“-for in truth the LORD sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”
Jeremiah had stirred up a hornets’ nest. He had been calling the people to repentance from their wickedness, and they didn’t like it one bit. In fact, their response to his preaching was, “You shall die.” Kill the preacher.
Of course, in reality it wasn’t Jeremiah who caused such a consternation that day. The LORD had sent him. It wasn’t Jeremiah’s word, it was the Word of the LORD. And this is what Jeremiah points out – I’m not making things up, I’m not preaching on my own whims or fears or wishes – this is simply what God says. And you can kill me if you want, but this is the word of the LORD.
Jeremiah lives that day. Doesn’t always live comfortably – they end up dragging him off into exile. Other prophets do end up killed. But these are all prologue. The day would come when the LORD Himself would come to His people, the Word Incarnate would preach, and people demanded His death. And they killed Him. They put Jesus on a cross just to shut Him up.
And the temptation that we face, especially when Jesus’ Word hits too close to a sin that we hold near and dear to our hearts, is to try to shut Him up again, to silence Him, to ignore His Word. But instead Jesus still sends preachers, preachers who proclaim the Word of the Lord. They proclaim your sin – your deadly and vile sin, but they proclaim Christ the Crucified who died to redeem and free you from that sin. God grant that He keep sending preachers to us!
