The Predestined Mouth Text: Jeremiah 1:1-10
Introduction: A Crisis of Authority
The modern evangelical church is suffering from a profound crisis of authority. We have exchanged prophets for consultants, preachers for life coaches, and the Word of God for market-tested pabulum. We are timid when we ought to be bold, and we are silent when we ought to be roaring. We have become terrified of the spirit of the age, and so we trim our message, sand off the sharp edges of the law, and present a gospel that is palatable to the unregenerate heart, which is to say, we present a gospel that is no gospel at all.
Into this scene of well-intentioned cowardice, the call of Jeremiah lands like a thunderclap. Jeremiah's ministry begins at the end of a kingdom, during the final death spasms of Judah. He is not a prophet of success and revival in the conventional sense. He is a prophet of judgment, a man sent to announce the demolition of a corrupt and apostate order. His calling is not a career choice; it is a sovereign draft. It is not a negotiation; it is a divine commissioning.
This passage is a polemic against every form of man-centered ministry. It establishes the non-negotiable foundations for any man who would dare to speak for God. Those foundations are God's eternal decree, God's authoritative Word, and God's abiding presence. If we are to understand our own task in our own collapsing culture, we must begin here. We must understand that God does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called. And He does not send men to offer helpful suggestions, but rather to wield a Word that has the power to overthrow kingdoms and to build them up again.
The Text
The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of Yahweh came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. And it came in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month.
Now the word of Yahweh came to me saying, "Before I formed you in the innermost parts I knew you, And before you came out from the womb I set you apart; I have given you as a prophet to the nations."
Then I said, "Alas, Lord Yahweh! Behold, I do not know how to speak Because I am a youth."
But Yahweh said to me, "Do not say, 'I am a youth,' Because everywhere I send you, you shall go, And all that I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, For I am with you to deliver you," declares Yahweh.
Then Yahweh sent forth His hand and touched my mouth, and Yahweh said to me, "Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, To uproot and to tear down, To cause to perish and to pull down, To build and to plant."
(Jeremiah 1:1-10 LSB)
Grounded in the Dust (vv. 1-3)
The book begins by anchoring the prophet in real history, real geography, and real politics.
"The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of Yahweh came in the days of Josiah... Jehoiakim... Zedekiah..." (Jeremiah 1:1-3)
The Word of God is not a collection of abstract, timeless principles. It is not a philosophy that floats above the grime of human affairs. The Word of Yahweh comes. It arrives. It lands in a particular place, Anathoth, to a particular man, Jeremiah, during a particular time, the reigns of the last three kings of Judah. This is history, not mythology.
And what a time it was. The ministry of Jeremiah spans the final forty years of Judah's independence, from the last gasp of reform under Josiah to the final, pathetic rebellion and subsequent destruction under Zedekiah. This is a ministry of decline. God does not only send His prophets to lead revival meetings when spirits are high. He sends them into the teeth of apostasy, to announce that the wages of sin is death, and that the bill has come due. Jeremiah was called to be faithful in a losing cause, to speak truth to a people who were determined to destroy themselves. This is the context for his entire ministry: a long, faithful obedience in the face of spectacular failure.
The Sovereign Draft (vv. 4-5)
The foundation of Jeremiah's authority is not his training or his talent, but God's eternal and sovereign choice.
"Before I formed you in the innermost parts I knew you, And before you came out from the womb I set you apart; I have given you as a prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah 1:5 LSB)
This is the doctrine of predestination applied to prophetic office. This is God's sovereign election in high definition. Before Jeremiah was a physical reality, he was a divine intention. God's knowing here is not mere foresight, as though God peered down the corridors of time and saw that Jeremiah would be a good fit. This is the knowing of a craftsman, an artist, a creator. It is an active, covenantal, and determinative knowing. God formed him with this specific purpose in mind.
He was "set apart," or consecrated. This is the language of the temple. A vessel is set apart for a holy use. Jeremiah's entire existence was consecrated for this one task before he was even born. This demolishes every man-made system for manufacturing ministers. God does not call for volunteers; He issues draft notices. And notice the breathtaking scope of this draft. He is appointed "a prophet to the nations." Yahweh is not a tribal deity. He is the king of the universe, and His word addresses not just the covenant people, but all the kingdoms of men.
