◄ Jeremiah 1:12 ►
"You have observed correctly," said the LORD, "for I am watching over My word to accomplish it."
Study Bible
“You have observed correctly,”
This phrase is a response from God to Jeremiah after he sees the vision of an almond branch. The almond tree, known as the "watcher" in Hebrew, symbolizes alertness and readiness. Jeremiah's ability to see and understand the vision correctly indicates his prophetic insight and readiness to receive God's message. This moment marks the beginning of Jeremiah's prophetic ministry, emphasizing the importance of spiritual perception and discernment in understanding God's revelations.

said the LORD,
The use of "the LORD" here refers to Yahweh, the covenant name of God, highlighting His authority and faithfulness. This divine communication underscores the personal relationship between God and His prophets. It also reflects the consistent biblical theme of God speaking directly to His chosen messengers, as seen with other prophets like Moses and Isaiah, establishing the authenticity and divine origin of the message.

“for I am watching over My word to accomplish it.”
This statement assures the fulfillment of God's promises and prophecies. The imagery of God "watching over" His word is akin to a gardener tending to a plant, ensuring it grows and bears fruit. It reflects God's sovereignty and faithfulness in bringing His plans to fruition, regardless of human circumstances. This concept is echoed in other scriptures, such as Isaiah 55:11, where God's word is described as never returning void but accomplishing His purpose. The phrase also foreshadows the ultimate fulfillment of God's word in Jesus Christ, who embodies the Word made flesh, fulfilling the law and the prophets.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Jeremiah
A prophet called by God to deliver His messages to the people of Judah. His ministry spanned over 40 years, during which he warned of impending judgment and called for repentance.

2. The LORD (Yahweh)
The covenant-keeping God of Israel, who speaks directly to Jeremiah, affirming His active role in fulfilling His promises and prophecies.

3. Judah
The southern kingdom of Israel, which was facing imminent judgment due to its persistent disobedience and idolatry.

4. The Almond Tree Vision
In the preceding verse, Jeremiah sees a branch of an almond tree, which is a play on words in Hebrew. The word for almond tree ("shaqed") sounds like the word for watching ("shoqed"), symbolizing God's vigilance.

5. Prophetic Fulfillment
The event of God watching over His word to ensure its fulfillment, emphasizing His sovereignty and faithfulness.
Teaching Points
God's Faithfulness
God is faithful to His word. Just as He watched over His promises to Jeremiah, He remains vigilant over His promises to us today.

Divine Sovereignty
God's sovereignty is evident in His ability to bring His word to pass. We can trust in His control over all circumstances.

Active Participation
Believers are called to actively engage with God's word, knowing that He is actively working to fulfill it in our lives.

Encouragement in Uncertainty
In times of uncertainty, we can find comfort in knowing that God is watching over His word to accomplish it, providing assurance and hope.

Call to Obedience
Understanding God's commitment to His word should inspire us to live in obedience, aligning our lives with His revealed will.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does understanding God's vigilance over His word impact your trust in His promises today?

2. In what ways can you actively participate in God's work, knowing He is watching over His word to accomplish it?

3. Reflect on a time when you experienced God's faithfulness in fulfilling His word in your life. How did it strengthen your faith?

4. How can the imagery of the almond tree and its connection to God's vigilance encourage you in your current circumstances?

5. What steps can you take to ensure that you are aligning your life with God's word, knowing that He is committed to fulfilling it?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Isaiah 55:11
This verse highlights the effectiveness of God's word, emphasizing that it will not return void but will accomplish His purposes, similar to the assurance given to Jeremiah.

Psalm 121:4
This psalm speaks of God as the one who neither slumbers nor sleeps, reinforcing the idea of His constant vigilance over His people and His promises.

