followHIM - Jeremiah 1-20 Part 1 • Dr. John Hilton III • Oct. 10 - 16

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to Follow Him, a weekly podcast dedicated to helping individuals and families with their Come Follow Me study. I'm Hank Smith. And I'm John, by the way. We love to learn. We love to laugh. We want to learn and laugh with you. As together, we follow him. Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Follow Him. My name is Hank Smith. I am here with my incredible co-host. Let me describe him for you. He is a green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit. John, as I was reading the book of Jeremiah preparing for our lesson, I just could not help but see your face when I read a green olive tree, fair and of goodly fruit. But correct me if I'm wrong, John, I've known you long enough.

Starting point is 00:00:52 You don't like olives. I don't. I pull them off my supreme pizzas and hand them to the children. But I do resemble the bark of an old olive tree, gnarled, old. That's where you saw my face. It was that part, right? That's true. Olive trees can live a very long time. Well, I hope that's prophetic. Yes, you will live for a very long time, right? It's 500 years.

Starting point is 00:01:22 Like I mentioned, John, we are in the book of Jeremiah, and I got to be honest, this transition from Isaiah to Jeremiah takes my knowledge from, hey, I feel like I know a lot, to, oh my word, how little do I know about Jeremiah. And I think maybe our listeners feel the same way. So we needed to bring someone in who could help us make the transition from Isaiah that we've been studying for five weeks to Jeremiah, who maybe some people have never studied before. Who's gonna help us make this transition? This is so fun for us, Hank,

Starting point is 00:01:58 because we have been friends with John Hilton III long before we ever, I think before the word podcast was invented, probably. I think so. Yep. And so it's fun to have John with us again. He's been on here before. We love his book, Considering the Cross. And I'm glad to have him here because I think you're right, Hank. I think most of us, what we know about Jeremiah is, oh, he was kind of a contemporary of Lehi. And that's about where it ends. So let me give you a quick bio. John Hilton, a professor of ancient scripture at Brigham University. He has a master's degree from Harvard and a PhD from BYU, both in education.

Starting point is 00:02:36 He's the author of The Founder of Our Peace, and of course, Considering the Cross, more recent, and many other books, audio recordings, articles. He loves teaching, reading, snowboarding, traveling, serving, spending time with family. He and his wife Lonnie have six children. He also has a podcast called Seeking Jesus, which is really good, and I hope our listeners will listen to that. We love having John here with us again. So what should we call you today, J3 and I'm JB or something like that. So it'll get mixed up.

Starting point is 00:03:08 JB, J3. You got it. In my text messages back and forth, I usually call him JH3. And then I always have to throw in, he's so great, they made three of him. He really is that great. Well, Hank, I remember you telling a story about John that he had heard president Nelson say something about China and John just decided to learn Chinese on his own. It wasn't his language he learned on his mission and he just started studying it. And is that true,

Starting point is 00:03:39 John? Are you, are you pretty fluent in, is it Mandarin? It's true. Yeah. I can't read or write in Mandarin, but I can hold a conversation and do a little talking. Yeah. That's John. That is John to a T, but also maybe I've shared this before. I've had people in my family pass away over the last few years and who's at my door, John Hilton. He mourns with those who mourns. I'll tell you that. John, we've been friends a long time. It feels like since the 1900s. It really does. It feels that long. John, how do you want to approach Jeremiah, knowing, I think, that a lot of our listeners, this may be really first time through. I don't know a lot about this. I want to know something. How do you want to begin? So I want to begin with two words, get excited. It's so fun, I think, to have a book of scripture

Starting point is 00:04:32 that we really just don't know that well. Jeremiah is the longest book in the Bible, and it's probably one of the ones that we know the least. But I want to give you just upfront for those of you who are deciding, do I even want to listen to this episode? Let me just give you a few reasons why I think you'll really want to study Jeremiah. First of all, I personally love lesser known Bible stories and Jeremiah is full of them because we don't read it. So we don't know the stories, but they're fun. Also, Jeremiah has some powerful teachings that can help us come closer to Jesus Christ. Another reason why we really want to own Jeremiah is because of his connections to the Book of Mormon. If you think about it, my guess is 1 Nephi 1 is the most frequently read chapter in the Book of Mormon, which makes 1

Starting point is 00:05:17 Nephi 1 verse 4 one of the most frequently read verses. Let me just read it to you. For it came to pass in the commencement of the first year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, my father, Lehi, having dwelt at Jerusalem in all his days. In that same year, there came many prophets, prophesying unto the people that they must repent or the great city Jerusalem must be destroyed. Jeremiah was one of those prophets. And it mentions Zedekiah by name. Well, three quarters of all the references to Zedekiah in the Bible are found in the book of Jeremiah. So in other words, if you want to really know what's Lehi's Jerusalem, like what's Nephi's Jerusalem, like you want to read Jeremiah,

Starting point is 00:05:57 it's our best source for understanding Jerusalem in the time period of Lehi. And not to get overly exuberant, but Jeremiah's writings are also on the brass plates. Nephi studies them. He says, 1 Nephi 5, once they got the brass plates, they said, they contain the prophecies of the holy prophets from the beginning, even down to the reign of Zedekiah, and also many prophecies which were spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah. And several hundred years later, another prophet named Nephi were spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah. And several hundred years later, another prophet named Nephi, Nephi the son of Helaman, is going to talk about Jeremiah. He says, we know that Jerusalem was destroyed according to the words of Jeremiah. Oh, then why not the son of God come according to his prophecy?

