Jeremiah, the Gospel, Revelation and Salvation

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.” [1]

The Apostles prophesied in the temple in Jerusalem... “Go, stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this Life.” [2]

Jeremiah stood at the gate of the temple to deliver God’s Word to the multitudes. This prophecy is referred to in Jeremiah 26:1-9. In addition, to what is recorded here, Jeremiah told the people that God would make this house [the temple] like Shiloh and this city a curse to all the nations of the earth. The priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You will surely die! Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without an inhabitant?’” They didn’t kill Jeremiah, but some definitely wanted to do so.



“Wisdom shouts in the street, she lifts her voice in the square.” [3]



The Word of the Lord calls us to choose between life and death. He is being gracious to us when He calls us to consider what is going to happen to us if we do not have a relationship with Him.

The political and spiritual leaders in Jerusalem were corrupt. Their city was on the verge of being conquered by an enemy army, but they would not heed God’s Word.





The leaders convinced the people to follow their formula, their narrative, and urged the people not to listen to God’s servant Jeremiah.





The Lord is clear about the consequences of sin throughout the Bible.

Our only hope for salvation is Jesus Messiah. Apart from Him, we cannot be saved. Our own righteousness never matches God’s. We need a substitute. Someone who is perfectly righteous and will stand before God in our place. Jesus Christ is the only One whom God has appointed to do this for us. All others are imposters. Jesus died and resurrected from the dead. He showed Himself alive from the dead to more than 500 witnesses at one time. He who overcame death is able to save all who call upon His Name from death. Believe and receive! Salvation is more than a formula. It is a person. Jesus Christ is Savior.

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.

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 for us 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!

There is a parallelism between the people in Jeremiah’s day and the people in the last days. Both groups will be willing to incur much pain and loss rather than to call upon the God of Israel for salvation.



The people decided to do “God” their own way.

Their own way was really the devil’s way.

In the places where they sacrificed their children, they would be slain. There is a parallelism between the sinners in Jeremiah’s day and the sinners of the last days. Both will become food for the birds.



The good news is that whosoever believes in Jesus Christ shall be saved from God’s wrath on sin. “Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” God has more grace than we have sin, but we must personally believe in our heart and profess with our mouth that Jesus Christ is our Lord. It is His grace that we need to be saved. It is only by His merits that we can enter heaven, not our own. We have fallen short of God’s glory, so we must be saved by believing in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. [4]

All God’s prophets testify that Jesus Christ alone saves us from our sin. “To Him all the prophets witness that, through His Name, whoever believes in Him will receive forgiveness of sins.” [5]



[1] John 18:20
[2] Acts 5:20
[3] Proverbs 1:2
[4] Romans 5:21; 3:22-23; 10:9-10; Ephesians 2:8-9
[5] Acts 10:43

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. I have likened the daughter of Zion to a lovely and delicate woman.” Jeremiah 6:1-2

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. God likens the daughter of a lovely and delicate woman. 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. “At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon went up to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.” King Jehoiakim of Judah died and was buried with the burial of an ass. [1]

“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

This prophecy of a siege against Jerusalem and its palaces being burn down occurred when 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.” [2]

“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

A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring.” [3]

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. The Lord wanted to bring her young under His wings, but she would not let Him. She did not want the Potter to shape her children into His image.

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.

“The wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up refuse and mud.” [4]

On the other hand, “The law of the wise is a fountain of LIFE, to turn one away from the snares of DEATH.” [5]

“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 because the hour of judgment is come. Another angel speaks of Babylon’s demise due to the wrath of God on her sin. A third angel warns of torment to those who worship the beast. Next comes two harvests of grapes. The first harvest 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. “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. [6]

“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

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. [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.” [8]

Reality is that though we speak against sin so that people will repent of it, our end goal is to lead them to open their hearts to Jesus Christ so that they experience the abundant love, joy and peace that He supplies.

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.” [9]

“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

The apostles also experienced this kind of love for people. They said to their persecutors, “We cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” [10]

“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.

The Lord declared, “Because 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

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.” [11]

“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

The apostle Paul also called out those, “Whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.” [12]

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. [13]

“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

The Lord is still calling us to walk with Him. “As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him.” [14]

“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

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.” [15]

We need to heed those who watch over our souls. “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.” [16]

“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.

“No sugar please. ”Justice is sweet to God. Mercy is sweet to God. Humility is sweet to God.

“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.” [17]

“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. Paul wrote they killed God’s prophets. 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. [18]

“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

We need to cry out for that only Son to come. He is the One who will deliver us from him 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. “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.” [19]

“I have set you as a fortress among My people.”

“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.” [20]

“I will make you unto this people a fenced brazen wall: and they shall fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you: for I am with you to save you and to deliver you, says the Lord.” [21]

The Holy Spirit convicts of sin. He does this work through prophets. “And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations.” [22]

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

“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.” [23]

“The bellows blow fiercely, the lead is consumed by the fire; the smelter refines in vain, for the wicked are not drawn off. People will call them rejected silver because the Lord has rejected them.” Jeremiah 6:29-30

“My God will cast them away because they have not listened to Him; and they will be wanderers among the nations.” “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.” [24]

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.

Then, we read in the Revelation of Jesus Christ: “His judgements are TRUE and RIGHTEOUS. He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality. He has avenged the blood of His servants on her.” [25]

God will turn 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 will return. Peter wrote “According to His promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” [26] Our Heavenly Father will fulfill His promise to His children.

