L esson

13

*December 1925
(page 104 of Standard Edition)

Lessons From Jeremiah

Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Weeks Study: Jer. 2:13, 6:20, 7:110, Matt. 9:12,
Deut. 6:5, Jer. 10:115, 23:18.

Memory Text: Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I

will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign

and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the
earth (Jeremiah 23:5, NKJV).

ere now at the end of our study of Jeremiah. Its been an

adventure; a lot of drama, emotion, and energy have been
expended in the saga of our prophet.
Like all the prophets, Jeremiah didnt write in a vacuum: his was a
message from the Lord and for people at a specific time and place and
under specific circumstances.
And yet, however radically different his circumstances were from ours
or from those of the many other generations who have read Jeremiah,
crucial principles expressed there are the same for Gods people in every
generation.
Such as faithfulness to God and obedience to His commandments. Such
as true religion, a religion of the heart, as opposed to empty and dead
rituals that can leave people in a false state of complacency. Such as the
peoples willingness to listen to correction, even when it cuts across what
they want to hear. Such as true revival and reformation. Such as trusting in
the Lord and His promises instead of the arm of flesh. Such as . . .
The list goes on. This week, lets take a look at some of the many lessons
we can learn from this revelation of Gods love for His people even amid
many thunderous warnings to them about where their actions will lead.

* Study this weeks lesson to prepare for Sabbath, December 26.

163

S unday December 20
(page 105 of Standard Edition)

Jeremiahs Lord
Seventh-day Adventists understand that at the center of the great controversy exists a crucial issue: What is the character of God? What is
God really like? Is He the arbitrary tyrant that Satan makes Him out to
be, or is He a loving and caring Father who wants only the best for us?
These questions really are the most important questions in the entire
cosmos. After all, what would our situation be if God were not kind and
loving and self-sacrificial but mean and arbitrary and sadistic? Wed be
better off if no God existed than to have one like that.
So, the questions are of huge importance. Fortunately, we have the
answers, and they are best seen at the Cross.
Never will it be forgotten that He whose power created and upheld
the unnumbered worlds through the vast realms of space, the Beloved
of God, the Majesty of heaven, He whom cherub and shining seraph
delighted to adorehumbled Himself to uplift fallen man; that He
bore the guilt and shame of sin, and the hiding of His Fathers face, till
the woes of a lost world broke His heart, and crushed out His life on
Calvarys cross. That the Maker of all worlds, the Arbiter of all destinies, should lay aside His glory and humiliate Himself from love to man
will ever excite the wonder and adoration of the universe.Ellen G.
White, The Great Controversy, p. 651.

How are the nature and character of God revealed in the following
texts in Jeremiah? That is, what do these texts tell us about Him?

Jer. 2:13 __________________________________________________

Jer. 5:22 __________________________________________________
Jer. 11:22 _________________________________________________
Jer. 31:3 __________________________________________________
Jer. 3:7 ___________________________________________________
These are just a few of the many images and expressions used in
the book that reveal to us something of the nature and character of our
God. He is the Source of life, the powerful Creator, a God of judgment,
a God who loves us and calls us, again and again, to repent of our sins
and to turn away from the paths that will lead to our destruction.
What evidence of Gods loving character have you experienced
during your lifetime?

164

M onday December 21
(page 106 of Standard Edition)

Rituals and Sin

There is a document that records Gods endless, dispiriting struggle
with organized religion, known as the Bible.Terry Eagleton,
Reason, Faith, and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate (Yale
Univeristy Press, 2010), Kindle Edition, p. 8.
Not quite true, and thats because the religion of the Bible, the religion
that God has given humanity, has always been an organized religion.
On the other hand, there is no question that in the book of Jeremiah,
the Lord was seeking to get people away from the cold, dead, but very
organized rituals that came to dominate their faith, rituals that they
believed covered their sin.
As said earlier, yet it is worth repeating, the vast majority of
Jeremiahs struggles were with leaders and priests and people who
believed that because they were the chosen ones of God, the children
of Abraham, the covenant people, they were just fine with the Lord.
What a sad deception, one that we, also of Abrahams seed (Gal. 3:29),
need to watch out for.