Starting point is 00:06:44 So in other words, Book of Mormon prophets are studying jeremiah so why not us absolutely and you're talking about context here john that i think most people need to understand let's just do a brief cursory history here we lost the northern kingdom of israel in 721 722 bc 130 years later or so we lose the southern kingdom of Judah. And that is the time of Jeremiah, right? Right during that same time period. It fits right in like a puzzle piece with the book of Mormon, because that's the same time the book of Mormon begins. Exactly. And we only got maybe one or two chapters about this back in second Kings, was we talked about the fall of Jerusalem,

Starting point is 00:07:25 but now Jeremiah is all in this time period, a few decades before starting in the reign of Josiah, all the way down, Jeremiah will see the fall of Jerusalem. So Lehi gets to leave town and Jeremiah gets to stay. Yeah. There's some powerful lessons we can learn from that. Sometimes you get to be the Lehi, but sometimes you're the Jeremiah. And you stick around. I can see their two mission calls sitting side by side. And he's like, oh, really? I got to stay here and witness the fall of Jerusalem where Lehi is on the way out. So I also want to say up front, maybe there's probably some good reasons why we don't know Jeremiah as well as maybe we could. First of all, large chunks of the book of Jeremiah are him preaching to the people. And the main message is repent or perish, but he might

Starting point is 00:08:17 take five chapters in a row to go through that same message over and over again. And so as modern readers, maybe that might feel tedious sometimes to some people. Another trouble with Jeremiah is the book doesn't appear in chronological order. So we would have to rearrange the chapters to read it as a straight through storyline. And we can put this in the show notes, johnhiltonii.com slash Jeremiah. I've put the chapters in a chronological order. So if you're interested in saying like, I want to read the book chronologically, but some of you are like, oh man, I don't know if I want to read the whole book of Jeremiah, a bunch of chapters there. Here's my biggest tip for studying the book of Jeremiah. And that's to watch the movie called Jeremiah. It stars Patrick Dempsey.

Starting point is 00:08:59 Have either of you guys ever seen it? I don't think so. It's so good. It's available for free on YouTube. So if you just go on YouTube and put Jeremiah, I also linked to it at the johnhiltonia.com slash Jeremiah page. It's not a hundred percent scriptural, but a lot of it is scriptural. And when you see these scenes, some of which we'll talk about today, all of a sudden Jeremiah comes to life in a new way. So I definitely recommend the Jeremiah movie. And if you've got teenagers, that could be a fun movie to watch as a family one Sunday afternoon. That's great. Thanks, John. I didn't know about that. So maybe we can just dive in with Jeremiah chapter one. And just so you guys know, sometimes I'll be quoting from the King James version. Sometimes I'll be quoting from the

Starting point is 00:09:37 New Revised Standard version. And often today I'll be quoting from the New Living Translation. The New Living Translation is designed for sixth graders. And I think that sometimes when you're approaching a book like Jeremiah, that's really unfamiliar. It can be helpful to read it at a sixth grade reading level because then some of the complicated parts, you're just able to get through and understand more easily. And honestly, it's hard to love a book of scripture if you can't really understand what it says. And it doesn't do you a lot of good to read Jeremiah and not get a single thing out of it. So yeah, go pick up one of these alternatives. So let's just dive into Jeremiah chapter one.

Starting point is 00:10:14 Okay. Picking up just at their very beginning. These are the words of Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah, one of the priests from the town of Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. The Lord first gave messages to Jeremiah during the 13th year of the reign of Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. The Lord first gave messages to Jeremiah during the 13th year of the reign of Josiah. That's about 630 BC. The Lord's messages continued throughout the reign of King Jehoiakim, Josiah's son, until the 11th year of the reign of King Zedekiah, another of Josiah's sons. In August of that 11th year, about 586 BC, the people of Jerusalem were taken

Starting point is 00:10:45 away as captives. So these first four verses are just introducing us to the timeframe of Jeremiah's life and prophesying. The time of the captives, John, 586. And so Lehi's leaving Jerusalem approximately 600 BC. Jeremiah's there a couple of decades before that. He's there a decade after that. So that's part of the reason why this is so exciting. This is really Book of Mormon context. But that means that we've taken a jump from the timeframe of Isaiah, doesn't it? Even though it's just one page away. Yeah, that's a great point.

