Jeremiah 32:8b
"Then, just as YHWH had said, Hanamel came to me there in the courtyard and asked me to buy the field. So I knew that YHWH had really spoken to me. "
Jeremiah was a prophet. He was led by the Spirit of YHWH. And he had just received a word from YHWH. In 32:1, we read that YHWH spoke to Jeremiah. In 32:6, Jeremiah wrote "YHWH told me . . ."
However, it was only when he saw the fulfillment of those words before his very eyes that Jeremiah was able to say with absolute certainty that YHWH had REALLY spoken to him. Other English translations render verse 8b as "Then, I knew . . ."
Verses 6 - 7 records the prophecy given by YHWH of the arrival of Jeremiah's cousin, Hanamel, to ask Jeremiah to buy over Hanamel's field at Anatoth. Verse 8 then tells us that the eventual arrival of Hanamel was a significant confirmation that the words Jeremiah heard earlier in his vision in verse 6 were really authentic, that they came from the mouth of YHWH Himself.
"Then, just as YHWH had said . . .That confirmation was essential because it was only by the fulfillment of the word of YHWH that the prophet Jeremiah could know for sure that YHWH had indeed spoken.
So I knew that YHWH had spoken . . ."
Even prophets need confirmation!
Today, like Jeremiah, children of YHWH who are part of the body of Messiah are to be led by the the Spirit of YHWH. The Epistle to the Galatians, in chapter 5:16 - 25, tells us to allow the Spirit of God to direct our lives and not to give in to the desires of the flesh.
Also, like Jeremiah, today we need an outward, tangible confirmation that YHWH has given us His Word - the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, brought about by the Atonement throught Yeshua the Messiah, the Appointed Eternal High Priest.
What outward, tangible confirmation do we have among us today? That confirmation is by the outward, visible sign of the fullness of the Spirit of YHWH in us, by making us cry out, : "Father! My Father!" (or Abba! Father!) (Galatians 4:6), confirming that we are the children of God.
The same explanation can be found in Romans 8:15 where we read that we are given the power to cry out to God, "Abba! Father!" when the Spirit of YHWH joins itself to our spirits to declare that we are children of God.
A further outward tangible confirmation from our Heavenly Father is the sign of the baptism of the Spirit, several instances of which are recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. In Acts 10:46-47, for example, when Peter and the believers from Joppa heard the household of Cornelius at Caesarea speaking in unknown languages, praising the greatness of God, they realised to their amazement that God had poured out the gift of His Spirit even on the gentile people!
Acts 10:47 GNTLike Jeremiah, the apostle Peter saw the confirmation, and he could also then say,
These people have received the Holy Spirit, just as we also did. Can anyone, then, stop them from being baptized with water?
"So I knew . . ."
Brothers and sisters in Yeshua the Messiah, do you have such outward confirmation of the Spirit of Elohim in you?
