Jeremiah 16:21
“Therefore, behold, I will make them know, this once I will make them know my power and my might, and they shall know that my name is the Lord.”
In chapters 12-16, Jeremiah has several discussions with God about his personal struggles (why do the wicked thrive); his personal ministry (no wife or children and brothers and sisters and family who turn against him); other prophets (they were delivering false messages); and, God punishment of his fellow countrymen (see the above verse). The prophets had tremendous conversations with God and God accommodated their fears and their bursts of outrage with methodical theological explanations and sound doctrine. Jeremiah started out this section with an argument that God was allowing the wicked to flourish, but was punishing the nation of Israel, God's chosen people. God's response was to tell Jeremiah He would, indeed, take care of the wicked, but the thrust of this message was Jeremiah's fellow citizens. They were the ones who were had rejected God, not the other way around. Note the message in chapter 13. Jeremiah was asked to take a personal piece of clothing (a loin clothe, typically worn as an undergarment ... close to the flesh), soak it in water and then put it in a cave for a few days. No doubt the cloth would become ruined. Hence the following verse:
Jeremiah 13:11
Then the word of the Lord came to me: “Thus says the Lord: Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing. For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.
God had attempted time and time to show HIs power and His glory to His people through great acts of kindness and mercy. He had delivered them and provided for them. Yet, they still turned their backs on God. In conclusion, therefore, God tells the prophet that He was now going to punish them by using a wicked nation to bring peril and captivity to them. Why? See the above passage. God wants them, once and for all, to see the power and the glory of His name. If they would not believe Him and worship Him as a result of His goodness, God would use His sovereign power and might to discipline them. That WOULD get their attention and cause the to fall down and worship Him ... see Daniel, Nehemiah and other post captivity books for the result of God's chastisement in their lives. The essence of the message of this section is that God uses many different forms to get our attention to cause us to worship Him. God wants us to worship Him and when we see His power and might, that is what we do. Yet, we can fall away from that view of God. We can get caught up in our lives and our living among the nations of the world who reject the God of power and might. We start living like those nations and acting like they act. Yet, God intervenes. He steps into our lives to show us His power. Often, however, He has to put us into a place to get a better view of His power. We can often see God's power and might much clearer when we are on our backs or our knees, than when we are standing tall and erect. God must intervene in our lives and position our spiritual bodies and eyes to see Him the way He wants us to see Him.
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