Starting point is 00:11:18 So that's one of the reasons why I think it is helpful how we studied 2 Kings a few months ago. So we can kind of see where it fits in the storyline. Isaiah's in the time around the scattering of Israel with the Assyria being the dominant tribe or dominant country. So now we're jumping forward a century. Babylon is the new superpower. So that's a great point from Isaiah to Jeremiah. We've jumped forward in time. We fast forwarded about a 100 years. I would say this is an absolutely crucial skill. If you really want to understand the Old Testament is the way it's set up. You've got the Torah, right? The five books of Moses. Then you have the history. Then you have the writings, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Psalms. And then you

Starting point is 00:12:00 have these prophets, Isaiah through Malachi. Each of these prophets, correct me if I'm wrong, John, but each of these prophets fit somewhere back in that history that we talked about. And they didn't put them in order. Of course not. You can't put them in order. You can't make it easy for us. They put it in order of length of how long these books are and stuck them back. So you've got to know your history in order to know what the context is for the prophet who's speaking. Really well said. And that is a great

Starting point is 00:12:33 scriptural skill. Because if you're thinking, oh, we're continuing on past the time of Esther, we're not. We're going now backwards to where do we have the verses, the actual scriptures this would fit in? We're basically here between 2 Kings 23 to 25. So if you were to go back and read these chapters of history, that would give you some additional context for Jeremiah. When Jeremiah is alive and what he's doing. Okay. We're actually about to get much more, like there's more histories and stories about this time period in the book of Jeremiah than there is in those couple of chapters in second Kings. Got it. Okay. So we're going to get more stories, not just preaching.

Starting point is 00:13:14 Correct. That's my favorite part actually is the stories. So we've kind of set up a little bit of the context and background. Probably the most famous verses in Jeremiah are chapter one, verses five and six. God calls Jeremiah saying, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. And before thou came us forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. And I just love this assurance from the Lord. I knew you before you were born. And by the end of today, when we get to Jeremiah chapter 29, we'll look at another verse where the Lord says something similar and maybe put those together at that point and talk more about this principle.

Starting point is 00:13:51 But God has special plans for each of us, not just Jeremiah. I think it's interesting though, that Jeremiah doesn't feel up to the mission. He goes on to say, I can't speak. I'm a child. Oh, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak for I am a child. Don't choose me. You kind of see a pattern there. Look at the footnotes. You've got Exodus 4.10. So what did Moses say? I'm slow of speech. I'm slow of tongue. What did Enoch say? I'm only a lad. All the people hate me. All the people hate me. What did Isaiah say? I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell in a...

Starting point is 00:14:27 And you see, I love that it's not, oh yeah, I got this. I knew you were going to call on me. This is beyond what I'm able to do. And a lot of us maybe can relate to that. I can't do that. So I like that, how consistent that is. And the footnote six, a there lists Moses and Enoch. And I wrote in Isaiah six, because I thought it wasn't exactly the same, but he just said, I'm, I dwell in with the people of uncle. Well, what did he say? I am undone. I mean, that's, I'm coming apart. I can't do this. But then in verse seven, just like in the same pattern that you've highlighted, the Lord responds, say not, I am a child for thou shalt go to all whom I send thee

Starting point is 00:15:09 and whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces for I am with thee to deliver thee. This is so applicable, right? You and I, we're going to receive some kind of calling. We don't feel up to the task. And the Lord says, you can do this. Be not afraid. I am with you. The thing I loved about that was the Lord didn't say, Moses, you're great. You're awesome. You're so great. He just said, I will be with you. And I thought, what a great, that's very consistent. What else do you need? If I'm with you, I'll be with you. It's almost like it's good that you're sensing your inadequacy, but I will be with you. And if we jump down to verse 17, we hear more of that kind of the Lord saying this,

Starting point is 00:15:51 get up and prepare for action. Go out, tell them everything I tell you to say. Do not be afraid of them. For see today, I have made you strong like a fortified city that cannot be captured like an iron pillar or a bronze wall. You will stand against the whole land, kings, officials, priests, and the people of Judah. They will fight you, but they will fail. Wow. What a pep talk. Yeah. Seriously, I am with you. I will take care of you. And I just love these words. If you're

Starting point is 00:16:16 like me, and sometimes you get afraid, you're fearful, and you collect scriptures that give you strength, Jeremiah chapter one is full of powerful reassurances from the Lord that strengthen Jeremiah can strengthen us as well. Absolutely. If you're feeling discouraged, if you're feeling like I'm not up to the task, come to these verses and go slow through them. Read them. This is where you, this is what my daughter writes on her mirror with her dry erase. I am with thee, sayeth the Lord, I will deliver thee. Jeremiah 1, 5.

