The Lord's own hand, not Isaiah's coal; kingdoms of the vices
'Because I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord. And the Lord stretched out his hand toward me, and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me.' Watch the difference between Jeremiah and Isaiah. Isaiah says, 'I have unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people having unclean lips, and I have seen the King, the Lord of hosts, with my eyes.' And since he confessed that he did not have unclean works, but only small words (for to that point he was a sinner), the Lord did not stretch out his hand. One of the seraphim touched his lips with his hand, and said, 'Behold, I have taken away your iniquities.' But because this one was sanctified 'from the womb,' no tongs are sent to him, and no coal 'from the altar' (he had nothing worthy of the fire). The Lord's own hand touched him. That is why he says, 'The Lord stretched out his hand toward me and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, Behold, I have given my words into your mouth. Behold, I have set you today over nations and kingdoms, to uproot.'
Who is so blessed as to uproot, by the words given by God, the many kingdoms which 'the devil shows,' kingdoms of opposing powers, kingdoms according to the sins? For it is written, 'Behold, I have given my words into your mouth. Behold, I have set you today over nations and kingdoms, to uproot.' And as there are kingdoms, so there are nations. A kingdom cannot even be called a kingdom unless it has nations under it. For example: there is a kingdom of fornication, and the nations of fornication are each several fornication. There is one kingdom, the general sin of greed and of robbery, and there are many kingdoms in those who have many kinds of sins. Then, in each of the sinners, think of the nations under the kingdom: this man has many nations of the kingdom according to fornication, that man has many nations of the kingdom according to robbery, according to slander, according to anger.
It is the work of the words of God, sent out over 'nations and kingdoms,' 'to uproot and to pull down.' To uproot what? The Savior taught, saying, 'Every plant which my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted.' There are some things inside in the souls which 'the heavenly Father did not plant.' For all 'the evil reasonings, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies' are plants planted not by the heavenly Father. And if you want to see whose plants such reasonings are, hear that 'an enemy man did this,' the one who sowed 'the tares in the midst of the wheat.' So God stands by, having the seeds, and the devil. If we give 'place to the devil,' 'the enemy' sows a plant 'which the Father did not plant,' which will certainly be uprooted. If we do not give 'place to the devil,' but give place to God, God rejoices and sows his seeds on our governing mind.
Do not think, then, that Jeremiah received some grim gift from God, because he is set 'over nations and over kingdoms, to uproot.' God is good, uprooting through the words the bad things, the kingdoms hostile to the kingdom of the heavens, the warring nations against the nation of God. 'To uproot and to pull down.'
Greek
«Ὅτι μετὰ σοῦ εἰμι τοῦ ἐξαιρεῖσθαί σε, λέγει κύριος. καὶ ἐξέτεινε κύριος τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ πρός με, καὶ ἥψατο τοῦ στόματός μου, καὶ εἶπε κύριος πρός με. τήρει διαφορὰς Ἱερεμίου καὶ Ἡσαΐου. ὁ Ἡσαΐας φησίν· «ἀκάθαρτα χείλη ἔχων ἐν μέσῳ λαοῦ ἀκάθαρτα χείλη ἔχοντος ἐγὼ οἰκῶ, καὶ τὸν βασιλέα κύριον σαβαὼθ εἶδον τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς μου. καὶ ἐπεὶ ἐξωμολογήσατο οὐκ ἔχων ἔργα ἀκάθαρτα, ἀλλὰ μόνον ῥημάτια (μέχρι γὰρ τούτου ἁμαρτωλὸς ἦν), οὐκ «ἐξέτεινε κύριος τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ«, τὸ δὲ >ἓν τῶν Σεραφὶμ ἥψατο τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ τῶν χειλέων αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἶπεν· ἰδοὺ ἀφῄρηκα τὰς ἀνομίας σου<.
ἐπεὶ δὲ οὗτος ἡγιάσθη «ἐκ μήτρας«, οὐ λαβὶς αὐτῷ πέμπεται οὐδὲ «ἀπὸ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου« ἄνθραξ (οὐκ εἶχεν οὐδὲν ἄξιον τοῦ πυρός), ἀλλ᾿ αὐτὴ ἡ χεὶρ τοῦ κυρίου ἥψατο αὐτοῦ. διὸ λέγει· «ἐξέτεινε κύριος τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ πρός με καὶ ἥψατο τοῦ στόματός μου, καὶ εἶπεν κύριος πρός με· ἰδοὺ δέδωκα τοὺς λόγους μμου εἰς τὸ στόμα σου. ἰδοὺ καθέστακά σε σήμερον ἐπὶ ἔθνη καὶ βασιλείας, ἐκριζοῦν. Τίς οὕτως μακάριός ἐστιν ὡς τὰς βασιλείας πολλὰς οὔσας, ἃς >δείκνυσιν ὁ διάβολος<, βασιλείας οὔσας δυνάμεων ἀντικειμένων, βασιλείας κατὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας, ἐκριζοῦν τοῖς διδομένοις ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγοις; γέγραπται γάρ· «ἰδοὺ δέδωκα τοὺς λόγους μου εἰς τὸ στόμα σου. ἰδοὺ καθέστακά σε σήμερον ἐπὶ ἔθνη καὶ βασιλείας, ἐκριζοῦν.
