Scripture Reading: Jer. 2:13; 17:9; 13:23; 23:5-6; 33:16; 31:33-34
Ⅰ
The kernel of the book of Jeremiah includes three matters—what God wants from us, what we are in our fallen condition, and what Christ is to us; in order to see these three things, we need to "crack" the shell of Jeremiah and concentrate on the kernel inside, which is the complete teaching of the entire Bible.
Ⅱ
What God wants from us is mentioned mainly in Jeremiah 2:13, which reveals that God is the fountain of living waters:
A
God wants us to take Him as the fountain of living waters for our living; this means that He wants us to take Him as the source, the fountain, of our being; the only way to take God as the fountain of living waters is to drink of Him day by day.
B
God's intention in His economy is to be the fountain, the source, of living waters to satisfy His chosen people for their enjoyment, with the goal of producing the church as God's increase, God's enlargement, to be God's fullness for His expression—v. 13; Lam. 3:22-24; 1 Cor. 1:9.
C
John 4:14b reveals a flowing Triune God—the Father is the fountain, the Son is the spring, and the Spirit is the flowing river, issuing in the totality of the eternal life, the New Jerusalem.
D
Our drinking of the one Spirit in resurrection makes us members of the Body, builds us up as the Body, and prepares us to be the bride of Christ—1 Cor. 12:13; Rev. 22:17; John 4:14b.
E
Christ as the living, spiritual rock was smitten by the authority of God's law so that the water of life in resurrection could flow out of Him and into His redeemed people for them to drink—Exo. 17:6; 1 Cor. 10:4:
１
The blood for our judicial redemption saves us from the guilt of sin, and the water of life in resurrection for our organic salvation saves us from the power of sin—Gen. 2:22; John 19:34; Zech. 13:1; Psa. 36:8-9; Rev. 21:6; Hymns, #1058, stanza 1.
２
Christ is our begetting rock and the rock who is our salvation, strength, refuge, hiding place, protection, covering, and safeguard—Deut. 32:18; 2 Sam. 22:47; Psa. 95:1; 62:7; 94:22; Isa. 32:2.
F
As believers in Christ, we need to see the way to drink and flow the water of life—John 4:10, 14; 7:37-39; cf. Prov. 11:25:
１
We have been positioned to drink one Spirit—1 Cor. 12:13.
２
To drink the water of life, there is the need of thirst—Exo. 17:3a; Psa. 42:1-2; John 7:37; Rev. 21:6.
３
We need to come to the Lord—John 7:37; Rev. 22:17.
４
We need to ask the Lord to give us the living water—John 4:10; 7:37; Rev. 22:17.
５
We need to contact God the Spirit in our human spirit and in truthfulness—John 4:23-24.
６
We need to joyously draw water from the springs of salvation by speaking to the Lord, by the Lord, for the Lord, in the Lord, and with the Lord—Psa. 46:4; Isa. 12:3-6:
ａ
We need to practice speaking with the Lord constantly—Num. 20:8; Phil. 4:6-7, 12; Hymns, #255.
ｂ
We need to confess our sins—John 4:15-18; 1 John 1:7, 9.
ｃ
We need to praise the Lord—Phil. 4:4; Heb. 13:15; Psa. 119:164.
ｄ
We need to thank the Lord—Eph. 5:18, 20.
ｅ
We need to call on the name of the Lord—Acts 2:21; 1 Cor. 12:13, 3; 1 Thes. 5:17; 1 Cor. 1:2; Judg. 15:18-19; Lam. 3:55-56.
ｆ
We need to sing to the Lord—Eph. 5:18b-19; 1 Kings 6:7; 1 Chron. 6:31-32; 2 Chron. 20:21-22.
ｇ
We need to preach the gospel, making known to others what Christ has accom-plished—Rom. 1:16; John 4:32-34.
ｈ
We need to function in the meetings of the church—1 Cor. 14:4b, 26.
７
We need to be identified with the smitten Christ—Exo. 17:6; John 7:38; S. S. 2:8-9, 14; Phil. 3:10; Heb. 12:2.
８
We need to give the Lord the preeminence in our being—Rev. 22:1; Col. 1:18b.
９
We need to do everything according to the divine nature—Rev. 22:1; 2 Pet. 1:4.
Ⅲ
Another aspect of the kernel of Jeremiah is the exposure of what we are in our fallen condition:
A
"The heart is deceitful above all things / And it is incurable; / Who can know it?"—17:9.
