Jeremiah 10 … Consider His Name, Great in Might

Originally posted: 5/11/2021

There is none like You, O Lord;
You are great, and great is Your name in might, (10:6).

If it weren’t all so tragically solemn, the Lord’s satirical tone could almost be comical as He addresses Israel in their falling prey to the deluding influence of the idolatrous gods carved by men. Another example of fatal faith.

“For the customs of the peoples are delusion;
Because it is wood cut from the forest,
The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.
⁴ “They decorate it with silver and with gold;
They fasten it with nails and with hammers
So that it will not totter,” (10:3-4).

But again, we see His longsuffering in His warnings, continual, tireless, and unrelenting. But His people continuously, tirelessly, relentlessly reject His warnings until even those who should have known better, those who had been called to guide His people to Him, had become just plain stupid.

For the shepherds have become stupid
And have not sought the Lord;
Therefore they have not prospered,
And all their flock is scattered, (10:21).

And so stupid that they needed to be reminded that the idols the nations served were made by man, incapable of speaking or walking, and definitely incapable of doing anything for anyone; for they were utterly worthless, inanimate objects.

“Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they,
And they cannot speak;
They must be carried,
Because they cannot walk!
Do not fear them,
For they can do no harm,
Nor can they do any good,” (10:5).

And as though a caricature artist, God Almighty paints a picture of these lifeless, wooden, incompetent formations by man against the backdrop of His Name, Great in Might.

When reference to the Name of God is made, it is not making mention of a title but rather His Character and His Nature. And today, as we look for Him to increase, we will not be disappointed. And as God clearly reveals His Character and His Nature in His Name, Great in Might, every idolatrous god will decrease into oblivion.

Consider His Name, Great in Might

• His Name, Great in Might: the King of the Nations
  •  Who would not fear You, O King of the nations?
    Indeed it is Your due!… (10:7).

• • • Every idolatrous god will serve Him in fear.
      • …For among all the wise men of the nations
        And in all their kingdoms,
        There is none like You, (10:7).

• His Name, Great in Might: the Living God
  • …He is the living God….(10:10).

• • • Every idolatrous god is without breath.
      •  Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge;
        Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols;
        For his molten images are deceitful,
        And there is no breath in them, (10:14).

• His Name, Great in Might: the Everlasting King
  • …and the everlasting King, (10:10).

• • • Every idolatrous god will not endure His indignation.
      • At His wrath the earth quakes,
        And the nations cannot endure His indignation, (10:10).

• His Name, Great in Might: the Powerful Creator
  • It is He who made the earth by His power,
    Who established the world by His wisdom;
    And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens, (10:12).

• • • Every idolatrous god is the work of men.
      •  Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish,
        And gold from Uphaz,
        The work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith;
        Violet and purple are their clothing;
        They are all the work of skilled men, (10:9).

• His Name, Great in Might: the Maker of All
  • The portion of Jacob is not like these;
    For the Maker of all is He, (10:16).

• • • Every idolatrous god is the maker of nothing and will perish.
      • Thus you shall say to them, “The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens,” (10:11).

• His Name, Great in Might: the Lord of Hosts
  • And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;
    The Lord of hosts is His name, (10:16).

• • • Every idolatrous god is powerless in battle against Him.
      • The sound of a report! Behold, it comes—
        A great commotion out of the land of the north—
        To make the cities of Judah
        A desolation, a haunt of jackals, (10:22).

How do we respond to His Name, Great in Might?

It really is heartbreaking to consider the state of God’s people. They had been called to be set apart as His own and He had given them His Word of Truth. But they were deluded, more influenced by pagan philosophy than by the Truth of Who God Is; exchanging the Truth of God for a lie. And rather than worshipping God, Who had revealed His Name, Great in Might, they foolishly sought after the misplaced and futile hope of the surrounding nations.

Professing to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures, (Romans 1:22-23).

But truth be told, this is an ongoing reality. While our own nation may not bow down before carved images, many pay homage to the works of their hands in their pursuit of postmodern ideologies of fulfillment.

And, it’s no secret that we live in times that are often just plain stupid, as many, in their ignorance, run after lies in exchange for God’s glory; and in their attempt to legitimize the idols of their own making, they resolve to discredit God’s Name, Great in Might.

In closing today, let us be built up in His Truth that we would be strengthened and encouraged in the Name of Jesus, Great in Might, for truly there is none like Him.

There is none like You, O Lord;
You are great, and great is Your name in might, (10:6).

• The Name of Jesus, Great in Might: the King of the Nations
  • And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are Your works,
    O Lord God, the Almighty;
    Righteous and true are Your ways,
    King of the nations!
    ⁴ “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
    For You alone are holy;
    For all the nations will come and worship before You,
    For Your righteous acts have been revealed,” (Revelation 15:3-4).

• The Name of Jesus, Great in Might: the True God
  • And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. ²¹ Little children, guard yourselves from idols, (1 John 5:20-21).

• The Name of Jesus, Great in Might: the Living God
  • For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, ¹⁰ and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come, (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).

• The Name of Jesus, Great in Might: the Everlasting King
  • and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” ¹¹ And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹² saying “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen, (Revelation 7:10-12).

• The Name of Jesus, Great in Might: the Powerful Creator
  • Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come, (2 Corinthians 5:17).

• The Name of Jesus, Great in Might: the Maker of All
  • In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being, (John 1:1-3).

• The Name of Jesus, Great in Might: the Lord of Hosts
  • These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful, (Revelation 17:14).

Oh, let us seek His Truth daily, that we would walk in Him, be rooted in His Truth and built up in Christ, that we would be empowered to guard ourselves against the empty delusions of idolatrous philosophies.

For the more we know His Word, the more we will know His Truth; and in that place of His Truth, He will be faithful to establish us in our faith to stand strong in His Name, Great in Might.

Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, ⁷ having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. ⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ, (Colossians 2:6-8).

Let’s Grow Together!