God is Gaining an Army Fortified and Equipped to Fight for Him by Speaking His Word

Our God fights not directly by Himself but through His servants whom He sends, and He fights through their speaking, which is actually God’s speaking; today God is gaining an army fortified and equipped to fight for Him by speaking the word of God.

This week we come to a new Holy Word for Morning Revival entitled, Crystallization-study of Jeremiah and Lamentations, and in particular this week we come to week 1 entitled, Jeremiah, the Tenderhearted Prophet of the Tenderhearted God.

Most of us may not be very familiar with the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations, and we may not know, for example, that the longest book in the Bible is the book of Jeremiah (simply by its sheer length).

It would be good to read this book in a prayerful way, asking the Lord to help us receive His burden and desire in His speaking; as we read this book, what may strike us first is the history recorded in this book.

Jeremiah began prophesying when he was very young, during the kingship of Josiah; this king was godly, turned to God with his whole heart, was convicted by the word spoken through Moses, and initiated a kind of revival.

However, the people did only something outwardly in a formalistic way, and then the situation degraded until it reached the lowest point through Manessah; then, God decided to use Babylon to judge Israel.

The book ends with chapter 52 where we see an account of what happened; Jeremiah remained among the small number of people who were left behind in the holy land, and he was forced to go to Egypt with some.

As we read this book we should pay attention to the prophecies of two kinds: on one hand he spoke for God faithfully, and on the other, he prophesied concerning future events, such as Nebuchadnezzar being used by God to destroy Jerusalem and bring people into captivity.

Jeremiah also prophesied that after seventy years of captivity, a remnant will return, they will be blessed, they will sing and rejoice, and the Lord will be with them.

In this book of Jeremiah we also see many aspects of God, such as righteousness, love, compassion, wrath, anger, grief, sorrow, and many other things; He is called the King, and at least eighty times He is called, Jehovah of hosts.

May we see what is revealed concerning God in this book. In this book – especially in chs. 10-20 – we see an account in various ways of Jeremiah’s deep, personal, intimate relationship with Jehovah, the God of Israel, and how Jeremiah would pour out his being and speak honestly with God, yet always be open for the word of Jehovah to come to him.

We all can learn from Jeremiah to open to the Lord to uplift this aspect of our personal life with the Lord, to open our being to Him and let everything flow; then we will know He is God and we will honor Him as God.

According to the ministry of the age that we are under, the point of view from which we want to approach the book of Jeremiah is not merely history, prophecy, words, principles, and relationships, but from the point of view of God’s economy.

May the Lord shine on us as we delve into the depths of this book to see God’s economy as unveiled in Jeremiah!

How Jeremiah was a Priest-Prophet appointed by Jehovah to Pluck up and Break Down, Build up and Plant

Jeremiah was born a priest, but God called him to be a prophet not only to the nation of Israel but also to all the nations; therefore, Jeremiah was a priest-prophet (Jer. 1:1, 48).

As we read the first chapter of Jeremiah with care, we will have a foundation for our understanding of this book.

Jeremiah was part of the priesthood, and he was expecting to function in this way, but even while in his mother’s womb God came and called him, marked him out, to be a prophet to Israel and to the nations.

As seen in Jer. 1:10, God came and appointed Jeremiah to be over the nations and over the kingdoms to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to tear down, and to build and to plant.

The “plucking up”, “breaking down”, and “destroying” refer to Jehovah’s tearing down, while the “building up” and “planting” refer to Jehovah’s exalting.

We all will witness this, because this is what God is doing: He plucks up nations, He breaks them down, He destroys them, He tears them down, and then He builds up and plants; this is Jehovah’s doing.

This corresponds to the two meanings of the name Jeremiah – “Jehovah exalts” and “Jehovah tears down”.

Jeremiah was not only a young man, maybe even less than twenty years of age when he was called, but he was also a timid and sensitive person; yet God sent such a prophet forth to speak what was on God’s heart.

Jeremiah was a priestly prophet appointed by God to pluck up and break down, to build up and to plant. Everything negative – everything of Satan, sin, and the world – must be torn down.

Along with this tearing down, we have Jehovah’s building up and His planting, both of which involve His word.

The Lord speaks a word, and He tears down, destroys, and He also builds up and plants; God’s word is a building up of Christ and a planting of Christ, and this is all for the exalting of Christ!

We may be like Jeremiah, quite timid and fearful, but the Lord calls us, He appoints us to be both a priest and a prophet, and He wants us to speak His word!

No matter how shy or timid we are, no matter how dismayed we may be with our situation or with the situation of God’s people, when the word of God comes to us, we are encouraged, strengthens, supplied, built up, and planted firmly, and we are appointed to speak the word of God.

Especially in the meetings of the church, we should not be dismayed by anyone, we should not be afraid of anyone, but we should rather function to speak for the Lord.