Starting point is 00:16:50 In my study of the Bible, I don't see a lot of references to a premortal life. I feel like there is a kind of a clear one here. Am I proof texting there? Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. I don't think that's proof texting. I think it's fair to say that's one of our best biblical examples of a reference to the premortal life. I think that's totally fair. Yeah. Yeah. And if I could add something to that, Dr. Robert Millett that we've had on our podcast taught me that don't use the phrase

Starting point is 00:17:19 pre-existence because other religious traditions use that and they don't mean the same thing. They think that maybe we pre-existed in the mind of God, but this sounds like more than that. And ever since that, I've done what you two just did, call it premortal life or premortal existence. This sounds like more than I just, you existed in the mind of God. This is, I knew thee. You had a character, you had a competency before you got here. And I think it sounds a little more than just you pre-existed in my mind. Absolutely. I just wanted to make sure we hit that. And I wanted to see what our expert had to say. And while I feel vindicated that our expert likes my take on that, but I think when you run into maybe what you see as a reference to the pre-mortal life

Starting point is 00:18:09 in the Bible, take note of that because it's not often. Yeah. So the next several chapters, Jeremiah 2 through 6, are primarily focused on Jeremiah's preaching to the people and warning them to repent. And I thought we would just sample a few of these verses along the way before we get to the next big story in Jeremiah 7. So in Jeremiah 2, verse 13, we read, for my people have done two evil things. They have abandoned me, fountain of living water, and they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all. So John, Hank, I know you guys both lead tours to Jerusalem

Starting point is 00:18:46 and so forth. You've seen a bunch of cisterns. Why would a cracked cistern be such a big deal? Oh, a cistern is going to, that's the only way to survive. You're going to have your rainy season and then comes the dry season. And if you do not have water storage, I almost said food storage, you don't have water storage, it's certain death. You need water to survive. Yeah. So the Lord's saying you've done two things wrong. Number one, you've abandoned the true living water. And number two, your replacement, it's cracked. There's no salvation in there for you. Yeah. And I like that. It's not just that you need water. It's living water versus cistern water. Cistern water is subject

Starting point is 00:19:31 to stagnation because it's holding still living water from a spring. That's the pool of Siloam. That's where Jesus sent the man to wash right at the beginning of John nine, which is living water because it comes from a spring. Now here's a PG 13 passage that since it's in the book of Jeremiah, I thought it was fair to read. This is Jeremiah two 24. The Lord says to Israel, you are like a wild donkey sniffing the wind at mating time. Who can restrain her lust? Those who desire her don't need to search for she goes running to them. When will you stop running? When will you stop panting after other gods? But you say, save your breath. I'm in love with these foreign gods. I can't stop loving them now. Jumping down to verse 27, we see a similar idea. To an image carved from a piece of wood,

Starting point is 00:20:14 they say, you are my father. To an idol chiseled from a block of stone, they say, you are my mother. They turn their backs on me. But in times of trouble, different metaphors to say, you guys are not faithful to me. And this is a key theme throughout Jeremiah. He's highlighting idol worship. Stop turning to other gods and focus on the one true God. That's a theme we've seen throughout the Old Testament. I love all these metaphors. Yeah. Can you just tell us which translation you just used there? So that's the New Living Translation. That's what I mentioned. That's at a sixth grade reading level.

Starting point is 00:21:03 So again, I think it's helpful when you're reading some unfamiliar texts to kind of make the meaning plain. I do like verse 17, which ends when he led thee by the way. I had to underline that one, but you don't have to. I was just going to say, John, these are pretty extreme metaphors, but sometimes subtle doesn't seem to work. So let's just flat out say it. Would you rather have this beautiful living water or this nasty, rancid water in a broken cistern? Would you go rather chase through lust other gods? Or do you want the God who is sitting here waiting for you? Would you rather call a stone a father or a mother and see what it can do for you? These are aggressive metaphors, I guess you can

Starting point is 00:21:44 say, that you can't miss the point. Which gives us some context for Book of Mormon times. Why are the people angry with the prophets? Why do people seek Lehi's life? The prophets are being very bold. Jeremiah is a great example of being bold and speaking out against sin. So if we flip the page to chapter three, we see one of Jeremiah's favorite words and the word is backsliding. I don't know about you guys. I did not hear the word backsliding very often growing up. It means to fall back into sin basically, but Jeremiah uses this word more than all other scriptural authors combined. So when you hear the word backsliding, think Jeremiah. I'll just read

Starting point is 00:22:23 a few examples. Chapter three, verse 12, return thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not cause my anger to fall upon you for I am merciful. Verse 14, turn, oh, backsliding children. Verse 22, return ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding. And I just love this. All of us are going to backslide. We're all going to fall back into temptation at time, but the Lord is saying, I'm merciful. Come return to me. We can make things work. And I love that. It's kind of fun to imagine that King James translators sitting around, behold, what shall we use? What word shall we use here? Ye old translator, I suggest backsliding.

