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Caption transcript for Jeremiah: “No Escape” (5/9)

• 00:01 David Hart: On today's program, the kingdom of Judah was headed
• 00:04 for catastrophe, so the Lord sent the message through
• 00:06 Jeremiah, warning they are no longer under his protection.
• 00:10 Coming up next on "Our Jewish Roots."
• 00:19 male narrator: In the sixth century BC, one man stood
• 00:22 alone against the pervading wickedness of
• 00:25 God's people in the land of Judah.
• 00:28 The prophet Jeremiah was chosen by the Lord to warn of impending
• 00:33 judgment that would come at the hands of the Babylonians.
• 00:37 Visions of an exile left him heartbroken and in tears, but
• 00:42 Jeremiah remained faithful to his calling and recorded a
• 00:46 message that would speak to generations yet to come.
• 00:51 Standing tall with faith in God, he understood better days were
• 00:56 coming and there was hope over the horizon.
• 01:05 David: Thank you so much for joining us today.
• 01:07 I'm David Hart.
• 01:08 Kirsten Hart: I'm Kirsten Hart.
• 01:09 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: I am Jeffrey Seif.
• 01:11 David: All right, teacher, help me here.
• 01:13 It feels like God knew from the very beginning that Jeremiah
• 01:18 would fulfill the message that he had for him, yes?
• 01:22 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: Well, he said as much, correct, that, "before
• 01:25 you were born, I knew you in the womb and appointed you."
• 01:29 Kirsten: That's one of my favorite verses for
• 01:32 Jeremiah and what he's walking through.
• 01:34 God's going, "I knew you, even before all of this and before
• 01:38 you being a teenager, I knew you."
• 01:41 And I love the verse too where Jeremiah says,
• 01:45 "I can't help but get these words out.
• 01:48 It's like a fire within my bones."
• 01:52 He had to, didn't he?
• 01:53 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: Yeah, something inside of him
• 01:55 wanted to avoid it all, you know?
• 01:57 He's resistant initially to the call,
• 02:00 but there was something in him.
• 02:02 It's ambivalence when someone is simultaneously attracted to and
• 02:07 repulsed from something at the very same time.
• 02:09 And but I'm glad that the calling worked itself
• 02:13 out in his life, and it's a fascinating
• 02:15 story for a man in a troubled world.
• 02:18 David: We're gonna hear more from you,
• 02:19 your teaching in a bit.
• 02:21 But right now, let's hear more of Jeremiah's story.
• 02:25 narrator: And the Lord spoke unto Jeremiah saying, "Tell the
• 02:28 leaders of Judah I'm about to bring disaster on this place.
• 02:33 Buy a clay jar and break it before them and tell
• 02:37 them I will do likewise with this nation."
• 03:59 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: Well, this will be a controversial one.
• 04:02 I mention that because we're looking at a place in
• 04:04 biblical literature where a prophet was abused by
• 04:07 governmental authorities, thrown in jail, beat up.
• 04:10 That's alleged today.
• 04:12 People argue that there's something inherently wrong with
• 04:15 policing, it's systemic, and people are being abused.
• 04:19 Different people weigh in on different sides of the argument.
• 04:23 I'm not entirely unbiased.
• 04:24 Over 20 years a police officer myself, I've never hurt anybody.
• 04:29 And I hadn't seen others abuse others.
• 04:31 It's not to say it doesn't happen, but when it does happen,
• 04:34 we find out those who did it, arrest them.
• 04:35 They're thrown out and tried, if need be.
• 04:37 It is what it is.
• 04:39 The task at hand, however, isn't to look
• 04:40 at today as much as it is yesterday.
• 04:43 And it's interesting because yesterday we see a story here
• 04:46 where the prophet Jeremiah was, in fact, abused by authorities.
• 04:51 I'm looking in chapter 20, verse 1.
• 04:54 Jeremiah, we're told, was abused.
• 04:58 [speaking in Hebrew]
• 05:03 And Pashhur smote, he hit.
• 05:06 [speaking in Hebrew]
• 05:07 He hit him.
• 05:09 He hit this prophet, and we're told,
• 05:11 [speaking in Hebrew]
• 05:16 Now, it's that word mahpeketh that I want to underscore.
• 05:20 It literally means he put him in stocks.
• 05:24 You know, he, not handcuffs, but in stocks.
• 05:28 But actually the Hebrew term is rather interesting.
• 05:31 It harks to someone being contorted, disfigured.
