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Rev Graham Harrison Sunday October 3rd 2004 a.m.
Jeremiah 8
When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me. Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities? The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered. Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men [Jer. 8:18-9:2].
I have often had occasion to comment on what I think is the uniqueness of the ministry of the prophet Jeremiah. There is a sense in which this is true of all of the Old Testament prophets, but to a peculiar degree it marks the ministry of Jeremiah. There was something essentially lonely about him. Nobody seemed to understand him. Very, very few paid any heed to what he was saying. When he spoke at the behest of God and under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, time and time again instead of people obeying what he was saying as being true and authentic, they looked upon it as something that was mischievous and evil, designed not for their benefit but for their harm! Therefore at best they ostracised him, but more often than not they became violent towards him. There were occasions when they even attempted to kill him. So in a very real sense he was a lonely man.
In this chapter you see something of the loneliness of the prophet. He sees, but men do not see! He speaks, but men do not listen to him. He knows the Lord, he knows the plight of the people and he is able to relate the two. Knowing that God is the Holy One of Israel. He reasons inevitably to the conclusion that if these Israelites continue in the way in which they are living, they are on a collision course with God. He realises that he has been raised up almost at the very last moment of opportunity for them, to call them back to God. And that is what he is attempting to do. But the more that he does it, the more adamant they seem to become in resisting and rejecting everything that he is saying. So he relates these two things ó the character of God and the sin of the people. He points out to them that if they carry on as they have been doing there is only one prospect before themóthe judgment of God. He knows that eventually God must deal with sin; but he knows also that God is a God of grace óthere is a beautiful word that describes this ó God is ëlongsufferingí. It is a very expressive word: He is not short tempered, He is longsuffering, He is patient, He bides His time, He gives every opportunity for repentance and for people to turn to Him.
But that longsuffering, that patience, is not something that is extended infinitely and indefinitely. It is something that has a time limit built into it. And that is what makes the ministry of the prophet Jeremiah all the more urgent for he realises that the nation is coming to the very end of Godís patience. Therefore, urgently, he is calling them to repentance, for he knows that there inevitably comes a time when God says, ëEnough is enough!í. When that happens the day of grace has ended. Now that is the situation that is described for us in this chapter. It is, of course, the story of the history of the children of Israel. Go right back through the earlier portions of the Old Testament, particularly the historical books that describe Godís dealings with the Jews, how He brought them out of Egypt and settled them in the Promised Land. There is almost something rhythmical and cyclical about it. For a time they seem to give themselves to God but usually that does not last for very long. Soon they are departing from Him, imitating the nations round about them, involving themselves in all the sins and the idolatry of those nations. Therefore God has to come in judgment upon them. He warns them, He pleads with them, but they pay no notice whatsoever to what He is saying and so He begins to judge them. It is something that is almost part of the rhythm of the history of the people of God ó blessing, departure, judgment, until God again raises someone to speak to them and to call them back to Him.
Not only is it the story of biblical history but of secular history also. I am not trying to be technical and speak as a historian, but I invite you to stand back and review the history of mankind. You read of many of the great world empires in the Old Testament ó Egypt, Assyria, the Babylon, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans ó and it is the same story! They seem to prosper, they seem to flourish but then another empire comes along, sweeps them off the face of history and sometimes those declining empires are put to the most terrible judgment and suffering. And on and on it has gone since the time of the Bible. The story of history is always the same. People rise up and become powerful and mighty, sometimes seeming to rule the world or great segments of it ó then they themselves are consigned to history! We have seen it in our own lifetime. Little more than a decade ago, who would have predicted that Communism in Russia would have been brought to nothing? Yet that is exactly what has happened. Totally unpredictable from the human perspective, but it is part of the ongoing story of history. Nations rise, empires wax and then they wane. It is the same story that you are reading here in the Word of God.
This is epitomized in what we read in the prophecy of Jeremiah: ëBut this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them: Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers. Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee. But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouthí [Jeremiah 7:23-28]. There is Jeremiah speaking to the very situation to which he has been called to minister.
Now that was not a popular message and judging by the character of the nation that he was ministering to it was entirely predictable that what did happen to Jeremiah was going to happen to him. They did not like what he was saying. Other voices claimed to speak for God and their message was a much nicer message, a less disturbing message which did not get under your skin, nor did it criticise you. It did not cast you down at all but spoke what seemed to be words of hope to you. You would far rather listen to something like that than this miserable old prophet Jeremiah, who was always slamming you, condemning you, telling you of the impending judgment of God. Who wants to hear something like that! ó was the reaction that Jeremiah faced. Time and time again what he does is to condemn them for their false and their idolatrous worship. It was incredible that into Israel, of all nations, there had come all this idolatry from the nations round about them. They were the people who had been given the Ten Commandments ó the second of which forbad idolatry. But now they imported idols even into the Temple in Jerusalem! And Jeremiah, speaking for God, condemned it ó and they did not like it!