Starting point is 00:23:06 It's returning to sin. Just falling back. You feel like I've gotten out, here I go, and then back in. And that can be discouraging. But here it says the Lord over and over, I'm here. I'm here. I can redeem you, backsliding Israelites. I have been in my life before, I a backsliding Israelite gave something up got rid of it entirely and then it came back I think we talk about the pride cycle a lot in the Book of

Starting point is 00:23:33 Mormon and I guess this is a different metaphor kind of for the same thing you're returning or you're going back to an old way of living that you had conquered before yeah the Savior told a great parable about this when he said there was a house that had an evil spirit and they cast evil spirit out and then it returns with seven of its friends because the house wasn't full of anything else. The sins returned with even more sins, with even more friends. That would be an example, right, John, of backsliding back into what you were before. Let's maybe jump ahead to chapter seven. Let's get back into the storyline and

Starting point is 00:24:10 we'll kind of read through it. But this is one where if you can watch the Jeremiah movie, this scene will come alive for you in ways you'll never forget. But in Jeremiah chapter seven, Jeremiah goes to the house of the Lord. So he's at kind of this temple complex area and he's preaching. First, he offers hope. If we look at verse five, he says, if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the orphan, the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, if you do not go after other gods, I will dwell with you. I mean, so that's a promise, but Jeremiah goes on to say, you're probably not going to do this. And through Jeremiah, the Lord says, will you steal murder, commit adultery,

Starting point is 00:24:50 swear falsely, make offerings to ball and go after other gods that you have not known. And then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name and say, we are safe only to go on doing all those abominations. In other words, what the Lord is saying is you guys think that because you have the temple here with you, that everything's okay. You can do all this bad stuff. It's like, oh, we got the Lord's house with us. It's fine. And he's saying, no, that is not, that is not okay. You can't do all these things. And then come stand before me and think, no big deal. Everything's fine.

Starting point is 00:25:28 And so this is where we get a really powerful line. Through Jeremiah, the Lord says, has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight. Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people. And maybe there's two things we can unpack here. Let's do the harder one first. What's this reference to Shiloh? So the Ark of the covenant had been in Shiloh and Shiloh was destroyed. So it's kind of like the Lord is saying, look, maybe the people of Shiloh, they thought they were all good because they had the Ark with them, but Shiloh was destroyed. Now you in Jerusalem, you think, oh, we're all good. We've got the temple with us. No, you will be destroyed. The ark won't protect

Starting point is 00:26:09 you. The temple won't protect you if you're not living up to the covenants. And that helps to see why the other one that's probably a little more obvious is Jeremiah's use of this phrase, den of robbers. What's that reminding you guys of right off the bat? I'm thinking of Jesus in the temple. He says, you've turned my house into a den of thieves. Yeah. So clearly Jesus is alluding to Jeremiah when he says this den of thieves, den of robbers, den of, and then robbers or thieves, it only appears in these two passages. So it's a clear reference. So now maybe with understanding that extra context from Jeremiah and Shiloh, we can see that when Jesus says, you've made my house a den of thieves, it's sort of a subtle threat or implication. Remember how Jeremiah said the same thing?

Starting point is 00:26:56 Remember what happened to the temple in his day? The same thing is going to happen to your temple, you people here in Jerusalem that I'm talking to. Does that make sense? Absolutely. And it only hits home if one, you know your scriptures Jerusalem that I'm talking to. Wow. Does that make sense? Absolutely. And it only hits home if one, you know your scriptures, and two, it tells me Jesus knew his scriptures. Yeah. Sometimes we don't notice how well Jesus knows his scriptures until we're reading the Old Testament going, hey, that sounds a lot like something Jesus said. It looks like those references are both there, footnoted below below Matthew 21, 13 and Luke 19, 46.

Starting point is 00:27:28 Yeah. If we just go a little bit further in Jeremiah chapter seven to verse 27, this has got to be one of the most all time discouraging passages of scripture to the person receiving it. So the Lord says to Jeremiah, you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you. I mean, how does that sound like a discouraging mission call, right? Like you've been called to labor and such and such a mission. No one will listen to you. They will reject every word you say, but have great experiences. You go go for it. And Jeremiah, he's already been preaching for years and he's going to go on

Starting point is 00:28:05 and preach for decades longer. And that's, I think a great kind of subtle message from Jeremiah. I mean, seriously, think about it. Sometimes you work hard at something and then you don't see the results. You plan to have this really spiritual track and it gets canceled by COVID. There's all sorts of things that we work really hard on and fail. And I don't know about you, but I don't like to fail. When I'm doing something, I want it to go awesome. And probably Jeremiah did too, but the Lord tells him, look, it's not going to. And for me, I think that's really an important message for us. Sometimes we're going to fail. And just because we're working hard and doing what God wants us to do, doesn't mean everything's going to turn out perfectly. Yeah. What verses was that, John?