What is the message of the following texts in Jeremiah? Most important, how can we apply the principles there in our own walk with
the Lord? (Jer. 6:20, 7:110).

_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
Read Jeremiah 7:9, 10. If one ever wanted to find a situation that
fits what has been called cheap grace, the term certainly applies
here. The people do all these sinful things and then come back to the
temple and worship the true God and claim forgiveness for their
sins. God is not mocked. Unless these people change their ways,
especially how they treat the weak among them, they are going to
face harsh judgment.
What a deception they are under, the belief that they can claim Gods
forgiveness and go on doing what they want, without regard to the
conditions of the covenant so that they can continue on in those sins.
What is the difference between what Jeremiah is warning about
here and what Jesus said in Matthew 9:12? Why is it important
to know that difference?

_
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T uesday December 22
(page 107 of Standard Edition)

Religion of the Heart

So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God
(Rom. 14:12).
So much of the book of Jeremiah is directed toward the nation as a
whole. Time and again he talked about Israel and Judah corporately, as
Gods choice vine (Jer. 2:21, NIV), or the beloved of the Lord (Jer.
11:15, 12:7), Gods own heritage (Jer. 12:79), His vineyard (Jer.
12:10), and His flock (Jer. 13:17). Without doubt, in the book we
get a sense of the corporate nature of the Lords calling to this nation.
Of course, its the same in the New Testament, where time and again
the church is understood in a corporate sense (see Eph. 1:22, 3:10,
5:27).
Yet, salvation is personal, not a corporate issue. We are not saved as
package deals. As with the New Testament church, the nation of Judah
was composed of individuals, and its here, at the level of the individual, that the real crucial issues arise. The famous text in Deuteronomy
6:5, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all
your soul, and with all your strength (NKJV), though spoken to the
nation as a whole, is written in the singular second person. That is, the
you in each case is the singular; God is talking to each one individually. In the end, each one of us, personally, will have to give an account
of ourselves to God.
We find that same thing in Jeremiah, as well.

What do the following texts say about the importance of a personal,

individual walk with the Lord?

Jer. 17:7__________________________________________________
Jer. 17:10_________________________________________________
Jer. 29:13_________________________________________________
Jer. 9:23, 24_______________________________________________
Though both Testaments of the Bible talk about the corporate nature
of Gods church, true faith is a matter of each person, himself or herself,
making a daily surrender to the Lord, a personal choice to walk in faith
and obedience.
Though theres no question that we are each individually responsible for our own souls, how can we make sure that we are doing
everything we can to uplift and encourage others? Whom do you
know, right now, that you can say some kind and uplifting words to?

166

W ednesday December 23
(page 108 of Standard Edition)

Twilight of the Idols

What was one of the great sins that the people committed that
Jeremiah had to deal with constantly? (Jer. 10:115).

_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
Whats interesting in these texts is not just the way in which the
prophet shows how vain and useless and silly these idols are but how he
contrasts them to the living God. These things are powerless, useless,
empty, and false; what a contrast to the Lord who made the heavens
and earth! He will endure forever, while these idols will vanish forever.
So, whom should we be worshiping and dedicating our lives to: that
which is weak, false, vain, and powerless, or to the Lord, whose power
and might are so great that He created and sustains the universe? The
answer, of course, is obvious.
Yet, however obvious the answer, the fact is, we are in danger of
falling into idolatry as well. Though today we might not worship the
same kind of idols that those in Jeremiahs time did, our modern life
is full of false gods. These modern idols can be anything that we love
more than God; whatever we worship (and worship doesnt always
mean singing and praying) becomes our god, and we are guilty of
idolatry.

What are some of the things that we can be in danger of making into
idols? What about things such as digital devices, money, fame, even
other people? Make a list of what these potential idols are, and then
ask yourself: In the end, what real salvation do they offer?