Then there was this refusal, a deliberate refusal, to repent. As we read earlier in this chapter: ëI hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battleí [v.6]. The picture is of cavalry charging into the battle, the riders know what is ahead of them but the horses do not and so they go on heedlessly ó and that is the picture, said Jeremiah, of this nation, rushing ahead to judgment of God. Then he says ó and this must have cut them as he said it ó ëDo you not realise there is something grossly unnatural about your sin! You are human beings, but the very animals seem to have a greater understanding than you!í ëYea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming.í He is speaking of the way in which the birds migrate. At a certain season they depart; at another season they return. Who tells them to do it? It is as if they know it instinctively and they do it. ëButí, he says, ëmy people know not the judgment of the LORDí [v.7].
There is something very similar that you read in the opening verses of Isaiahís prophecy ó he prophesied about one hundred years before Jeremiah but he says almost exactly the same thing: ëThe ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his masterís crib: but Israel doth not know, my people do not considerí [Isaiah 1:3]. It is the same point that Jeremiah is making ó the animal creation seem to have some instinct that causes them to do the right thing at the right time. But here are you, human beings, the people of God and yet ëmy people know not the judgment of the LORDí. He goes on, perhaps to irritate them even more, when he accuses them of having lost even the ability to be ashamed. They cannot blush; they do things of unspeakable wickedness and they have no compunction about it, no sense of guilt, no sense of shame. If somebody tells them that they are doing wrong, they are exceedingly annoyed, as they were with Jeremiah who is saying to them, ëDo you not understand the enormity of all this? Who are you? You are the Lordís people! You are not the Assyrians, you are not the Babylonians, you are not some of these nations that do not know the true God! You have been specially chosen by God. To you has been given favours that no other nation has ever enjoyed.í
He would take them back, of course, to the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai and to prophet after prophet, through whom God has spoken to them. Yet it is as if all that is to no effect, as far as these people are concerned. They insist on acting like the heathen world round about them! Jeremiah had the unenviable task of bringing the Lordís word to a people and to a generation like this. To say that he feels the strain of it is a great understatement. Humanly speaking, it is too much for him and there are a number of points at which he well nigh collapses under the strain. Here at the end of the chapter there is one such occasion: ëWhen I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me. Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? [v.18-19]. He is picturing even the people who are already in exile as saying, ëWell everything is going to be alright! After all are we not the Lordís people? Are not the promises of God guaranteed to see us through?í Then God speaks: ëWhy have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?í [v.19]. Then another change of voice as the people speak again: ëThe harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not savedí [v.20]. One moment sublime self-confidence ó and the next moment utter despair and hopelessness. This is what almost breaks Jeremiah: ëFor the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am blackí [ëI mourní is how some of the modern translations put it] ëastonishment hath taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!í [Jer. 8:21- 9:1].
Then he imagines himself being able to flee away from it all: ëOh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous mení [Jer. 9:2]. Yet he cannot; this is what God has called him to do.
Now to me, this is the saddest and the most telling indictment, not just of the situation of Israel as Jeremiah was confronting it six hundred years or so before the birth of The Lord Jesus Christ, but of the church today. We seem to have become immune to the state and the condition of the land. It is almost as if we are saying to ourselves, ëWell, this is as things are! We wish that they were not, but this is the fact of the situation. This is where we are and we might as well come to terms with it.í
Now that was exactly not the reaction of Jeremiah. What Jeremiah is doing is to cry and to weep for the people: ëOh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!í And I fear that what has happened with many of us is this ó that we have almost become assimilated to the situation. We have lost the sensitivity to be shocked and to be appalled. We take for granted unspeakable sin. It is life, we say. That is Britain today! We have lost a sense of horror at sin; we, the church ó not the world ó but those who ostensibly belong to God. Yet here, as Jeremiah faces a parallel situation, you see that he is well nigh overwhelmed with the situation that confronts him and he gives vent to his grief in what I think is one of the most poignant cries that you find in the whole of the Bible.