Starting point is 00:28:46 That was Jeremiah 7, 27. I don't have a reference, but I heard that someone had confronted Mother Teresa once and told her, you can't possibly save all these people that you're trying to save and give them some dignity and death and everything. And I, like you guys, just totally admire Mother Teresa. She said, well, we're not called to be successful in all things. We're called to be faithful in all things. And that's like what Jeremiah was doing. He was doing what he was asked. And sometimes we might not realize the personal cost to Jeremiah.

Starting point is 00:29:19 If we jumped over to Jeremiah 11, verse 21, the people of Jeremiah's hometown, they tried to kill him. They said, do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will die by our hands. And then just a few verses later, chapter 12, verse six, we learned that even Jeremiah's family members had abandoned him. So it's not just that he's working hard, but he's got a good support group. He's working hard and he's abandoned by the people of his hometown. He's abandoned by his family, but he still keeps pressing forward. So in Jeremiah chapter 12, verse one, and again, the context is hometowns abandoning him. His family's abandoning him. Jeremiah, he cries out in anguish to the Lord. He says, okay, you'll be right, Lord. When

Starting point is 00:30:00 I laid the charges against you, but let me put my case to you. Why does the way of the guilty prosper? Why are all those who are treacherous thriving? And I love how Jeremiah starts out his complaint. He's like, all right, God, I know you're going to correct me, but hear me out. Let me give my complaints anyways. Like my life is terrible and all the wicked are doing great. What's going on? And I can sympathize with Jeremiah, right? Like he didn't want to be called to be a prophet. He told the Lord, I'm a child. You would think that God's going to like respond back to Jeremiah in a really comforting way, but it's actually, he gives them kind of a challenge. Look in verse five, the Lord says, if you've run with the foot men and they've wearied thee, how canst thou contend with horses? And if in the land of peace,

Starting point is 00:30:44 wherein thou trustest, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou contend with horses? And if in the land of peace wherein thou trustest, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan? In other words, the Lord's pep talk is Jeremiah, this is just the beginning. I mean, you're still in the foot race and it's about to heat up. And I think that's a powerful scriptural phrase for us to ponder. If you've run with the footmen and they've wearied you, how can you contend with the horses? I automatically thought of Mormon at the end of Mormon, where if you read Mormon, not Book of Mormon, but the little Book of Mormon inside the Book of Mormon, he says that he prayed, notwithstanding their wickedness, I had led them into battle. I had loved them according to the love of God, which is in me.

Starting point is 00:31:24 My soul has been poured out in prayer unto my God all day long for them. Nevertheless, He goes on later to say, I was without hope in Mormon chapter 6. He laments the loss of these people. So there are these callings of, you are going to move forward. You're not going to see success. And by the way, you're tired now. Oh, just wait, just wait. It gets worse. Hank, I think you've picked up on something that's really powerful.

Starting point is 00:31:55 And that I think we really can see connections between Mormon and Jeremiah. And that this would be like a great thing to kind of study side by side and look at more connections. I mean, they're both called to preach to their people. And in some ways, they both fail. Jeremiah and Mormon both see their people destroyed. I love that insight that you just shared. And we could probably find additional parallel connections between Mormon and Jeremiah.

Starting point is 00:32:20 But I think, again, that's telling us sometimes God's going to send you on a mission and it's not going to succeed. Sometimes you're going to knock on that door or minister to that sister for 30 years and not get the outcome you hope for. But Jeremiah and Mormon, they're right there with you. You know, it's one of my favorite lessons because when Mormon says this to Moroni, he says, but we can't cease to labor. We have a labor to perform while in this tabernacle of clay. You remember the verse, notwithstanding their hardness, let us continue faithful. It's not about what they are doing. That's a little bit out of your control, but let us continue faithful with what we've been called to do. And I love that little thing that Mormon

Starting point is 00:33:02 did there, notwithstanding their hardness, it's not about them. It's about us doing what we were called to do. I remember many times as a seminary teacher, doesn't happen as much at BYU, but knowing when that kid walked out of my class as a senior, that was probably the last time he was going to see the inside of a church building. And taking responsibility for it. Yeah, and just going, ugh. I wish I could have found a way.