_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
Of course, we know intellectually that none of these things is
worthy of worship. We know that in the end, nothing that this world
offers us, nothing that we make into idols, can ultimately satisfy
our souls and certainly not redeem them. We know all these things,
and yet, unless we are careful, unless we keep before us Jesus and
what He did for us and why He did it, we can so easily be swept up
in a modern form of the idolatry similar to that which Jeremiah so
passionately railed against.

167

T hursday December 24
(page 109 of Standard Edition)

The Remnant
In the closing years of Judahs apostasy the exhortations of the
prophets were seemingly of but little avail; and as the armies of the
Chaldeans came for the third and last time to besiege Jerusalem,
hope fled from every heart. Jeremiah predicted utter ruin; and it was
because of his insistence on surrender that he had finally been thrown
into prison. But God left not to hopeless despair the faithful remnant
who were still in the city. Even while Jeremiah was kept under close
surveillance by those who scorned his messages, there came to him
fresh revelations concerning Heavens willingness to forgive and to
save, which have been an unfailing source of comfort to the church
of God from that day to this.Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings,
p. 466.
Even amid that prevailing apostasy and doom, God always had a
faithful people, however small in number. Though as with many of the
books of the prophets, much of the emphasis in Jeremiah was on apostasy and unfaithfulnessbecause these were what the Lord wanted to
save the people fromall through sacred history the Lord had a faithful remnant. This, of course, will continue down until the end of time
(see Rev. 12:17).

How is the concept of the remnant expressed in Jeremiah 23:18? How

does this apply to New Testament times? (See also Jer. 33:1418.)

_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
In verses 57 scholars have long seen a Messianic prophecy, a prophecy of redemption for Gods faithful people. Though its true that, after
the Babylonian exile, a remnant returned, it was not a glorious return.
However, Gods purposes would be fulfilled through the lineage of
David, through a righteous Branch, the King who would one day
reign.
This prophecy had a partial fulfillment in the first coming of Jesus
(see Matt. 1:1, 21:79, John 12:13). It will have its ultimate fulfillment
in the Second Coming (see Dan. 7:13, 14), when all of Gods faithful
people, His true remnant, will dwell forever in peace and safety. The
redemption, first symbolized by the Exodus from Egypt, will be final,
complete, and eternal.
In what are you putting your hopes? How can you learn to trust
more and more in the promises of God and their ultimate fulfillment in your own life? What else besides them do you have?

168

F riday December 25
(page 110 of Standard Edition)

Further Thought: Many years ago a Seventh-day Adventist minister

named W. D. Frazee preached a sermon called Winners and Losers. In

it he went through the lives of various Bible characters, looking at their
work and ministry, and then he asked the question regarding each one:
Was he a winner or a loser?
For example, he looked at John the Baptist, who lived a lonely life in
the wilderness. Though eventually John had a small following, it never
amounted to much, and certainly it was not what Jesus, who came
later, had. And, of course, John lived out his last days in a dank prison
where, at times, he was harassed with doubt, finally only to get his
head chopped off (Matthew 14). After recounting all this, Elder Frazee
asked: Was John a winner or a loser?
What about Jeremiah the prophet? How successful was his life? He
suffered a great deal, and he wasnt afraid to whine and moan about it
either. With few exceptions, it seems that the priests, prophets, kings,
and common people not only didnt like what he had to say, but also
thoroughly resented it. He was even seen as treasonous against his own
people. In the end, the destruction and doom that he spent his life warning about came, because time and again the people rejected his words.
They threw him into a muddy pit, hoping hed die there. He lived to
see his nation go into a terrible exile while Jerusalem and the temple
were destroyed. Thus, from a human perspective, not much went well
for Jeremiah. From one perspective, you could argue that he had a fairly
miserable life.

Discussion Questions:

Was Jeremiah a winner or a loser? What are the reasons for

the choice you make? If you say he was a winner, what does that
tell us about how crucial it is that we not judge reality by the
worlds standards? What standards are we to use to try to understand what is right and wrong, good and evil, success and failure?