Now, why? You could summarise it like this ó it is an opportunity that has been lost. Verse 20, ëThe harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.í It is a desperate situation, is it not? When you have gone through the seasons, all that you have in front of you is the winter. There has not been a harvest ó that is passed and you face the cold and the bleakness of the impending winter. ëThe harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.í And the people, who not so very long before were almost blithe in their unconcern, find that the spirit of blitheness has turned to despair and dejection. It has produced this sense of utter hopelessness. ëThe harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.í
Let me quote something I read on this. ëOf some readers of these lines this is literally true. The springtime of youth is now a thing of distant memory; the summer of vigorous manhood and womanhood is over; even the fruit-gathering of an accumulated experience has ended in a despairing sense of futility. There is nothing left for them but the decrepitude of age. The snows of winter have now whitened their head, and the cold of winter has chilled their blood. And there are few things more pitiful in human life than the sight of an old man sinking down into his grave in a condition of stolid unconcern about the salvation of his soul.í I will read that again and I ask you, Is the writer describing you? ëThere are few things more pitiful in human life than the sight of an old man sinking down into his grave in a condition of stolid unconcern about the salvation of his soul Ö When long-continued privilege has not yielded the fruit of salvation, a manís soul is obviously in grave danger Ö The nearer a man comes to his end in an unsaved state, the less likely is it that he will ever be saved at all Ö A careless past, a fruitless present, and a hopeless future ó the man whose conscience has been stabbed awake to the reality of these three facts has a foretaste in this life of the torments of the damned.í [Alexander Stewart, Jeremiah, pp.131-133]. ëThe harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.í Is that you?
But in his, not despair but his anguish, Jeremiah is able to utter a cry of hope. It is Godís message of hope: ëFor the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.í Here it comes ó ëIs there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?í [v.22]. ëBalm in Gileadí ó let me explain the significance of that phrase. Gilead was over on the eastern side of the river Jordan, north of the Dead Sea stretching upwards to the Sea of Galilee. Two and a half of the twelve tribes settled in the land of Gilead on their way back from Egypt into the Promised Land. Gilead apparently was famous for the production of balm, or balsam, which was a fluid exuded from some of the trees there that was then turned by their skill into an ointment that had great medicinal properties. It is interesting to note that as far back as the thirty seventh chapter of the book of Genesis after Joseph had been set upon by his brothers and put in a pit, they see some Ishmaelites coming down from Gilead: ëA company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egyptí [Gen. 37:25]. So the land of Gilead was well known for producing this balm.
So God, speaking through Jeremiah, asked this question: ëIs there no balm in Gilead?í You might say that it is not really a question: it is a statement. There is a balm in Gilead! ëIs there no physician there?í There is a physician there! Why then are you in this state and condition? Why is it that with all that healing at hand you have not availed yourselves of it? That really is the question that He is asking them. There is a balm in Gilead! There is a physician who is able to heal you, even in this desperate state that you find yourselves in, even when it would appear to be almost too late! ëThe harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. ëIs there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?í Do you see what He is saying? There is no excuse for your condition, the remedy has been at hand. The remedy has been spoken to you by Jeremiah and before him by an almost countless succession of prophets. You have no excuse for not being saved. The Saviour is at hand!
Of course we cannot just stay there in the Old Testament, we have to come onto the New Testament. The balm in Gilead, the physician, is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the One who is able to apply this healing ointment to the diseases, the distempers of our soul. He has infallible skills; there is no disease that he is unable to cope with. There is no problem that is beyond solution as far as He is concerned. He cures all diseases. And unlike some human physicians He deals so tenderly with the afflicted. He takes the ointment of the gospel and rubs it into the wound and heals the wound. He heals the broken hearted. And He is always available; you do not, as you might have to with your own doctor, make an appointment, days, in some cases weeks, in advance ó and then you do not know who you will see! His surgery is always open; you can always meet with Him and have personal treatment from Him. ëIs there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?í The answer is, of course, a resounding ëYes!í
So you see what Jeremiah is saying to them, Even at this late stage, why do you not come to this physician? Why do you not apply the healing balm? Why do you not see to it so that ëthe health of the daughter of my people is recoveredí? That is really the message of the gospel, is it not? It is the message that I am sure applies to so many here this morning. You might well echo that cry, ëThe harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.í Some of you, perhaps in the eventide of your life, are still far off from the kingdom of God. Some of you maybe have not come to that stage of age and yet you are in that same condition ó you have heard the gospel, you have ignored it, you have not yielded to the Lord Jesus Christ ó and the longer you go on, the harder you become! Yet, what is set before us here is a message: ëThere is a balm in Gilead; there is a physician who can deal with all the troubles of your soul. There is still time to come to Him and put yourself in His hands.í
That is what you must do. Come as you are. You cannot make yourself better ó but He can! And He will! Come, not claiming to be something that you are not. Come as you are; tell Him the worst and ask Him to heal you, to wash your sins away! To pour the healing ointment of the gospel into your sorest wounds ó and to give you that peace and love that He alone can give! ëThe harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered.í
Amen.
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