Chapter 27

In this chapter, Jeremiah is asked to give an object lesson to the people of Judah.

Now, up to this point, God has provided Jeremiah himself with object lessons (the kettle, the potter and the pants, for example[1]), but he has yet to give the people anything other than words as far as we can tell.

This time God has changed tactics. He really wants these people to listen!

Spare a thought for how God must feel here – He knows how set in stone the future is (something that you and I don’t really know), and whether or not the people of Judah can really alter their fate; either way, He knows what they will choose, and He knows that it won’t be good.

As God is feeling, so is Jeremiah. After all, Jeremiah is acting as God’s messenger throughout this whole thing. Like God he can see the peoples’ headalong rush towards destruction; but he can’t influence anyone, and he can see that peoples’ decisions don’t favour him.

There is much pathos in what we see. Jeremiah’s future is our past. History tells us that Nebuchadnezzar came in, defeated Zedekiah and dragged his nobles into exile. So we know that ultimately Jeremiah was not successful, at least in the macro scale.

It’s hard not to feel sorry for the guy.

This message God gives is, apart from giving the opportunity for people to escape, largely unaltered. Doom is coming on the city unless you 1) escape or 2) Bow down before the next ruler.

So what do WE learn from this gloomy piece of Scripture?

We learn that God is gracious, and even in situations like this where there there seems to be no hope at all for people, He gives second chances – even if, as in this case, there is likely to be little or no uptake of said second chance. But in order to ensure that this chance gets through to people, we also learn that God is willing to change His tactics, and go to extraordinary lengths to get His message through.

This is another example of how we can see that Jeremiah worships the same God as we do. The God who is willing to get someone to run around town wearing a yoke, in an attempt to trigger people into thinking “Hey, maybe I should listen to that Jeremiah guy” is a God who is willing to use anyone who makes themselves available.

More than that, He’s a God who is not particularly going to surprise you when hundreds of years later, He volunteers to take the punishment for sinners who are yet to repent.

This is the God we worship. It’s time for us to express our gratitude to Him, for being willing to go to such extreme legths – for you and I.