Prominence

In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah, the Lord roused the spirit of King Cyrus to issue a proclamation throughout his entire kingdom and to put it in writing:

This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: “The Lord, the God of the heavens, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build him a house at Jerusalem in Judah.

Any of his people among you, may his God be with him, and may he go to Jerusalem in Judah and build the house of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem.

Let every survivor, wherever he resides, be assisted by the men of that region with silver, gold, goods, and livestock, along with a freewill offering for the house of God in Jerusalem.”

So now it’s on. The judgment is lifted, and the people begin the return. Except that this attempt, and another one under Zerubbabel, are both ineffectual. Enter Nehemiah. When Nehemiah comes on the scene, we find that he is brokenhearted, presumably because he does not see God fulfilling his promise to Jeremiah.

God uses Nehemiah to bring the people back, and almost as if in a direct reaction to Jeremiah 16, Nehemiah repents of the sins of the past (Neh 1:6-7) and attributes his success to the good hand of God that was on him (Neh 2:8, 18). While Jeremiah pictures God as a God who is bringing judgment along with his faithful love, Nehemiah paints God as a God of strength.

In a sense Nehemiah is blessed because he is repenting of idolatry and attributing all the strength to God. In his humble obedience he fulfills Jeremiah 16. After seventy-plus years God’s people know he is a God of strength. They know, they really know, he is the Lord.

Jeremiah 16:19-21

The last two verses of the chapter are powerful. In these verses we have the great twin sins of Judah.

The first great sin is idolatry. They illustrated that they forsook God by going after false gods and serving them (vv. 11-13). This is tragic. Jeremiah describes them as gods that are “not gods” (v. 20). The logic of Jeremiah is simple: “If gods are really gods, can they be created?” However, this logic is lost on the nation, as they are hell-bent on following after the gods and chasing them. The result is that they will be cast into the land of the false gods that they embraced (v. 13).

God is so frustratedly angry with them because they fail to recognize God’s power in the calamities they are experiencing. This is the second great sin that is always tied to the first: not recognizing God’s power. It is an insult to his name. Thus, God says he will “make them know” (v. 21). In other words, what seems to have been forgotten he will put right in front of them in a way so undeniable that they will have to relent and acknowledge his power.

The first sin is believing there was something to the false gods and worshiping them. The second great sin is either the result of or a consequence of the first: It is attributing a power to the god that it does not really have and thus not recognizing God’s supreme power. This is the situation in which they find themselves. First, they had displaced God as their object of worship, and second, they had failed to recognize his power.

One always follows the other. When we replace God’s prominence, we will doubt God’s dominance. If we doubt that he is worthy of the centrality of our worship, our affection, our emotion, our love, and our devotion, then ultimately we must question whether he is strong enough to be Lord. This is the main idea of the passage. It comes as a warning: when we replace God’s prominence, we will doubt God’s dominance.

God drives home the point by referring to himself as “Lord.” This is Yahweh. He cannot be displaced, and he cannot be replaced. He will not be marginalized, sidelined, shelved, demoted, excluded, downgraded, or dismissed. He can’t be. His name is “the Lord.” Nothing is so big it can eclipse him, and nothing is so powerful it can threaten him. People who think otherwise are lying to themselves. They, for whatever reason, are believing what they want to believe, not the truth.

And this is the truth: when we mentally replace God’s prominence, we will practically doubt God’s dominance. God’s response in Jeremiah’s day is simple. He wants them to know this so that he can prove that he is dominant over all things. Therefore he says that he will show them that he is the Lord.

So here’s the question: Have you begun to mentally make God less prominent? We know that we could never make God less prominent (he will always be the center of all things). We also know we cannot change his dominance (he will always be all-powerful). Yet this is the problem with idolatry: it always plays in the realm of fantasy. Idolatry is always posing. Idolatry pretends it is reality when in fact it is fantasy.

This is why God makes so clear that Christ is supreme over all things. Four New Testament passages stand like giant beacons pointing to Christ: John 1; Philippians 2; Colossians 1; and Hebrews 1. These are often called the four major Christological passages in the New Testament. The whole New Testament points to Christ, but these are monoliths. They clarify for us who Christ is and what he has done. One thing they are clear about is the superiority of Christ. And the word superior requires no adjectives such as “great” or “ultimate.” It is singular, needing no superlative ending. Christ is superior. Full stop.

Therefore, all idols are inferior.

So, what are the idols in my life? Have we made an idol of our bodies—worshiping and pampering them? Have we made an idol of our time—guarding it from one thing, even a kingdom thing, that would threaten it? Have we made an idol of our reputations—keeping people at arm’s length so as not to make ourselves vulnerable? Have we made an idol of our egos—where people are unable to navigate around us socially without offending us? Have we made an idol of our money—hoarding it instead of unleashing it for kingdom advance? The list is endless. The point is to remember this remarkable truth: When we mentally replace God’s prominence, we will practically doubt God’s dominance. These are twin sins. Wherever one is, the other is right there along with it. If there is something in my life that wants my attention, affection, or emotion, and I relent and allow it to have that place in my life, then I concede affection that should belong only to God. This is a sad reality, but it is a reality nonetheless.

When we mentally replace God’s prominence, we will practically doubt God’s dominance.