Starting point is 00:33:30 I wanted to reach you. I know grandma and grandpa and mom and dad have been praying. I know how that road ends, too. I've done this enough times. I know how this road ends. It's a heartbreaking thing. But to realize here is validating that it's happened to the greats of the past, the Jeremiah, the Mormon, even Abinadi, who doesn't see the

Starting point is 00:33:54 success maybe of his call. And I love that phrase that you used, it's validating. I really think it is validating for us to remember. And there's lots of examples, maybe some lesser known people. Remember Calm in the Book of Ether? He fought against the robbers much, but he didn't prevail against them or Nephi, the son of Helaman. It says he went to the land Northward. He did preach the word of God and they did reject all his words. That's probably not the kind of a thing that your daughter wants to write on her mirror. That's not the verse that makes it to the mirror, but, but in some ways I think it could be as a reminder to us that it's okay to fail. Yeah. Jesus in his own hometown, John. Jesus in Nazareth is rejected by his own

Starting point is 00:34:33 hometown and according to the Bible, never returns. It's a heartbreaking moment. It reminds me every time of Isaiah saying the Lord will be acquainted with grief. Jeremiah, Mormon, and all these others we've been talking about are those who have be acquainted with grief. Jeremiah, Mormon, and all these others we've been talking about are those who have been acquainted with grief. It is definitely part of this work. So in Jeremiah chapter 12, Jeremiah was kind of pouring out his heart to the Lord, and the Lord kind of responds like, hey, step it up. But if we jump to chapter 15, there's a similar passage, and the Lord responds more gently. To all those faithful Sunday school teachers, seminary teachers who are out there, who are trying their best to get through to their classes and to know that sometimes it doesn't

Starting point is 00:35:19 work out. If you're in that situation, you're standing shoulder to shoulder with some of the best in the Lord's work. Sometimes, despite your very best efforts, they do not hear. It's also a helpful reminder to me, and I bet it has been for both of you, to realize they have a Lord, they have a Savior, and I'm not Him. So though they might be lost to me, they're not lost to him. And you never know, they may hear something. That was Alma. I remember my father to have taught the people concerning Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who could forgive sins. And my mind caught hold upon this thought. And that's such a wonderful verse that, see,

Starting point is 00:36:02 somewhere back there, he heard what his father was saying and you never know what might stick. So let's look at Jeremiah chapter 15, 15. Jeremiah says, Lord, you know, what's happening to me. Please step in and help me punish my persecutors. Give me time. Don't let me die young. It is for your sake that I'm suffering.

Starting point is 00:36:22 When I discovered your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart's delight for I bear your name, Lord God of heaven's armies. I never joined the people in their merry feasts. I sat alone because your hand was on me. I was filled with indignation at their sins. Why does my suffering continue? Why is my wound so incurable? Your help seems as uncertain as a seasonal brook,

Starting point is 00:36:47 like a spring that has gone dry. Take a moment to unpack that. Like, have you felt that way? Like, I just love Jeremiah's raw emotion. It's like those verses you quoted Hank from Mormon, where he said, my soul was filled with anguish. You can just sense that. But in verse 19, the Lord responds with encouragement. He says, you must influence them. Don't let them influence you. They will fight you like an attacking army. I will make you as secure as a fortified wall of bronze. They will not conquer you for I am with you to protect you and rescue you.

Starting point is 00:37:19 I, the Lord have spoken. Yes, I will certainly keep you safe from these wicked men. I will rescue you from their cruel hands. Things can be excruciatingly difficult, but I love Jeremiah's open, honest conversation. He doesn't just beat around the bush. He's like, lays it all out with the Lord. And then he receives comfort from the Lord. This is something we learned about in the book of Job, that even a prayer of frustration is an act of faith. Even a prayer of, I'm upset. This is not going the way that I

Starting point is 00:37:58 thought it would go. That is still an act of faith. You're still calling out to God. And God knows how you feel. So you might as well be open with him. He won't be shocked that, what, what are you saying? I can't believe you're saying these things to me. It's okay. I love Jeremiah's prayer. It reminds me of Joseph Smith. Where are you? As we keep moving forward, Jeremiah's main message is that the people of Jerusalem are going to be destroyed if they don't repent. Another message that he returns to a few times has to do with the gathering of Israel. Let's jump over to Jeremiah chapter 16, starting in verse 14. We read, therefore the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, as the Lord lives who brought up the people out of the land of

Starting point is 00:38:43 Egypt, but as the Lord lives who brought the people of the people out of the land of Egypt, but as the Lord lives, who brought the people of Israel up out of the land of North and out of all the lands where he had driven them for, I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their ancestors. And let's just maybe pause right there for a minute. So basically like the biggest miracle of all times has been the Exodus, the Exodus, right. Coming out of Egypt. But now the Lord saying there's going to be a new miracle that takes place. And that's going to all of a sudden relegate the Exodus to be like one of the, not the greatest hits of all times. Now it's the gathering of Israel,

Starting point is 00:39:14 the return of these tribes. People won't be talking about the Red Sea anymore. Right in the Come Follow Me manual, it quotes President Nelson, you are sent to earth at this precise time to help gather Israel. There is nothing happening on this earth right now that is more important than that gathering. The gathering should mean everything to you. So that's a perfect place to remind us of what president Nelson taught. On that note, if we just keep reading, we learn a little bit about maybe our role in this. Verse 16, I am now sending for many fishermen, says the Lord, they shall catch them. And afterward, I will send for many hunters and

