Jeremiah 45 - Is God Uprooting Today ?

"This is what [Yahweh] says,
'I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted, throughout the land.
Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not.
For I will bring disaster on all people,' declares [Yahweh],
but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life."
Jeremiah 45. [Note 1]

When I first read that passage, I was shocked that God would "bring disaster on all people". How can that coincide with a God of love, who wants to save people? I did not want to ignore it as "That is the wrath-god of the Old Testament, unlike God revealed in Jesus in the New Testament." I wanted to climb the hill of understanding. On reaching the summit I could see beyond. This page is what I saw.

It was a message for the prophet Jeremiah's scribe, Baruch, who was complaining that conditions were too tough for him. [Note 2]

This message to Baruch might also be a message to us. It refers to the Living God uprooting his own people and sending them off into exile. That he uprooted what he himself has planted sounds very serious. Is a similar thing happening today? Certainly, conditions seem to be getting tough, in both the rich North and the 'developing' South.

Contents:

• Why did Yahweh God uproot what he planted?
• Reneging on Representing the Living God
• Is this happening today with the Western culture of Europe, UK and USA?
• What results from such uprooting today?
• How should we who are God's people in this world live and believe?
  • in the rich North
  • in the 'developing' South

1. God Uprooting What He Planted ?

In some earlier disasters wrought by God God overthrew what humanity had built up. In the Flood of Noah, God overthrew the evil and wickedness of humankind, in mixing up the languages at the Tower of Babel, God overthrew the proud independence and disobedience of technological humankind, and in the humiliation of Egypt, God overthrew a regime of cruelty, injustice and oppression [Note 3]. Now, in the exile of his own people, Israel, God is overthrowing what he himself has built up. Is that not serious?

Why should Yahweh uproot what he himself had planted - his own people and the temple they had built for him? In those times, each nation had its own deity, which was supposed to protect its people, so there was a risk that Yahweh would be held in contempt as an impotent deity by the surrounding peoples. So there had to be an extraordinarily good reason.

It was because those who were supposed to represent him had repeatedly reneged on doing so?

2. Reneging on Representing the Living God

• To show what the One True God is like;
• To model how the God intended humanity to operate in the world;
• To invite and welcome people who wanted to join with the One True God;
• To work with the God in his world for the healing and blessing of his world.

The people of Israel reneged on each one of these, especially the first, second and fourth. Instead of showing what the God is like (relational, frugal, fun, just, self-giving, faithful - like a good Father, as Jesus understood) they became hostile, wasteful, unjust, selfish and unfaithful. Instead of modelling how the God intended humanity to operate (with respect, economy, delight, justice, love and purity), they continuously turned towards the deities of the nations around to be governed by them, with injustice, self-seeking and impurity. Instead of working with the God to heal and bless the world, they pursued their own interests in the world, as dictated by how the world understood 'interests'.

We need to take a long-term view. Such reneging on their fourfold mandate was not sudden, but occurred gradually over centuries. A people's deepest beliefs, aspirations, attitudes and ways of living develop slowly and deeply, affecting all their lives. Yahweh God kept on blessing them, wooing them, teaching them, warning them, disciplining them, saving them, forgiving them, for hundreds of years, but in the end it was demonstrated publicly that even a special people could not (because they would not) fulfil his mandate in their own unregenerate state.

However, Yahweh was not just getting rid of his failed people; he had a longer-term plan, in which his people, humbled, would be part of a plan that He Himself would instigate four hundred years later: a mechanism to change the human heart in all peoples. This mechanism? He Himself entered his creation as a human being, Jesus the Messiah, died, rose again (defeating death), so that human beings could be Forgiven, cleansed inside and then his Holy Spirit would dwell inside us. Then all peoples had a chance to become His special people, and a way to fulfil Yahweh God's fourfold mandate in his world.

Today?

If this is so, then the recent economic, political and knowledge prosperity of the North may be seen as a result of what Yahweh God "built up". It is a prosperity that is currently led by the USA, and is intended by Yahweh God to bless his world. The blessing includes things like bias to the poor, one day's rest per week for everyone, the basic equality of all people, universal education (John Knox), care of children, care of the sick and mentally ill, dignity for all, abolition of slavery, and so on - and even the much-despised so-called Protestant Work Ethic. God's people - those who have been saved by Christ and are purified and led by the Holy Spirit - are the foundation and centre of this, even though the rest of the world might not recognise it [Note 6]. God's people have a fourfold mandate in this world:

• To show what the One True God is like;
• To model how the God intended humanity to operate in the world;
• To invite and welcome people who wanted to join with the One True God;
• To work with the God in his world for the healing and blessing of his world.

