Prophet To The Nations
Prophet To The Nations
From time to time, at the conclusion of meetings, I am accosted by fervent folk (bright-eyed and bushy-tailed) who are eager to inform me that, just like Jeremiah, they've received the call to be "a prophet to the nations". (Jeremiah 1.5)
For the most part, I gather that they anticipate a life of excitement, jet-setting from country to country, being feted in packed meetings, always handsomely reimbursed, luxuriously accomodated ... and lauded as the oracle of the hour!
The difficulty is this; it's not what God called Jeremiah to do. Hence the prophet's lack of enthusiasm for the invitation. "Alas, Lord God..." (v6)
So what does God in fact mean when He appoints someone "a prophet to the nations"?
The word "nations" as it is employed here does mean people-groups living together in particular regions. But more than that it means the "uncircumcised". (From this has arisen the pejorative term for Gentiles ... "goyim"!) And this is where it gets complicated. Jeremiah certainly did prophesy concerning nations other than Israel ... Babylon, Egypt, Philistia etc etc. But the great bulk of Jeremiah's communication on behalf of God, was with God's People ... the circumcised.
So what particular point is the Lord making by calling the circumcised, the uncircumcised? He's warning the prophet well in advance, that the people he'll be told to prophesy to, are not going to want to hear him. There'll be few "Amens!", faint praise and heaps of indifference ... along with occasional dollops of murderous rejection.
"For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem ... 'Circumcise yourselves to the Lord and remove the foreskins of your heart ...' " (Jeremiah 4.3-4)
"Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the sons of Ammon, and Moab, and all those inhabiting the desert who clip the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart." (Jeremiah 9.26)
"You men (of the Sanhedrin ... the supreme Jewish council) who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?" (Acts 7.51-52)
In New Testament terms the call to be "a prophet to the nations" is not about ecclesiastical celebrity status and earning a stack of frequent-flyer points. It's about being willing to go on speaking the Lord's words - stark and unadorned - no matter what, to people who gave up listening a long time ago. It's about never stopping loving all those God loves, even when they start hating the preachers He sends. It's about remaining steadfastly indifferent to the fickle court of public opinion, and craving only the approval of the One who created heaven and earth.
"If you extract the precious from the worthless, you will become My spokesman. They for their part may turn to you, but as for you, you must not turn to them ... And although this people fight against you, they will not prevail over you; for I am with you to save you." (Jeremiah 15.19-20)
Still hankering after being "a prophet to the nations"?
