Scripture Reading: Jer. 15:10-21; Jer. 16; Jer. 17:1-27
In this message I would like to give a brief word concerning God's economy as it is presented in the book of Jeremiah. In chapters fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen of Jeremiah we have a full picture of God's economy by His dispensing.
Jeremiah 15:10—16:9 is a record of a conversation involving three parties: Jeremiah, his mother, and Jehovah. Jeremiah spoke in a human way, and God also spoke in a human way, speaking as if He were a human being. In this conversation and in Jehovah's further statement of Judah's sins (16:10—17:27), God's economy is revealed.
The book of Jeremiah reveals that God surely judges the evil ones, and sometimes He uses certain evil ones to judge other evil ones. This was the situation in chapter fifteen. God was intending to judge the people of Israel, and He sent Jeremiah to tell them that He would use the Babylonians to punish them. They responded by persecuting Jeremiah, and this caused him to be disappointed. In his disappointment Jeremiah said to his mother, "Woe is me, my mother, because you bore me, / A man of strife and a man of contention to the whole land. / I have not lent with interest, / Nor have they lent to me; / Yet everyone curses me" (15:10). Jeremiah's mother was silent, but Jehovah came in to comfort and encourage him, saying, "Surely I will set you free for your good; / Indeed I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you / In a time of trouble and in a time of distress. / Can one break iron, / Iron from the north, or bronze?" (vv. 11-12). The word iron here refers to the Babylonians. God was assuring Jeremiah that He would use the Babylonians to punish Israel. After hearing this, Jeremiah petitioned Jehovah for His care, saying, "O Jehovah, You know; / Remember me and visit me, / And avenge me of my persecutors. / In Your longsuffering do not take me away; / Know that for Your sake I bear reproach" (v. 15). Jehovah answered with a further commission to Jeremiah (vv. 19-21) and also by placing restrictions on Jeremiah for His further commission (16:1-9). Finally, Jehovah gave a further statement of Judah's (as Israel's) sins.
In this record of Jeremiah's speaking to Jehovah and Jehovah's speaking to Jeremiah, we see some crucial aspects of God's economy.
In 15:16 Jeremiah says to Jehovah, "Your words were found and I ate them, / And Your word became to me / The joy and rejoicing of my heart, / For I am called by Your name, O Jehovah, God of hosts." This indicates that the word of God is good for us to enjoy. God's word makes our heart joyful.
What is crucial here is the revelation that God's word is the divine supply as food to nourish us. Every kind of food has a nourishing element. God's word, the divine supply, surely contains the element of nourishment. This nourishment is related to the divine dispensing, to God's dispensing Himself into us. Through the word as our food, God is dispensing His riches into our inner being to nourish us that we may be constituted with His element.
Another aspect of God's economy is revealed in 17:7 and 8. "Blessed is the man who trusts in Jehovah / And whose trust Jehovah is. / And he will be like a tree planted by water, / Which sends out its roots by a stream, / And will not be afraid when heat comes; / For its leaves remain flourishing, / And it will not be anxious in the year of drought / And will not cease to bear fruit." These verses indicate that we, the believers in Christ, are God's planted trees. These verses also indicate that God is likened to water. God has planted us by Himself as the river of water. God is not only our food; He is also our drink, the water that goes along with the food. Our drinking of God as water is also a matter of His dispensing. As He dispenses Himself into us as water, God is supplying us with the rich element of His being that we may be constituted with His divinity. In this way, we human beings are constituted with the divine nature.
Jeremiah 17:13 speaks of Jehovah as the fountain of living waters. God's intention in His economy is to be the fountain, the source, of living waters to His chosen people for their enjoyment. Stubborn Israel offended God to the uttermost, even forsaking Him as such a fountain of living waters (2:13). God desires to be the fountain of living waters for us to drink that our thirst may be quenched and that we may be satisfied. According to chapter seventeen, eventually the one who trusts in the very God who nourishes us and who waters us will enjoy Him as the fountain of living waters.
The food, the water, the very God, and the fountain of living waters — all these are one. Moreover, these are basic points of the divine thought concerning the carrying out of God's economy by His dispensing. As God accomplishes His economy by dispensing Himself into us, He is our food, our water, and our fountain of living waters. How marvelous it is that in a portion of the Word concerned with God's chastisement of His sinful and evil people, we have such a full picture of God's economy by His dispensing!
In 17:19-27 we have a word about keeping Jehovah's Sabbath. We should consider this word in relation to the foregoing points regarding God's economy. We all need to learn that the way to keep God's Sabbath is to enjoy Him, to rest in Him, and to be satisfied in Him as the fountain of living waters. We should not do anything in ourselves or of ourselves. Rather, we should simply rest in this fountain and enjoy this fountain. The significance of keeping the Sabbath ordained by God is to take this fountain of living waters as our enjoyment, rest, and satisfaction. There is no need for us to do anything; we should simply be satisfied with all that God has done and accomplished.
In ancient times, those who were busy laboring on the Sabbath were those who had forsaken Jehovah. Having forsaken God, they labored in hewing out cisterns for themselves. The ones who labored in this way did not have any rest or satisfaction. Eventually their cisterns became broken and could hold no water (2:13). However, with those who trusted in Jehovah the situation was entirely different. On the Sabbath they could say, "Hallelujah for another day for us to rest in our God and be satisfied in Him! We are satisfied in Him for His rest and satisfaction. God rests with us, and we rest with Him to enjoy Him." This is God's economy.
Through more than sixty years of studying the Bible, I have learned to pay attention to what is precious. In other words, I have learned to pick the "fruit" in the Word. For this reason, in the first message of this life-study, I pointed out that we may compare our reading of the book of Jeremiah to picking fruit from trees in an orchard. In picking fruit we do not care about old branches or dry leaves; we care for ripe fruit. The "old branches" and "dry leaves" in the fifty-two chapters of Jeremiah are there for the purpose of showing us the "fruit," that is, of showing us Christ as He is revealed in this book. The aspects of God's economy covered in this message should certainly be regarded as ripe fruit.
We will see more fruit when we come to chapter twenty-three. Verses 5 and 6 say, "Behold, days are coming, / Declares Jehovah, / When I will raise up to David a righteous Shoot; / And He will reign as King and act prudently / And will execute judgment and righteousness in the land. / In His days Judah will be saved, / And Israel will dwell securely; / And this is His name by which He will be called, / Jehovah our righteousness." Jehovah our righteousness refers to Christ in His divinity, and a righteous Shoot refers to Christ in His humanity. The Christ revealed here is the One who will be our life. Christ's being our life is based upon His redemption and God's justification. This life is nothing less than Christ as Jehovah to be the fountain of living waters. In this fountain we have all things concerning God for our enjoyment.