In what ways do we see the life and ministry of Jesus prefigured in Jeremiah? What are the parallels?

Earlier this week we saw the problem of believing that going

on with religious worship without a change of heart is a deception.

What is true grace, in contrast to the cheap, worthless, and even
deceptive version of it warned about here?

169

Story

i n s i d e

Now Is the Time

Debrah, a Seventh-day Adventist, missed her church fellowship after
she married an unbeliever and moved with her husband to an area
where there was no church.
After some years, a group of Adventist laymen calling themselves
the Now Is the Time team decided to hold meetings in this area. The
first night of the meetings, Debrahs husband happened by and came
in. Although he was very drunk, he realized that these meetings were
being conducted by members of his wifes church.
Where have you been? he demanded loudly. My wife is a Seventhday Adventist, and she has been waiting years for you to come! One of
the workers persuaded him to come outside where his drunken behavior
would not interrupt the meeting. Finally, he asked for a Bible to take to
his wife and set off for home, some distance away.
Meanwhile, Debrah had awakened from a vivid dream in which she
had seen her husband entering the house with a Bible as a gift for her.
She lay in the darkness, wondering what the dream meant. She knew
it was unlikely that her husband would spend his money to buy her a
Bible.
About 2:00 a.m. her husband came home and presented her with the
Bible, just as she had dreamed. Thrilled over this sign of Gods care,
she couldnt go to sleep and finally decided to get up and find the place
where the meetings were being held.
Arriving very early in the morning, Debrah found the preachers and
studied earnestly with them. She decided that nothing would keep her
from serving the God who had spoken to her in a dream.
Debrahs husband was tolerant, but his parents were angry. They
burned all of her clothes. When the evangelistic team gave her more
clothes, they burned them too. When her husbands parents realized
that she would not forsake her religion, they threw Debrah out of the
home and bought another wife for their son. But eventually, because
of his unhappiness, they relented and reinstated Debrah as their sons
wife.
Although her husband was glad to have her back, he showed no
interest in religion himself. But as Debrah worked hard to please him
and make him comfortable, while also spending as much time as she
could helping others, her beautiful Christian life made an impression on
him, and he decided to become a Seventh-day Adventist. Today, he and
Debrah work together to share Gods love.
Debrah and her husband live in an unspecified country in Africa.

170

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission.

Web site: www.AdventistMission.org

teachers comments

The Lesson in Brief

Key Texts: Jeremiah 2:13, Deuteronomy 6:5, Jeremiah 23:18
The Student Will:
Know: Identify the main lessons of the book of Jeremiah, which are centered foremost on the character of God and our response to Him.
Feel: Appreciate the sobering implications of the remnant motif in the
book of Jeremiah and the contrast between the many and the few.
Do: Embrace the concept of heart religion, which is the only way to true
happiness and eternal life.

Learning Outline:
I. Know: Gods Character
What were the popular distortions of Gods character during the time
of Jeremiah?
Does the message of judgmentJeremiahs most prevalent message
imply an image of God as a stern judge who is out to get us? Why, or why
not?

A
B

II. Feel: Only a Few

What are the sobering implications of the remnant motif? How did it
play out in Jeremiah?
How is the remnant motif still relevant for today as we see the
Seventh-day Adventist Church growing by leaps and bounds?

A
B

III. Do: Heart Religion

Is heart religion a type of religious experience that is based on emotions?
What would be the opposite of heart religion?
How is heart religion lived out on a daily basis?

A
B
C

Summary: As we look back on the book of Jeremiah, we see a theme running

through the book that really is the center of the great controversy: Gods
character and human misconceptions and misrepresentations of it. God
wants our hearts and is not satisfied with anything less. We will not be
satisfied with anything less either.

171

teachers comments

Learning Cycle
STEP 1Motivate
Spotlight on Scripture:

Jeremiah 2:13

Key Concept for Spiritual Growth: The cost of discipleship is high.