Starting point is 00:39:50 they shall hunt them from every mountain, from every hill and out of the clefts of the rocks. That could be an allusion to our role as hunters, fishers, gatherers, taking part in this most important effort that's taking place right now. You can kind of feel with that quote that you shared, President Nelson urging us to fulfill our part in the gathering of Israel. This verse means something to me and my family because I went on what we might call a fisher mission where people were friendly to us. They wanted to listen. They invited us into their home in the Philippines. I could throw a net over the side and find people to teach. And my son went to what we might call a hunter mission, which is one at a time and where teaching opportunities were difficult and hard to find. And it helped as we discussed back and forth in our letters that some are called to

Starting point is 00:40:43 fisher missions and some might be called to hunter missions and they're a little different, but they're all part of this great gathering. So that's an application, of course, but that verse means a lot to us and our family for that reason. I love it. That's beautiful. This to me speaks Book of Mormon language, that Nephi, Lehi, and Jacob, they're living the scattering. So is Jeremiah. He's living in the scattering. Just a hundred years previous, the northern kingdom of Israel was taken captive, gone. They're seeing, living, or almost to have lived in the destruction of the southern kingdom of Judah. And this has to be a comfort that one day I'll bring everybody back. It probably won't be tomorrow, but one day, one day I will bring everyone back. And it seems to me, the more clearly I read the Book of Mormon

Starting point is 00:41:41 or the more carefully I read the Book of Mormon, I see Nephi and Jacob holding on to that promise probably more than anybody else in the book. After Nephi and Jacob, they kind of lose it a little bit. You don't hear from it much in Mosiah or Alma. You don't hear from it much in Helaman. Then all of a sudden in 3 Nephi, Jesus brings it back up. He's like, oh, do you remember? You are scattered Israel, and I made a promise, and I'm going to keep it. So is this the comforting message to Jeremiah, John, that you are living in the days of the scattering of Israel? But one day, I will bring it all back. I will fix it all. And I think that's interesting how you said, it's probably not going to happen tomorrow. So for Nephi and Jacob, I love how they're able to still have hope in things that may

Starting point is 00:42:28 not even happen in their lifetime that did not happen in their lifetime. And so to me, there's a clear message. Maybe there's some problem in my life right now that actually is not going to be resolved in mortality, but Jacob, Nephi, Jeremiah, they're having hope for future events. If I can have that eternal perspective, that's a game changer. Yeah. And it will be huge. Isn't that what the Lord's trying to say in these verses, John?

Starting point is 00:42:51 That this gathering will be huge. It will be so big that no one's talking Red Sea anymore. Everybody's talking the gathering. What was Isaiah told? You're going to have to enlarge the place of your tent because this house of Israel will be breaking out on the right hand and on the left, and you're going to have to strengthen your stake. This gathering is going to be big. Yeah. It's like this new superheroes movie is so big. No one's even going to be taught. Marvel's going to be a thing of the past once you see this new

Starting point is 00:43:18 movie that's coming out, that kind of thing. When we talk about hunting them out of the mountains and of the hills and of the holes of the rock, how many people listening today to our podcast are thinking that was me at one point? In verse 16, the Lord says, I will send fishers and hunters into the mountains, into every hill. That's a high percentage word, every. Every hill and out of the holes of the rocks. I bet this hits home a little bit for

Starting point is 00:43:46 the both of you, having missionaries just returned. John, by the way, tell me, your kids went where? My oldest daughter went to Lyon, France. My son went to, the call said Copenhagen, Denmark, but then said serving the Iceland mission region, and he's currently teaching Icelandic in the MTC. And then my daughter was called to Tahiti, but because of COVID spent about the first half of her mission in Tucson and then finished in Tahiti. So amazing. And John Hilton, you have a couple of missionaries. Yeah. My son Levi just got back from the Georgia Atlanta North mission. And my daughter Anne-Marie is serving in the England leads mission speaking Mandarin. Wow. There's something about Jeremiah 16, 16, that to a parent of a missionary

Starting point is 00:44:34 sings your children. And even all of us, we did this back in the 1900s. Went into the hills and mountains and rocks and went looking. Isn't it similar to the Savior saying, I leave the 99, I go find my one out there. So any missionary listening, this is you. What did President Nelson say, John? You are part of something huge, something big, bigger than the parting of the Red Sea. And I think it's fair to say that even if you're not a full-time missionary, all of us are part of this. We are all right now on the mission to be fishers and hunters and gatherers, whether we've got a name badge or not. And President Nelson might add, on both sides of the veil, which just expands the whole thing in amazing ways to the temple.

Starting point is 00:45:20 To think it all started out with six little members of the church in upstate New York is a fun little thought. It's only a little hand of priesthood you see here this evening. Yeah. It will fill the earth. Please join us for part two of this podcast.

followHIM - Jeremiah 1-20 Part 1 • Dr. John Hilton III • Oct. 10 - 16

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