B
"Can the Cushite change his skin, / Or the leopard his spots? / Then you also may be able to do good, / Who are accustomed to do evil"—13:23.
C
As fallen human beings, in ourselves and by ourselves and with ourselves we are incur-able and unchangeable—Rom. 7:18; Matt. 12:34-35; 15:7-11, 18-20; 1 Chron. 28:9; cf. Ezek. 36:26-27; Jer. 32:39-40.
Ⅳ
The third matter in the book of Jeremiah is what Christ is to us:
A
"Indeed, days are coming, / Declares Jehovah, / When I will raise up to David a righteous Shoot… / And this is His name by which He will be called, / Jehovah our righteousness"— 23:5-6; cf. 33:16:
１
Jehovah our righteousness refers to Christ in His divinity, and a righteous Shoot, to Christ in His humanity.
２
The name here, Jehovah our righteousness, indicates that Christ, as a descendant of David, is not merely a man but is also the very Jehovah who created the heavens and the earth, selected Abraham, established the race of Israel, and was the Lord of David, the One whom he called Lord (Matt. 22:42-45; cf. Rev. 5:5; 22:16); Christ came as a Shoot (the son of David) who is Jehovah Himself (as the Lord of David) to be the righteousness of God's people.
３
Our righteousness indicates that Christ becomes one with us to be our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:21); Christ is made our righteousness based on His redemption:
ａ
Christ came in the flesh as a descendant of David to die on the cross and shed His blood in order to wash away our sins and accomplish redemption (Eph. 1:7; Heb. 9:22; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; Gal. 3:13; Ezek. 18:4, 20; Rom. 6:23).
ｂ
With His redemption as the basis, we can believe into Him to receive God's for-giveness (Acts 10:43), and God can justify us (Rom. 3:24, 26), make Christ our righteousness, and clothe us with the robe of righteousness (Isa. 61:10).
ｃ
This opens the way for Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God (Col. 2:9) to enter into us as our life (3:4a), our inner law of life (Jer. 31:33), and our every-thing in order to dispense Himself into our entire being for the accomplishing of God's eternal economy.
B
"This is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares Jehovah: I will put My law in their inward parts and write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. And they will no longer teach, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for all of them will know Me, from the little one among them even to the great one among them, declares Jehovah, for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more"— vv. 33-34; Isa. 42:6:
１
The center, the content, and the reality of the new covenant is the inner law of life (Rom. 8:2); in its essence this law refers to the divine life, and the divine life is the Triune God, who is embodied in the all-inclusive Christ and realized as the life-giving Spirit (Col. 2:9; 1 Cor. 15:45) and who has been processed and consummated to be everything to His chosen people.
２
According to its life, the law of the new covenant is the Triune God, and according to its function, it is the almighty divine capacity; this capacity can do everything in us for the carrying out of God's economy.
３
According to this capacity, we can know God, live God, and become God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead so that we may become His increase, His enlarge-ment, to be His fullness for His eternal expression—Eph. 1:22-23; 3:19-21.
４
Furthermore, the capacity of the inner law of life constitutes us the members of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27; Eph. 5:30) with all kinds of functions (Rom. 12:3-8; Eph. 4:11, 16).
５
The writing of the law of life on our heart corresponds to the New Testament teach-ing concerning the spreading of the divine life from the center of our being, which is our spirit, to the circumference, which is our heart (Heb. 8:10; Rom. 8:9; Eph. 3:17); God writes His law on our heart by moving from our spirit into our heart to inscribe what He is into our being (2 Cor. 3:3).
６
According to the law of life, God is our God as our inheritance, and we are His people as His inheritance—Eph. 1:11, 14, 18.
７
To know God is to live God; through the spontaneous, automatic function of the divine life within us, we have the capacity to know God, to live God, and even to become God in His life and nature but not in His Godhead so that we may be His corporate expression.
８
In the new covenant, forgiveness implies redemption and even equals redemption (v. 7; Col. 1:14); God forgives and forgets the iniquity of His people based on Christ's redemption (Heb. 8:12; 9:22):
ａ
The grace of God's forgiveness causes us to fear God (to revere, honor, respect, and regard God) to the uttermost—Psa. 130:4; 86:11.
ｂ
The grace of God's forgiveness causes us to love God to the uttermost—Luke 7:47-50.
ｃ
Forgiveness of sins is a gift given to man by the exalted Christ—Acts 5:31.