Jeremiah 12:5

GOD'S ANSWER TO JEREMIAH

"If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, how canst thou contend with horses? and though in a land of peace thou art secure, yet how wilt thou do in the pride of the Jordan? For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee; even they have cried aloud after thee; believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee."

God's answer to Jeremiah is somewhat shocking. The Lord rebuked him, and we might paraphrase the meaning of this paragraph in this manner:

Look, Jeremiah, why should you be bothered about the prosperity of wicked men? If, in your race for me, you have been worn out by men, what are you going to do when you have to run against horses? If you have trouble feeling secure on level ground, what is going to happen to you when you have to pass through the "pride of the Jordan?" You have hardly seen anything at all yet. Buckle your seat belt, the worst is yet to come!

This might not be all that God said to Jeremiah, because, in Jeremiah 12:4, it appears that God also might have mentioned the "latter end" of the wicked. Certainly, in the Old Testament, this was the inspired answer to the problem Jeremiah was having with the prosperity of the wicked. The Psalmist was tempted to stumble on the problem that troubled Jeremiah; but he confessed that the truth appeared to him, "When I went into the sanctuary of God, and considered their latter end." (Psalms 73:17). The ultimate fate of the wicked nullifies and cancels out all of the earthly joys and prosperities of evil men; and that sublime truth was surely available to all of God's children living in that dispensation.

"The pride of Jordan ..." (Jeremiah 12:5). "The `pride of Jordan' referred to the rank growth of trees, shrubs and vegetation that grew on both sides of the Jordan river, especially between the Sea of Tiberias and Lake Merom, and which afforded a shelter for wild boars, lions, bears and tigers."[5]

These two verses stress the fact that, after all, prosperous wickedness is a very ordinary problem that should not discourage any one.

Today, lions are almost never seen west of the Euphrates river, having disappeared from the `pride of Jordan'; but, "The bones of lions have been found in the gravel of the bed of the Jordan."[6] It is always a mistake to understand conditions as they exit now as an indication of what the conditions were thousands of years ago. The critics did when they questioned the account in Acts that relates Paul's shaking off a poisonous snake into the fire. Of course, the snakes have indeed disappeared from Malta; but they have also disappeared from Manhattan Island, and for exactly the same reason, namely, the vast increase in the population.

THE CHRISTIAN ANSWER

We have already noted that much more satisfactory answers to the problem of the prosperity of evil men which somewhat perplexed Jeremiah are available in the teaching of Christianity in addition to the answers available under the Old Covenant.

A. The values focused upon in Christianity are not temporal and physical at all, but eternal. People who suffer persecution, defeat, frustration, hardship, or even physical suffering and death are commanded to remember, "Great is your reward in heaven!" (Matthew 5:12).

B. The favor and prosperity enjoyed by wicked men are not marks of God's approval but an indication of his mercy; for God "Is longsuffering ... not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Peter 3:9).

C. God's world is an orderly world; and there are certain rewards and penalties that derive from that order. It happens that in many instances wicked men are more skilled in adjusting to God's order than are righteous persons. Jesus noted that, "The sons of this world are for their own generation wiser than the sons of the light." (Luke 16:8). No doubt this fact sometimes contributes to the prosperity of evil men.

D. The great fact is that the rewards of eternal life are so great, surpassing even the utmost limits of human imagination, that whatever the sufferings, sorrows, and limitations may fall upon our earth-life, all such things shall be canceled and nullified by the glories of eternal life. As Paul put it: "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed" (Romans 8:18).

E. It all turns on the difference in time and eternity. When the two are compared, an entire earthly life is less than a fraction of a second compared to a billion years. To win the great prize of Eternal Glory with Christ is more than worth bearing the burdens of whatever disasters our earth-life is capable of bringing upon us. No recipient of such a blessing should be troubled by whatever pleasures and prosperities may be enjoyed by the wicked for the brief season of earthly life.