The Prophet's Defense: Divine Mandate and Civic Responsibility Text: Jeremiah 26:12-15
Introduction: The High Cost of Cheap Speech
We live in an age that is drowning in words. We have more communication, more platforms, more talking heads, more opinions, and more noise than at any other time in human history. But with this explosion of speech has come a catastrophic devaluation of it. Words have become cheap. They are used to manipulate, to posture, to signal virtue, to incite rage, and to obscure the truth. Our entire culture is built on a foundation of verbal quicksand. We say things we don't mean, make promises we won't keep, and threaten consequences that never arrive.
Into this babble, the prophet Jeremiah stands as a stark and terrifying contrast. Here is a man whose words have weight, precisely because they are not his own. He is on trial for his life, not for embezzlement or treason in the ordinary sense, but for speaking. The political and religious establishment has charged him with capital crimes because his words, his prophecies, have offended their sensibilities and threatened their corrupt institutions. They want to kill him for what he has said.
The scene is a courtroom drama of the highest order. The priests and the false prophets are the prosecution, the princes and the people are the jury, and Jeremiah is the defendant. But as we see in his defense, Jeremiah turns the tables entirely. He is not the one on trial; they are. The Word of God is not being judged by the court; the court is being judged by the Word of God. This passage is a collision between two ultimate authorities: the authority of the established human order, with its temples, its traditions, and its political power, and the absolute, unyielding authority of Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel.
Jeremiah's defense is a master class in prophetic courage. He does not grovel, he does not apologize, and he does not soften his message to save his own skin. He simply and powerfully rests his case on two unshakable pillars: the divine commission he received and the dire consequences his hearers will face if they reject it. This is not a man trying to talk his way out of trouble. This is a man of God faithfully discharging his duty, even with a noose around his neck. What we learn here is the nature of true authority, the non-negotiable demand for repentance, and the terrible gravity of spilling innocent blood.
The Text
Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and to all the people, saying, “Yahweh sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. So now, make good your ways and your deeds and listen to the voice of Yahweh your God; and Yahweh will relent of the evil demise which He has spoken against you. But as for me, behold, I am in your hands; do with me as is good and right in your eyes. Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on its inhabitants; for truly Yahweh has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.”
(Jeremiah 26:12-15 LSB)
The Unflinching Commission (v. 12)
Jeremiah begins his defense not with an appeal for mercy, but with a declaration of his authority.
"Yahweh sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard." (Jeremiah 26:12)
Notice the bluntness. He doesn't say, "There has been a misunderstanding," or "Perhaps I was a bit harsh." He says, in effect, "Everything you are angry about, everything that has brought me to this trial, every last word of judgment against this temple and this city, I spoke on direct orders from Yahweh." This is the fundamental presupposition of all true prophecy. The prophet is not a religious entrepreneur, a spiritual innovator, or a motivational speaker. He is a messenger, a herald. His only authority comes from the one who sent him. His only responsibility is to deliver the message faithfully.
Jeremiah's defense is an appeal to a higher court. The priests and officials are judging him based on the standards of political stability and religious decorum. Jeremiah forces them to confront the ultimate standard: "Did God say it?" He is claiming that his words are not sedition against the state; they are a lawsuit from heaven. He is not the author of the message, merely the mailman. And as we all know, you don't shoot the mailman for delivering a bill you don't want to pay.
This is a direct challenge to every human institution that sets itself up as the final arbiter of truth. Our modern world is full of such institutions, from secular universities to government agencies to compromised church denominations. They all want to sit in judgment over the Word of God, to edit it, to tame it, to make it palatable to the spirit of the age. Jeremiah's stance is the necessary stance for all faithful preaching: we do not submit the Word of God to you for your approval. We submit you to the Word of God for His approval.
The Conditional Offer (v. 13)
Having established his authority, Jeremiah immediately pivots from defense to gospel invitation. Even in the dock, his primary concern is not his own life, but the repentance of his hearers.
"So now, make good your ways and your deeds and listen to the voice of Yahweh your God; and Yahweh will relent of the evil demise which He has spoken against you." (Jeremiah 26:13)
This is the heart of the prophetic message. Judgment is never God's final word. The threat of destruction is not an expression of fatalistic doom, but a merciful warning designed to produce repentance. The logic is simple: If you amend your ways, God will amend His. This is not because God is fickle or changes His eternal decrees. Rather, God's decrees include the human response. He has ordained that the threat of judgment is the very instrument He uses to bring about the repentance that averts the judgment.
The call is to "make good your ways and your deeds." This is not a call for superficial religious activity. They were already doing plenty of that at the temple. It is a call for genuine, ethical transformation. It is a call to "listen to the voice of Yahweh," which means to obey the covenant law they had abandoned in favor of their idols and injustices. Repentance is not just feeling sorry; it is a radical change of direction, a turning from sin and a turning to God in obedient faith.
