Friday, May 7, 2021

Jeremiah 23 SERIES: Vs.29-30

  Commentary of Charles Spurgeon, Adam Clarke & Matthew Henry
 
Is not my word like as a fire
saith the LORD; 
and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? 
Therefore, behold, 
I am against the prophets, 
saith the LORD, 
that steal my words every one from his neighbor.
Vs.29,30
 
 
Is not my word like a fire, saith the Lord?
Q: Is their word so? 
Q: Has it the power and efficacy that the word of God has? 
A: No; nothing like it; there is no more comparison than between painted fire and real fire
Theirs is like an ignis fatuus—a deceiving meteor, leading men into by-paths and dangerous precipices. 

Note, The word of God is like fire
The law was a fiery law (Deu. 33:2), and of the gospel Christ says, I have come to send fire on the earth, Lu. 12:49. The word of him who has his commission from heaven shall be as a fire and as a hammer; sinners shall be convinced and converted to God by it. 
But the others, though they steal the word from their neighbor-borrow or pilfer a good sermon, yet they do not profit the people at all, because God did not send them.
 
a hammer breaking the rock in pieces - The unhumbled heart of man is like a rock
---if it will not be melted by the word of God as the fire
---it will be broken to pieces by it as the hammer
Whatever opposition is given to the word, it will be borne down and broken to pieces.
 
Fire has different effects, according as the matter is on which it works; 
--it hardens clay, but softens wax; 
--it consumes the dross, but purifies the gold.