BEN F. VICK, JR.
In the last gasps of Judah’s life in the land, the prophet Jeremiah looked on with tears. It was in the days of Josiah, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah. It was then that God commissioned the prophet from Anathoth. Jeremiah tells of this commission: “Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.” (Jer. 1:9-10.) God put the words in Jeremiah’s mouth. That’s verbal inspiration. Jeremiah’s work involved some negatives: root out, pull down, destroy, and throw down. It also involved some positives: to build and to plant.
Preaching involves both negatives and positives. It is not all negative, but more than most think. It is not all positive, less than some practice. In Paul’s last letter, he told the young preacher Timothy, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” (2 Tim. 4:2.) Preachers are not in the work to please men. Paul said, “For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” (Gal. 1:10.) I heard Foy E. Wallace say that he had no friends when he stood to preach. Of course, he had many friends, but he meant his responsibility was to preach the gospel without favoritism.
Jeremiah’s task was heavy. However, the Lord said to him, “Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.” (Jer.1:17-19.) In our own vernacular, the Lord said: Jeremiah, roll up your sleeves and go to work. You speak unto them all that I commanded you. Show no fear at their expressions lest I cause you to be dismayed in their presence. I have made you a defenced city, an iron pillar and brass walls against the princes, priests, and the people. God prepared Jeremiah for the onslaughts of the opposition. They would not be victorious. God promised to be with Jeremiah and deliver him.
As Jeremiah watched Judah’s demise, his heart was heavy, and the tears flowed unceasingly. He said, “When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me.” (Jer. 8:18.) With great sadness, he said, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” He lamented, “For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?” (Jer.8:21-22.) Gilead was known for her balm, her salve; she had physicians there, but Judah did not seek her spiritual recovery. Thus, Jeremiah cried, “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; That I might leave my people, and go from them! For they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.” (Jer. 9:1-2.)
God’s spokesman said to Judah, “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.” (Jer. 6:16-17.) Jeremiah was calling upon the people to stand in the forks of the road to see. Then ask for the old paths, the old ways, the good way, and walk therein. Observe the verbs: stand, see, ask, and walk. People must seek the truth. Yes, it is the old way but the best way. A love of the truth will cause one to find the truth. Solomon said, “Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.” (Prov. 23:23.)
In seeking the old paths, one does not go back to the Restoration or Reformation movements, nor to what the ecumenical councils have said; but one must go back to the New Testament. Go back to the old Jerusalem gospel. That is the old paths men must seek. Jesus said, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” (Matt. 7:7-8.) Yes, we are duty-bound to preach the gospel to the lost world, but men are also obligated to seek the truth as the merchantman seeking goodly pearls.
Once recognized as the Lord’s church, some have left the old paths, such as the Skillman Avenue congregation in Dallas, TX. Because they were dwindling in size, their elders surveyed the membership in November of 2021 to see if they would be willing to merge with The Hills church (once the Richland Hills congregation which left the old paths years ago), and now has three campuses). The Skillman Avenue survey also asked if members were open to the appointment of women elders. They have had a woman, Makenna Miller, as a youth minister. One of the ministers, John Mark Davidson, who began working with the church in 2011, resigned in 2018; but during his tenure, he developed a plan to revitalize the Skillman Avenue congregation. Part of the plan was a second service with instrumental music and expanded roles for women. Four of the six elders resigned after Davidson shared his plans. One of the four was persuaded to stay. All four elders should have risen in the strength of Israel’s God and stood in the gap. They should have fired those ministers. The Hills congregation(s) is/are no better. A vote was taken at Skillman Avenue and was two votes short of merging. Both of these groups have departed from the old paths. (See The Christian Chronicle, July 2022.) Who is to blame? Preachers who did not preach what was needed and elders who did not demand the truth to be taught. The way was paved for liberalism to infiltrate by failing to preach the old paths.
If Judah had sought the old paths and walked in them, she would have had rest for her soul. The sad refrain is: “But they said, We will not walk therein.” Let us read, weep, and learn. Let the watchmen sound the trumpet.