And the promise is glorious: "Yahweh will relent." The Hebrew word here is nacham, which means to grieve, to be comforted, or to change one's mind. When the conditions of the covenant relationship change on the human side through repentance, the announced consequences of the covenant relationship change on the divine side. God is not a machine, bound by His own threats. He is a personal God in a dynamic relationship with His people. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but desires that they turn from their ways and live. This verse is a wide-open door of mercy, held open by the very prophet they intend to kill.
The Prophet's Surrender (v. 14)
Jeremiah then turns to his own personal situation, and his response is one of breathtaking submission, not to their authority, but to God's providence.
"But as for me, behold, I am in your hands; do with me as is good and right in your eyes." (Jeremiah 26:14)
This is not the statement of a fatalist. It is the statement of a man whose life is utterly in the hands of God. He is saying, "You have physical power over my body. You can kill me or you can let me live. But you have no ultimate power over me, because my life is hidden with God." He has faithfully delivered the message. He has offered them the way of escape. Now, the outcome for his own life is secondary. He is free from the fear of man, which is the beginning of wisdom and the prerequisite for courage.
He tells them to do what is "good and right in your eyes." This is a piece of profound, sanctified irony. He has just told them what is good and right in God's eyes: to repent and obey. Now he challenges them to act according to their own corrupt standards of "good and right." He knows that what seems right to a man can be the way of death (Proverbs 14:12). He is forcing them to take full responsibility for their decision. He is not begging for his life; he is placing the entire weight of their verdict squarely on their own shoulders, before the court of heaven.
The Solemn Warning (v. 15)
Finally, Jeremiah concludes his defense with a chilling warning. He raises the stakes from his own personal fate to the fate of the entire city.
"Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on its inhabitants; for truly Yahweh has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing." (Jeremiah 26:15)
This is the doctrine of bloodguilt. The shedding of innocent blood is a crime that cries out to heaven for vengeance (Genesis 4:10). It is a sin that pollutes the land itself (Numbers 35:33). Jeremiah warns them that killing him will not solve their problem. It will not silence God's Word. It will only compound their guilt immeasurably. They think they can eliminate the message by eliminating the messenger, but in doing so, they will be signing their own death warrant. They will be pulling the temple down on their own heads.
Notice how he implicates everyone: "on yourselves and on this city and on its inhabitants." Corporate guilt is a deeply biblical concept that our individualistic age has forgotten. The sins of the leadership bring judgment upon the whole community. When a nation sanctions the murder of the innocent, whether it is a prophet in the temple court or an unborn child in the womb, that entire nation comes under the curse of bloodguilt. The land itself becomes defiled and will eventually vomit out its inhabitants.
He ends where he began, with the bedrock certainty of his divine commission: "for truly Yahweh has sent me." This is his final word. It is not an argument, but an oath. It is a solemn testimony. He is telling them, "My blood will be on your hands, and my testimony will be ringing in your ears on the day of judgment."
Conclusion: The Greater Jeremiah
This entire scene is a profound foreshadowing of a greater trial and a greater Prophet. Centuries later, another prophet would stand before the corrupt religious and political leaders in Jerusalem. Like Jeremiah, He was accused of speaking against the temple (Mark 14:58). Like Jeremiah, He called the nation to repentance. Like Jeremiah, He placed Himself in their hands, saying "not my will, but yours, be done."
That prophet was the Lord Jesus Christ. When He stood before Pilate, He, like Jeremiah, pointed to a higher authority: "You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above" (John 19:11). And when the leaders and the people of Jerusalem called for His death, they took the very curse Jeremiah warned about upon themselves. They cried out, "His blood be on us and on our children!" (Matthew 27:25). And it was. Within a generation, in A.D. 70, the judgment Jeremiah prophesied and Jesus confirmed came upon that city, and the temple was destroyed, not one stone left upon another.
But there is a glorious difference. Jeremiah's blood would have only brought condemnation upon his murderers. But the innocent blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, does something infinitely more. For those who do not repent, it brings a terrible judgment. But for all who do repent, for all who "make good their ways" by trusting in Him, that same innocent blood does not condemn, but cleanses. It does not defile, but purifies from all sin (1 John 1:7).
The message of Jeremiah is therefore the message of the gospel in stark relief. We, like Jerusalem, stand under a sentence of judgment for our rebellion. The Word of God comes to us, exposing our sin and calling us to repent. We can choose to be offended by the message and seek to silence the messenger. We can put our hands over our ears and pretend the threat is not real. Or we can listen to the voice of the Lord our God. We can turn from our own ways and our own deeds and cast ourselves upon the mercy of the one who shed His innocent blood for us. If we do, we will find that Yahweh will relent of the disaster He has spoken against us, not because we have earned it, but because the Greater Jeremiah has borne it for us.