• 05:36 You know, If I had an opportunity to put
• 05:37 someone in handcuffs and they say,
• 05:38 "That's a little tight," I'd adjust them.
• 05:40 I'm not trying to be punitive with it when
• 05:44 I had opportunity to make an arrest.
• 05:46 But here, what happens is Jeremiah is beat up, but then
• 05:50 he's stuffed into something that contorts his body.
• 05:55 And the thinking is, in that situation over a period
• 05:58 of time, the prophet will settle down.
• 06:01 But you'll see that's not the case at all.
• 06:04 We see the next day, after spending hours and hours, you
• 06:09 know, in pain from the sores he received from the beating, as
• 06:13 well as from the contortion, we're told he
• 06:15 gets out and he gets right back at it.
• 06:20 We're told in chapter 20, verse 4, [speaking in Hebrew],
• 06:25 thus saith the LORD.
• 06:28 [speaking in Hebrew].
• 06:33 He says, Judah is gonna be given
• 06:36 into the hand of the king of Babylon.
• 06:41 [speaking in Hebrew]
• 06:43 And is going to be slain by the sword.
• 06:49 It's not a good message to be sure.
• 06:54 Jeremiah was relentless.
• 06:58 It was a tough message of judgment.
• 07:01 He was beat up.
• 07:03 He was interred in a way that was uncomfortable,
• 07:06 but the man was not to be dissuaded.
• 07:12 Lesser men would have just backed off, given the
• 07:14 difficulties of it all, but not Jeremiah.
• 07:18 And you know from, as my wife says, from Genesis to maps, from
• 07:22 one end of the Bible to the other, we see examples of
• 07:25 individuals who are relentless, doggedly determined.
• 07:30 I think of Job on the one hand who, you know, Satan, we're told
• 07:35 in the literature, says to the Lord, "Look, he loves you.
• 07:38 You've treated him so well."
• 07:40 Well, his lot in life deteriorated, and you know what?
• 07:44 He was faithful to the Lord even so.
• 07:48 I think of Jesus on the cross.
• 07:52 The word "excruciating" is from the Latin excruciatus,
• 07:56 which translates "from the cross."
• 08:00 That difficulties aside, he carries on
• 08:05 with his destiny, with his calling.
• 08:09 We see it here in Jeremiah. We see it in Job.
• 08:13 We see it in Jesus, all these J's.
• 08:15 But you can go through the alphabet,
• 08:16 all of them did it and they all had it.
• 08:19 We need to recover some of that too.
• 08:22 I believe we live in turbulent times, and sometimes we're
• 08:26 called upon to take a stand, call it like it is.
• 08:29 Not everyone will love us.
• 08:31 But we don't just tell them how bad it is.
• 08:33 We let people know, because of Jesus,
• 08:36 there indeed is hope over the horizon.
• 09:11 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: I think it's helpful to understand that
• 09:14 Jeremiah's stand is tethered to the politics of the day.
• 09:20 I mention that because Judea is, in effect, a small province
• 09:24 located between Africa on the one hand, North Africa, where
• 09:29 Egypt was a dominant political power.
• 09:32 And then to the east, there was Assyria that
• 09:35 had been overwhelmed by Babylonia.
• 09:39 And Judea is there in the middle at a strategic place.
• 09:43 And these larger powers are vying for more influence in the
• 09:48 region, and they're both looking to negotiate with Judea.
• 09:53 What happened is Judea had signed a compact with Babylonia,
• 09:58 but opted to break it instead, thinking they were
• 10:00 gonna get a better deal out of Egypt.
• 10:03 Now, Jeremiah said, "No, Egypt's not going to save you, and the
• 10:08 problems that you have are coming upon you.
• 10:11 They're not gonna be saved by a political alliance."
• 10:14 Because God himself is the Savior of Israel, and he's
• 10:18 withdrawn his protection because of the vices that are ubiquitous
• 10:24 in culture, idolatry, people turning away from God, social
• 10:29 inequity, being disinclined to help the poor.
• 10:33 There's a variety of things at play.
• 10:36 And the answer, from Jeremiah's perspective, was religious,
• 10:41 turning to the Lord, but people were looking
• 10:44 for political arrangements as well.
• 10:47 And so it is, Jeremiah was taking a stance that was
• 10:51 unpopular, calling people to repentance.
• 10:58 We see it here in chapter 20 again.
• 11:02 We get a look into Jeremiah's world.
• 11:06 And one of the things that's unique to Jeremiah, more so than
• 11:09 others, is he gives a window into his own heart.
• 11:13 In chapter 20, verse 9 he says, "If I
• 11:16 say: I will not make mention of Him.
