Proclaiming God’s Word

In John 18:20, Jesus prophesied in the temple in Jerusalem... “I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret.”

Peter prophesied in the temple in Jerusalem. In Acts 5:20, an angel of the Lord said to him, “Go, stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this Life.”

“The Word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ‘Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this Word, and say, hear the Word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord!’” Jeremiah 7:1-2

Proverbs 8:1-2 says, “Does not wisdom cry out, and understanding lift up her voice? She takes her stand on the top of the high hill, beside the way, where the paths meet.”

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.” Jeremiah 7:3

Jeremiah 27:8 says, “Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.” The Lord is gracious to remind us that we need to make a decision now before it is too late to do so.

“Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.’” Jeremiah 7:4

In Matthew 3:8, John the Baptist spoke to a similar group of corrupt spiritual leaders as Jeremiah, saying, “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” What do fruits of repentance look like? They look like God producing good fruit in a person’s life.

In Matthew 3:9, John told the Pharisees, “Do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.”

Micah 3:11 indicates that Jerusalem’s “leaders pronounce judgment for a bribe, her priests instruct for a price and her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the Lord saying, ‘Is not the Lord in our midst? Calamity will not come upon us.’”

“For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.” Jeremiah 7:5-7

The call of God to us is to love Him and love people. Use good judgment! Don’t oppress: foreigners, the fatherless or widows. Protect the innocent! Be faithful to God!

James 1:27 says, “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress. Keep yourself from being unstained by the world.”

“Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit.” Jeremiah 7:8

The leaders convinced the people, “We have the formula. Believe us! We are established! Jeremiah is crazy!” They were counterfeit leaders supported by counterfeit followers.

Isaiah 30:10 says, “They say to the seers, ‘You must not see visions’ and to the prophets, ‘You must not prophesy to us what is right, speak to us pleasant words, prophesy illusions.’”

“Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My Name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations?’” Jeremiah 7:9-10

Their self-perception was, “We go to temple. We are good.” Reality was, “You are law breakers who need to repent.”

1 Corinthians 6:9 says, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals.”

Ephesians 5:5 says, “For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.”

Revelation 21:8 says, “The cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Revelation 22:15 says, “Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.”

1 John 2:6 says, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” When Christ abides in us, He transforms the way we think and behave. He conforms us to God’s image. He saves us FROM – not TO sin.

The problem with disregarding God’s guidance is that we get the devil’s guidance by default. Romans 1:28 says, “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.” The devil’s goal is to defile and demonize his victims.

Romans 1:18 speaks of people holding the truth in unrighteousness... having God’s Word but living contrary to it! Jesus Christ helps us to overcome this heresy and to live a new life by the power of His indwelling Holy Spirit.

“Has this house, which is called by My Name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 7:11

In Mark 11:17, Jesus quoted this passage as He cleared the scammers from God’s house.

“Go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My Name at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.” Jeremiah 7:12

Jeremiah told the people if they did not repent, God would make their temple like Shiloh which was destroyed in the days of Hophni and Phineas.

In 1 Samuel 2:13-14, High Priest Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phineas, were vile in God’s sight but Eli did not restrain them. God said that there was no atonement for their sins.

1 Samuel 2:12-17, 22 says, “The sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the Lord.” They took the meat offerings before the fat which was to be burned to the Lord was offered. When those under their father’s authority tried to stop them, they took the meat by force. They also laid with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle.

“Now, because you have done all these works, says the Lord, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer.” Jeremiah 7:13

Trust in the ark alone is insufficient. Trust in the temple alone is insufficient.

“Therefore, I will do to the house, which is called by My Name, in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.” Jeremiah 7:14

A personal relationship with the Lord is absolutely necessary to please God.

Both Jesus and His faithful martyr Stephen spoke of the temple in Jerusalem being replaced by Jesus Himself. He is the One that God has appointed to save us. Not a cathedral! Not clergymen in expensive vestments. Jesus alone died on the cross and resurrected from the dead for our salvation!

Matthew 26:59-61 speaks of two false witnesses who said of Jesus said, “This fellow said I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.”

Acts 6:13-14 speaks of false witnesses against Stephen saying, “We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place [the temple] and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.”

Brick and mortar temple. √ BODY OF CHRIST temple.

In Micah 6:8, the Lord tells what He desires, “He has shown you O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”

“I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brethren—the whole posterity of Ephraim. Therefore, do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you.” Jeremiah 7:15-16

The words, “cast out” harken back to Adam and Eve being cast out of the Garden of Eden. Think of it! They committed one sin and were cast out. Sin is a serious matter. Jesus spoke of those being rejected by God as being cast into hell.

“Do not pray for this people. “I will not hear you,” “When people are given up to judicial hardness of heart, intercessory prayer for them is unavailing.” Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary

“Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger. Do they provoke Me to anger? says the Lord. Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces?” Jeremiah 7:17-19

“Queen of heaven cakes were made of honey, fine flour and other ingredients in a round flat shape to resemble the moon. The Phoenicians called the moon Ashtoreth or Astarte. Baal or Moloch was considered the king of heaven. Monday, or Moon-day, relates to moon worship (see Isaiah 65:11).” James-Fausset-Brown Commentary

“Therefore, thus says the Lord God: behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place—on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched.” Jeremiah 7:20

“My fury will be poured out.” In Revelation 16:1, the Lord speaks of pouring out vials of God’s wrath on the earth.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’” Jeremiah 7:21-23

1 Samuel 15:22 asks, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.”

In Psalm 51:16-17, David tells us the kind of sacrifices the Lord desires. “For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it. You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise.”

In Mark 12:33, Jesus tells us what means more to God than whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices. He said, “To love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is much more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices.”

“Yet they did not obey or incline their ear but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts and went backward and not forward.” Jeremiah 7:24

Some will continue to rebel against the Lord up until the time of His second coming.

Revelation 16:9 says, “Men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.”

“Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.” Jeremiah 7:25

Hundreds of years after Jeremiah delivered the Lord’s Word to the heads of Jerusalem, the Lord Jesus had His servant Stephen deliver a similar word to them. In Acts 7:51-53, Stephen preached, “You men who are stiff-necked... are always resisting the Holy Spirit... Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? ...You who have received the Law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”

“Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.” Jeremiah 7:26

“Life” their own way did not end well.

“Therefore, you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you. So, you shall say to them, ‘This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.’” Jeremiah 7:27-28

Proverbs 8:34 says, “Blessed are those who listen to Me, watching daily at My doors, waiting at My doorway.”

“Cut off your hair and cast it away and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights; for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.” Jeremiah 7:29

Walter Brueggemann wrote, “Without grief there is no change.” Years ago, an anti-pollution ad on television used the image of a weeping Indian to encourage people to stop littering along the sides of the roadways. His tears bore good fruit. Littering decreased across the country.

In Psalm 18:6, David wrote, “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God. He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him, even into His ears.”

Job 28:1, 12-13 says, “Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined.” “But where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living.”

The Lord responds to a person’s grief, humility, repentance, and cries. God blesses those who turn from sin to Him via prayer.

“For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight, says the Lord. They have set their abominations in the house, which is called by My Name, to pollute it.” Jeremiah 7:30

King Josiah commanded Hilkiah (Jeremiah’s father) to remove idols from the temple. Kings after him, brought them back. According to 2 Kings 23:4, the priests and the doorkeepers removed from the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. Josiah “burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.”

“And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.” Jeremiah 7:31

In Leviticus 18:21, in the Law of Moses, the Lord said, “You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the Lord.”

“Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when it will no more be called Tophet, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Tophet until there is no room. The corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth. And no one will frighten them away.” Jeremiah 7:32-33

A corpse consumed by birds is a curse of the Law. A corpse would not be consumed by birds if it had been properly buried. This means the people are about to die from a national calamity. In Deuteronomy 28:26, Moses wrote, “Your carcasses will be food to all birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.”

This curse shows up in Revelation 19:17, “Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God.”

“Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. For the land shall be desolate.” Jeremiah 7:34

This curse is also mentioned in Revelation 18:23, “And the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer; and the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer; for your merchants were the great men of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery.”

Where does reform begin? It begins with God’s Word.

