Chuck Larsen

There is an argument that says humans are not really human until they become self-aware. The Wikipedia dictionary says, “Self-awareness is the capacity for introspection and the ability to recognize oneself as an individual separate from the environment and other individuals.” That is to suggest that the beginning of life is a subjective issue. We become who we are only when we become capable of comprehending it. Eugene Peterson has a great answer to this. He writes, “My identity does not begin when I begin to understand myself. There is something previous to what I think about myself, and it is what God thinks of me. That means that everything I think and feel is by nature a response, and the one to whom I respond is God. I never speak the first word. I never make the first move.” Now speaking of my favorite Old Testament Prophet Peterson continues, “Jeremiah’s life didn’t start with Jeremiah. Jeremiah’s salvation didn’t start with Jeremiah. Jeremiah’s truth didn’t start with Jeremiah. He entered the world in which the essential parts of his existence were already ancient history. So do we.”

Jeremiah 1:1-5 is a passage filled with significance for every person. It speaks to us of a personal God who knows each of us and desires intimacy with each of us and has a plan and a purpose for each of us. Although these words were spoken by God to Jeremiah, God preserved them for each of us as well. He wrote, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” We’ve not been called to be a prophet to the nations in the same sense as Jeremiah was, but we are called by God specifically to a personal relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ. As followers of Jesus we are then called to “make disciples” according to Matthew 28:19-20. Now this mission, appointed by God, is a corporate one. No one is in on it alone! It’s the mission that Jesus gave the church as a whole. As Adeyemo says, It’s “…a direct call to believers to participate in God’s ministry as prophets rather than merely as passive spectators. In the midst of superhuman forces, the church as a whole has a prophetic role.”

We become all that God intended for us to be when we embrace Christ in faith and hear the call of mission He has given us and participate in the process. As Ryken observes, “Jeremiah’s calling is not for everyone. The first chapter of Jeremiah is mainly about his call for his times, not your call for your times. But you do have a call. God not only knows you and chose you, he has a plan for your life.” My favorite verse in the whole book of Jeremiah says more about God’s plan for our lives. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Responding to God’s love for us on the cross and to His call to believe and participate in the corporate mission of the church is what makes us truly all that God wants us to be. In it we prosper. In it we find hope and a bright future.

Yesterday I talked about how, like Jeremiah the Prophet, we were created by God for a purpose. God has a unique plan for each of us. God’s plan and purpose for our lives precedes our existence. Although Jeremiah’s father was Hilkiah, and although we all have human parents, we were nonetheless created by God personally. Jeremiah 1:5 says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” The Living Bible translates this verse, “I knew you before you were formed within your mother’s womb; before you were born I sanctified you and appointed you as my spokesman to the world.” This verse bears looking at from several different perspectives because it’s so important. You see, as Ryken observed, “A fetus is a person.”

Each of us, like Jeremiah, are created by God in the image of God to live in relationship with God. This verse makes it clear that God “knew” Jeremiah before he was born. This verb implies intimate knowledge and a relationship. We did not begin at our birth. Our conception is not even our true beginning. Ryken goes on to say, “In some ineffable way, God has a personal knowledge of the individual that precedes conception. …What a beautiful thing for God to say to his children! ‘I loved you and cared for you in eternity past. I made a personal commitment to you even before you were born.’ And what a beautiful thing for parents to say to their children: ‘God knows you, God loves you, and God has entered into a personal relationship with you.’ This verse holds special comfort for mothers who have had miscarriages. It gives hope to parents who have lost children in infancy, and even for women who aborted their own babies. God knew your child, and he knows your child.”

He knows you and He knows me! Ryken continues his comments, “God’s choice is not unique to Jeremiah; it is true for every believer. This is known as the doctrine of divine election. ‘You did not choose me,’ Jesus said to his disciples, ‘but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit’ (John 15:16a). ‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.… For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight’ (Ephesians 1:3–4). This promise is for the whole church. Therefore, it is for the comfort of every Christian. God not only knows you, he chose you; and he did so long before you were ever conceived.”

We named our youngest son “Jeremiah.” It wasn’t after the Old Testament prophet by that name. It was after Admiral Jeremiah Denton who was the senior Prisoner of War released in 1973 around the time of our son’s birth. Our son was the first birth at the New Naval Hospital at the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, Texas. Jeremiah Denton survived over seven years in a Vietnam POW camp. It was seven years of torture and sub-human treatment. In a famous TV interview from the prison camp, Admiral Denton blinked out (with his eyes!) in Morse code the word “torture” while answering the questions of a Vietnamese interrogator. He was once quoted as saying, “If I had known when I was shot down that I would be there more than seven years, I would have died of despondency, of despair, but I didn’t. It was one minute at a time, one hour, one week, one year and so on. If you look at it like that, anybody can do anything.” Jeremiah Denton passed away earlier this year.

I think Jeremiah the prophet must have looked at his experiences in a similar way. He died as a prisoner of war in Egypt. But even before his own captivity he had suffered much abuse. One commentator said, “Shunned and embarrassed by his own family and friends, the prophet was no stranger to persecution. Often the ministry of the prophet was sealed with his own blood. But of all the Old Testament messengers, none is more lonely, none more maligned, none suffered the pains of his message more than the prophet Jeremiah.” I was not a believer when I named my son Jeremiah. Had I known about the prophet’s life and suffering, I probably would not have given him that name. Who would wish that kind of suffering on anyone?

God spoke to Jeremiah when he was a young teenager. In Jeremiah 1:5, God tells him, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Please note this profound truth: God makes us all. Kathy and I are the parents of our Jeremiah. Jeremiah Denton had parents also. We’re told in Jeremiah 1:1 that he is the son of Hilkiah. But the parents of these Jeremiahs did not make them. God made them! It’s wonderful theology, and biblically sound to tell children when they ask, “where did I come from, Mommy?” to tell them that they came from God. They did! And so did you and I. God had a purpose for Jeremiah’s life and he has one for each of us as well. Hopefully it won’t contain the sorrow and suffering the POW and the Prophet went through but you can be assured there will be some sorrow. Ryken observed, “God did wonderful things for Jeremiah before he was even born. He knew him. He formed him. He set him apart and appointed him…” He has done the exact same thing for us as well. Long before we were conceived in our mother’s womb or took our first breath or shed our first tear, God knew us and loved us just as He did Jeremiah!