In this message I would like to give a brief word concerning God's economy as it is presented in the book of Jeremiah. In chapters fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen of Jeremiah we have a full picture of God's economy by His dispensing.
Jeremiah 15:10—16:9 is a record of a conversation involving three parties: Jeremiah, his mother, and Jehovah. Jeremiah spoke in a human way, and God also spoke in a human way, speaking as if He were a human being. In this conversation and in Jehovah's further statement of Judah's sins (16:10—17:27), God's economy is revealed.
The book of Jeremiah reveals that God surely judges the evil ones, and sometimes He uses certain evil ones to judge other evil ones. This was the situation in chapter fifteen. God was intending to judge the people of Israel, and He sent Jeremiah to tell them that He would use the Babylonians to punish them. They responded by persecuting Jeremiah, and this caused him to be disappointed. In his disappointment Jeremiah said to his mother, "Woe is me, my mother, because you bore me, / A man of strife and a man of contention to the whole land. / I have not lent with interest, / Nor have they lent to me; / Yet everyone curses me" (15:10). Jeremiah's mother was silent, but Jehovah came in to comfort and encourage him, saying, "Surely I will set you free for your good; / Indeed I will cause the enemy to make supplication to you / In a time of trouble and in a time of distress. / Can one break iron, / Iron from the north, or bronze?" (vv. 11-12). The word iron here refers to the Babylonians. God was assuring Jeremiah that He would use the Babylonians to punish Israel. After hearing this, Jeremiah petitioned Jehovah for His care, saying, "O Jehovah, You know; / Remember me and visit me, / And avenge me of my persecutors. / In Your longsuffering do not take me away; / Know that for Your sake I bear reproach" (v. 15). Jehovah answered with a further commission to Jeremiah (vv. 19-21) and also by placing restrictions on Jeremiah for His further commission (16:1-9). Finally, Jehovah gave a further statement of Judah's (as Israel's) sins.