"The Word of God came to Jeremiah saying: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations [nations are Gentiles]. (Jeremiah 1:5 NIV) This verse does not mean Jeremiah lived in the spirit world previous to his birth. This Scripture refers to Psalm 139:16 "Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Jeremiah was called the 'weeping prophet'. He had a short ministry, sensitive and sympathetic by nature, he was to deliver a stern message of judgment. He was martyred in 586 B.C. Today's endtime anxiety in Christian circles compares to Jeremiah's time.
Israel had forsaken the "living" God. God was personally residing in His physical temple here on earth protected by the Levitical Aaronic priesthood. Jeremiah speaking (I apply this to myself today and it fits) "You are always righteous, O LORD, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips [he is not talking about atheists, but those who talk about God a lot] but far from their hearts. Yet you know me, O LORD; you see me and test my thoughts about you. Drag them [the faithless] off like sheep to be butchered! Set them apart for the day of slaughter!
"How long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field be withered? Because those who live in it are wicked, the animals and birds have perished. Moreover, the people are saying, 'He will not see what happens to us. If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan? Your brothers, your own family- even they have betrayed you; they have raised a loud cry against you. Do not trust them, though they speak well of you. (Jeremiah 12:1-6 NIV)
"Moab will be destroyed and her towns invaded; her finest young men will go down in the slaughter, declares the King, whose name is the LORD Almighty. The fall of Moab is at hand; her calamity will come quickly. Mourn for her, all who live around her, all who know her fame; say, `How broken is the mighty sceptre, how broken the glorious staff!' (Jeremiah 48:15-17)
"A sword against the Babylonians!" declares the LORD- "against those who live in Babylon and against her officials and wise men! A sword against her false prophets! They will become fools. A sword against her warriors! They will be filled with terror.
(Jeremiah 50:35-36) "I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and goats." (Jeremiah 51:40)"How Sheshach will be captured, the boast of the whole earth seized! What a horror Babylon will be among the nations! The sea will rise over Babylon; its roaring waves will cover her. Her towns will be desolate, a dry and desert land, a land where no-one lives, through which no man travels. I will punish Bel in Babylon and make him spew out what he has swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him. And the wall of Babylon will fall. Come out of her, my people! Run for your lives! Run from the
fierce anger of the LORD. Do not lose heart or be afraid when rumours are heard in the land; one rumour comes this year, another the next, rumours of violence in the land and of ruler against ruler. For the time will surely come when I [the Lord declaring]
will punish the idols of Babylon; her whole land will be disgraced and her slain will all lie fallen within her."Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will shout for joy over Babylon, for out of the north destroyers will attack her, declares the LORD. Babylon must fall because of Israel's slain, just as the slain in all the earth have fallen because of Babylon You who have escaped the sword, leave and do not linger! Remember the LORD in a distant land, and think on Jerusalem.'' (Jeremiah 51:41-50)