Psalm 119:130 says, “The entrance of Your Words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple.”

In Jeremiah 7, the people who called themselves God’s people were worshipping idols and doing evil. Jeremiah grew up in this corrupt religious circle, but something happened that changed his point of view…

God’s Word came to Jeremiah. He believed it and proclaimed it.

Birthpangs Proceed New Birth

“O, you children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee from the midst of Jerusalem! Blow the trumpet in Tekoa and set up a signal-fire in Beth Haccerem; for disaster appears out of the north, and great destruction.” Jeremiah 6:1

The tribe of Benjamin resided in the Southern Kingdom with Judah. The Lord warns them to flee from Jerusalem because disaster, the Babylonian army, is coming from the north.

I have likened the daughter of Zion to a lovely and delicate woman.” Jeremiah 6:2

In other words, she was no match for the most powerful military on earth. The daughter of Zion was neither ready, nor fit to meet the challenges that her enemies would bring against her.

“The shepherds with their flocks shall come to her. They shall pitch their tents against her all around. Each one shall pasture in his own place.” Jeremiah 6:3

The shepherds are the Babylonians. They shall pitch their tents around Jerusalem before they attack it.

Babylon invaded Jerusalem during the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign. 2 Kings 24:10 says, “At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon went up to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.” According to 2 Kings 24:6 and Jeremiah 22:18-19, King Jehoiakim of Judah died and was buried with the burial of an ass.

“Prepare war against her; arise and let us go up at noon. Woe to us, for the day goes away, for the shadows of the evening are lengthening. Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces. For thus has the Lord of hosts said: cut down trees and build a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished. She is full of oppression in her midst.” Jeremiah 6:4-6

The Jeremiah 6:4-6 prophecy occurred when according to 2 Chronicles 36:19, the Babylonian army “burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its fortified buildings with fire and destroyed all its valuable articles.”

“As a wells up with water, so she wells up with her wickedness. Violence and plundering are heard in her. Before Me continually are grief and wounds.” Jeremiah 6:7

Proverbs 25:26 says, “A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring.”

Jerusalem was a cesspool of filth. Her odor was foul. She was covered in blasphemy. She was raised up for God’s glory but brought Him shame. She killed His prophets. Rather than redeem the lost, she oppressed them. Rather than comfort hurting souls, she exasperated them. Her abuse was overflowing wastewater. Unpleasant to deal control.

Isaiah 57:20 says, “The wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up refuse and mud.”

Proverbs 13:14 says, “The law of the wise is a fountain of LIFE, to turn one away from the snares of DEATH.”

“Be instructed, O Jerusalem, lest My soul depart from you; lest I make you desolate, a land not inhabited.” Jeremiah 6:8

Professionals coached by others become outstanding. Jerusalem’s people rejected the coaching of His prophets.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts: they shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Israel; as a grape-gatherer, put your hand back into the branches.” Jeremiah 6:9

“They” refers to the armies of Babylon that God sent against the remnant of Israel to carry them away into exile. They gleaned Jerusalem of its inhabitants.

Babylon’s gleaning of Jerusalem’s “grapes” in the days of Jeremiah relates to the grape harvest recorded in Revelation 14:6-11, 14-20. Before the grape harvest in Revelation, an angel preaches the Gospel and that judgment is coming. Another angel predicts Babylon’s demise. A third angel warns of torment on beast worshippers. Next comes two grape harvests. One by the Son of Man! The second by an angel!

The first grape harvest is the rapture, and the second grape harvest is the second coming of Christ. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 says, “The Lord… will descend from heaven… we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus, we shall always be with the Lord.” The second grape harvest ends with the grapes cast into the winepress of God’s wrath, and with blood as deep as a horse’s bridles and for a space of 184 miles.

“To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Indeed, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot give heed. Behold, the Word of the Lord is a reproach to them; they have no delight in it.” Jeremiah 6:10

In Acts 7:56-59, Stephen saw the heavens opened and Jesus standing with God. He told people about it who cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and stoned him.

In John 7:7, Jesus said to His brothers, “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.”

In Colossians 1:28, Paul wrote, “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.”

“Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord. I am weary of holding it in. I will pour it out on the children outside, and on the assembly of young men together; for even the husband shall be taken with the wife, the aged with him who is full of days.” Jeremiah 6:11

By God’s grace and Spirit, negative responses did not quench Jeremiah’s zeal to rescue his listeners. God’s love for them poured through him.

In Acts 4:20, the apostles also experienced the fury of the Lord. They said to their persecutors, “We cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

“And their houses shall be turned over to others, fields and wives together; for I will stretch out My hand against the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 6:12

The Lord’s Word to Judah is an eviction notice. They are going to lose their homes.

Previously, God told Jeremiah that if he found one righteous person, He would forgive the people. So, Jeremah searched. His hunger and thirst for righteousness drove him to make a comprehensive quest, but, alas, there was none righteous, no not one.

“From the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ When there is no peace.” Jeremiah 6:13-14

In Luke 16:13-14, Jesus confronted a similar attitude among the religious leaders in His day. After Jesus stated, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him.”

“Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; nor did they know how to blush. Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall; at the time I punish them, they shall be cast down,” says the Lord.” Jeremiah 6:15

In Philippians 3:19, Paul wrote of those, “Whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.”

According to Deuteronomy 6:7, the exile could have been avoided if they had taught God’s commands diligently to their children, talked of them when they sat in their house, when they walked by the way, when they lied down, and when they woke up.

“Thus says the Lord: stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’” Jeremiah 6:16

Colossians 2:6 says, “As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him.”

“Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’ Therefore hear, you nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people—the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not heeded My words nor My law but rejected it.” Jeremiah 6:17-19

In Ezekiel 3:17, the Lord calls those who walk with Him to look out for those who are not. The Lord said to Ezekiel, “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a Word from My mouth, warn them from Me.”

We need to heed those who watch over our souls. Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.”

“For what purpose to Me comes frankincense from Sheba, and sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet to Me.” Jeremiah 6:20

The people of Jerusalem wanted God on their own terms. They burned imported sweet cane to Him. They assumed He liked sugar. Insubordination, however, is not sweet to God.

They should have been like, “No sugar please. ”Justice is sweet to God. Mercy is sweet to God. Humility is sweet to God. As Micah 6:8 says, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

“Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall on them. The neighbor and his friend shall perish.” Jeremiah 6:21

The stumbling blocks that God laid before the idolators in Judah was war, pestilence and famine. In Romans 11:3, 9, Paul wrote that the righteous prayed, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, and a stumbling block and a retribution to them.” God bore patiently their crimes but finally answered the prayers of the righteous.

“Thus says the Lord: behold, a people comes from the north country, and a great nation will be raised from the farthest parts of the earth. They will lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel and have no mercy; their voice roars like the sea; and they ride on horses, as men of war set in array against you, oh daughter of Zion.” Jeremiah 6:22-23

Throughout this chapter, the Lord repeats that the conquerors are coming. They are cruel. They should not expect any mercy from them.

“We have heard the report of it; our hands grow feeble. Anguish has taken hold of us, pain as of a woman in labor. Do not go out into the field, nor walk by the way. Because of the sword of the enemy, fear is on every side.” Jeremiah 6:24-25

Anguish! Pain as of a woman in labor! Birth pangs proceed new birth. Judah will experience severe pain (Babylonian captivity) but not long after that, Messiah will come. Messiah will baptize God’s people with fire. The Holy Spirit will empower them to light up the world for God.

“O daughter of my people, dress in sackcloth and roll about in ashes! Make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the plunderer will suddenly come upon us.” Jeremiah 6:26

According Psalm 2:10, the Son that they would morn for one day is the one they pierced... Jesus Christ. We need to cry out for God’s Son. He is the One who delivers us from the one who plunders our souls

“I have set you as an assayer and a fortress among My people, that you may know and test their way.” Jeremiah 6:27

Would Jeremiah find any precious metal among them?

An assayer takes raw ore and smelts it in fire and in additives to extract the precious metal from the dross. John Wesley Notes says, “I have set you as assayer to test their ways” — as refiners do metals. Hereby he is encouraged to reprove them more freely. God will give him [Jeremiah] prudence to see what is amiss, and undauntedness to oppose it.”

