Rescue

Jeremiah 21:1–22:10

Main Idea: God reacts to us when we respond to others.

1. God’s Heart: Do Justice for the Defenseless (22:1-3).
2. God’s Promise: God Reacts to Our Response (22:4-10).

In whatever ways we might describe the heart of God, at its core it is a love for those who are marginalized. There is not enough time to list all the Scriptures that speak to this, but think of the trajectory: God went after Adam when he was not worthy to be sought (Gen 3). Jesus did not come for the well but for the sick—for the least of these.

When I was standing at the altar, I remember looking up into his eyes. The evangelist who was speaking at our church called people to repentance. I had to respond. Neither can I forget what he said that day, even if I wanted to—which I don’t. He said,

Imagine that you are taking an elevator down into your soul. You go down and down all the way to your heart. You get out and you look around. And there you see all that God sees. You see the areas you have blocked from God. Some rooms say, “Keep Out!” God is not allowed to see what’s in there. You see the things you pray no one else sees. Down in the locked closets and deep crevices of your heart, you see everything God sees. Do you see it? Now that you see what God sees, will you repent?

As these words form on the page, I can imagine that those not raised in my tradition of altar calls and invitations will cringe at a rhetorical strategy intended to probe the heart deeply. I get that. But it’s no matter. God used the evangelist that day. And if no one else needed it, I deeply needed the challenge. Sitting here years later, I remember the metaphor like it was yesterday. Sinking down, down to the place where no one sees but God. Wow! Even now it is convicting. The metaphor helps me visualize the dark crevices, closets I have closed off to God and to spiritual introspection. It’s really scary what lay down there, down where there is no spiritual oxygen. If I were a miner, my canary would be dead. It’s hard to imagine a place in my life, even in moments of hot spiritual fervor, where there was not some area I was wrestling with, some locale I did not want to think about, some region I did not want to expose to the light of God’s Word.

To read Scripture is to reverse the metaphor. Reading Scripture is to go as deep into the heart of God as we can. And as we go deeper, what we find is this deep and abiding love for lost people. The deeper you go into God’s heart, the more you find extravagant, deepening love.

Perhaps the most revealing words from God on this are from Deuteronomy 15:15 where he reminded his people, “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you.” In other words, Israel was to show mercy to those who were marginalized because they themselves were marginalized. They were the outsiders. They were the slaves. Therefore they should extend to others the grace that God extended to them.

Context: A Faithful Word from a Persecuted Prophet (21:1-14)

Jeremiah has been sought out before. He has been sought out as the subject of scorn and the subject of abject persecution. He is in the stocks awaiting further persecution and humiliation. The one who was the object of scorn is now the one sought out for good. In this fascinating passage the prophet is being asked to function like a priest, a mediator between the will of God and the will of man.

However, there is something powerfully presumptuous in this request. First, even though Jeremiah has been beaten by Pashhur, he is still sought out for wisdom. While they did not like what Jeremiah was saying, there was at least a measure of confidence in that he was hearing from the Lord.

The prophet is asked to be a fixer.

What they wanted was clear enough. They wanted the mercy of providence without the pain of repentance. They had rejected God as Lord but wanted him as protector. But God is not a civil magistrate bound by oath to protect those who reject him.

Throughout the book of Jeremiah, God had used the language of love to describe himself. There is a remarkable beauty to the first verse of this passage: “This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord.” Even though the prophet is in a terrible position, the word was still coming. God was still delivering. And, ironically perhaps, the same strong word that has him locked up in the first place will come straight from the mouth of the prophet.

There is a practical lesson here. Depression and lament are not the same as cowardice. Jeremiah is beaten down but unwavering in his commitment to his call, the call simply to say what God says. What a wonderful attribute!

It puts us in mind of Paul’s words from 2 Corinthians 4:8-12:

We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed. We always carry the death of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that Jesus’s life may also be displayed in our mortal flesh. So then, death is at work in us, but life in you.