The Honest Objection (v. 6)
Faced with this staggering commission, Jeremiah responds not with arrogance, but with an accurate assessment of his own limitations.
"Then I said, 'Alas, Lord Yahweh! Behold, I do not know how to speak Because I am a youth.'" (Jeremiah 1:6 LSB)
This is the classic response of the man God calls. Moses said he was slow of speech. Gideon said he was from the weakest clan. Isaiah said he was a man of unclean lips. And Jeremiah says he is just a boy. In a culture that revered the wisdom of the elders, this was a legitimate social handicap. He was saying, "Nobody is going to listen to me."
And this is precisely the point. God does not call the equipped; He equips the called. Acknowledging your weakness is the first step toward true strength. A man who thinks he is qualified for the ministry is the one man who is most certainly not. God's power is made perfect in weakness. Jeremiah's confession of inadequacy was the necessary empty space that God intended to fill with His own divine adequacy.
The Divine Commission (vv. 7-9)
God does not comfort Jeremiah by telling him he's better than he thinks. He comforts him by reminding him who is in charge.
"But Yahweh said to me, 'Do not say, "I am a youth," Because everywhere I send you, you shall go, And all that I command you, you shall speak... For I am with you to deliver you... Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.'" (Jeremiah 1:7-9 LSB)
God's response comes in three parts. First, a command that cancels Jeremiah's objection: "Do not say..." Your self-assessment is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is My assessment. Second, a commission that defines the task. The prophet is a messenger. He is an ambassador under orders. He does not choose his itinerary ("everywhere I send you") and he does not write his own speeches ("all that I command you"). His only job is to be faithful. Third, a promise that provides the power: "I am with you to deliver you." The antidote to the fear of man is the manifest presence of God.
Then comes the ordination. God touches his mouth. This is a tangible sign of a spiritual reality. The words Jeremiah will speak are not his own. They are God's words, placed in his mouth by God Himself. This is the foundation of biblical inspiration. The preacher, in a derivative sense, stands in this same place. He is not to preach his own opinions, his own politics, or his own therapeutic advice. He is to preach the Word that God has already put in the mouth of His prophets and apostles.
The Wrecking Ball and the Trowel (v. 10)
The commission concludes with a job description that is both terrifying and glorious.
"See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, To uproot and to tear down, To cause to perish and to pull down, To build and to plant." (Jeremiah 1:10 LSB)
The authority given to this young man is staggering. He is set "over the nations and over the kingdoms." And the instrument of this authority is the Word of God in his mouth. That Word is a powerful, active agent in the world. It does things.
And notice what it does first. The work is primarily demolition. There are four verbs of destruction: to uproot, tear down, cause to perish, and pull down. There are only two verbs of construction: to build and to plant. The ratio is two to one, destruction to construction. This is a non-negotiable spiritual principle. You cannot build God's kingdom on top of the devil's rubble. You cannot plant a garden until you have first cleared the ground of weeds, thorns, and stumps. The Word of God must first come as a divine wrecking ball to our idols, our pride, our self-righteousness, and our corrupt social orders. It must tear down our autonomous pretensions. Only after the law has done its work of demolition can the gospel come and begin the work of building and planting. The modern church wants to skip the unpleasant business of uprooting and tearing down. It wants to plant on thorny ground. The result is not a garden, but a mess.
Conclusion: The Prophetic Task
Jeremiah's call is a paradigm for all faithful ministry in a fallen world. We are not called because we are worthy, but because God is sovereign. We are not sent to speak our own minds, but to declare, "Thus says the Lord." And we are not promised popularity, but we are promised His presence.
Every Christian is called to be a prophet in his particular station. The father is to speak God's word to his family. The elder is to speak it to the church. The Christian citizen is to speak it to the nation. And that Word is still a two-edged instrument. It must tear down the false ideologies of our day, the idols of secularism, sexual autonomy, and statism. It must uproot the bitter plants of rebellion.
Only then, on the cleared ground, can we begin the glorious work of building and planting. We build families, we build churches, we build communities, we build Christian civilizations. This is the task given to a young man in a dying kingdom thousands of years ago, and it is the same task given to us today. The authority does not rest in us, but in the God who touches our mouths and says, "Behold, I have put My words in your mouth."