Jeremiah 16:1

The Bible says in Jeremiah 16:1-4, “The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying, Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place. For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land; They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.” God told Jeremiah to neither have a wife or children. This brings up a couple of important truths about life in this world. The first truth has to do with marriage for a believer. If you get married or not should be dependent upon what is God’s will for you.

Most people God wants to get married. God invented marriage between a man and a woman. Jesus performed His first miracle at the wedding of a man and a woman. God created marriage so that man would have a help-meet. It says in Genesis 2:18, “And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” God also created marriage to be symbolic of Jesus’ love for the believer. It says in Ephesians 5:23-25, “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;”

It is the will of God for most people to be married. If it is God’s will for you to be married, then God will bring your future spouse across your path, and He will give you love for each other. Love from God is not one-sided. That is one way that you will know that God has brought such and such a person into your life: they will have as much for you as you have for them because the love that both of you have will come form the same source: the eternal love of God. But it is important to notice that God brought the woman to the man: God brought them together. It says in Genesis 2:21-22, “And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.”

It is critically important that you have God’s leading in the choosing of a husband or a wife. It must be God’s will whom you choose to marry and it must be a result of God leading you to that person. Pray about it and ask for His will. In the case of Jeremiah it was God’s will that Jeremiah not get married at all. And of course, it was God’s will that Jeremiah not have children. Why did God not want Jeremiah to have neither a wife nor children? The reason had to do with the circumstances into which that wife or those children would live, and the circumstances were not good. The circumstances would have led to their early and violent death. God said in Jeremiah 16:4, “They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried…” God knows the end from the beginning. We do not. God knows best, and He wants what is best for us. That is why it is critically important that we be led of the Lord Jesus in every decision that we make including whom we marry, when we marry, and when and how many children that we have. It is interesting to note what Jesus said concerning having children during a difficult time. Jesus said in Matthew 24:19-21, talking about the circumstances that will exist on the earth during the Great Tribulation, “And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” Jesus spoke of a time when it would be better not to have children because of the violence that will exist. Are you able to bring children into this world and protect them not only from the violence, but from the false teachings, from the sexual molestation, from the drugs and alcohol, from the secularism, and from the worldliness on every hand? Just make sure that you pray about it, and that you are led of the Lord in these details of your life.

The Bible says in Jeremiah 16:5-8, “For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the LORD, even lovingkindness and mercies. Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them: Neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother. Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.” These verses are telling us one more way in which the people of Israel would suffer for their evil ways. The problems of the people of Israel was not only that they were sinful. We are all sinful. But they had also become rebellious against God and His Word, and they remained unrepentant. Jesus said, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” Destruction and death would come to the people of Israel. Many would see their closest family members perish. Normally in the history of the human race, after a time of death, there would be a time of mourning: a time to cry, a time to sorrow, a time to remember those that have passed on before us. But the Israelites would not have such a time to get over their losses. The destruction of their society would be so great that even the chance to mourn those who have died would be gone. This concept of death and the mourning and the sorrow that follows death reminds us of the teachings of the New Testament on the subject.

When Jesus rose from the dead, He changed everything concerning death and what it means for those who are left behind. It says in Matthew 28:1-8, “In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.” It also says in First Thessalonians 4:13-14, “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” Of course, we still have sorrow when we lose a loved one, but we do not lose hope like those who do not know Jesus. No matter what the human circumstances of their death might have been, the Lord decided that their time had come. At least we know that we will see them again if they belonged to Jesus as well as ourselves. What a wonderful reunion we can look forward to. This life is temporary and it ends in death for everyone. Therefore, what is really important is to be ready for the end of life by trusting in Jesus to be the Savior from your sins.

The Bible says in Jeremiah 16:9, “For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.” This same warning was already given in Jeremiah 7:34 that said, “Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate.” and the warning will be found again in Jeremiah 25:10 that says, “Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.” One of the greatest joys of life is when a bridegroom and a bride come together in marriage. One of the common traditions of all societies has been the happiness and celebrations of wedding ceremonies. How miserable a society will be that no longer has such celebrations, and God said that He would remove that joy from the Israelites. They were going to have mourning and sadness because of their sins. No joy of any kind. But it is good to tell the end of the story. Notice what the Lord says about the future of Israel in Jeremiah 33:8-11, “And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me. And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it. Thus saith the LORD; Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast, The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the LORD.” That which God had taken away because of punishment for sin, He will one day restore through the blessing of forgiveness of sin.

This story of sin and forgiveness is in many ways the story of the human race. Perhaps the worst thing about life is death. Death started when Adam and Eve sinned. But Jesus came and died for sin. All who believe in Jesus are given eternal life instead of eternal death. And then death itself shall die. God will remove death from all things everywhere forever. It says in Revelation 21:4, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” You may have suffered some consequences for your sins in this life, but do not ever doubt God’s ability and probably intentions to restore all things. Jesus can change things so that the outcome of your life can be even better than what it otherwise would have been even if you had not committed those sins. God loves to forgive sins, and He loves to restore all things to what they should have been all along.

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