“I have set you as a fortress among My people, that you may know and test their way.” John Wesley Notes says, “Here God speaks by way of encouragement to the prophet, and tells him, He had made him a fortified tower, that he might be safe, notwithstanding all the attempts against him.”

The Holy Spirit convicts people of their sins through His prophets. Ezekiel 22:2 says, “You, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations.”

“They are all stubborn rebels, walking as slanderers. They are bronze and iron, they are all corrupters.” Jeremiah 6:28

In Ezekiel 22:18-22, the Lord said, “Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver. ... As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall you be melted in the midst thereof; and you shall know that I the Lord have poured out my fury upon you.”

“The bellows blow fiercely, the lead is consumed by the fire; the smelter refines in vain, for the wicked are not drawn off.” Jeremiah 6:29

1 Peter 4:12 says, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you.”

“People will call them rejected silver because the Lord has rejected them.” Jeremiah 6:30

In John 15:2, Jesus said, “Every branch in Me that bears not fruit He takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, He purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”

Hosea 9:17 says, “My God will cast them away because they have not listened to Him. They will be wanderers among the nations.”

Psalm 66:10-12 says, “You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net; you laid affliction on our backs. You have caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; but You brought us out to rich fulfillment.”

After the tribulation of 70 years in Babylon, the people came back to their homeland with a heart for God. The Books of Nehemiah and Ezra bear witness to this miracle. It was as though Judah had died and resurrected.

According to Revelation 8:3-6, God turns the prayers of His saints into fire and bring judgment down on the spirit of harlotry that will be in the earth. Then, after seven years of tribulation, the Lord returns...

In 2 Peter 3:13, Peter wrote “According to His promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

Finding That Missing Person

“Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem; see now and know; and seek in her open places if you can find a man, if there is anyone who executes judgment, who seeks the truth, and I will pardon her.” Jeremiah 5:1

Jeremiah needed to find one person who judged rightly and sought the truth. If he could find just one, God promised to forgive his city.

In Genesis 18:32, Abraham asked the Lord to spare Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of ten righteous people. The Lord replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.” In Psalms 53:2, David declared, “God has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there is anyone who understands, who seeks after God.” In Proverbs 20:6, Solomon wrote, “Many a man proclaims his own loyalty, but who can find a trustworthy man?” In 2 Chronicles 16:9, the Seer Hanani told King Asa, “The eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.”

In Ezekiel 22:30, the Lord is looking for co-laborers, “I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.”

In Psalm 12:1, King David asked the Lord for help because godly men could not be found. “Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases to be, for the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.”

Before Jeremiah set out to find the man that God was looking for, God warned him, “Though they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’ surely they swear falsely.” Jeremiah 5:2

They had the right words but not the right hearts. According to Isaiah 29:13, they drew near to the Lord with their mouth and honored Him with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him.

Nowadays, people may say they grew up in Church. They may say they have a grandmother who believes in Jesus, but do THEY judge rightly and speak the truth?

Titus 1:16 says, “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.” With the tree [Christ], comes His fruit.

“Oh Lord, are not Your eyes on the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to return.” Jeremiah 5:3

What is God looking for? Psalms 51:6 says, “Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being...”

“Lord Jesus, You who said to Pontius Pilate that You came into the world to bear witness to the truth. Please help us know the truth and bear witness to it as well.”

Jeremiah had an outreach strategy. He targeted the poor first. Jesus preached the Gospel to the poor. But the poor in Jeremiah’s day could not relate with him.

“Therefore I said, ‘Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they do not know the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God.’” Jeremiah 5:4

Next, Jeremiah approached great people to speak with them.

“I will go to the great men and speak to them, for they have known the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God. But these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds.” Jeremiah 5:5

Jesus also experienced rejection from so-called great men.” In Luke 19:14, He told a parable of a nobleman whose citizens did not want him to reign over them. “His citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’”

“Therefore a lion from the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the deserts shall destroy them; a leopard will watch over their cities. Everyone who goes out from there shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many; their backslidings have increased.” Jeremiah 5:6

The great men broke their yokes. Yokes are worn by service animals. The great men rejected the Lord’s yoke. They traded the farm for the wild side. They exposed themselves to predators.

The lion is an instrument of God’s judgment. In 1 King 13, a young prophet delivered God’s Word to King Jeroboam. But afterwards, disobeyed God’s Word to him. A lion killed him. This man serves as a warning to preachers. Preachers must also obey the Word of the Lord.

When they turned from God, He became like a lion to them. Hosea 5:14-15 says, “I will be like a lion to Ephraim and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear to pieces and go away, I will carry away, and there will be none to deliver. I will go and return to My place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek My face: in their affliction they will seek Me early.”

Betrayers of God suffer dearly. Hosea 13:6-9 says, “When they had pasture, they were filled… their heart was exalted… they forgot Me. So, I will be to them like a lion. I will lurk like a leopard by the road. I will meet them like a bear deprived of her cubs. I will tear open their rib cage. I will devour them like a lion. The wild beast shall tear them. O Israel, you are destroyed, but your help is from Me.”

According to Amos 5:18-20, the day of judgment is terrifying. “Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! For what good is the day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness, and not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him! Or as though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him! Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light? Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?”

In Habakkuk 1:8, the Lord compares Judah’s attackers to leopards, wolves and eagles. “Their horses are swifter than leopards and keener than wolves in the evening. Their horsemen come galloping their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swooping down to devour.”

In Zephaniah 3:3-4, The Lord said of Assyria’s capital Ninevah, “Her princes in her midst are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves that leave not a bone till morning. Her prophets are insolent, treacherous people; her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.”

In Revelation 13:2, the wild beasts symbolize evil empires. “And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.”

The Lord gave Isaiah, Ezekiel and John visions of four cherubim. Some with animal like features! These visions proceed God’s judgment on evil and His restoration of fellowship with people.

In Isaiah 6:1-3, Isaiah “saw the Lord sitting on a throne, highly exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!’”

In Ezekiel 1:4-6, 10, Ezekiel “looked, and behold, a whirlwind… a great cloud… brightness... from within it came the likeness of four living creatures. …They had the likeness of a man.” Each with four faces, and four wings. “As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man; each of the four had the face of a lion on the right side, each of the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and each of the four had the face of an eagle.”

In Revelation 4:6-8, John saw “in the midst of and around the throne four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’”

If the beasts characterize God’s wrath on sin, did Christ experience such wrath for our sins?

Yes, bulls, lions and dogs... Psalm 22:11-13, 16-21 is a prayer of Messiah, “Be not far from Me, for trouble is near; for there is none to help. Many bulls have surrounded Me; strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me. They gape at Me with their mouths, like a raging and roaring lion.” “Dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots. But You, O Lord, do not be far from Me; O, My Strength, hasten to help Me! Deliver Me from the sword, My precious life from the power of the dog. Save Me from the lion’s mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen!”

Praise God! Hebrew 4:15 says that we have a high priest who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Ravenous lions are overcome by relying on the Lord. In Judges 14:5-6, Samson overcame a lion by the Spirit of the Lord. In Daniel 6:22, Daniel testified to a king, “My God sent His angel, and He shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in His sight.”

In 2 Timothy 4:17, Paul was saved from the lion’s mouth. “The Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth.”

In 1 Peter 5:8, Peter warned us, “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour.” Lions tend to pounce on prey that are not sober-minded or watchful. Their guard is down.

The Lord’s goal is to bring whosoever’s into His eternal kingdom. New Jerusalem! A place of no tears, pain or death!

“How shall I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by those that are not gods. When I had fed them to the full, then they committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses. They were like well-fed lusty stallions, every one neighed after his neighbor’s wife.” Jeremiah 5:7-8

Jesus opposes adultery and the lust from which it begins. In Matthew 5:27-28, He said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Hebrews 13:4 says, “Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.”

There’s a connection between idolatry and adultery. Idolatry is an abomination to the Lord. Proverbs 22:14 says, “The mouth of an immoral woman is a deep pit; he who is abhorred by the Lord will fall there.”

James 4:4 says, adultery is friendship with the world. “Adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

“Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord. And shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?” Jeremiah 5:9

In Proverbs 13:13, the Lord says, “He who despises the Word will be destroyed, but he who fears the commandment will be rewarded.”