Thank You Lord for calling us and appointing us to be Your prophets and Your priests! We do not look at ourselves, at our condition, or at the situation around us – we look to You, we receive Your word, and we want to faithfully speak Your word so that You may flow through us! May we not be dismayed by anyone or afraid of anyone but may we function to speak for the Lord! Thank You Lord, we are priests to enjoy God and be filled with God, and we are prophets to speak for God and speak God forth, speaking the word of God by being one with God!

God is Gaining an Army Fortified and Equipped to Fight for Him by Speaking His Word

In Jer. 1:18-19 we are told that God would make Jeremiah into a fortified city, into an iron pillar, and into bronze walls against the whole land, the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land; they would fight against him but would not prevail against him. Wow!

If we read the entire book of Jeremiah we see that this is exactly what happened: some wanted to kill him, members of the his family betrayed him, some of the priests wanted him dead, he was put into prison, he was lowered into a pit and was sinking into soft soil, and he was constantly opposed.

At his time, Jeremiah was God’s one-man army, and God Himself strengthened him, for both Jeremiah and God realized that those who opposed him opposed Jehovah, and those who attacked him actually attacked God.

This happened because on earth there is always a battle raging between God and those who oppose Him and fight against Him (Eph. 6:12).

Both in our being and in our country, on the whole earth, there is a battle raging between God and Satan, between God and His people versus Satan and those who are with him and fight against God.

There are powerful forces fighting against God, and this will only increase; more and more attacks happen and will happen against God, and man is being incited and deceived by Satan to fight against God.

We see this in the decisions of our rulers, in the society around us, in our own family, at work, on the street – everywhere people rebel against God, they attack Him, and they oppose those who are of God and who are standing for the truth.

God, however, doesn’t fight directly against such ones; God doesn’t strike down those who attack Him and oppose Him, but He fights through His servants who have been sent by Him (1 Tim. 1:18; 6:12; 2 Tim. 4:7).

God fights, but He doesn’t fight on His own or by Himself – He fights through us, His servants.

In the book of Jeremiah we see that God had a one-man army, a young man named Jeremiah, to fight those who opposed Him.

And Jeremiah fought by speaking; again and again, the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, and he spoke whatever he heard of Jehovah.

Yet the people rebelled against God’s word, they refused to listen to Jeremiah, and even the priests and kings refused to listen to the voice of Jehovah.

However, Jeremiah was equipped by God to such an extent that he became a fortified cit, an iron pillar, and bronze walls (Jer. 1:18).

Those whom God sends to fight against the opposing ones are equipped by Him with a powerful defensive system, a solid armor, and they have the word of God for fighting.

In spiritual warfare, armor is for defense, and the sword is for offense; when we fight for the Lord, when we fight for His interest by speaking His word, the Lord equips us with His armor for our defense, and He gives us His word to fight against the enemy.

The Lord equips us to such an extent that nothing will penetrate us, nothing will shake us, defeat us, or terrify us.

This happened to Jeremiah, and it will happen to us as members of the Body of Christ in this age as we become the Lord’s army to fight for Him by speaking for Him in this age.

In Jeremiah’s case, those who fought against Jeremiah – Jehovah’s one-person army – were actually fighting against Jehovah.

Today God doesn’t want to gain such one-man army but the one new man, a corporate God-man army, the Body of Christ; He wants to gain the one new man as the corporate army, for warfare is a Body matter.

So we simply need to be willing to be part of this one new man army.

No one would defeat Jeremiah because God was with him; no one can defeat us because God is with us.

May we realize that today there’s a warfare raging, and there is much opposition, condemnation, and rejection toward God, but we need to fight for God.

As we are being sent by God to fight for Him, He actually fights through us; our weapons are not something outward but God Himself and the truth revealed in the Bible.

Thank You Lord Jesus for appointing us to fight for You by standing on Your side and speaking Your word in this age! Hallelujah, we are part of God’s army to fight for Him by speaking for Him in this age! May we realize there’s a battle raging between God and those who oppose Him and fight against Him. We stand on Your side, dear Lord! We are Your servants who have been sent by You, and we are equipped to such an extent that we are like a fortified city and an iron pillar! Hallelujah, we have a powerful defensive system – the entire armor of Christ for the Body of Christ – and we also have the sword of the Spirit, the instant and living word of God, and we can be part of the corporate man fighting for God in this age!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Jeremiah, msgs. 1, 10-11, 15 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of Jeremiah and Lamentations, week 1, Jeremiah, the Tenderhearted Prophet of the Tenderhearted God.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – I love Thy kingdom, Lord, / The house of Thine abode, / The Church our blest Redeemer bought / With His own precious blood. (Hymns #853)
  – In the heav’nlies more than conqu’ror, / In the power of His might, / As a soldier in the army, / In the Lord the battle fight. (Hymns #885)
  – The churches are the Body / Of Christ on earth today. / They are His testimony, / That He may have a way. / They are the golden lampstands / In cities far and wide. / They are His fighting army, / And His beloved Bride. (Hymns #1265)