How are we getting on today with this? Especially, those called Christians in the USA, since they are the most recent of the three peoples who have been 'built up' by God. Are we not now worshipping Mammon, Pleasure and Sex - and, worse, promoting and pedalling them across the world? And what have we affluent Christians done about it?

In view of this, has not Western culture, especially USA culture, completely reneged on the responsibility that the Living God gave it the privilege to bear for a season? Would it be surprising if the God, who once before uprooted what he had earlier planted, uprooted what he has planted, namely Western (especially American) culture?

I wonder: This page was written before Donald Trump came on the scene; could his presidency be part of God's uprooting?

I wonder: This page was written before Extinction Rebellion burst on the scene, coinciding with Greta Thunberg's School Strike, and two major films from David Attenborough, and it changed the debate in high places about climate and environmental responsibility; could the coincidence of those be God making the path to responsibility easier, so we have less excuse for irresponsibility?

I wonder: This page was written before Covid-19 struck the affluent nations of the world; could this be a warning from God against our uncaring affluence, echoing Ezekiel 16:49? See Making Sense of Covid-19.

What is the Result?

The sad thing is that those who bear the Name of Christ go along with this; indeed some are at the forefront of it. Just as Judah was worse than Sodom, so the USA is worse than godless nations - because of "affluence, arrogance and unconcern for the poor" [Ezekiel 16:49].

If you believe that God is ultimately in control, then look at what was hit in 9/11: the foremost symbol of world trade that destroys millions of lives, and the foremost symbol of arrogant, self-righteous military might. (The symbol of good government, the White House, was not hit, even though it was targetted.) See 'Trying to Gain God's Perspective on 9/11 (September 11th 2001) for more.

Billy Graham once said, "If God doesn't judge America, he'll have to apologise to Sodom and Gomorrah". Graham was perhaps a bit premature, seeing only sexual and hedonistic sin, but perhaps he was right in principle. Now there is much more sin. It is largely the USA that "destroys the earth" [Rev 11:18]. Maybe now the time has come when "the sin of the [USA< UK, Europe] has reached full measure" [Genesis 15:16].

If so, then can we not expect God to uproot what he planted?

So What Should We Do?

Jeremiah 45 gives a first answer to this, from which we might get two principles [Note 8]:

• Principle 1. "Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not." This challenges God's people about what they aspire to and expect of life.
• Principle 2. "but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life." This assures God's people of basic safety and security, so we need not fear.

It is a message of challenge with hope - and not just for Baruch. It is a message of hope for the whole world and all Creation, and God's people in particular.

The Book of Revelation gives a picture of humankind fainting with fear, but urges God's people to hold their heads high. How these principles apply might differ between the rich North and the 'developing' South. Maybe it is time for three passages of Scripture to become true in a new say:

• "He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty." [Luke 1:52-53]
• "The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower." [James 1:9-10]
• "He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little." [II Corinthians 8:15]

In the Rich North

Principle 1: We already possess "great things" - reputation, economic prosperity, material comfort, high employment rates, convenience, leisure time, stable government, and so on. But are we discontent with what we have, always wanting more? Does not Romans 1 point out, that if we don't "thank God", a slow slide of deterioration begins, and eventually God "gives us up"? So Christians have always tried to thank God ("Count your blessings ...") - but is this only when we think about doing so? Deeper than this, what attitude and aspirations do we have? Do we allows ourselves to always be wanting more? Are we still seeking "great things" for ourselves, on top of the many that we already enjoy?

God's people should recognise that all these "good things of life" to which we have become used, though intended by God, are not a right but a gift.

No longer:

expect your delectable food, seek your titillating entertainment, gather to yourself an aesthetic lifestyle, grab the latest, most stylish technology, think you have a right to convenience and comfort, plan for your exciting or relaxing holidays, think you have a right to the best cars or computers, put yourself or your career or family before others.

Instead:

"Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness" [Matthew 6:33], and "Let justice roll on like a river, and righteousness like a never-failing stream" [Amos 5:24], "Be content with such things as you have" [], "What does [Yahweh] require of you, but to do justly, and love mercy, and walk humbly with your God." [Micah 6:8]

James understood this when he wrote his tirade against the rich in James 5:1-6. If God can uproot what he has planted, he can remove these "great things" from us - those things that are made possible because of the goodness of his creation and the introduction of his gospel - and "give it to another more worthy".

