Jeremiah Part 2: The Message, The Warnings, The Hope

We'd love to hear from you - Click Here to Text Us a Message.

Jeremiah's prophetic message reveals a God who refuses to give up on his people despite their persistent rebellion. Through vivid imagery and dramatic object lessons, God communicates both the seriousness of sin and the surprising depth of his mercy.

• Setting the historical context: Jeremiah's ministry during Judah's final decades (627-586 BC)
• Five core messages: sin, repentance, judgment, God's sovereignty, and true revelation
• Judah's sins exposed: materialism, injustice, idolatry, immorality, and religious hypocrisy
• Vivid metaphors: cracked cisterns, wild donkeys, and forgetful brides
• Powerful visual sermons: the linen belt, potter's clay, broken jar, iron yoke, and purchased field
• Promises of restoration: future hope (29:11) and the new covenant (31:33-34)
• Jesus as the fulfillment: the Righteous Branch who established the new covenant

Join us next week as we explore the prophet Habakkuk, who dared to question God about injustice.

RELATED EPIODES:

Jeremiah Part 1: The Man, The Call, The Tears

SOURCES:

Cook, S., Nickelson, R. L., Kenney, J. A., & Williams, M. K. (2021). Preaching doom. In The NIV Standard Lesson Commentary, 2020–2021 (Vol. 27, p. 319). Standard Publishing.

Eetham, C. A., & Erickson, N. L. (Eds.). (2024). The NIV application commentary on the Bible, one-volume edition (p. 589). Zondervan Academic.

Longman, T. (n.d.). An introduction to the Old Testament (2nd ed., p. 327). Function.

MacArthur, J. (Ed.). (n.d.). The MacArthur study Bible (NIV ed.).

Redditt, P. L. (2008). Introduction to the prophets (p. 127). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Smith, S. (2019). Exalting Jesus in Jeremiah, Lamentations. Holman Bible Publishers.

Have questions about what it means to follow Jesus?
Whether you’re just starting your faith journey or exploring what the Bible teaches, we’d love to walk with you. God’s invitation is real, personal, and full of grace.

💬 Reach out to Jacqui at [e-mail]
📖 Talk to a trusted Christian in your life
🏠 Or visit a Bible-believing church near you

You are not alone. God’s Word is alive, and He is still drawing people to Himself today. Don’t hesitate to take the next step.

Thank you for tuning in!
Bible Basics is now streaming on Youtube. Please subscribe now!

Feel free to contact us at [e-mail]. We would love to hear from you!

Note: All scripture references are from the NIV translation unless otherwise indicated.

Episode Transcript

Jacqui (00:12):
Greetings listeners.
If love means telling the trutheven when it hurts, then the
book of Jeremiah is a loveletter.
Yes, it's full of warnings, yes, it speaks of judgment, but it
also reveals a God who refusesto give up on his people.
This isn't just a collection ofancient sermons.

(00:35):
It's the story of heartbreak,confrontation and surprising
hope.
Last week we met Jeremiah theman, a prophet, who carried not
just God's words but God's heart.
In this episode we'll explorehow the structure and message of

(00:56):
Jeremiah help us understandboth the seriousness of sin and
the depth of God's mercy of sinand the depth of God's mercy.
Well, welcome everyone.
I'm your host, Jacqui Adewole,and this is the Bible Basics
Podcast, where weekly, we breakdown the basics of the Bible

(01:17):
into understandable, bite-sizedchunks.
Last episode we focused on thelife and calling of Jeremiah.
Today we'll walk through themessage he carried, one that's
full of vivid imagery, hardtruths and surprising hope.
But first let's set the scene.

(01:47):
Jeremiah ministered during thefinal decades of Judah.
The southern kingdom of Israel,the northern kingdom, had
already fallen to Assyria around722 BC.
We see that in 2 Kings 17.
And now Babylon was rising inpower.
Judah was still standing, butthe cracks were showing.
Spiritually, the people haddrifted.
Politically, leaders wereleaning on alliances instead of

(02:11):
God, and morally, the nation wasmarked by injustice, idolatry
and false religion.
Jeremiah warned them turn backto God before it's too late.
He served under five kings,from Josiah, the last good one,

(02:33):
to Zedekiah, who ruled whenJerusalem finally fell in 586 BC
.
So that's the backdrop for thisbook a nation on the brink and
a God still speaking.
Now let's look at what's insidethe book.
Jeremiah is the longest book inthe Bible by word count.