Hebrews 4:12
The living and active nature of God's word is emphasized, showing its power to discern and accomplish God's will.
Sermons
The Dread CommissionS. Conway Jeremiah 1:4-19
The Almond Tree and the Seething PotD. Young Jeremiah 1:11-14
Jeremiah's VisionsS. Conway Jeremiah 1:11-16
Natural Objects Setting Forth Divine DispensationsJeremiah 1:11-16
Spiritual VisionJ. Parker, D. D.Jeremiah 1:11-16
The Almond Tree's MessageJ. P. Gladstone.Jeremiah 1:11-16
The Rod of the Almond Tree and the Seething PotSermons by a London MinisterJeremiah 1:11-16
Tree EmblemsProfessor Post, F. L. S.Jeremiah 1:11-16
Hastening IllsA.F. Muir Jeremiah 1:12-16
People
Amon, Anathoth, Benjamin, Hilkiah, Jehoiakim, Jeremiah, Josiah, Zedekiah
Places
Anathoth, Jerusalem
Topics
Effect, Fulfilled, Hast, Hasten, Perform, Watch, Watchful, Watching
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Jeremiah 1:12

     1155   God, truthfulness

Jeremiah 1:11-12

     4416   branch

Jeremiah 1:11-14

     5548   speech, divine

Jeremiah 1:11-16

     1431   prophecy, OT methods

Library
May the Fifteenth God is Wide-Awake
"Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree." --JEREMIAH i. 7-19. And through the almond tree the Lord gave the trembling young prophet the strength of assurance. The almond tree is the first to awake from its wintry sleep. When all other trees are held in frozen slumber the almond blossoms are looking out on the barren world. And God is like that, awake and vigilant. Nobody anticipates Him. Wherever Jeremiah was sent on his prophetic mission the Lord would be there before …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Jeremiah, a Lesson for the Disappointed.
"Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord."--Jeremiah i. 8. The Prophets were ever ungratefully treated by the Israelites, they were resisted, their warnings neglected, their good services forgotten. But there was this difference between the earlier and the later Prophets; the earlier lived and died in honour among their people,--in outward honour; though hated and thwarted by the wicked, they were exalted to high places, and ruled in the congregation. …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

The Writings of Jerome.
The following is a list of the writings arranged under various heads, and showing the date of composition and the place held by each in the Edition of Vallarsi, the eleven volumes of which will be found in Migne's Patrologia, vols. xxii. to xxx. The references are to the volumes of Jerome's works (i.-xi.) in that edition. I. Bible translations: (1) From the Hebrew.--The Vulgate of the Old Testament, written at Bethlehem, begun 391, finished 404, vol. ix. (2) From the Septuagint.--The Psalms as used …
St. Jerome—The Principal Works of St. Jerome

Out of Sectarian Confusion
I was still a Methodist. The Methodist did not license women to preach; but when the preachers found out that God was using me in the salvation of souls and that I was not especially interested in building up any certain denomination, I had an abundance of calls. God had already begun talking to my brother Jeremiah about the sin of division, and he was beginning to see the evils of sectarianism. The winter after I was healed, he had attended the Jacksonville, Illinois, holiness convention, and had …
Mary Cole—Trials and Triumphs of Faith

How those are to be Admonished who do not Even Begin Good Things, and those who do not Finish them when Begun.
(Admonition 35.) Differently to be admonished are they who do not even begin good things, and those who in no wise complete such as they have begun. For as to those who do not even begin good things, for them the first need is, not to build up what they may wholesomely love, but to demolish that wherein they are wrongly occupied. For they will not follow the untried things they hear of, unless they first come to feel how pernicious are the things that they have tried; since neither does one desire …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

The Servant's Inflexible Resolve
'For the Lord God will help Me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set My face like a flint.'--ISAIAH l. 7. What a striking contrast between the tone of these words and of the preceding! There all is gentleness, docility, still communion, submission, patient endurance. Here all is energy and determination, resistance and martial vigour. It is like the contrast between a priest and a warrior. And that gentleness is the parent of this boldness. The same Will which is all submission …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Baptismal Covenant Can be Kept Unbroken. Aim and Responsibility of Parents.
We have gone "to the Law and to the Testimony" to find out what the nature and benefits of Baptism are. We have gathered out of the Word all the principal passages bearing on this subject. We have grouped them together, and studied them side by side. We have noticed that their sense is uniform, clear, and strong. Unless we are willing to throw aside all sound principles of interpretation, we can extract from the words of inspiration only one meaning, and that is that the baptized child is, by virtue …
G. H. Gerberding—The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church