Should not those who are God's people take the lead in repentance and self-giving? Should we not rejoice in the uprooting of the diseased root, because uprooting brings us all to our senses in God's world?

This is where Principle 2 comes in. Do we fear to repent and give up seeking "great things" for ourselves? Do we fear that if we don't surround ourselves with protection they appear to offer, then we will be destroyed (mentally, physically, socially, politically)? Be comforted, because if we are God's people, he assures us that we will at least "escape with our lives" wherever we go. Principle 2 gives us courage and comfort to repent of seeking "great things" for ourselves. [See Note 9.]

The 'Developing' South

Principle 2: Where the gospel of Christ has touched people in 'developing' South, the gospel of prosperity has swept through on its tail. Sometimes this is well-founded, in the promises of the Living God to his people. At the very least God has shown his faithfulness to his people in the 'developing' South. Has he, or has he not, kept those who have trusted him? Has he not at least let them "escape with their lives"? [Note 10] God is faithful to his people, and loves all people, though he might not give us all we might wish for.

Principle 1: But here is the rub. When we are poor, we look to our Father to provide for us, and are thankful when he does. We are glad of even the smallest things. But when we become slightly more 'comfortable' in regard to our resources, do our hearts drift away from our Father in Heaven? Do we thank him slightly less often - even though more resources urge us to thank him more? Do we begin to apply our mental effort and attention to securing these resources, and then to increasing them?

We know that "the cares and pleasures of this life" choke the growth of the seed of God's Word, so it no longer bears much fruit. Yet we don't realise how far we have drifted, because we continue to compare ourselves with those richer (better-resourced) than we are. We become more and more aware of what we think we lack, rather than what we have. Of course, we do it for our families, quoting I Tim. 5:8 to ourselves! But how are we in God's eyes?

Jeremiah 45 warns us not to seek "great things" for ourselves, especially in eras when he is uprooting what he has planted.

The problem is that what we deem to be "great", i.e. aspirational, is what the Rich North has told us is "great". It is not what Yahweh God holds to be truly great.

• Personally, we desire material prosperity of the kind we see in the USA. We seek comfort of the kind we see in films. We follow the glamorous technologies that come from the Rich North, and judge ourselves and others by how much we have. Because, once we have technology like mobile phone, we need to keep getting money to use it and to keep on updating it, we lock ourselves into slavery to the idol of technology. So we become slaves.
• Our politicians want to join the 'race' to be a major nation in the world, or at least in our area - a race that is determined by the distorted values of the reneging North. Our politicians have been bamboozled to believe that growing GDP is the main measure of a nation's greatness.
• Our military accept and perpetrate the lie that a large proportion of the nation's wealth should be given to them, in the name of 'security'.

In this, we are locking ourselves into the system that Yahweh God is uprooting. Do we want to be locked into this destruction?

It may be that American preachers point to the glorious past of their versions of Christianity and promise God's blessing on those who follow them. But is Yahweh God uprooting them? All we hope for will collapse, and we will miss the blessing that is in line for us.

So, God's Word perhaps needs to be planted afresh in the 'developing' South. Maybe people in the 'developing' South need to find their own way in God, without aspiring to the things of the Rich North. The Living God is the one who "owns the cattle on a thousand hills" - and in many parts of Africa, cattle are wealth. So we need to look to Him and not the Rich North to tell us what is 'great' and what to seek. It is exactly the same as the message to the Rich North:

"Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness" [Matthew 6:33], and "Let justice roll on like a river, and righteousness like a never-failing stream" [Amos 5:24], "Be content with such things as you have" [], "What does [Yahweh] require of you, but to do justly, and love mercy, and walk humbly with your God." [Micah 6:8]

Let each people work out for itself how the way of Christ is to be manifested. Those who are God's people should work out humbly and yet with courage the way of God for their society, and not aspire to what God is currently uprooting in the rich North of USA, UK and Europe. Do not rely on Northern resources nor economic theories to accomplish God's plan. Those will only hinder you. Do not see as 'development' what the rich North has told you is 'development' for the last fifty years; much of it is false. (That is why I place 'developing' in quotes.)