Jeremiah, throughout his life, faced tremendous hardships, all in order to
proclaim Gods message and to portray a God who is the true fountain
of living waters (Jer. 2:13, NKJV), a God who reaches out in love to His
people to draw them back to Himagain and againand then once more.

Jeremiah prophesied for more than forty years

to his people, first in Judah and then in Egypt. At various points in his
life, he complained bitterly to God about his ministry and message (Jer.
11:1812:5, 15:1018, 17:1218, 18:1923), which finally led to his
ultimate complaint in which he cursed the day of his birth (20:1418).
Yet, he continued to accompany Judah through its final days, which
were marked by rebellion and destruction.
Although he could have opted out, he stuck with Gods people and
even accompanied them into Egypt, where he died under unknown
circumstances. He truly was one of the greatest prophets while, at the
same time, so human. Discuss with the class the greatness of Jeremiah
that shines through his humanity.

Just for Teachers:

We all like happy endings. However, the story

of Jeremiah is not ending well. Jerusalem is destroyed, Gedaliah brutally
murdered, Gods prophet is once more ignored, the remaining Jews disappear with Jeremiah back to Egypt, and there the whole story just fades
away amid syncretism and death.
Imagine a pastor who has preached a whole lifes worth of evangelistic
sermons, who has always visited the members of the flock, and who has
faithfully performed all pastoral dutiesyet never baptizes a single soul.
How discouraging! Or think of the endless number of missionaries who
breathed out their lives in humid jungles without seeing any tangible
results for their lifelong efforts.
The cost of discipleship is really not low. How do you react when the
going gets tough in your Christian walk and when you face opposition
from every conceivable angle?

Opening Discussion:

STEP 2Explore
Just for Teachers:

172

As we conclude this quarters lesson study, we

teachers comments

need to look at the overall picture that emerges from the study of the
book of Jeremiah and how this fits within the even bigger picture of
the great controversy. The book is really not just about the last days
of Judah and messages of judgment but the character of God and how
Satan has been successfully distorting Gods character and, consequently, the divine image in us.
Gods continuous attempts to draw His rebellious people back to
Himself, which become almost painfully repetitive, show a God of love
who reaches out again and again. And even when the call to repentance fails and the exile comes, the next message is restoration and the
future hope of a remnant. These are really the big biblical themes that
communicate the gospel in both the Old and New Testament.

Bible Commentary
Modern commentators usually see judgment at the center of the theological
message of the book of Jeremiah. However, judgment is never a theological
end in itself but always only a means to once more draw humankind close
to its Creator. Judgmentas in sword, famine, and pestilence (a threefold
curse that occurs about fifteen times in Jeremiah; for example, Jer. 14:12,
21:7, 29:17)is never Gods last word but salvation is (compare especially
Jer. 3033, the so-called Book of Comfort) and the promise of a remnant
who will live out Gods will for their lives.
I. The Character of God (Review Jeremiah 2:1113 with your class.)
If the character of God is at stake in the great controversy, then Jeremiah
makes it clear from the beginning of his book that Judahs rebellion is
rooted in a distortion of Gods character. Jeremiah 2:1113 describes the
center of Jeremiahs message: Judah (and Israel before them) had replaced
Gods glory for vanity (vs. 11). The Hebrew term kabod (glory) in
connection with God refers to His, at times, presence in the temple (for
example, Exod. 16:10) and especially the filling of the temple, indicating
Gods desire to dwell among humanity and to fill us with His presence.
Israel (Judah) exchanged this tangible presence of God with ritual
emptiness or the fountain of living waters with broken cisterns.
What a sorry exchange. Living water in the Bible is a Christological
type (compare Exod. 17:6), as well as a strong metaphor of salvation
(compare John 4:1014), pointing to Gods most inherent character
traits. He wants to save us, sustain us, and fill us with His continuous
presence. This is God as He reveals Himself through Jeremiah right from
the outset of the book. Whatever we exchange Him for, we will always
shortchange ourselves.