The motivation for Paul’s words is that his crushing circumstances were in imitation of Christ who was crushed for us.

This Christ would be crucified outside of the walls of Jerusalem—walls that were about to be destroyed in Jeremiah’s time and later rebuilt. This picture of a prophet, in stocks but still hearing from God, is wonderfully instructive and a prototype of New Testament ministry and all future ministry. The collective ministries of the Old Testament prophets, New Testament apostles, and all who came after are ministries of hearing and speaking for God amid great persecution. So now the prophet faithfully speaks the word of the Lord.

Jeremiah prophesies that the mission will implode and that Jerusalem will be taken. This prophecy of a city that is destroyed and people who are taken into exile is tragically fulfilled (ch. 39). The people who would not put their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon (Jer 27:12) were taken into exile there. Jeremiah 21 stands as eternal witness against them and an eternal warning to those who resist God.

Why is God so angry with them? The chief charge God levels against his people in this chapter is idolatry. That is, they have displaced a relationship with God and substituted a love for something else. God has been edged out. The charge addresses their relationship with God, but Jeremiah 22 addresses their relationship with others. However, the vertical and the horizontal are related. When you don’t love God, you don’t love what God loves. When your idol becomes a god, then your emotions will follow. God is critiquing Judah because they no longer love what God loves. It is not important to them. Their attention was warped away from God, so now their love is warped away from others. Attention always follows affection.

The text answers two questions: How does God want us to respond to the underprivileged? This is the question of God’s heart. The second question is, How does God react when we do or do not respond to the needs of the underprivileged? This is the question of God’s promise.

So, how does God feel about the underprivileged?

God’s Heart: Do Justice for the Defenseless

Jeremiah 22:1-3

Jeremiah is told to go and speak to the king. Perhaps there is an intentional reason for him to address the king. The king would be in the best position to set the spiritual temperature for the nation. God wants the king to respond to this. But perhaps there is more. The use of the phrase throne of David is telling. It was David who, though a mighty warrior, was over and over again challenged to show mercy—for example, to Nabal (1 Sam 25) and later to Mephibosheth (2 Sam 9). David is an example of a tenacious warrior with a tender heart. In other words, while it was not in David’s nature to be compassionate, it was in God’s nature. And, since David was a man after God’s own heart, he loved those God loved, even when it was inconstant with his personality or his nature. This is God’s concern: that they share his heart for those in need.

In verse 3 Jeremiah is commanded to tell the king to “administer justice and righteousness.” This sentiment echoes 21:12-14. The command is simple. The implication is that not all people will have access to justice. God is concerned with those who cannot defend themselves. He gives specific examples: those who have been robbed and those who have been oppressed, that is, the financially oppressed. Further, the king and his people are not to exploit the stranger who, by his status as a resident alien, will have no defense in the community. This is the same with those who have no father or with the widow. Of course they are not to take the life of the innocent.

What all of these cases have in common is that there is no structure in place to care for them. There is no social system. If someone does not intervene in their cases, they will be doomed. So God is going far beyond the culturally accepted standard. He has commanded them to be proactive and to defend those who have no defense.

Again, this has a massive trajectory across Scripture.

James explicitly tells us that when meeting the needs of others, our actions are to match our words, when in James 2:14-17 he writes,

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him?

If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself.

James, the half brother of Jesus, was perhaps reflecting on his own interaction with Jesus. How could anyone not have noticed the amazing way Jesus dealt with those who were marginalized? Whether it was the woman at the well (John 4:1-38), the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11), or the sinner who washed Jesus’s feet (Luke 7:36-50), Jesus is overtly demonstrating his love for the marginalized. This attribute of Christ is not lost on the Gospel writers. A quick search reveals that around thirty times the word sinner is used. Jesus is not just bumping into them; he is around them. He is healing them. He is with them. What was the number-one criticism leveled against him? That he was a friend of sinners. Indeed, not only did he not mind being seen with them; he sought them out.