Judah’s exile to Babylon occurred in three phases. Jeremiah remains with the remnant after all three phrases are over.

“Go up on her walls and destroy, but do not make a complete end. Take away her branches, for they are not the Lord’s. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously with Me, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 5:10-11

“Do not make a complete end.” Amos 9:8 says, “The eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom to destroy it from the face of the earth, but the Lord will not totally destroy the house of Jacob.” Descendants from Jacob to Jesus were necessary because Jesus is the Seed promised to Jacob’s father Abraham. Galatians 3:16 says that in Abraham’s Seed [Christ] all nations will be blessed.

“Take away her branches, for they are not the Lord’s.” In John 15:6, Jesus taught, “If you do not remain in Me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.” They trashed Christ in this life and ended up trashed in the next life. John 8:24, Jesus said, “Unless you believe in Me, you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

“They have lied about the Lord, and said, ‘It is not He. Neither will evil come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine.’” Jeremiah 5:12

They were in denial. They refused to believe that God was against them. They confidently predicted that all was going to be just fine.

“And the prophets become wind, for the Word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them.” Jeremiah 5:13

Proverbs 25:14 says, “Like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of a gift he does not give.” Jude 1:4, 12 says, “Ungodly men turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the Lord… they serve themselves... clouds without water ...trees without fruit....”

“Thus says the Lord God of hosts: because you speak this word, behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.” Jeremiah 5:14

In Jeremiah 23:29, the Lord said to Jeremiah, “Is not My Word like fire? declares the Lord, and like a hammer which shatters a rock?” In 2 Kings 1:10, “Elijah replied to the captain of fifty, ‘If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.’ Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.” In Revelation 11:5, fire proceeds from the mouths of the two witnesses in the lasts days. “And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.”

In Numbers 16:35, “A fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering incense.” These 250 men joined with Korah and rebelled against the Lord and His servant Moses.

“Behold, I will bring a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel, says the Lord. It is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say. Their quiver is like an open tomb; they are all mighty men. And they shall eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and daughters should eat. They shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; they shall destroy your fortified cities, in which you trust, with the sword.” Jeremiah 5:15-17

In Leviticus 26:16, the Lord promised to bring judgments against His people if they broke covenant with Him. “I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away; also, you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat it up.”

“Nevertheless in those days, says the Lord, I will not make a complete end of you.” Jeremiah 5:18

Hundreds of years later, Paul testified that the Lord had not make a complete end of the descendants of Abraham. He was one of them. He wrote in Romans 11:1, “I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.”

“And it will be when you say, ‘Why does the Lord our God do all these things to us?’ then you shall answer them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve aliens in a land that is not yours.’” Jeremiah 5:19

WHY does the Lord do these things? He promised, “All these curses shall come upon you and pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. And they shall be upon you for a sign and a wonder, and on your descendants forever. Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything.” Deuteronomy 28:45-47

“Declare this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah, saying, ‘Hear this now, O foolish people, without understanding, who have eyes and see not, and who have ears and hear not.” Jeremiah 5:20-21

Jesus speaks of spiritually impaired eyes and ears in Matthew 13:13 and in John 12:40. Paul speaks of these in Acts 28:26 and Romans 11:8.

“Do you not fear Me? says the Lord. Will you not tremble at My presence, who have placed the sand as the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass beyond it? And though its waves toss to and fro, yet they cannot prevail; though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it.” Jeremiah 5:22

They should have welcomed God’s attempts to keep them from harming themselves. They perceived His commandments falsely as prison fences instead of the guardrails for their protection. They should have welcomed God’s attempts to keep them from self-destructing.

“But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart; they have revolted and departed. They do not say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear the Lord our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’” Jeremiah 5:23-24

God imposed sanctions on Judah’s water supplies to lead them to repent of defiance and rebellion towards Him. In Amos 4:7, about 150 years prior to Jeremiah’s day, the Lord said, “I withheld the rain from you while there were still three months until harvest. Then I would send rain on one city and on another city I would not send rain; one part would be rained on, while the part not rained on would dry up.”

“Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withheld good from you.” Jeremiah 5:25

Sin withholds good things!. Isaiah 59:2 says, “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”

“For among My people are found wicked men; they lie in wait as one who sets snares; they set a trap; they catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore, they have become great and grown rich.” Jeremiah 5:26-27

Amos 2:6 speaks of people selling the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals.”

According to Revelation 18:2, 11, 13, the end-times Babylon will be “a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird.” Babylon trafficked, “the bodies and souls of men.” “They sell the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals.”

“They have grown fat, they are sleek; yes, they surpass the deeds of the wicked; they do not plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless; yet they prosper, and the right of the needy they do not defend. 29 Shall I not punish them for these things?’ says the Lord. ‘Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?’” Jeremiah 5:28-29

Jesus told of the death of a beggar and a rich man. Angels carried the poor man to Abraham’s side. The rich man ended up in Hades and was in torment.” Luke 16:22-23

“An astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own power; and My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?” Jeremiah 5:30-31

The people preferred impersonators over genuine prophets. Their counterfeit leaders allowed them to be counterfeit people. They could wear God’s Name without knowing God.

In Matthew 7:15, Jesus said to, “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”

In 2 Timothy 4:3, Paul wrote, “The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.”

Jeremiah needed to find that missing person. The one who judged rightly and sought truth. When he did, God would pardon the city. We need to find Him too. Then, God will forgive us.

While in Jerusalem, Jesus Christ spoke the truth to Pontius Pilate. He judged rightly that the human race needed a sinless Savior. He stood in the gap between God’s holiness and our sinfulness. 1 Peter 3:18 says, “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.”

Without Christ, without the Holy Spirit, we are guilty because we have not received the means by which God makes us right. Martin Luther wrote, “The Law discovers the disease. The Gospel gives the remedy.

Draw Near to God

“If you will return, O Israel, says the Lord, return to Me; and if you will put away your abominations out of My sight, then you shall not be moved.” Jeremiah 4:1

What is an abomination? It is תּוֹעֵבָה (toebah) a detestable act, or thing, loathsome to the Lord. Deuteronomy 27:15 says, “Cursed is the man who makes an idol or a molten image, an abomination.”

In 2 Kings 23:13, during the early days of Jeremiah’s ministry, King Josiah removed the abominations that King Solomon set up on behalf of pagan wives. Josiah removed Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and Milcom the abomination of Ammon.

In Jeremiah 32:33-35, after Josiah’s death, the people returned to idols. The Lord had a Word for them, “They have turned to Me the back, and not the face; though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not listened to receive instruction. They set their abominations in the house which is called by My Name... they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech...”

The Jerusalemites refused to remove their idols so God removed them from Jerusalem.

“And you shall swear, ‘The Lord lives,’ in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him they shall glory.” Jeremiah 4:2

The Lord had a plan. It was “In your seed [Israel’s seed referring to Christ] all the nations of the earth shall be blessed...” Genesis 22:18

The nations are blessed in the Seed of Abraham. That seed is Christ. “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations will be blessed in you.’” “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your See,’ who is Christ.” Galatians 3:8, 16

“For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.” Jeremiah 4:3

Christ is the Seed we need in our hearts.

Hosea 10:12 says, “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness upon you.”

In Mark 4:15-20, Jesus told a parable about seeds. Seed sown along the path Satan takes away.

Seed sown on rocky places lasts only a short time. Seed sown among thorns are choked and unfruitful. Seed sown on good soil, hears the Word, accepts it and produces a crop.

Judah’s leaders needed to break up their fallow ground. Instead of serving idols, they needed to prepare the soil of their hearts to receive Messiah. He was coming to them.

“Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your hearts, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest My fury come forth like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.” Jeremiah 4:4

The Lord speaks of circumcision as a heart operation. “The Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.” Deuteronomy 30:6

Christ performs the circumcision that replaces sin with new life in Him. Colossians 2:11-12 says, “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”

“Declare in Judah, proclaim in Jerusalem, and say: ‘Blow the trumpet in the land; cry, gather together, and say, assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities. Set up the standard toward Zion. Take refuge! Do not delay! For I will bring disaster from the north, Babylon and great destruction.’” Jeremiah 4:5-6

Sound the alarm! Take cover! His talons are sharp! Do not delay! Your enemy is swooping in for the kill!