Nigeria, for example, should not trust its oil, but its faith. But it should purify its faith. Its faith is in danger of becoming like the North's: an elevation of the 'sacred' over the 'secular'. Instead, all aspects of life should be brought out into the open and let the light of Christ shine on all. Let those in the rich south of Nigeria not be arrogant nor try to grab for themselves what the USA, UK and Europe says are riches. Instead, the rich south of Nigeria should give and give to the poorer north of Nigeria in generosity and love and justice. Those in Nigeria who are truly God's people should take on themselves the attitude of Christ, who did not grab but let himself become a servant for all.

That's all. God's way is wisdom, and it is "first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow peace raise a harvest of righteousness." [James 3:17-18]. Remember, "It is righteousness that exalts a nation." And God will bring it in. That's a message of hope. Amen!

Notes

Note 2. What was Baruch complaining about? "Woe to me! {Yahweh} has added sorrow to my pain, I am worn out with groaning and find no rest." Stephen McGibbon drew my attention to what a Targum says and to Gill's comment on that in his Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Stephen reports that a Targum suggests this might be "and I found not prophecy", and the Jewish commentators, as Jarchi, Kimchi, Abarbinel, and Abendana, from the ancient Midrashes, interpret this grief of Baruch to be on account of his not having the gift of prophecy bestowed on him, which he expected by being a servant of the prophet {o}; and represent him as saying, Joshua ministered to Moses, and the Holy Spirit dwelled upon him; Elisha ministered to Elijah, and the Holy Spirit rested upon him; how different am I from all the disciples of the prophets! "woe is me now!" &c.

Gill, in enlarging on how Baruch might have felt, shows that Baruch had enough sorrow even without thwarted personal ambition: "the trouble of his office, as secretary to the prophet; the reproach east upon him by the people for it; the grievous things contained in the prophecies he transcribed, concerning the ruin of his people and nation; the king's displeasure at the roll, and his burning it; to which was added the danger he was exposed unto for writing it; and especially, as he might apprehend, for writing it over again, after it was burnt; to which were annexed new threatenings, and such as personally concerned the king; ... he sighed and groaned at what he saw coming upon his country, and particularly upon himself; ... amidst his sighs and groans, he prayed to the Lord, and laboured in prayer, that he might be delivered from the evils he feared were coming upon him ... no cessation of that; no serenity and composure of mind; no answer of prayer from God."

Stephen, concludes that "Baruch is lamenting his lack of ability to help and to change things (in this case the gift of prophecy). In this light the chapter brings great consolation - things are according to God's plan, and he [Gill] gently rebukes Targum for lamenting that he isn't, as he sees it, a bigger or more important cog. Nevertheless, he is a cog in God's plan which is Glorious. I think the rebuke is as much for not understanding the Glory of his natural place [in God's Plan] as it is for being motivated by personal ambition."

I think these are useful insights to help us understand the situation and 'get into the shoes of' Baruch. However, the main point of this webpage is not this, but that God has a Plan which, as Stephen adroitly points out, is "Glorious" even if seemingly painful on a macro scale. This webpage is about suggesting that perhaps something similar is occurring today with the downfall of the West and especially the United States of America.

Note 3. Scriptures. Genesis 6-9 for the flood, which wiped out all humankind and land animals. Genesis 11 for Tower of Babel, where a large section of humanity came together to make a name for itself by building a tower so that they would not be scattered over the earth, in direct disobedience to God's command to humanity to spread out over all the earth to bless it in his Name (Genesis 1:26-28). Exodus 7-12 for destruction of Egypt's economic and military prowess, which resounded down the following centuries. It may be instructive to see the similarities and differences between these events, by looking at which aspect of human and other life is being affected: In the Flood, the biotic aspect of life functions was targetted; in the Tower of Babel, the lingual aspect was targetted; in the Exodus from Egypt, the economic aspect was targetted.

Note 4. Scriptures that explain why Yahweh God sent his people into exile include:

Note 5. Danger in looking at today in a long-term context is that we elevate aspects of today's life that we see as important (such as technology or sexuality), and see history in terms of those aspects. We need to see it in God's terms. Reference to God's creational mandate to humanity in Genesis 1 and his fourfold mandate to his people helps us do this.

Note 6. Role of God's people. This does not mean that only God's people enact these things. Rather, God's people are like salt and light [Matthew 5], so that all people can enact these things. So the various aspects of prosperity are developed by all kinds of people, including some who are hostile to the One True God, yet what they do and achieve is because of Him. It is Yahweh God who has built this up, not humanity by itself. See A New View for a theological understanding of this.