Extending justice in our culture may seem difficult for several reasons. First, let’s be honest: for those of us who love the Word of God and who would defend its sufficiency, we often feel like the issue of social justice has been hijacked by those who don’t share our high view of Scripture. That’s true. So what? The fact that others who do not have a high view of Scripture are showing mercy does not mean that those who do have a high view of Scripture should not.

Further, sometimes issues of social justice have displaced evangelism. No need to defend all sides here; it’s just plain enough that some people who will feed the homeless will not open their mouths to explain the gospel to their neighbors. Their defense is that it is better to see a sermon than to give one, better to be a doer than a talker. That approach creates a nonbiblical tension between acts of mercy and the ultimate act of mercy, which is sharing the gospel.

Jesus helped people, and he called them to repent. Jesus hung out with sinners not because he was a great lovable guy but because of holy attraction. They both loved and feared him. He was a friend you could call at midnight, and all the demons of hell feared him. To those close to him he was both familiar and feared. There was unequivocally no distinction between his holiness and his approachability. He was both pure and friendly.

Those errant approaches may throw us. But honesty demands we admit another reason we don’t extend justice to those in need: we don’t know anyone in need. The American dream may have lodged us in a place where we have no social interaction with those who are the “least of these.” If that is the case, what do we do?

There are two important things to remember.

First, Christ expects us to extend justice. “I just never met a poor person” is no excuse. That’s right. If we don’t know anyone like this, we are to go find them—you know, like God sought us. There is no ridiculous expectation here, just to extend the grace God has extended to us.

Second, remember that ultimate justice is sharing the gospel. So we need to show mercy in practical ways. It’s in the heart of God in the passages we mentioned here and many others. But ultimately God is not willing that any should perish. God is concerned with the 55.3 million people that die each year; that’s 151,600 people each day, 6,316 people each hour. Most of them die without Christ. Most of them will spend eternity in hell. The good news is that 131.4 million are born each year. These are people to whom God is extending an offer of salvation. These are people for whom Christ died. These are people who can be saved.

Yet there is no record of someone being saved without someone sharing. God is calling them to salvation, and he is calling me to stand between heaven and hell and call them to salvation. So, who in my sphere of influence needs the gospel? That is the meaning in front of the text.

The temptation of course is to sit back and think others will take care of that. You know, the professional Christians (pastors) will take care of this. So, if I harden my heart against those in need, how does God respond to this?

God’s Promise: God Reacts to Our Response

Jeremiah 22:4-10

God’s reaction is pretty simple. He will bring the house to ruin that disobeys this command; on the other hand, those who obey will be blessed (vv. 4-5). The blessing here appeals to the king. The king will be riding through the gates with splendor. One cannot help but think of the parallel passage, Psalm 24:7-10.

Lift up your heads, you gates!

Rise up, ancient doors!

Then the King of glory will come in.

Who is this King of glory?

The Lord, strong and mighty,

the Lord, mighty in battle.

Lift up your heads, you gates!

Rise up, ancient doors!

Then the King of glory will come in.

Who is he, this King of glory?

The Lord of Armies,

he is the King of glory. Selah

Jeremiah tells the king of Israel that he could be victorious in battle.

Christ is ultimately victorious. This is why David is a picture of Christ. David was a shepherd who left his home to become a warrior. Jesus is also a Shepherd-Warrior who will fight for his people. The kings that sit on David’s throne are called to imitate his proficiency in battle and his godliness. Both are essential to being a good king. God promises the blessing of military victory to those who show mercy. Could anything be more counterintuitive? What is the relationship between showing mercy and military victory? The relationship is that victory does not come from horses in battle, but victory comes from the Lord. The Lord gives the victory to those who imitate him and follow him. His trajectory is always reaching down in order to reach up. We go down and then we go up. In the same way, the king is to pursue victory by reaching out to those who are the least of these.