(02:55):
It isn't a neatchapter-by-chapter story.
It reads more like a propheticanthology, a collection of
sermons, symbolic acts,heartfelt prayers, object
lessons and confrontations withkings and crowds, and woven

(03:16):
through it all are five bigmessages, truths that reveal who
God is, how he responds to sinand what he desires for his
people.
Here's what we'll see Sin,repentance, judgment, god's
sovereignty and true revelation.

(03:36):
Let's take a look at each ofthese.
Starting with sin, jeremiahexposes not just bad behavior
but the deep deception of thehuman heart.
Listen to these sinsMaterialism and greed.
Injustice towards orphans,widows and foreigners.
Idolatry, that's worshipinggods who couldn't save them.

(04:00):
Sexual immorality, horrifyingrites of child sacrifice.
Slander and lies even fromleaders, Sabbath breaking,
refusing to honor rest andworship, and religious hypocrisy
, pretending to follow God whilereally ignoring his commands.

(04:21):
All this in one book.
And the book uses someunforgettable images of Judah's
sinful nature.
He compares them to a crackedcistern that can't hold water.
It's useless and broken.
We see that in chapter 2, verse13.
A wild donkey chasing afteridols in heat 13.

(04:44):
A wild donkey chasing afteridols in heat, undignified and
desperate.
That's in chapter 2, verse 24.
And a bride who forgets herwedding day, careless with the
covenant.
That's in chapter 2, verse 32.
Man's sinful nature is summedup in this verse the heart is

(05:05):
deceitful above all things andbeyond cure.
Who can understand it?
That's chapter 17, verse 9.
The second thing we see isrepentance.
God's message through theprophet Jeremiah wasn't just
you've sinned, it was alwayscome back, return to your God.

(05:29):
In chapter 3, verse 12, we hearReturn, faithless Israel.
Declares the Lord I will frownon you no longer, for I am
faithful, declares the Lord.
I will not be angry forever.
And the third thing we see inthis book is judgment.

(05:50):
The book is full of warnings.
If the people refuse to repent,judgment will come, and it does
.
Jerusalem falls, the temple isdestroyed, the people are exiled
.
This wasn't God just beingcruel.
It was the heartbreaking resultof repeated rebellion and a

(06:14):
call to take his word seriously.
Then there's God's sovereignty.
In chapter 18, god sendsJeremiah to a potter's workshop.
He says in chapter 18, verse 6,god shapes nations, he raises

(06:38):
kings and orchestrates history.
Even Babylon, Judah's enemy, isjust a tool in his hand.
That's chapter 25, verses 8through 11.
God was and is fully in control, though he does allow us free
will.
And five.

(07:00):
There's revelation.
Who truly speaks for God?
Jeremiah's greatest conflictisn't with kings, it's with
false prophets.
In chapter 25, god, throughJeremiah, announced Babylonian
exile will be for 70 years.
In chapter 28, jeremiah hadbeen wearing a wooden yoke to

(07:25):
symbolize that bondage underBabylon.
One of the false prophets,Hananiah, publicly breaks the
wooden yoke and challengedJeremiah, saying this won't last
.
We'll have victory over Babylonin two years.
Last.

(07:48):
We'll have victory over Babylonin two years.
God responds you have madethese people trust in a lie.
That's chapter 28, verse 15.
Jeremiah teaches us not everyspiritual voice is from God.
So you've heard the messages.
To make these messagesimpossible to ignore, god gave
Jeremiah visual sermons,prophetic object lessons, if you

(08:12):
will.
These really hit home.
The MacArthur Study Bible, theNIV translation, which is the
one I use, contains a chartlisting 21 of these different
object lessons illustratingGod's judgment.
Here are a few unforgettableexamples.

