. Nor was he in control of the events God told him to prophesy. After he finished speaking in his own defense, some of the elders accepted Jeremiah's message and explanation. They compared him to other prophets sent by God in Israel's past who had similar testimonies. They also acknowledged that the nation was guilty of the trespasses against God spoken of by Jeremiah. Despite the reasoning of some, others offered opposing views of how some prophets in the nation's past had to be arrested and put to death to silence them and supposedly, the nation prospered afterwards! As a prophet of God, Jeremiah stood between the Lord and His people. The Lord used Jeremiah as His mouthpiece to warn His people. Rather than heed the warnings as being from God, many chose to view the warnings as Jeremiah's personal message. They rejected the message, and they persecuted Jeremiah because they were offended by the message. At the onset of his ministry, God assured Jeremiah of his divine calling. God also assured Jeremiah that He would be with him to deliver him because the people hearing his prophecy would fight against him. Jeremiah needed this assurance many times during his ministry. Robert C. Hudson September 19, 2025