• 11:19 Nor speak any more in His name, then there is
• 11:24 in my heart as it were a burning fire.
• 11:29 And it's shut up in my bones."
• 11:31 In Hebrew, [speaking in Hebrew], a fire that's burning.
• 11:39 I believe, by the way, that that's just not
• 11:42 reserved for prophets in Bible days.
• 11:45 I think a lot of us have stuff that's
• 11:47 stirring in our hearts as well.
• 11:49 In our case here, in my case and our ministry's case, we're
• 11:55 chagrined, and we're using our influence to do a television
• 11:59 series to look at biblical issues and political issues.
• 12:04 For some people, the fire prompts then to speak, to
• 12:07 sermonize, to conversate with friends, to vote.
• 12:11 Different people do different things, but I think a lot of
• 12:15 godly people have some fire that's burning within.
• 12:21 It's interesting, by the way, the image.
• 12:23 People speak about being on fire, and that image comes from
• 12:27 Acts chapter 2 where we see that those empowered with the
• 12:31 Holy Spirit were likened to torches that were burning.
• 12:35 They were lit up.
• 12:37 There's a fire, there's a light.
• 12:39 There's, with that light, piercing the darkness.
• 12:43 Oh, in Jeremiah's day, there was political intrigue, there was
• 12:46 social unrest, there was darkness, but there
• 12:49 was a voice piercing through the darkness,
• 12:53 calling Judah to account for her sins.
• 12:56 And as we'll see in reasonably short order, letting them know
• 13:00 as well that indeed, difficulties aside, even the
• 13:04 sins being what they were, there still was hope over the horizon.
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• 14:00 [singing in Hebrew]
• 14:08 ♪ For the holy city of Jerusalem. ♪
• 14:15 ♪ We will pray for peace. ♪
• 14:18 ♪ Shaalu shalom, shalom. ♪
• 14:32 Kirsten: I am not sure how you're watching this program
• 14:35 right now, if it's on a big screen TV,
• 14:37 if it's on your computer, laptop,
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• 15:01 You can find us and feel free to also to get in
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• 15:11 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: Well, there you go.
• 15:12 You know, it's easy for you to find us.
• 15:14 It's harder for us to find you.
• 15:16 And by that I mean those that are game to help
• 15:19 support us so we can get all this to you.
• 15:22 They call it fundraising, but I
• 15:24 can assure you, it's no fun raising it.
• 15:26 But I do need to ask the question.
• 15:28 And if you find value in what we're doing, please help us do
• 15:32 it because none of us sitting on this set can fund
• 15:35 it alone, nor can anybody in the studio.
• 15:37 You bring us here, and we bring a distinct vision to
• 15:43 look at the Bible from a unique perspective.
• 15:46 And if it resonates with you, please go with
• 15:49 us on the journey and help us in so doing.
• 15:52 And speaking of the journey, guys, my good friend, a good
• 15:56 friend, an old friend, Michael Brown, Dr. Michael Brown is
• 15:58 gonna be with us, a philologist, that is an expert in languages.
• 16:02 He wrote a commentary on
• 16:04 Jeremiah that's lauded in academia.
• 16:07 We get to bring him to you.
• 16:11 Dr. Michael Brown: It's really important to
• 16:12 know that God sees the big picture.
• 16:16 We often get caught up in the moment, in the
• 16:18 pain of the moment, in the rejection of the
• 16:20 moment, but God's view is much bigger.
• 16:23 Think of Jeremiah.
• 16:24 In his day, he was the most rejected man in the nation.
• 16:29 In his day, he was alone.
• 16:32 Oh, he had Baruch to be with him, but among the other
• 16:35 prophets, among the other religious leaders, among the
• 16:38 spiritual people, he starts out despised.
• 16:40 He's a young man. He doesn't know anything.
• 16:43 "Who are you to prophesy?"
• 16:44 He brings a message of judgment no one wants to hear.
• 16:48 He won't compromise his message for the kings, the rulers.
• 16:51 He is an utterly rejected man and you'd think
• 16:55 his name will be completely forgotten.
• 16:59 Remember, God didn't let him marry, have children.
• 17:01 There's no offspring.
• 17:03 There's no one to remember his name, but we
• 17:06 read his words today as the very words of God.
• 17:11 Hundreds of millions of people around the world today read
• 17:16 the words of Jeremiah as God's very Word.
• 17:19 I want to encourage you to have the long view, not just to look
• 17:24 at the moment, but to recognize that God will vindicate his
• 17:28 cause, that God will bring glory to his name.