(08:33):
We have the linen belt.
God tells Jeremiah to wear anew linen belt.
Then bury it and dig it up.
It's ruined, just like Judah,once close to God, now proud,
corrupted and no longer useful.
This is in chapter 13, verses 1through 11.

(08:55):
Then we have the potter's house, which I just mentioned.
At a potter's wheel, jeremiahwatches a broken pot, reshaped
God says, like clay in thepotter's hand.
So you are mine.
Judah could still be remade ifthey would yield.
That's chapter 18, verses 1through 10.

(09:18):
Then there's the broken jar.
God has Jeremiah smash a clayjar in front of the elders.
This was a dramatic warningJudah's rebellion will lead to
destruction and there will be noputting it back together.
That's chapter 19, verses 1through 15.

(09:42):
There's the yoke.
In chapter 28, jeremiah had beenwearing a wooden yoke to
symbolize the bondage underBabylon.
One of these false prophets,hananiah, publicly breaks the
wooden yoke and challengedJeremiah, saying this won't last
.
We'll have victory over Babylonin two years.

(10:02):
Jeremiah responds you have madethese people trust in a lie.
So God replaces that woodenyoke with an iron one.
We see this in Jeremiah 27 and28.

(10:23):
And the last example I want togive you is the purchased field.
While Jerusalem is under siegeand Jeremiah is in prison, god
tells him to buy a field in hishometown, at Anathoth, and he
says houses, fields andvineyards will again be bought

(10:47):
in this land.
That's chapter 32, verse 15.
It's a bold act of hope.
Even in disaster, god ispreparing restoration.
These weren't performances.
They were truth made visible.
God's message acted out in reallife.

(11:10):
And in the midst of all thisdestruction, Jeremiah shared a
stunning promise.
God speaks not of judgment butof healing, and we see that in
Jeremiah, chapter 29, verse 11,a very well-known scripture.
I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord plans to

(11:32):
prosper you and not harm you.
Plans to give you a future anda hope.
Give you a future and a hope.
That promise wasn't written tocomfortable people.
It was written to exiles,people far from home, wondering
if God had forgotten them.
This assured God's intention tobring about blessings in

(11:57):
Israel's future.
Then, in Jeremiah 31, godpromises a new covenant, a new
sacred agreement between God andhis people, one not written on
tablets but on hearts, acovenant built on forgiveness
and deep relationship.

(12:19):
That's all in chapter 31,verses 33 and 34.
I will be their God and theywill be my people, he said in
verse 33.
And just when it seemed likethe story is ending, god says I
will raise up for David arighteous branch, and he will

(12:43):
reign wisely.
That's chapter 23, verse 5.
What's pictured here is abranch, or shoot out of David's
family tree.
That branch points directly toJesus and that new covenant we
just talked about in Jeremiah,chapter 31,.
Jesus quotes it at the LastSupper this cup is the new

(13:09):
covenant in my blood.
That's chapter 22, verse 20 ofthe book of Luke.
What Jeremiah shared, jesusfulfilled Through his death and
resurrection.
He wrote God's law on ourhearts, not tablets.
He brought forgiveness thatcouldn't be earned and he became

(13:33):
the righteous branch who reignsforever.
God put it in Jeremiah's heartto see this from afar.
Jesus fulfilled it all in full.
So what do we take from thisprophetic collection?
That sin is real and so are itsconsequences, and so are its

(14:01):
consequences.
God's voice may wound, but italways invites healing.
Judgment isn't the end of thestory, and that Jesus is the
promised hope Jeremiah sawcoming.
If this episode helped you seethe book of Jeremiah in a new
light, would you share it with afriend you never know who might

(14:25):
be trying to make sense ofScripture and needs to know that
God's heart is still forrestoration?
And next week we'll meetanother prophet with bold
questions.
Habakkuk looked at injusticeand dared to ask God where are

(14:46):
you in all of this?
If you've ever wrestled withthat same question, you won't
want to miss it.
Until then, keep reading, keepseeking and keep growing in your
faith.