In the book of Jeremiah we see how he was an overcomer speaking for God; he was an anti-testimony, and though he was a very tenderhearted person, he wept over the children of Israel and spoke the word of God in faith.
If we read this book of Jeremiah we see how God made this priestly person into a prophet, and He made this tenderhearted person into a fortified city against the whole land to speak the word of God.
God had something to say to His people in the time of Jeremiah, but they didn’t want to hear; the people, the Jewish leaders, the priests, the prophets, and even the king – everyone was against Jeremiah and did not want to listen to him.
Some wanted to kill him, others betrayed him and wanted him dead, he was imprisoned, he was lowered into a pit…he was constantly opposed by the people of God, those whom he served.
But God made him into a one-man army, for Jeremiah fought the battle for God, and he spoke the word of God – he prophesied both to predict the future (as the Lord gave him to speak) and to encourage and beseech God’s people to return to Him.
There’s a battle raging on earth between God and those who oppose Him and fight against Him; Satan fights not only directly against God but also indirectly, through his many allies, and God needs an army to fight for Him.
Look around in our society, look at the situation in politics or even on the street, morality is put down, the good things are put aside, and God is being attacked all the time.
And it seems that God does nothing to defend Himself; it seems that God doesn’t “strike down” those who oppose Him, those who speak evil words against Him, and those who even publish books denying the existence of God.
God doesn’t fight the battle directly by Himself but through His servants who have been sent by Him.
In the time of Jeremiah, God had a one-man army, Jeremiah, but today He wants to gain a corporate new man, the church as the Body of Christ.
Today we need to be the overcomers who speak for God and stand with God, declaring the word of God with boldness both to expose the current situation and to weep over the degradation and apostasy, so that the people of God may return to Him and take Him as the fountain of living waters.
If we are those who fight for God, the overcomers speaking for God today, no one can defeat us, for God will make us into a fortified city, a bronze wall, and an iron pillar, to stand against whatever the enemy sends our way.
May we look at the pattern of Jeremiah and realize what an overcomer is, and may we have an increased aspiration to be an overcomer speaking for God even as he was.
How Jeremiah was a Overcomer Speaking for God in his time, a Weeping Anti-Testimony for God
Jeremiah was an overcomer speaking for God, yet he was a particular kind of overcomer; he wasn’t a man powerful in speaking and with great authority but rather, he was one who wept over the situation in God’s people.
Those around him said that all is well and peaceful, and they could resist Babylon, Jeremiah rose up and said that it’s not all peaceful and they would not be able to resist (Jer. 27:1-15).
When Elijah spoke for God in his time, he was a condemning anti-testimony, exposing the fact that the people of God went after the idols; Jeremiah, on the other hand, was a weeping anti-testimony, weeping over the situation of God’s people.
In Elijah’s days, the people were serving Baal and not Jehovah, so Elijah rose up to condemn such a situation; he was an overcomer speaking for God in his time.
In Jeremiah’s days, Jeremiah didn’t condemn them but rather, he spoke the word of God to them and told them that they would be handed over to the enemy, and Jeremiah wept over them.
What an overcomer he was, and what a pattern we see here!
The Lord needs such overcomers who speak for God in their time and their situation, and some may even be like Jeremiah, a weeping anti-testimony for God.
For example, Martin Luther in his days rose up to condemn the Catholic Church as idolatrous; we can say that this is the aspect of the condemning anti-testimony represented by Elijah.
There are others also who weep before God for the desolation of the church and the ignorant Christians, telling them with tears that they have lost God’s presence and don’t have God’s grace, even though these Christians have no feeling and still think they are graced by God.
Today Christianity in general is in degradation and desolation; they have lost the presence of God, they don’t have the grace of God, and they do not enjoy God’s blessing.
Someone needs to stand for the Lord and tell them the truth, and then weep over this situation. Jeremiah was a weeping prophet (Jer. 14:17; Lam. 1:16); he wept over Israel’s stupor, weeping because they thought that they had peace when great calamity was about to come upon them.
He wept over them and their situation, and he prophesied by speaking for God so that they may detest sin, return to the true God, and have true peace.
But as we know it, the children of Israel didn’t listen to his words but rather, they abhorred him, hated him, persecuted him (Jer. 15:15; 11:19; 18:18-23; 20:1-2, 7-10) and they even imprisoned him (32:1-5).
In Elijah’s time, his testimony was against idols, but Jeremiah’s testimony was against the false peace; when they said that peace is there, war came and they were taken into captivity.
Elijah had to be strong in order to be an anti-testimony against false gods; Jeremiah had to weep over the situation of the people and be faithful to God to speak the word of God to them.
At the time of Jeremiah, the Israelites were pitiful – they were about to be led to slaughter, yet they still said that all is well; at such a time, there was the need of someone like Jeremiah, a soft person, who would weep for them.
