PART SEVEN of THE PURPOSE & EFFECT OF REVELATION

The Prophetic Ministry of Jeremiah

When Jeremiah was called into prophetic ministry at a young age, he was given 6 charges:

Jeremiah 1:9-10 Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, To root out and to pull down, To destroy and to throw down, To build and to plant.”

The first thing to note is that four of the charges have to do with the removal of something and two have to do with the building of something. It can be very easy for those called into prophetic ministry to see what is wrong or what needs to change. But that is not where the purpose of prophecy ends. Those with a prophetic bent to them must be able to see what needs to be established and built. If prophetic people simply spend their time telling everyone how they are wrong or what needs to die, they end up being ignored because they never offer a solution. A prophetic voice with a wounded heart will have a hard time seeing the redemptive plan of God, but they will never lack a criticism towards the body of Christ. 

While the ministry of the Old Testament prophets was for a distinct purpose and time, there are lessons we can glean about the nature of prophetic ministry from looking at these enigmatic figures. The danger is in thinking that we would become like them. Aside from that, the level of crushing that each of these men were subject to would kill almost anyone.  

The purpose that God had in using Jeremiah in part reflects the way God views the function and purpose of prophetic ministry. When God said that he would use Jeremiah as a prophet to root out, pull down, destroy, throw down, build, and plant, how did each one play out? And what does that reflect when it comes to prophetic ministry?

To Root Out

One example of rooting out (translated as pluck in these verses) in the ministry of Jeremiah was the foreign nations that had taught Israel the worship of Baal:

Jeremiah 12:14-17 Thus says the Lord: “Against all My evil neighbors who touch the inheritance which I have caused My people Israel to inherit—behold, I will pluck them out of their land and pluck out the house of Judah from among them. Then it shall be, after I have plucked them out, that I will return and have compassion on them and bring them back, everyone to his heritage and everyone to his land. And it shall be, if they will learn carefully the ways of My people, to swear by My name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they shall be established in the midst of My people. But if they do not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation,” says the Lord.

The word for “root” or “pluck” means to tear away or expel. In the context of this prophecy, what was being rooted out was the worship of false gods. The way the people had adopted the practices of the surrounding cultures that had led them to false worship had to be exposed. While we might not serve Baal today, the worship of pagan gods is alive and well in our modern culture. What the ancient world personified in a god, we personify in our industries: lust, power/war, and greed. The ancient gods must still be rooted out by pointing out how the people of God have been impacted by the spirit of the age.

Ephesians 2:1-2 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.

The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to deliver us from the “course of this world.” Jesus clarified that the Holy Spirit would do this by calling people to a faith in Christ, by pointing to the nature of Christ, and by showing what is wrong and evil (John 16:5-13). The culture that surrounds us indoctrinates us slowly. Prophecy and a healed heart are useful tools to deliver the bride of Christ from faulty worldly systems of the day.

Pull Down

In Jeremiah 4, Jeremiah sees cities that are broken down (pulled down) because the people have been barren and have not known God. As a result of this barrenness and a lack of understanding, the cities have been laid to waste. 

Jeremiah 4:22,26 “For My people are foolish, they have not known Me. They are silly children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.” I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the Lord, by His fierce anger.

It is specifically the presence of the Lord that causes the break down of the city. The city is the place where mankind gathers to protect himself from the elements. Metaphorically speaking, it is the way in which we erect walls to protect ourselves and manage our lives. These walls keep the presence of the Lord at bay and keep us from being fruitful. Walls such as pride, fear, inability to be honest about ourselves, denominational fidelity, busyness, and isolation are all kinds of mental strongholds that keep us from drawing close to the Father. When prophetic ministry is “pulling down” it is pulling down the walls we erect to keep God out of our lives.

II Corinthians 10:4-5 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

Prophecy as a weapon of warfare pulls down the ways we create strongholds to keep God out of the deep recesses of our hearts.

Destroy

Jeremiah 10:14-16 Everyone is dull-hearted, without knowledge; every metalsmith is put to shame by an image; for his molded image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are futile, a work of errors; in the time of their punishment they shall perish. The Portion of Jacob is not like them, for He is the Maker of all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; the Lord of hosts is His name.'

To destroy in the Hebrew can be translated as perish (as in the verse above), vanish, or destroy. In the context of Jeremiah 10:15, what perishes, vanishes, and is destroyed is that which is not like the Father (they shall perish, the portion of Jacob is not like them). Prophetic ministry represents the heart of God to the people, and in representing the heart of God, what is not his heart becomes clearer and clearer. 

To destroy in the context of prophecy is to bring dull hearts out of bondage, expose the false images we have of God, point out the error of our thinking and bring to light all our ways that are do not reflect the heart of the Father.

Throw Down

Jeremiah 31:38-40 Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that the city shall be built for the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. The surveyor’s line shall again extend straight forward over the hill Gareb; then it shall turn toward Goath. And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the Lord. It shall not be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever.

Jeremiah 31:40 infers that when something is not holy and set apart unto the Lord (that ought to be) it is in danger of being thrown down. 

To Jerome, the ultimate fulfillment of this statement is that the area described is the Church and it will be made holy and set apart. The purpose of prophecy as it relates to throwing down is to bring to death the places where unholiness reigns. True prophecy will call the church to be set apart to God.