This is odd. It’s certainly not taught in any war college or business school. Yet it seems that God brings favor on those who extend mercy. The most obvious New Testament parallel is the explicit promise of Christ that forgiveness will be extended to those who forgive (Matt 6:14; 18:35). God extends mercy to those who extend mercy.

Then in Jeremiah 22:6-7 God makes his reaction specific. The contrast is stark. God considers Judah to be lush like Gilead or Lebanon. These were places that were known for their beauty and their rich resources.^[4] Yet if they continued in this way, their “choicest” cedars would be cut down and burned, and they would become a barren wilderness.

It will be so obvious that other people will take notice (vv. 8-9). Public embarrassment will follow this public sin. The kings are so warned. The rest of the passage is specific warnings to specific kings, the sons of Josiah.

Conclusion

What is going on in the immediate context of Jeremiah 22 is bigger than one action. They are reaching a tipping point. They have been accused of idolatry, and now they are being accused of injustice. Again, a love for the heart of God is missing in both sins. The sins are egregious for the actions themselves but also because of what they say about the heart of Israel. Their heart is turned away from God and therefore turned away from others. It’s clear enough that they are unwilling to take the elevator trip down to examine their hearts, so God warns them to change their behavior. Exaltation or destruction awaits their response.

In the end it’s easy to be dismissive about all of this. The excuses are legion: “God does not care that much about this issue. Think of all the money I give to the church. With that money others can do this. We all have our gifts. I’m good at serving at the church, not so much with people outside the church. I’ll be gracious to people after they get here, but I’m not going to go get them.”

Yet in one story Jesus destroys all of that. In Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus says,

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

“‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me; I was in prison and you visited me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or without clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and visit you?’

“And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink; I was a stranger and you didn’t take me in; I was naked and you didn’t clothe me, sick and in prison and you didn’t take care of me.’

“Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or without clothes, or sick, or in prison, and not help you?’

“Then he will answer them, ‘I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

“And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

He compares judgment day to a shepherd who, at the end of the day, will separate his sheep from his goats. The sheep are analogous to God’s sheep. The goats are not God’s sheep. One goes to enteral reward and the other to eternal damnation that, while prepared for the devil and not for them, will be their ultimate home.

The odd thing in this story is that the sheep do not understand what good they did, and the goats do not understand what bad they did. The difference between the two is mercy: one showed mercy and the other did not.

Are we to glean from this that all people who do not show mercy go to hell? No. That would be inconsistent with everything else the Scriptures say about salvation. Jesus is not trying to work out a fully developed doctrine of salvation. What Jesus wants to do with this story is explain what mercy receivers look like. Those who receive mercy, give mercy. This is one of their defining features.

It’s not that mercy gets us into heaven, but mercy demonstrates that we have heaven in our hearts. Mercy does not merit grace; mercy given exposes a heart of grace. The kind of people who have received mercy are the kind of people who show mercy. It’s a hallmark of salvation.

Notice that the criticism God predicts will be leveled against Israel is that they have “abandoned the covenant” (v. 9). The old covenant in its broadest sense covered issues of mercy giving. As the old covenant is enveloped in the new covenant, it’s clear from the words of Christ that the call to give mercy is still there. God has not changed. His heart is still open.

Reflect and Discuss

1. What is the heart of God as discussed in this chapter?
2. What about Israel’s history should make them acutely responsive to the needs of the alien and the stranger?
3. The challenge to show mercy was given to those who sit on David’s throne. How is David an example of showing mercy (22:1-2)?
4. Do you find it ironic that national prosperity is promised to those who show mercy to the least of these (22:4-5)? What is the connection there?
5. How did Jesus emphasize the showing of mercy in Matthew 25?
6. Reflect on the parable of Matthew 25 and make application to your life.
7. Can you think of other passages from the New Testament that affirm this idea of showing mercy to the least of these?
8. If we are not around the poor and the marginalized, then how can we show them mercy?
9. How is showing mercy an evidence of salvation?
10. How is the covenant an example of God’s showing mercy?