ὥσπερ δὲ βασιλεῖαί εἰσιν, οὕτως καὶ ἔθνη οὐδὲ δύναται λέγεσθαι βασιλεία εἰ μὴ ἡ ἔχουσα ὑφ᾿ ἑαυτὴν ἔθνη. οἷον, βασιλεία ἐστὶ τῆς πορνείας, ἔθνη τῆς πορνείας ἑκάστη πορνεία†. μία βασιλεία ἐστὶ αὐτὸ τὸ γενικὸν ἁμάρτημα τῆς πλεονεξίας καὶ τῆς ἀποστερήσεως, καὶ εἰσὶ πολλαὶ βασιλεῖαι ἐν τοῖς πολλὰ εἴδη ἔχουσιν ἁμαρτημάτων. εἶτα καθ᾿ ἕκαστον τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν νόει μοι τὰ ἔθνη τὰ ὑπὸ τὴν βασιλείαν, ὡς εἰπεῖν, ὅτι ὁ δεῖνα ἔχει ἔθνη πολλὰ τῆς βασιλείας τῆς κατὰ τὴν πορνείαν, ὁ δεῖνα ἔχει ἔθνη πολλὰ τῆς βασιλείας τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἀποστέρησιν, τῆς κατὰ τὴν καταλαλιάν, τῆς κατὰ τὴν ὀργήν. ἔργον ἐστὶ τῶν λόγων τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπὶ «ἔθνη καὶ βασιλείας« ἐξαποσταλέντων «ἐκριζοῦν καὶ κατασκάπτειν.
ἐκριζοῦν τίνα; ἐδίδαξεν ὁ σωτὴρ λέγων· «πᾶσα φυτεία ἣν οὐκ ἐφύτευσεν ὁ πατήρ μου ὁ οὐράνιος ἐκριζωθήσεται. ἔστι τινὰ ἔνδον ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς, ἃ «οὐκ ἐφύτευσεν ὁ πατὴρ ὁ οὐράνιος«· πάντες γὰρ οἱ >διαλογισμοὶ οἱ πονηροί, φόνοι, μοιχεῖαι, πορνεῖαι, κλοπαὶ, ψευδομαρτυρίαι, βλασφημίαι<, φυτεῖαί εἰσι πεφυτευμέναι οὐχ ὑπὸ τοῦ οὐρανίου πατρός. εἰ θέλεις δὲ ἰδεῖν, τίνος εἰσὶ φυτεῖαι οἱ τοιοῦτοι διαλογισμοί, ἄκουε ὅτι ὁ «ἐχθρὸς ἄνθρωπος τοῦτο ἐποίησεν«, ὁ ἐπισπείρας τὰ «ζιζάνια ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ σίτου. ἐφέστηκεν οὖν ὁ θεὸς ἔχων τὰ σπέρματα, καὶ ὁ διάβολος.
ἐὰν διδῶμεν «τόπον τῷ διαβόλῳ«, «ὁ ἐχθρὸς« ἐπισπείρει φυτείαν, «ἣν οὐκ ἐφύτευσεν ὁ πατὴρ διαβόλῳ«, πάντως ἐκριζωθησομένην· ἐὰν μὴ διδῶμεν «τόπον τῷ διαβόλῳ«, ἀλλὰ διδῶμεν τόπον τῷ θεῷ, χαίρων ὁ θεὸς σπείρει τὰ σπέρματα αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν ἡμῶν. μὴ νόμιζε τοίνυν τὸν Ἱερεμίαν σκυθρωπόν τι εἰληφέναι δῶρον ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὅτι καθίσταται «ἐπὶ ἔθνη καὶ ἐπὶ βασιλείας, ἐκριζοῦν. ἀγαθὸς ὁ θεός ἐστι διὰ τῶν λόγων ἐκριζῶν τὰ φαῦλα, τὰς ἐχθρὰς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν τῇ βασιλείᾳ, τὰ πολεμικὰ ἔθνη τῷ ἔθνει τῷ τοῦ θεοῦ. «Ἐκριζοῦν καὶ κατασκάπτειν.