Hosea 8:1 says, “Set the trumpet to your mouth! He shall come like an eagle against the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law.”

Deuteronomy 28:49 says, “The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand.”

“The lion has come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of nations is on his way. He has gone forth from his place to make your land desolate. Your cities will be laid waste, without inhabitant.” Jeremiah 4:7

The Lord compares Babylon to a roaring lion. Babylon is coming their way. How can anyone stay silent about it? Amos 3:8 says, “A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken! Who can but prophesy?”

Daniel 7:4 says, “The first [empire – Babylon] was like a LION and had eagle’s wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.”

This prophecy was fulfilled in the days of King Jehoiakim. “In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him.” 2 Kings 24:1

“For this, clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament, and wail. For the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned back from us.” Jeremiah 4:8

Judah’s best option at this point was to put on the garments of repentance, and to cry before the Lord. They needed His forgiveness and His mercy.

“And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.” Jeremiah 4:9

The “elite” of the city will not escape the judgment.

“Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You shall have peace,’ whereas the sword reaches to the heart.’” Jeremiah 4:10

False prophets are as clear as mud about God. The false prophets were saying, “Peace, peace, when there was no peace.” Jeremiah 6:10

The leaders were not totally to blame either. Isaiah 30:10 says, “The people said to their seers, ‘Do not see,’ and to the prophets, ‘Do not prophesy to us right things. Speak to us smooth things. Prophesy deceits.’”

King Ahab opposed God an God’s Word. The Lord sent a lying spirit to lead him to his death. 1 Kings 22:19-23 says, “A spirit came forward, stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’ ‘By what means?’ the Lord asked. ‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,’ he said. ‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the Lord. ‘Go and do it.’”

“At that time, it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, ‘A dry wind of the desolate heights blows in the wilderness toward the daughter of My people—not to fan or to cleanse—a wind too strong for these will come for Me; now I will also speak judgment against them. Behold, he shall come up like clouds, and his chariots like a whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are plundered!” Jeremiah 4:11-13

Babylon’s attacking army is compared to a dry wind that does not fan out or cleanse chaff. It destroys. Their army has horses that are swifter than eagles. They come to plunder not to bless.

In Matthew 3:12, John the Baptist compared Messiah to a winnower. “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Jesus separates those who are for Him from those who are not.

“O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?” Jeremiah 4:14

In Matthew 23:25, Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.”

“For a voice declares from Dan and proclaims affliction from Mount Ephraim: ‘make mention to the nations, yes, proclaim against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country and raise their voice against the cities of Judah’.” Jeremiah 4:15-16

The Assyrians had already attacked the northern tribes of Israel. Their captivity was a signal to the southern tribes as by watchmen that their captivity was next.

“Like keepers of a field they are against her all around because she has been rebellious against Me, says the Lord. Your ways and your doings have procured these things for you. This is your wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reaches to your heart.” Jeremiah 4:17-18

According to 2 Kings 25:1, Jeremiah’s prophecy came to pass in the ninth year of King Zedekiah’s reign. The Babylonian army camped around Jerusalem and built a siege wall all around it.

In Nehemiah 9:26-27, the Lord summarized the “why” of the captivity, saying, “They killed Your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to You; they committed awful blasphemies. So, you delivered them into the hands of their enemies…”

“O my soul, my soul! I am pained in my very heart! My heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.” Jeremiah 4:19

In Romans 9:2-5, Paul expressed his heart for Israel saying, “I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.”

Their story is so tragic! God was so good to them, but they were so bad toward God. They did not realize what they had in God. They exchanged the real God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, for fake gods made out of wood and stone. They reaped a bad harvest, when could have enjoyed a great one.

Paul wrote to the Galatians, “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.” Galatians 4:19

“Destruction upon destruction is cried, for the whole land is plundered. Suddenly my tents are plundered, and my curtains in a moment.” Jeremiah 4:20

Wave after wave of assault by enemies left Jerusalem’s refugees in tents. Then, the enemies plundered their tents.

“How long will I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?” Jeremiah 4:21

The trumpet or shophar was ancient world’s early warning system. Like our air raid sirens.

“For My people are foolish, they have not known Me. They are silly children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.” Jeremiah 4:22

True religion is about a personal relationship with God. In Isaiah 1:3, the Lord lamented, “An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know, My people do not understand.”

Prior to His crucifixion, in John 16:2-3, Jesus warned His disciples, “They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.”

In Romans 1:22, 28, Paul wrote of those who profess to be wise, they are fools. “As they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper.” They perceived themselves as superheroes but were villains.

“I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form, and void; and the heavens, they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth. I beheld, and indeed there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled. I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the Lord, by His fierce anger.” Jeremiah 4:23-26

Jeremiah sees the earth and heavens as they were in Genesis 1:2, “The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep...” He sees an apocalyptic scene where people, birds, crops, and cities are gone. A worse scene than this awaits those who reject Christ. Revelation 20:11 says, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.”

“For thus says the Lord: the whole land shall be desolate; yet I will not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black, because I have spoken. I have purposed, and will not relent, nor will I turn back from it. The whole city shall flee from the noise of the horsemen and bowmen. They shall go into thickets and climb up on the rocks. Every city shall be forsaken, and not a man shall dwell in it.” Jeremiah 4:27-29

Jesus warned of a like judgement when He walked the earth. He said, “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.” Luke 21:20-22

In Revelation 6:12, 15, Jesus gave John a vision of the last days before He returns, “I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood.” “Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.”

“And when you are plundered, What will you do? Though you clothe yourself with crimson, though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with paint, in vain you will make yourself fair; your lovers will despise you; they will seek your life.” Jeremiah 4:30

In 2 Kings 9:30, “When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it, and she painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out the window.” Outward beauty cannot thwart divine judgment. Jehu had her killed.

As the Lord brought down Jezebel in the days of Elisha, He will bring down the spirit of harlotry during the last days. Revelation 17:1-2 says, “Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, ‘Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.”

“For I have heard a voice as of a woman in labor, the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion bewailing herself; she spreads her hands, saying, ‘Woe is me now, for my soul is weary because of murderers!’ Jeremiah 4:31

In Matthew 24:7-8, Jesus compared the tribulation of the last days to birth pangs, saying, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pangs.”

There are numerous parallels between Jeremiah’s Jerusalem and Revelation’s Jerusalem. Both exhort people to repent. Both speak of tribulations. Both speak of better kingdoms after the old ones pass away.

Jeremiah provides us insight into what is like to speak to people who do not want to hear God’s Word but need to hear it. Revelation provides us valuable insights into what God and His angels doing in the heavenlies to bring about repentance.

God is sounding the alarm. In James 4:8, says, “Draw near to Me, and I will draw near to you.”

Love The Lord Your God

“They say, ‘If a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him and becomes another man’s, may he return to her again?’ Would that land not be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; yet return to Me, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 3:1

Deuteronomy 24:1-4 says that a man may divorce his wife if she finds no favor in his eyes or if he has found some uncleanness in her. But after she has departed, and becomes another man’s wife, if that second husband “detests her” and divorces her or if he dies, the first husband must “not take her back to be his wife.” “That is an abomination before the Lord.”

The Jerusalemites were all over the map with their beliefs about God. He compared their worship of other gods, to being a “harlot with many lovers.”

Deuteronomy 22:21 demands that harlots be executed. “They shall bring out the young woman to the doorway of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death because she has committed an act of folly in Israel by playing the harlot in her father’s house; thus you shall purge the evil from among you.”

Herein is the Gospel: “You have played the harlot with many lovers; yet return to Me, says the Lord.” Amazingly, God is offering to take Judah back if she will return to Him.

In John 8:3-6, “The scribes and Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman caught in adultery. They said, ‘Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?’ They wanted to accuse Him. At first, Jesus wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.”

“So, when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, ‘He who is without sin among you let him throw a stone at her first.’” THEY ALL LEFT. Their consciences convicted them. Jesus did not condemn her but told her to go and sin no more.

