Jeremiah 1
The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:2 To whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
4 Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
6 Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak:for I am a child.
7 But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child:for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
8 Be not afraid of their faces:for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.
9 Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth.
And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.
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Comments by Joan Boney
Both old and new testament prophets bring correction to the people of God.
It is very difficult work. They usually fight against us and try to accuse us rather than accept what they are doing is wrong.
It is like there is a very large decrepit building (good for nothing) and we are to tear down that old structure that a magnificent new mansion may be built in it's place.
We do build as prophets. We do plant as prophets. But first we have to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down.
We are like a dentist who sees a rotten tooth. We have to dig until all decay is removed.
They fight us greatly ... but we, who are prophets, have a commission from God and we have to go forward regardless of what they do, holding fast to that which God has shown us about the situation at hand.
There are people that every time you are around them you have to correct them. This is very difficult. It grieves us greatly. It can even pull us down unless we are very careful. And even when we are very careful in the correction, we often grieve over them for two or three days after we encounter them. For me, this is particularly difficult for I write these exhortations for the church and to write while I am grieved over the sin of the person can be harmful to the exhortation I am writing. So often I have to not write during those days of grief. Then when the grief is over, write again. Usually I will write several days ahead during times of peace between corrections and troubles so exhortations will be there daily for the church.
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Jeremiah 1 ... 16 And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.
17 Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee:be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. 18 For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. 19 And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.
"gird up thy loins" ... prepare yourself to go out ... prayer ... entrusting yourself to God rather than going in your own strength ... praying that you speak only what God wants spoken, no more, no less ...
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So prophets are shown by God things the people are doing. The person speaks wrongly and God won't leave me alone. Certain things they speak rise up to trouble me. Finally I have to deal with that which was spoken. And usually they do not correct themselves after I speak to them and they just keep speaking ill advised things when I am around them and I have to correct them again. But even when they do not correct themselves after I speak, if I see, I have to speak. So it can become difficult for the prophet. Nevertheless, the prophet speaks when he sees. He must. For that is what he is created by God to do.
God gave me the following dream several years ago: In the dream, I had checked into a hotel and was taken to my room. When I got inside the room, I was shocked. The room had not been cleaned. I went back to the front desk and told them the room had not been cleaned. I expected them to correct this immediately. They did nothing to correct the problem.
Nevertheless, prophets bring the correction they have been given. And we never stop. If we see a problem, we deal with that problem because it is God who caused us to see the problem.
The worst thing is the grief after we carry the correction.
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Ezekiel 2 ... And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.
2 And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake unto me.
3 And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me:they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day. 4 For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God. 5 And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.
6 And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions:be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
7 And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear:for they are most rebellious.
8 But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house:open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee.
The prophet "eats" that which God gives him and God shows that prophet what they are doing wrong and that prophet must tell them when he sees the wrong they are doing.
It would be wonderful if they would correct themselves but usually they fight the words of the prophet against them and they accuse the prophet in their hearts and they continue in their wrong doing though often with their mouth they think they "repent". Nothing changes and the prophet will have to correct them each time he is with them regardless of the "results". If the problem continues, and the prophets sees that problem, he will have to bring correction. (Sometimes I just stop going around that person so I will not have to see what he is doing.)
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I am called by God to two offices in the church ... apostle & prophet.
When I was a new Christian and this was revealed to me, I carefully studied all the work of the prophets, both Old Testament and New Testament.
This was used by God to help me to have courage to do this work for I could see in the Bible it was a work done by prophets before me.
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Recently I cried out to God: "I don't want to do any more corrections."
A day or two after that, I felt I should read Isaiah. As I began reading the book of Isaiah, I remembered, corrections are what prophets do. Then I started writing this writing and read a little of Jeremiah and Ezekiel and I saw again, this is what prophets do.
And I knew if I saw the problem I would have to speak.
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Here is another section of scripture used by God in the early days to motivate me in the work of prophet.
Eze. 3 ... 4 And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them. 5 For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel; (NT we are sent to the church as prophets)
6 Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee.
7 But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me:for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.
8 Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. 9 As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead:fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
10 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears. 11 And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.
... 17 Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel:therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
20 Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die:because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
21 Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.
Is this the same way in the NT church?
Paul says ... Acts 20 ... 25 And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. 26 Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. 27 For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
(Paul was not a prophet but was an apostle & teacher. But he shows how he would be guilty if he failed to deliver all the counsel of God.)
These things cause me to do the office of prophet as I am called to do. We grieve but God raises us up from that grief. But we never stop giving the correction. We never consider the result of our delivery of the message. We just continue to give correction when God causes us to see the problem.
This is the work of prophet in both OT church and NT church.