That Sometimes Some Laudably Desire the Office of Preaching, While Others, as Laudably, are Drawn to it by Compulsion.
Although sometimes some laudably desire the office of preaching, yet others are as laudably drawn to it by compulsion; as we plainly perceive, if we consider the conduct of two prophets, one of whom offered himself of his own accord to be sent to preach, yet the other in fear refused to go. For Isaiah, when the Lord asked whom He should send, offered himself of his own accord, saying, Here I am; send me (Isai. vi. 8). But Jeremiah is sent, yet humbly pleads that he should not be sent, saying, Ah, …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

A Defence of the Doctrine of Justification, by Faith in Jesus Christ;
SHEWING, TRUE GOSPEL-HOLINESS FLOWS FROM THENCE; OR, MR. FOWLER'S PRETENDED DESIGN OF CHRISTIANITY, PROVED TO BE NOTHING MORE THAN TO TRAMPLE UNDER FOOT THE BLOOD OF THE SON OF GOD; AND THE IDOLIZING OF MAN'S OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS AS ALSO, HOW WHILE HE PRETENDS TO BE A MINISTER OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, HE OVERTHROWETH THE WHOLESOME DOCTRINE CONTAINED IN THE 10TH, 11TH, AND 13TH, OF THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES OF THE SAME, AND THAT HE FALLETH IN WITH THE QUAKER AND ROMANIST, AGAINST THEM. BY JOHN BUNYAN …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Letter Xlv (Circa A. D. 1140) to the Canons of Lyons, on the Conception of S. Mary.
To the Canons of Lyons, on the Conception of S. Mary. Bernard states that the Festival of the Conception was new; that it rested on no legitimate foundation; and that it should not have been instituted without consulting the Apostolic See, to whose opinion he submits. 1. It is well known that among all the Churches of France that of Lyons is first in importance, whether we regard the dignity of its See, its praiseworthy regulations, or its honourable zeal for learning. Where was there ever the vigour …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

Epistle iv. To Cyriacus, Bishop.
To Cyriacus, Bishop. Gregory to Cyriacus, Bishop of Constantinople. We have received with becoming charity our common sons, George the presbyter and Theodore your deacon; and we rejoice that you have passed from the care of ecclesiastical business to the government of souls, since, according to the voice of the Truth, He that is faithful in a little will be faithful also in much (Luke xvi. 10). And to the servant who administers well it is said, Because thou hast been faithful over a few things, …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

The Sin-Bearer.
A COMMUNION MEDITATION AT MENTONE. "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls."--1 Peter ii. 24, 25. THE SIN-BEARER. THIS wonderful passage is a part of Peter's address to servants; and in his day nearly all servants were slaves. Peter begins at the eighteenth verse: "Servants, be subject …
Charles Hadden Spurgeon—Till He Come

John the Baptist's Person and Preaching.
(in the Wilderness of Judæa, and on the Banks of the Jordan, Occupying Several Months, Probably a.d. 25 or 26.) ^A Matt. III. 1-12; ^B Mark I. 1-8; ^C Luke III. 1-18. ^b 1 The beginning of the gospel [John begins his Gospel from eternity, where the Word is found coexistent with God. Matthew begins with Jesus, the humanly generated son of Abraham and David, born in the days of Herod the king. Luke begins with the birth of John the Baptist, the Messiah's herald; and Mark begins with the ministry …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Jeremiah
The interest of the book of Jeremiah is unique. On the one hand, it is our most reliable and elaborate source for the long period of history which it covers; on the other, it presents us with prophecy in its most intensely human phase, manifesting itself through a strangely attractive personality that was subject to like doubts and passions with ourselves. At his call, in 626 B.C., he was young and inexperienced, i. 6, so that he cannot have been born earlier than 650. The political and religious …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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