Note 7. Etc. Think of other spheres of life and treat them in a similar way as I am treating them here and in the table that follows. You can easily see similar principles operating. The ones I have selected represent some of Dooyeweerd's law-spheres. Others like the biotic, sensory and faith spheres can be considered in the same way.

Note 8. Generalisation. These were spoken to one person, Baruch, in one situation, when he complained that things were hard, and God was uprooting what he had planted. Are we right to generalise them into principles that apply to us, and if so, under what conditions may we do this? You, the reader, must judge that in your own heart and mind. However, I offer the following thoughts.

• Whatever happens in specific situations emerges from, is a manifestation of, the God's character. So we can perhaps discern something of the God from each individual situation that can apply across other situations.
• However, we must be very careful. Our shared and tacit understanding of the nature of things and of the God himself affects how we generalise, because it makes us insensitive to things. For example, the Jewish leaders of Jesus' time could not see the God as a Father, nor as humble, so they did not recognise Jesus. Scholastic thinkers in the middle ages made similar mistakes.
• We must also compare contexts.
• If indeed Yahweh God is uprooting what he has planted, i.e. the results of his effect on the North, and indeed we are God's people in the sense that at least Baruch was, this gives us hope that what he said to Baruch can translate across to us.
• So the call to not seek great things for ourselves, in the light of what is happening, seems very relevant. Especially since, by doing so, we have been wrecking God's world.
• The assurance of safety, while it should not be taken as a promise for each individual (and remember that our ultimate safety is in Christ, in the New Heavens and Earth), can be called upon as a general principle: the Living God has promised elsewhere to look after those who are his.

Note 9. Draft: What about the unemployed in the Rich North? Increasing numbers of of my friends and colleagues cannot find work, and therefore income. I look like getting the sack soon due to cut-backs. Am I not being callous towards such people? Well, let us think what happened in the West over the past 50 years. North America, Britain and Europe have enjoyed growing GDP economies, which gave us the feeling that if we, as nations or as people, wanted something, we could obtain it - more convenience, jobs, pleasures, road use, public services, electric power, and so on - ignoring that others were paying for it. Debts gradually increased. We got to expect an ever increasing material standard of living. We got used to the idea that if we lost one job we could step into another fairly quickly. But it was unsustainable. What we call 'recession': is it not just a correction back towards sustainability? With fewer services and good being provided, there are fewer jobs available. So those who are unemployed might stay so longer. Maybe we are being shaken out by God. Those who are God's people might rely on Principle 2. Even though we don't have the kind of 'good' job we used to expect, at least we will escape with out lives. And our unemployment rate is miniscule compared with that in the poorer countries. That is why it is heinous that, on 6 May 2012, voters in Greece and France made a 'punishment vote' against those politicians who were trying to plan with responsibility, and voted in favour of irresponsible politicians who promised them to end 'austerity' and promote growth.

Note 10. God's keeping. In Nigeria, for example, many indigenous churches preach what rich Christians in the North disdain as a 'prosperity gospel' - that if we believe then God will give us prosperity. The proponents of this claim many successes, but are many left not just in poverty but in disappointed poverty? Obviously, each side can find individual examples to make their case, but as far as I know, no good statistics are available - which is what we need. (Come on, somebody, in the field of sociology: here is a good PhD for you!) Danny McKain was once critical of prosperity teaching in Nigeria, but he has come to understand it better. See his Lausanne article.

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(I apologise that I have to make it a little complicated; it is because I don't want automated spamming systems to find the email and send junk that will swamp your genuine messages. Thank you for your understanding - as well as for your comments.

About This Page

Copyright (c) Andrew Basden at all the dates below. But you may use this material subject to certain conditions.

Written on the Amiga with Protext in the style of classic HTML.

Created: 14 March 2012. Last updated: 20 March 2012. 7 May 2012 Some results of God's building in the West. 7 May 2012 new Note on unmeployment. 8 July 2015 new .end. 18 February 2017 on Baruch's sorrow, Note 2; Trump. 20 February 2017 request dashes. 23 June 2019 Judah not Israel. 11 January 2020 worshipping and pedalling mammon, pleasure and sex. 21 April 2020 the summit in Intro; new .exd, .nav. 18 October 2020 message of hope. 25 October 2020 Covid-19, XR and a few minor editings.