Jeremiah didn’t cause the heavens to rain as Elijah did, but “rain” came from his eyes, for he shed many tears and prophesied in tears to the people of God.
May we see Jeremiah’s pattern and may we be those who stand with the word of God today, speaking the word of God to be the overcoming ones today!
Thank You Lord for the pattern of Jeremiah, an overcomer speaking for God and standing as a weeping anti-testimony for God. Make us Your overcomers of today, those who have Your fresh speaking, stand for the truth, and prophesy to speak for God the word that God gives us to speak to His people. Amen, Lord, may we be the kind of overcomers that You need for this age, even as Elijah and Jeremiah were the overcomers You needed for their age. We want to be one with You, Lord, to speak Your word in faith, with tears, with much concern and love, so that Your people may return to You!
Being an Overcomer Speaking for God today, an Anti-Testimony on earth for the Lord
It is very inspiring to see that Jeremiah was an overcomer speaking for God (Jer. 1:9, 10; 2:12).
In the age of typology, the overcomers were the prophets, for all the genuine prophets were overcomers.
When the majority of God’s people are desolate, even as we see the situation in the world today, there’s the need for some to rise up to be God’s overcomers to maintain the testimony established by God.
Today the church of God is desolate and the majority of God’s people have failed and lost their position; they are not able to meet God’s need.
Where can we see on earth a group of people who cares for God’s need, a group of people who stand for the Lord, speak for the Lord, shine for the Lord, and yearn to bring the Lord back?
The church has been degraded over the centuries, and the Lord is continually calling for overcomers, those who overcome the degradation of the church and speak for God in their age by being one with the Lord.
Throughout the past two thousand years there has been a small group of overcomers who have been raised by the Lord to be His faithful witnesses to maintain His testimony on the earth.
The line of the overcomers has never ceased, and today God wants to gain us to be such overcomers speaking for God, an anti-testimony on earth for the Lord – even as Jeremiah was at his time.
The prophets took care of the oracle of God first, and based upon the oracle, they exercised, to some extent, God’s authority – as seen with David the king and Nathan the prophet (2 Sam. 7:1-17; 12:1-15).
The kings had the authority, but when the prophet was sent from God, divine authority was implicit, and the king should recognize this expression of God’s authority.
David wanted to build God a house, since he lived in his own house, but the prophet received a word from the Lord that it was not David but his son, his seed, that would build God’s house.
In Rev. 2-3 the overcomers are the fulfillment of the typology of the prophets; today we need to be the overcomers who speak the word of God according to His inner speaking.
Jeremiah was an anti-testimony; the children of Israel had become desolate, and Jeremiah was called by God to be an anti-testimony (Jer. 27:1-15).
Like Antipas in Rev. 2, we need to be an anti-testimony for the Lord today. We need to be anti everything that is contrary to God, to His economy, and to the truth concerning the church.
Today we are not against persons but rather, we are against the degraded system, testifying of God’s economy and His plan, and this will be a contrast to the degraded religious Christianity that it will actually be an anti-testimony.
Today God’s people don’t realize that they are deep in sin before God and that they are in a befuddled situation, so we need to aspire to be the overcomer speaking for God, an anti-testimony speaking the word given to us by the Lord.
There may be others who say that there will be peace and prosperity, and many will utter false prophecies, but we need to be faithful to the Lord to be an overcomer speaking the word of God today for Him to obtain an anti-testimony for Himself.
On one hand we need the affirmation of the divine truth, and on the other, we need to critique the degradation; in all these we need to stand one with the Lord and speak His word even as He gives us to speak.
We are not against persons but against the system, the degraded system in Christianity that has replaced Christ with so many other things.
Lord Jesus, we aspire to be an overcomer speaking for God in this age today, those who are an anti-testimony for the Lord today! Amen, Lord, even though the majority of God’s people are desolate, we want to be God’s overcomers to maintain the testimony established by God! Speak to us, Lord; grant us Your fresh speaking, and make us Your oracles, those who speak for the Lord both to expose the current situation of degradation and be faithful to speak the word of God according to what He speaks in this age today! Amen, Lord Jesus, we love You, we love Your speaking, and we want to be Your overcomers today!
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, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1954, vol. 1, pp. 428-437, 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:
– Overcome! Overcome! / Overcome the degradation of the church! / All your working lay aside, / All the teachings that divide; / Eat the Lord whate’er betide— / Overcome! (Hymns #1273)
– Lord, take us all the way to life / To overcome the deadness rife. / Away from deadness we would flee / That full of life we’ll always be. (Hymns #1274)
– Through the church’s degradation, / Saints this office desolate; / Through the weakness of their spirits / Preaching doth predominate. (Hymns #848)
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