IS NOT MY WORD LIKE A FIRE AND A HAMMER?

Jeremiah faced resolute opposition. While he denounced sin and predicted judgement, other prophets promised peace and prosperity. His message was a wake-up call. Theirs lulled the people into slumber. Faithfulness demanded confronta­tion. Spiritual error abounds today. Christ’s servants must resist it with the living word of God.

Jeremiah’s opponents were false prophets. They were leading Judah away from the Lord, v. 27. This proved their fal­sity, Deut. 13. 1-5. Shamelessly, they stole words from true prophets, v. 30. No doubt they then misapplied them. Cultic teachers still do the same. They claimed to speak in God’s name, bringing revelation from Him. These claims were bogus. God had never commissioned them nor given them a message to proclaim, vv. 31, 32.

Their message was only chaff, v. 28. It brought no benefit. Actually, it wreaked spiritual harm, v. 32. God’s word is wheat. It is life-giving and nourishing, the only source of true spiri­tual food. God still feeds us from His word with the finest of the wheat, Ps. 147. 14. Jeremiah had proved this in his own experience. He had found in scripture the joy and rejoicing of his heart, Jer. 15. 16. Do we?

The living word is also like a fire and a hammer, v. 29. God Himself is a consuming fire, Heb. 12. 28. His word penetrates our defences. It destroys our disguises, exposing us to God’s searching gaze. Then, graciously, He uses His word to purify us. It consumes all that offends His holiness. The living word not only blazes, it also breaks the hardest rock. That word-pic­ture illustrates the awesome power of God’s word. Wielded by the Lord Himself, it destroys the stoutest resistance. Jere­miah’s battles were only one campaign in Satan’s long war against God and His word. In that war, Satan uses imitation. God’s word is infinitely stronger than all its rivals. The truth of God is great. At last, it will prevail over all of Satan’s false­hoods. May God use His word today to strengthen and transform us. May He empower us to use it as His mighty hammer in the battle for truth.