173

teachers comments

Consider This: Gods glory and the living water are powerful images in the

Bible. What do these images mean for your Christian experience?

II. Ritual and Idols (Review Jeremiah 6:20, 7:110, 10:114 with your class.)
A formal religion that expresses itself in meaningless rituals goes hand in
hand with idolatry and often coexists side by side with it in a strange symbiotic relationship. The threefold The temple of the Lord that Jeremiah
quoted in the gate of the selfsame structure (Jer. 7:4) served as a vivid expression of this type of surrogate dry cistern religion.
The sheer presence of the temple was enough, it was thought, to function as a
magic charm against the attacks of the Babylonians, and God had conveniently
been enclosed inside this building so that one could invoke Him whenever
necessary. It did not even matter that the personal lifestyle and ethical behavior
were completely out of step with Gods law (vss. 510) and that idolatry was
widespread (10:19) and even took place inside the temple (compare Ezekiel
8).
But all this is just dead religion, works-oriented, and in such stark contrast to
the Living Water God who is the dynamic Creator-God. Once more the battle
is about Gods character.
Consider This: Why would anybody in their right mind exchange the Living
God with a lifeless idol? Why is this, sadly, not as inconceivable as we think?

III. Heart Religion and the Remnant (Review Deuteronomy 6:46 and Jeremiah
23:18 with your class.)
The Shema Yisrael (Hear, O Israel) is still the centerpiece of Jewish prayer
services during the Sabbath, pointing to the importance of what follows, in
Deuteronomy 6:5, as being the centerpiece of genuine worship. A personal
and living God requires true heart religion and nothing less. This type of religion is based on a love relationship that involves all aspects of the person: the
heart as the seat of thought and will; the soul (Hebrew nephesh), which
refers to the whole person; and our strength, referring to the physical aspect.
True heart religion needs to be wholistic and genuine. It is as much a part of
the Old as the New Testament, even though a few people suspect it to have its
origins in the section of the Pentateuch called the second Decalogue, outlining
the principles of the covenant (Deut. 5:111:32).
However, it seems to be always just a remnant that is drawn into such a love
relationship with their God. Since the times of Noah, it has indeed always just
been a remnant, and the promised remnant in Jeremiah that would return from
Babylonian exile numbered only about fifty thousand people (Neh. 7:6673).
The Babylonian Talmud, one of the most important religious documents in

174

teachers comments

Rabbinic Judaism, originated in Babylon attesting to the large number of

Jews who had comfortably settled in Mesopotamia and had made Babylon
their home.
But beyond the exile there is the Messianic aspect of Jeremiahs prophecy
that points to Christ as the King, whose name will be called THE LORD
OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS (Jer. 23:6, NKJV), an appellation that was
picked up by Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:30. But even beyond Christ, the remnant motif points to the end of time when there will be an end-time church
that will live out a true heart religion through accepting the testimony of
Jesus, which relates to salvation by grace and living a life of obedience to
the commandments of God (Rev. 12:17). Jeremiahs message was a continuous invitation for our hearts to meet the heart of God.
Consider This:

What is true heart religion for you?

STEP 3Apply
As this is the last lesson of this quarter, it would
be important for the teacher to focus on broader applications of the
whole book of Jeremiah.

Just for Teachers:

Thought/Application Questions:
What has touched you most in the study of the book of Jeremiah during this quarter?
What can you do in your church and community to promote true heart
religion?
STEP 4Create
The book of Jeremiah is a moving story and
should move us, as well. Often we are moved when we hear others sharing their experiences with God.

Just for Teachers:

Class/Individual Activities:
Conclude this quarters study with a group activity that provides time for
testimonies on how people have experienced the great lessons of the book
of Jeremiah. You could have a meal together (maybe include traditional
Middle Eastern food such as falafel) and then open the floor to testimonies on the topics of faithfulness, obedience, true heart religion, listening
to Gods voice, revival and reformation, leaving behind idolatry and false
religion and being part of the remnant church.

175

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