Homilist Jeremiah 23:29 Is not my word like as a fire? said the LORD; and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? I. A picture of the HUMAN HEART. 1. It has within it that which requires to be consumed. Who that knows his own soul can gainsay this? There is ignorance, prejudice, error, selfishness, guilt, and ungenerous and pernicious principles of action that must be consumed. They pollute the conscience, they enthral the faculties, they enervate the powers of the soul. Like the luxuriant growth of the prairies, they must be burned down to the root before the soil can be cultivated. 2. It is in an unimpressionable condition. It is like a "rock," insensitive, hard, obdurate, and so it verily is in its unregenerate state. II. A picture of the DIVINE WORD. 1. It is a fire. "Is not My Word like as a fire? saith the Lord."(1) It is a penetrating fire, it burns into the inmost soul. (2) It is a destructive fire, it burns up the wrong. (3) It is a purifying fire, it consumes all that is noxious and vile, (4) It is an unquenchable fire, it cannot be put out; the billows, from the great ocean of worldliness, infidelity and superstition, have been dashing against it for centuries; but it burns as strongly and brightly as ever. 2. It is a Divinely constructed "hammer," to break through the stratum of moral rock which covers the soil of the heart, shutting out the sunbeam and the shower, and preventing the germination and growth of the seeds of virtue and religion. Conclusion — Thank God for this fire and hammer! Let the fire burn, let the hammer strike. (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?WEB: Isn't my word like fire? says Yahweh; and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? |
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