Jeremiah 15-17

15
Not even Moses or Samuel could intercede to stop the punishment coming for Manasseh's sins.
Although I will plunder and bereave you, if you return to Me I will restore you afterward.

16
Don't marry now, for the people will die of famine, plague and war.
For their idolatry I throw them out of the land.  But then I will bring them back, fishing and hunting for them one by one.  Then they will know I am God.

17
Judah's sin is written in iron before Me, while they keep sinning on the hills.
The one who trusts man is cursed, and won't last.  The one who trusts God is blessed and prospers.
God searches and knows our heart and mind.
Jeremiah prays for deliverance from those who oppose and mock him by asking where the fulfillment of his prophecies is.
God has Jeremiah stand in the city gate and call out to everyone to stop bearing burdens through these gates on the Sabbath.


How this is about Jesus
His first act of ministry is to call fishers of men - 16:16.


Application
Ch. 16 - As 1 Corinthians 7:26ff teaches, there are times when marriage wouldn't be prudent given the political upheaval coming.  Jeremiah gets a direct command by unique and special revelation to this effect.
Ch. 17 - It's interesting to me that with such large scale issues Jeremiah is addressing, like idolatry and impending invastion, God also calls the people to task for breaking the Sabbath.  Hmm...


"Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit" - 16:19.

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?  I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds" - 17:9-10.