God graciously offers to us an uncommon opportunity for a renewed relationship with Him. “Though you have been unfaithful, return to Me.”

In Matthew 21:31-32, Jesus told the cerebral oriented legalists, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him.”

The Gospel in the Book of Jeremiah is, “You have played the harlot with many lovers; yet return to Me, says the Lord.” He welcome prodigals back who want to return to Him.

“Lift up your eyes to the desolate heights and see: where have you not lain with men? By the road you have sat for them like an Arabian in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your harlotries and your wickedness. Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain. You have had a harlot’s forehead; you refuse to be ashamed.” Jeremiah 3:2-3

The pollution God speaks of in this verse is not a reference to greenhouse gases. Not about ozone levels! Not about industrial waste or plastic bottles floating in the ocean! It is about pollution caused by people believing lies and behaving sinfully.

Hosea 1:2 says, “The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant.”

If we don’t highly value our relationship with God and teach our children to do the same, there is a high probability that our nation will decline, and become spiritually polluted.

Proverbs 23:13-14 advises parents, “Do not withhold correction from a child, for if you beat him with a rod, he will not die. You shall beat him with a rod and deliver his soul from hell.” Some are strongly opposed to spanking children, but God says that a strong correction saves a child’s soul from death. God applies a lesser pain to save people from a greater pain, namely hell.

Psalm 51:5 says, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” Romans 9:29 says, “Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a Seed, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah.”

Christ within us is the Seed we need for victory over sin. In Genesis 3:15, God said the Seed of the woman [Jesus] would bruise the serpent’s [Satan’s] head. The serpent deceived Adam and Eve to sin. Sin causes people to behave like Sodomites.

Sin is comparable to snake venom. It has spread throughout the entire human race. Romans 5:12 says, “Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.”

Satan’s thoughts and words are like viper’s venom. We absolutely need a cure lest we perish.

Antivenin is the cure for poisonous snake bites. Antivenin is made from sheep blood. When a sheep is bitten by a viper, its blood releases powerful antibodies that neutralize the venom. A sheep’s antibodies can also be injected into a human to cure them.

The blood of lamb was used to shield people from the destroyer in the days of Moses. Exodus 12:23 says, “The Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.”

In Genesis 3:17-18, when Adam and Eve sinned, it negatively impacted creation. When the Egyptians hardened their hearts against God, plagues ensued. When the Jerusalemites ignored God’s Word via Jeremiah, their city eventually experienced starvation, disease and death. In Revelation 16:8-9, “...Men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which has power over these plagues: and they repented not to give Him glory.”

One of the most ecologically friendly deeds a sinner can do is repent and believe that Jesus Christ took the curse of sin upon Himself on the cross, so God’s blessings could be restored.

Romans 8:19 says, “The earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of sons of God. Romans 8:22 says, “For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.”

Proverbs 23:26-28 urges us to focus on God to avoid the pitfalls of sin: “My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways. For a harlot is a deep pit, and a seductress is a narrow well. She also lies in wait as for a victim and increases the unfaithful among men.”

Sin damages creation. The solution to cleaning up the sin in the environment is a mass turning of sinners to Christ for forgiveness and renewal. Faith in Jesus Christ is the solution to pollution. One day He shall return and make all creation anew.

“Will you not from this time cry to Me, ‘My Father, You are the guide of my youth?” Jeremiah 3:4

C.S. Lewis wrote, “Pride is the mother hen under which all other sins are hatched.” The people of Judah needed to humble themselves before the Lord.

God urged them to cry out to Him as to a Father. In Psalm 71:5, David wrote, “O Lord God, You are my confidence from my youth. O God, You have taught me from my youth.”

In Matthew 6:9, Jesus taught us to pray, saying, “In this manner, therefore, pray: ‘Our Father in heaven.’” This was not a new concept of God. In Deuteronomy 32:6, Moses asked Israel, “Is He not your Father, who bought you? Has He not made you and established you?”

“Will He remain angry forever? Will He keep it to the end? Behold, you have spoken and done evil things, as you were able.” Jeremiah 3:5

In Psalm 103:9, David wrote, “The Lord will keep not His anger forever.” Psalm 103:14 says that “He remembers that we are dust.”

“Then the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king, ‘Have you seen what faithless Israel did?” Jeremiah 3:6a

According to Jeremiah 25:3, the Lord began speaking to Jeremiah 13 years into the reign of King Josiah, so by this time, God has been speaking to Judah through Jeremiah for 22 years.

“She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a harlot there. I thought, after she has done all these things she will return to Me; but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.’ Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear but went and played the harlot also.” Jeremiah 3:6b-8

The people of the northern tribes of Israel were removed from their homeland almost 100 years prior to the removal of the people of the southern tribes. Judah saw what happened to them, but did not repent of idol worship.

“So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 3:9-10

If we fake our turning back to God, we only fake ourselves not God. He knows our heart. In Jeremiah 29:13, the Lord says, “You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

“Then the Lord said to me, backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: ‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not remain angry forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God, and have scattered your charms to alien deities under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice,’ says the Lord.” Jeremiah 3:11-13

In Revelation 3:19, Jesus gave a similar word to the Christians in Laodicea, saying, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be earnest and repent.” William Barclay wrote, “Jesus’ great love was expressed in His rebuke. It is in fact, God’s final punishment to leave a person alone.”

Proverbs 28:13 says, “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.”

Acts 3:26 says, “God, raised up His Servant Jesus. He sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”

God’s bride needed prodding. He urged her, “Return, O backsliding children, says the Lord; for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.” Jeremiah 3:14

Despite their unfaithfulness to Him, the Lord proclaims that He is still married to them. He promises to bring their representatives from among them back to Jerusalem.

“And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.” Jeremiah 3:15

Good shepherds lead people to Christ and not to superstitions such as trusting in a lucky charm or a rabbit’s foot. Think of it! The rabbit didn’t escape being killed, and you’re trusting in its foot.

In Acts 20:32, Paul wrote to church leaders, “I commit you to God and to the Word of His grace, which can build you up…”In 1 Peter 5:2-3, Peter wrote to church leaders, “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be, not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve, not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.”

“Then it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days, says the Lord, that they will say no more, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they visit it, nor shall it be made anymore.” Jeremiah 3:16

Our Heavenly Father did bring it to pass. No longer do we look to a human priest standing before a metal box called the Ark of the Covenant to beseech God’s forgiveness for our sins.

Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

“At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the Name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. No more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts.” Jeremiah 3:17

Jerusalem called the Lord’s throne! This sounds like the millennium which is mentioned six times in Revelation 20. Revelation 20:4 says that those who were martyred for their witness for Jesus and for the Word of God “lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” Isaiah 2:2 says that in the last days all the nations will stream to the house of the Lord.” Zechariah 2:11 says, “Many nations will join themselves to the Lord in that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst...”

According to Isaiah 2:2-4, in those days, military weapons will be converted into instruments for food production, and God’s Word shall go forth from Jerusalem.

“In those days, the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given as an inheritance to your fathers.” Jeremiah 3:18

The Lord restores relationships. He removes estrangement between brothers. In Psalm 133:1, 3, David wrote, “See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in unity! There the Lord gives the blessing, even life forever more.”

“How can I put you among the children and give you a pleasant land, a beautiful heritage of the hosts of nations? “ I said, “You shall call Me, My Father, and not turn away from Me.” Jeremiah 3:19

How could God put them among His children and give them a pleasant land? Adopt them! Romans 8:15 says, “...You have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’” Galatians 3:26 says, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 1:5 says, “He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.”

God’s adoption of people is according to love. 1 John 3:1 says, “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are.”

“Surely, as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 3:20

The Lord confronted her unfaithfulness. He wanted a better relationship with her. He reduced resources to restore relationship.

“A voice was heard on the desolate heights, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel. For they have perverted their way; they have forgotten the Lord their God. Jeremiah 3:21

This appears to be a prophetic forthtelling of what will transpire after they lose their city, their freedom and many of their loved ones. Then, they will weep, pray and come back to the Lord.

Walter Brueggemann wrote, “Without grief there is no newness. The role of the prophet is two-fold: to evoke grief and create amazement: grief for what has been lost, and amazement for the new worlds that are possible.”

“Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Indeed we do come to You, for You are the Lord our God.” Jeremiah 3:22

Repentance restores fellowship with God. A healthy community of faith turns to the Lord for He is their God.

“Truly, in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains; truly, in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.” Jeremiah 3:23

They had worshipped idols on their hills but their souls remained empty. Only the true God can fill the God-shaped hole in our hearts.

“For shame has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth—their flocks and their herds, their sons, and their daughters. We lie down in our shame, and our reproach covers us. For we have sinned against the Lord our God, we, and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.” Jeremiah 3:24-25

The worship of idols had robbed them of flocks, herds, and children. They repented, but too late. In Lamentations 5:16, they moaned, “The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!”

The Hebrew word for repent is: שׁוּב shoove. Shoove is to turn FROM something TO something.

According to Luke 1:16, John the Baptist was about to turn many of the children of Israel TO the Lord their God.

The Christians in 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10, “...turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven...”

The primary goal of repentance is knowing Christ. Blake Glosson wrote, “If we think the chief end of repentance is a behavior—not a Person — then every time we repent, we reinforce an anti-gospel message which says that our hope is in our own ability to ‘do better’ next time.” We are to turn from self to Christ.

In Philippians 3:8, Paul counted all things as loss compared to gaining Christ. This brings us back to the first and greatest commandment which Jesus spoke about in Matthew 22:37, “love the Lord you God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is what God wants... a love relationship with us.

Return to Your First Love

“Moreover, the Word of the Lord came to me, saying...” Jeremiah 2:1

Hebrews 1:1-3 says, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the Word of His power, when He had Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

Praise God that He spoke to us, and He speaks to us through His prophets like Jeremiah. Though the prophets of the Bible are no longer physically with us, their recorded words in the Bible are still speaking and still bearing fruit among us. God has preserved His Word.

Previously, the Lord spoke to Jeremiah of his people being attacked from the north because of their abandonment of Him and their current worship of material gods which are not gods.

“Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, thus says the Lord: I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal, when you went after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.” Jeremiah 2:2

How is that that we forget that the first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind?

To not love God is a bad choice. Deuteronomy 32:21 says, “They have made Me jealous with what is not God…” Jonah 2:8, “Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy.” Romans 1:21 says, “…Though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

Deuteronomy 4:37 says, Because he [God] loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them; and He brought you out of Egypt with His presence, with His mighty power.”

Jeremiah reminds his people that at one time they loved the Lord as an engaged woman loves the man that she is about to marry. The Lord compared Israel’s time in the wilderness with Him to an engagement period preceding the marriage covenant with Him that was made at Mount Sinai.

In John 21:15-18, after His resurrection, Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him. All three times Peter responded, “Lord, You know that I love You.” To love the Lord is the heartbeat of our mission.

The Lord urges both Israel and the Church to return to their first love to Him. In Revelation 2:4-5, Jesus said to the Church in Ephesus. “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent.”

“Israel was holiness to the Lord, the first fruits of His increase. All that devour him will offend; disaster will come upon them, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 2:3

Holiness means set apart. Israel was set apart from other nations to be God’s special people through whom His Word and His Messiah would come.

1 Peter 2:9 says to all of us who are in Christ, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Revelation 14:4 says, “...These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.”

“Hear the Word of the Lord, O house of Jacob and all the families of the house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: what injustice have your fathers found in Me, that they have gone far from Me, have followed idols, and have become idolaters?” Jeremiah 2:4-5

The Lord wanted Israel to think about how they treated Him. They were His representatives but they forsook Him to worship idols of foreign nations. What wrong did He do that they treated Him this way? God did not do any injustice to them. It was they who mistreated Him.

The love God gives to us has always been greater than the love He receives from us, but we do no always perceive it. We best see God’s love for us when we look at Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:6-8 says, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

In Matthew 24:12, Jesus warned us not to let our grow cold. Jude 1:21 says to “keep yourselves in the love of God awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

God’s heralds of good news, the Israelites, had turned from God to idols. Kind of like “Christians” who get more excited about the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus than Jesus Christ. Sad also when there are more conversations about imaginary superheroes than about our Redeemer Jesus Christ.

“Neither did they say, ‘Where is the Lord, who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, through a land of drought and the shadow of death, through a land that no one crossed and where no one dwelt?’” Jeremiah 2:6

When we do not see God moving among us, we should ask God, “Where are You?”

In 2 Kings 2:14, Elisha picked up the mantle of Elijah and struck a river with it. As he did, he asked, “Where is the God of Elijah?” God divided the river and he crossed the dry river bed.

“Where are You God?”

In Judges 6:12-13, 16, when an angel told Gideon that the Lord was with him, he replied, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” The Lord assured Gideon, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.”

When we are with God and God is with us, great things happen. God is ready to be with us. Are we ready to be with Him?

“I brought you into a bountiful country, to eat its fruit and its goodness. But when you entered, you defiled My land and made My heritage an abomination.” Jeremiah 2:7

They inherited houses they did not build, and fields that they did not plow. When they listened to the evil one, they lost a type of paradise… again.

“The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’ And those who handle the Law did not know Me; the rulers also transgressed against Me; the prophets prophesied by Baal and walked after things that do not profit.” Jeremiah 2:8

We need to know God to make Him known. 1 Samuel 2:12 says, “The sons of [High Priest] Eli were worthless men [priests]; they did not know the Lord.” In Hosea 4:6, the Lord lamented, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…” In John 16:3, Jesus explained why people mistreat God, “These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.”

Priests who behave like dogs are mentioned in the Bible. In Isaiah 56:10-11, God says, “They are all mute dogs. They cannot bark—dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. Yes, the dogs are greedy. They can never have enough. They are shepherds who cannot understand. They have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain…”

“I will yet bring charges against you, says the Lord, and against your children’s children I will bring charges. For pass beyond the coasts of Cyprus and see, send to Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there has been such a thing. Has a nation changed its gods, which are not gods? But My people have changed their glory for what does not profit.” Jeremiah 2:9-11

Kedar was a son of Ishmael. The descendants of Kedar and the people of Cyprus worshiped the do-nothing idol named Molech. Life among them was unpleasant.

In Psalm 120:5, David wrote, “Woe is me… for I dwell among the tents of Kedar.” In Leviticus 20:5, the Lord said, “I Myself will set My face against that man and against his family, and I will cut off from among their people both him and all those who play the harlot after him, by playing the harlot after Molech.”

Convictions against idolatry did continue and are to continue in the New Testament era. The names of false gods are mentioned in Acts 14:11-13 – Zeus and Hermes, in Acts 19:24-27 – Artemis and Zues, and in Acts 28:11 – Castor and Pollux.

1 Thessalonians 1:9 says that led people to turn from idols to the living God.

In Acts 19:18-20, new believers purged satanic possessions from their lives in a public bonfire. “Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to 50,000 pieces of silver. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.”

The right thing to do in lieu of the Lordship of Jesus Christ is to destroy all other contenders to His throne. Jesus is the answer for the world today. Stargazing, tarots cards, voodoo, witchcraft, fortune telling, horoscopes, palmistry, spells, necromancy and satanism are not the answers.

The primary purpose of people is to love God and love people. In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets.”

The Lord provides living waters for us. He wants us to drink them. In John 7:37, Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

“Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid; be very desolate, says the Lord. For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.” Jeremiah 2:12-13

In 2 Peter 2:1, 17, the Apostle Peter describes “false prophets and false teachers” as “wells without water… for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.”

Revelation 22:1 says, “Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” The Father and the Son gives us life-giving water.

Rejection of the Gospel yields severe judgment. In Mark 6:11, Jesus said, “Whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!”

Ezekiel 16:49 speaks of the sins that led the Sodomites to reject the truth. “Sodom’s sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door.”

We cannot replace GOD with ourselves and be saved. We must believe in the Savior God sent for us. Jonathan Edwards wrote, “You contribute nothing to your salvation but the sin that made it necessary.” “Thank You Jesus for dying for our sins!”

“Is Israel a servant? Is he a homeborn slave? Why is he plundered? The young lions roared at him and growled; they made his land waste; his cities are burned, without inhabitant.” Jeremiah 2:14-15

As the people distanced themselves from the Lord, the Babylonians were roared and growled like lions, and ultimately pounce on them.