• 17:31 And that if you're standing for what's right, you may be alone,
• 17:34 you may be isolated, you may be rejected, your name might be
• 17:38 slandered, and you might be considered lowly,
• 17:42 but God will raise you up in time,
• 17:45 and God will vindicate your message.
• 17:47 Jeremiah encourages me today, keep speaking the truth.
• 17:51 If this generation doesn't see it, the next generation will.
• 18:02 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: Jeremiah's a great read.
• 18:04 One hand, it's hard to get one's arms around Jeremiah, partly
• 18:09 because the book itself is the largest book in the Bible, more
• 18:13 text there than anywhere, partly because in sections of the
• 18:16 literature, it just doles out tough stuff.
• 18:20 And this is one of those
• 18:21 programs that looks at tough stuff.
• 18:25 And it's easy to think, well, the man
• 18:26 is angry, he's draconian, he's harsh.
• 18:29 Well, he's not angry, he's sad.
• 18:32 It's a tough Word to be sure, but let's
• 18:34 not assume negative things about him.
• 18:37 The problem, however, is that when people speak
• 18:40 forcefully and directly, sometimes
• 18:43 people misconstrue and they get really angry.
• 18:49 The Word for today comes out of chapter 20, verse 11,
• 18:53 or at least the Word for this segment.
• 18:55 In Hebrew, [speaking in Hebrew], revenge.
• 19:02 People are hateful, they're stirred up.
• 19:07 Jeremiah is saying things they don't want to hear.
• 19:11 He's saying things about them they're given to denying.
• 19:15 He's operating from a worldview that
• 19:17 runs counter to what they're all about.
• 19:21 Within that result, Jeremiah is going to say, "Even my familiar
• 19:25 friends, they are looking for my stumbling."
• 19:32 You know, one, realize it's a hostile
• 19:33 world, but we have friends and family.
• 19:36 What happens when there's turning
• 19:39 against you, even within those networks?
• 19:43 We're told here that Jeremiah's associates, his familiar
• 19:46 friends, they tire of him, and they're hoping he'll be enticed.
• 19:52 And they're hoping that others will prevail against him.
• 19:56 And they say, "And we shall take our revenge."
• 20:04 That's that word I gave you in the Hebrew.
• 20:08 What do you do when you've invoked the ire of others and
• 20:12 they're disconcerted and they're minded to get after you with it?
• 20:16 Do you want to be defensive? It happens.
• 20:18 Remember Jesus, he was being inquired of in trial, and there
• 20:23 was amazement that he doesn't offer a defense for himself.
• 20:27 He similarly is hard to understand when he says, "We do
• 20:31 well on occasion to turn the other cheek."
• 20:33 Sometimes, you just have to take it because to
• 20:37 stand up for biblical truth, you're just picking
• 20:41 a fight, you know, with the devil.
• 20:42 What can I say?
• 20:44 You know, it's people just don't want to hear it.
• 20:48 And I think today, there is so much deceit in the land.
• 20:53 I see it in newsprint, in printed media.
• 20:57 I see it formally on major network television media.
• 21:03 I see it on social media.
• 21:06 Just so much, you know, fake news on steroids.
• 21:12 In this program, we've looked at it.
• 21:14 We've seen that the prophet was stirred up, stirred up.
• 21:19 There was a fire within him, and he had to speak.
• 21:26 We did this series because there was a fire
• 21:29 within us, and we felt we had to speak too.
• 21:32 And I believe that godly people all over
• 21:34 the land are feeling a stirring as well.
• 21:37 My encouragement is, use your influence
• 21:42 within your webs of relationships.
• 21:45 Stand up for biblical principles.
• 21:48 You might get jostled around a little bit, but I'm telling you,
• 21:51 if you stand up for it, you will see God work
• 21:54 through you to accomplish his good purpose.
• 21:58 And we see, even though Jeremiah is harsh, or so it seems to be
• 22:04 sure, in this particular program in toto, well, you need to look
• 22:08 at the programs before and see what's coming.
• 22:11 You'll see indeed that this man saw hope over the horizon.
• 22:23 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: People like to talk about
• 22:25 separating church and state.
• 22:27 Jeremiah, apparently, didn't get the memo because there is a
• 22:32 voice that's addressing what's happening in the state.
• 22:35 Now, if you look at the state, the state
• 22:39 encases the marketplace of political,
• 22:42 religious, social, philosophical ideals.
• 22:45 And the question is, can you get biblical voice in there?
