Build and Plant

Articles

Ross Triplett
01/23/22 - Articles

Concerning Jeremiah the Prophet, Jehovah set him over the nations to prophesy about events that were to come upon them.

Jehovah told Jeremiah “to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant” (Jeremiah 1:10). These nations unto whom Jeremiah was to prophesy were to be rooted up, broken down, destroyed and overthrown, all in the process of God’s intent to bring Judah back from captivity and plant them in their own land.

What Jehovah intended to do with the nations is similar to what must be done today through the gospel: error must be plucked up, broken down, destroyed and overthrown before the building and planting can begin.

The apostle Paul recalled how the Thessalonians had “turned unto God from idols, to serve a living and true God” (1 Thessalonians 1:9). This “turning” indicated “an immediate and decisive change, consequent upon a deliberate choice; conversion is a voluntary act in response to the presentation of truth” (Vine’s). This “immediate and decisive change, consequent upon a deliberate choice,” is not partial, but a complete turn to God from idols.

Before Israel went into the land of Canaan, Moses told the people, “Ye shall surely destroy all the places wherein the nations that ye shall dispossess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree: and ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods; and ye shall destroy their name out of that place” (Deuteronomy 12:2-3). Ross Triplett, Sr.