“Also the people of Noph and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head.” Jeremiah 2:16

The cities of Noph and Tahpanhes stand for all of Egypt. After Pharaoh-Necho of Egypt invaded Judah, he deposed Jehoahaz and levied a heavy tax on the land. Pharoah-Necho previously slew King Josiah of Judah (See 2 Kings 23:29-35).

Prior to this event, God said in Isaiah 31:1, “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the Lord!”

Judah erred when they turned to pagan nations for help rather than to God.

“Have you not brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken the Lord your God when He led you in the way? And now why take the road to Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? Or why take the road to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?” Jeremiah 2:17-18

They should not have abandoned the Lord to join themselves to pagan nations. Isaiah 30:1 says, “Woe to the rebellious children, declares the Lord, who execute a plan, but not Mine, and make an alliance, but not of My Spirit, in order to add sin to sin.”

Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backslidings will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that you have forsaken the Lord your God, and the fear of Me is not in you, says the Lord God of hosts.” Jeremiah 2:17-19

In Isaiah 30:3, the Lord warns us against scammers who project themselves as saviors but do not save. “The strength of Pharaoh shall be your shame, and trust in the shadow of Egypt shall be your humiliation.”

Have we assumed human words are more reliable than God’s? Have we assumed that human help is greater than God’s? Have we turned a deaf ear to God? If so, may He forgive us and grant us grace to boldly trust in Him. Our faith in God glorifies Him. Jesus does miracles for those who trust in Him.

Judah’s faith in God and God’s response to their faith in Him was to be a partnership that would light up the world with divine glory. When they turned to pagan Egypt during their greatest hour of need, they denied the Lord the opportunity to be glorified in and through them.

“For of old I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds; and you said, ‘I will not transgress,’ when on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down, playing the harlot.” Jeremiah 2:20

The Lord set His people free from Egypt. That liberation was their betrothal with Him. He brought them to Mount Sinai and made a covenant with them. Judah broke that covenant. As they drifted farther from God, their sins became increasingly grotesque.

God’s messenger helps God’s people to remember and consider the greatness of God’s deeds on their behalf. In Deuteronomy 4:34, Moses asked Israel, “Has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?”

In Joshua 24:15-16, Joshua made a strong position statement before God’s people, saying, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” And they responded, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods.”

“Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality. How then have you turned before Me into the degenerate plant of an alien vine?” Jeremiah 2:21

If we abide in fellowship with God, God’s presence with us will help us bear good grapes. Judah did not remain with the Lord. In Deuteronomy 32:32, Moses warned them long before Jeremiah was born: “For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison, their clusters, bitter.”

Jesus told a parable in which a vineyard owner expected His laborers to produce good grapes, but they produced rebellion against the owner. Is it any wonder that He allowed them to experience great tribulations?

In Mark 11:12-14, Jesus wanted to see the fruit of faith among His people. Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”

In Luke 24:42, after His resurrection, Jesus asked His disciples, “Have you any food here?” Perhaps, He was referring to fruit of faith that He finds delicious.

“For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before Me, says the Lord God.” Jeremiah 2:22

Good deeds do not erase sin. Good intentions do not negate them. Regret for sin does not remove it. Hebrews 9:22 says, “Without shedding of blood there is no remission.” In Matthew 26:28, Jesus said, “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Faith in the blood of Jesus cleanses sin away.

“How can you say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after the Baals? See your way in the valley; know what you have done: you are a swift dromedary breaking loose in her ways. a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that sniffs at the wind in her desire; in her time of mating, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they will find her. Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst. But you said, ‘There is no hope. No! For I have loved aliens, and after them I will go.’” Jeremiah 2:23-25

Sin blinds us from seeing wrong from right. The Lord compared Judah to a swift camel and a wild donkey that had an insatiable desire for illicit sex. They were addicted it. They assumed it was no use to turn to the Lord for help. Even when confronted about it, they would not change.

Proverbs 30:20 says that “an adulterous woman eats and wipes her mouth, and says, ‘I have done no wrong.’” Proverbs 20:9 asks us, “Who can say I have made my heart clean; I am pure from my sin?”

Faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins is God’s antidote for sin. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:8-9 says, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

“As the thief is ashamed when he is found out, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they and their kings and their princes, and their priests and their prophets, saying to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave birth to me.’ For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise and save us.’” Jeremiah 2:26-27

The people of Judah were thieves. They robbed God of the glory He deserved. They called carved and chiseled images their parents. They were proud of their work. Confessing their need for divine intervention required humility. They needed to say to God, “You are right. We are wrong. Please forgive us and change us.”

Genuine repentance results in a change of action: a deep-seated conviction of sin, sorrow for offending God, a turning away from sinful ways, and a turning toward a life that honors God.

“Where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble; for according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah. Why will you plead with Me? You all have transgressed against Me, says the Lord. In vain I have chastened your children. They received no correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.” Jeremiah 2:28-30

The Lord addressed their mistreatment of Him. They crossed over every line that He drew for them. They would not listen to His advice. They had put to the sword His prophets. No, He was not going to rescue them this time from the army that coming against them.

Jesus spoke in a similar fashion to the unreligious religious leaders of Jerusalem, saying, “I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill… that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth… Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.” Matthew 23:34-36

“O generation, see the Word of the Lord! Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of darkness? Why do My people say, we are lords; we will come no more to You? Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number.” Jeremiah 2:31-32

In Luke 15:8-10, Jesus told a parable to illustrate the depth of longing that God has for us. Shouldn’t we long for Jesus in return?

Luke 15:8 says, “What woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, lights a lamp, sweeps the house, and searches carefully until she finds it?” Israeli women often received ten silver coins as a wedding gift. Besides their monetary value, these coins held sentimental value like that of a wedding ring.

Luke 15:9-10 says, “And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Judah had forgotten her betrothal ornaments. She forgot the covenant she made with God on Mount Sinai! The Lord longed for Judah to remember her first love for Him and return to it.

“Why do you beautify your way to seek love? Therefore, you have also taught the wicked women your ways. Also on your skirts is found the blood of the lives of the poor innocents. I have not found it by secret search, but plainly on all these things. Yet you say, because I am innocent, surely His anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead My case against you because you say, I have not sinned.” Jeremiah 2:33-35

Some examples of those who had the opportunity to be the Lord’s beloved forever but turned from Him to become among His worse enemies were the angel Lucifer and his fellow angels, Judas Iscariot, Muhammad the founder of Islam, and Joseph Stalin! They were all exposed to Christ during their early years, but later turned against Him, and led others to do the same.

The blood of poor innocents is shed by those who turn against the Lord. Hatred leads them to betray God and those who love Him. Their bitter feelings seem to justify whatever pain they cause others. The Lord by His Spirit pleads with them to come to their senses and turn from their wicked ways. Can’t they see the pain in the eyes of those they destroy? How can they live with themselves?

2 Kings 21:16 says, King “Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another...” Psalms 106:37 says, “They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons.” Abortion is like a sacrifice to demons because it is not of God but of a demon that thirsts for the shedding of human blood.

Revelation17:7-8 prophesies of the end of the harlot empire, “In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit enthroned as queen. I am not a widow; I will never mourn.’ She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”

“Why do you gad about so much to change your way? Also, you shall be ashamed of Egypt as you were ashamed of Assyria. Indeed you will go forth from him with your hands on your head; for the Lord has rejected your trusted allies, and you will not prosper by them.” Jeremiah 2:36-37

“Hands on your head.” “Ashamed!” Egypt and Assyria will not honor Jerusalem. They will be like to them as the brother who raped his sister. 2 Samuel 13:14, 19 says, “He forced her.” “Then Tamar put ashes on her head and tore her robe of many colors that was on her and laid her hand on her head and went away crying bitterly.”

Judah needed an internal rescuer more than an external one. They needed someone who could change their hearts and make them new. Then, the curses of sin would not be laying siege to all that they owned and to their very soul.

Conviction of sin is God’s way of inviting you to restore fellowship with Him. To abide in God’s love is to enjoy peace and harmony with Him and with others in His body,

The good news is that God earnestly desires a love relationship with us.