• 22:49 Biblical voice was marginalized back there in the biblical text.
• 22:53 And you know, in so many ways, it's like that today.
• 22:57 And like Jeremiah, those of us with a biblical perspective
• 23:02 want to take our case to the marketplace of human ideas
• 23:07 and fight back against the prevailing darkness.
• 23:11 In that sense, Jeremiah didn't just live yesterday,
• 23:16 that same inclination carries on today, if we're mind
• 23:19 and open our voice like he did, yes?
• 23:22 Kirsten: Well, I think the Israelites,
• 23:23 at the time, had had two paths.
• 23:26 They could go with these political alliances
• 23:28 that they think, "Oh, Egypt's- -you know,
• 23:31 they'll be with us" or God's way.
• 23:34 And somehow what the Egyptians were offering looked better.
• 23:37 And all Jeremiah was saying was, "Repent, repent.
• 23:42 Come back to me, it'll all be good."
• 23:44 But they just couldn't do that.
• 23:46 It was simple, I think.
• 23:48 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: Well, to that point, it transcends politics.
• 23:51 They were looking to make alliances with the wrong people,
• 23:54 in fact, they did, instead of the Lord.
• 23:57 There was another plan.
• 23:58 They went for what seemed most expedient politically.
• 24:02 People vote like that today, but the Lord wants us to look to him
• 24:08 as having the principal answer to the human experience.
• 24:12 David: Go ahead.
• 24:13 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: No, but still, there are parties that
• 24:15 are more representative of Biblical faith and virtue.
• 24:19 When you look at the marketplace of political ideals,
• 24:21 some of those comport of biblical sensibilities.
• 24:24 Some of those are absolutely bombastic.
• 24:28 And biblical people need to make a decision,
• 24:32 and we get to cast it with a vote.
• 24:35 Kirsten: You're a policeman.
• 24:36 I mean, you're way more than that.
• 24:38 You're an instructor. You have your doctorate.
• 24:41 Do you find that you are torn between political differences
• 24:47 and what you need to stand for, and your belief and your faith?
• 24:50 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: No, not at all.
• 24:52 I mean, for me, the way I put all that
• 24:53 together, it's all about helping people.
• 24:56 There's different ways to do it.
• 24:57 You know, out there on the streets,
• 24:59 people champion defunding the police.
• 25:02 Well, look, we're gonna have to refund whatever
• 25:04 we defund because the world is what it is,
• 25:07 and policing isn't going to go away.
• 25:09 And I just wanted to be the right kind of officer
• 25:11 out there to be a light in the darkness.
• 25:13 We all want to shine a flashlight in a darkened world,
• 25:16 and there's different ways to do it.
• 25:18 David: I think today about the Christian church in general,
• 25:21 that it just feels to us that there are a lot of deaf ears,
• 25:25 blind eyes, even today like it was back in the day.
• 25:30 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: Well, I think so that a revival sweeping
• 25:33 through wouldn't hurt in the least.
• 25:35 And, you know, a wake-up call for
• 25:37 all of us indeed would be good.
• 25:40 And I think Jeremiah, in his day,
• 25:42 was one of those wake-up calls.
• 25:44 He was that voice in the wilderness
• 25:46 crying, "Prepare the way of the Lord."
• 25:48 And he wasn't heeded, may it be that people
• 25:52 heed the will and ways of the Lord today.
• 25:54 Kirsten: And God kept giving them chances to turn back
• 25:58 through Jeremiah, through the prophets.
• 26:00 All the voices of the prophet were, "Turn
• 26:02 and repent, and then it'll be restored."
• 26:05 But they just couldn't.
• 26:07 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: No, and he knew as well.
• 26:08 And it's predicted in the literature that people
• 26:11 weren't gonna respond properly, but God did by
• 26:13 sending the Messiah, the deliverer into the world.
• 26:16 And he didn't just come into the world
• 26:18 in general 2,000 years ago.
• 26:20 He can come into your world and my
• 26:21 world and circumstances right now.
• 26:24 We're pleased that you let us come into your
• 26:26 world through the miracle of television.
• 26:29 Let Jesus come into your world through
• 26:30 the miracle of being born again.
• 26:32 Kirsten: Amen. So be it.
• 26:34 David: Yes, thank you for your insight, your teaching today.
• 26:36 It's time to go.
• 26:37 Dr. Jeffrey Seif: Dave, yes, it is.
• 26:39 Kirsten, gang.
• 26:40 As you go, shaalu shalom Yerushalayim.
• 26:43 Kirsten: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
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