Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
In its setting the promise assured Jeremiah that he need not fear the faces of the people before him, because God was with him to deliver him, and it prepared him to speak God's words despite opposition and hardship.
The same assurance belongs to all whom God sends to speak His words, freeing them from fear of people and opposition because God accompanies them and delivers them. The promise joins the command to go wherever God sends and to speak whatever He commands with the gift of God's own words in the mouth, with those sent qualified by His Spirit to speak in Christ's name. Ministers today are sent by Christ as the disciples were sent, as shepherds to feed God's flock with timely truth. Christ's followers are encouraged in the church's mission that though they feel weak, inefficient and powerless, if they make God their strength He works with them so their labor is not in vain.
When the Lord calls and sets apart one in youth to be His messenger, He gives the work of receiving His word and bearing a clear and decided message in the name of the Lord Jesus to erring ones and unbelievers, with pen and voice to reprove from the Word actions that are not right and to exhort from the Word. He promises to make His Word open and plain and not as a strange language, so the message is heard in the true eloquence of simplicity from one never learned in the schools. He promises His Spirit, power, presence and shield to be with the messenger to protect and deliver, and commands not to be afraid of man because it is not the messenger who speaks but the Lord who gives the messages of warning and reproof.
He commands never to deviate from the truth under any circumstances but to give the light given. The messages for these last days written in books shall stand immortalized, unchangeable and eternal, to testify against those who once rejoiced in the light given but gave it up under seductive evil influences and seducing spirits.
In its setting the promise assured Jeremiah that he need not fear the faces of the people before him, because God was with him to deliver him, and it prepared him to speak God's words despite opposition and hardship.
The same assurance belongs to all whom God sends to speak His words, freeing them from fear of people and opposition because God accompanies them and delivers them. The promise joins the command to go wherever God sends and to speak whatever He commands with the gift of God's own words in the mouth, with those sent qualified by His Spirit to speak in Christ's name. Ministers today are sent by Christ as the disciples were sent, as shepherds to feed God's flock with timely truth. Christ's followers are encouraged in the church's mission that though they feel weak, inefficient and powerless, if they make God their strength He works with them so their labor is not in vain.
When the Lord calls and sets apart one in youth to be His messenger, He gives the work of receiving His word and bearing a clear and decided message in the name of the Lord Jesus to erring ones and unbelievers, with pen and voice to reprove from the Word actions that are not right and to exhort from the Word. He promises to make His Word open and plain and not as a strange language, so the message is heard in the true eloquence of simplicity from one never learned in the schools. He promises His Spirit, power, presence and shield to be with the messenger to protect and deliver, and commands not to be afraid of man because it is not the messenger who speaks but the Lord who gives the messages of warning and reproof.
He commands never to deviate from the truth under any circumstances but to give the light given. The messages for these last days written in books shall stand immortalized, unchangeable and eternal, to testify against those who once rejoiced in the light given but gave it up under seductive evil influences and seducing spirits.