Jeremiah 13

Jeremiah 13:1

PARABLE IN ACTIONTHE LINEN GIRDLEChapter 13 is another great chapter. I think it is interesting because, even when conditions are so terribly serious, you just can’t help but smile. God is giving a parable to Judah, and it is the parable of the girdle!I just can’t help but smile at this. I don’t think that Jeremiah was putting on weight. In fact, I would think he had been losing weight. God told him to get a girdle and wear it. But it wasn’t because he was getting fata girdle wasn’t worn for that purpose in that day. You see, today a girdle is used to try to achieve an hourglass figure when it is more like a barrel! In that day a girdle was something worn to bind up the flowing garments to ready oneself for service. The girdle is a sign of service. The Lord Jesus spoke of His servants having their “…loins …girded about …” (Luk_12:35). That is, they are to be ready for service. You remember that He girded Himself with a linen cloth and began to wash the disciples’ feet. This had a twofold meaning: He, the great Servant, was preparing them for service by washing their feet so they could have fellowship with Him. For if you don’t have fellowship with Him, you can’t serve. Service is fellowship with Christ. It is not teaching a Sunday school class, singing a solo, or preaching a sermon. Service is fellowship with Christ. It is being cleansed and used for what He wants to do. God doesn’t use dirty cups or dirty vessels. Now Jeremiah is told to do something very interesting with this girdle:

Jeremiah 13:3

There has always been a lot of debate as to whether Jeremiah actually went down to the Euphrates and hid the girdle. I think he did. There was traffic in the day going to and fro between nations, and I think Jeremiah actually made this trip. He did this very strange thing, and when he came back, people probably said, “Where have you been, Jeremiah?” He would reply, “I’ve been down to Babylon.” “What have you been doing down there? Did you go as a representative of the king, or did you go down there on a business trip?” Jeremiah would have to answer, “No, I went down there to hide a girdle!” Now, my friend, I think the crowd laughed at that.

Jeremiah 13:6

Jeremiah was to wear the girdle and not wash it but let it get dirtier and dirtier. I think it finally got so dirty that he couldn’t bear to wear it anymore. Then God told him to bury it in Babylon as an object lesson. When he returned and dug it up, he found “it was profitable for nothing.” What does this strange action mean?

Jeremiah 13:8

God is saying that because the people of Judah are continually sinking into iniquity they will reach the place where there is no hope for them. He is going to send them into Babylonian captivity. The object lesson was impressive. God uses some very funny things to teach His people.

Jeremiah 13:16

God says to His people, “It’s getting nighttime now. It’s going to be dark, and you won’t know where to go because you are lost in the mountains.” Yet He still asks them to turn to Him.

Jeremiah 13:19

God tells them exactly what is going to happen. He makes it very clear what He will do.

Jeremiah 13:23

It is impossible for an unsaved person to do good. All of the do-gooders are not really pleasing God. Until a man does his work in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and for His glory and honor, he is simply doing the work for himself for selfish reasons. No genuine goodness can come out of an evil heart.