[1] 2 Kings 24:6, 10; Jeremiah 22:18-19
[2] 2 Chronicles 36:19
[3] Proverbs 25:26
[4] Isaiah 57:20
[5] Proverbs 13:14
[6] 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
[7] Acts 7:56-59
[8] John 7:7
[9] Colossians 1:28
[10] Acts 4:20
[11] Luke 16:13-14
[12] Philippians 3:19
[13] Deuteronomy 6:7
[14] Colossians 2:6
[15] Ezekiel 3:17
[16] Hebrews 13:17
[17] Micah 6:8
[18] Romans 11:3, 9
[19] John Wesley Notes
[20] John Wesley Notes
[21] Jeremiah 15:20
[22] Ezekiel 22:2
[23] Ezekiel 22:18-22
[24] Hosea 9:17; Psalm 66:10-12
[25] Revelation 19:2
[26] Revelation 8;3-6; 2 Peter 3:13

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.

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.” 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.” Solomon wrote, “Many a man proclaims his own loyalty, but who can find a trustworthy man?” 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.” [1]

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.” [2]

King David asked the Lord for help because godly men were so hard to find. “Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases to be, for the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.” [3]

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. They drew near to the Lord with their mouth and honored Him with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him. [4]

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?

“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. [5]

“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? “Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being...” [6]

“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.” 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.’” [7]

“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. “For 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.” [8]

Betrayers of God suffer dearly. “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.” [9]

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?” [10]

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.” [11]

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.” [12]

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.” [13]

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.

Isaiah: “I 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!’” [14]

Ezekiel: “I 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.” [15]

John: “In the midst of and around the throne were 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!’” [16]

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

Yes, bulls, lions and dogs... “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!” [17]

Praise God! 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. [18]

Ravenous lions are overcome by relying on the Lord. Samson overcame a lion by the Spirit of the Lord. Daniel testified to his 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.” [19]

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.” [20]

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. [21]

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. 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.” [22]

“Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” God’s faithfulness to us is the standard. [23]

When unclean thoughts come to you, ask the Lord to drive foolishness from you. “The mouth of an immoral woman is a deep pit; he who is abhorred by the Lord will fall there. Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; the rod of correction will drive it far from him.” [24]

The shepherd’s rod was used to fight wild animals, count sheep, direct sheep and inspect for parasites. Ask the Good Shepherd to drive predatory spirits from you with His rod.

Adultery is friendship with the world. “Adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” [25]

“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

The Lord says, “He who despises the Word will be destroyed, but he who fears the commandment will be rewarded.” [26]

Judah’s exile to Babylon occurred in three phases. Jeremiah is among the remnant left after all three.

“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.” “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. In Hm all nations will be blessed. God glorious plan must come to pass. [27]

“Take away her branches, for they are not the Lord’s.” 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. 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.” [28]

“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

“Like Adam they have transgressed the covenant; there they have dealt treacherously against Me.” [29]

“Her 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.’” [30]

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

“Like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of a gift he does not give.” Ungodly men turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the Lord… they serve themselves... Clouds without water ...trees without fruit....” [31]

“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

The Lord said to Jeremiah, “Is not My Word like fire? declares the Lord, and like a hammer which shatters a rock?” “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.” 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.” [32]

“A fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 [rebellious] men who were offering incense.” These 250 men joined with Korah and rebelled against the Lord and His servant Moses. [33]

“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

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.” [34]

“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. “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.” [35]

“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.” [36]

“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.

“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.

“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.” [37]

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

SIN WITHHOLDS GOOD THINGS from us. “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.” [38]

“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

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.” [39]

“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.” [40]

“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. 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.” [41]

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. “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” He drank the cup of God’s wrath on sin so we need not drink it. In Him, we have the Heavenly Father’s favor and approval. Blessed be His holy Name! [42]

[1] Genesis 18:32; Psalms 53:2; Proverbs 20:6; 2 Chronicles 16:9
[2] Ezekiel 22:30
[3] Psalm 12:1
[4] Isaiah 29:13
[5] Titus 1:16
[6] Psalms 51:6
[7] Luke 19:14
[8] Hosea 5:14-15
[9] Hosea 13:6-9
[10] Amos 5:18-20
[11] Habakkuk 1:8
[12] Zephaniah 3:3-4
[13] Revelation 13:2
[14] Isaiah 6:1-3
[15] Ezekiel 1:4-6, 10
[16] Revelation 4:6-8
[17] Psalm22:11-13, 16-21
[18] Hebrew 4:15
[19] Judges 14:5-6 ; Daniel 6:22
[20] 2 Timothy 4:17
[21] 1 Peter 5:8
[22] Matthew 5:27-28
[23] Hebrews 13:4
[24] Proverbs 22:14-15
[25] James 4:4
[25] Proverbs 13:13
[27] Amos 9:8; Galatians 3:16
[28] John 15:6; 8:24
[29] Hosea 6:7
[30] Micah 3:11
[31] Proverbs 25:14; Jude 1:4, 12
[32] Jeremiah 23:29; 2 Kings 1:10; Revelation 11:5
[33] Numbers 16:35
[34] Leviticus 26:16
[35] Romans 11:1
[36] Deuteronomy 28:45-47
[37] Amos 4:7
[38] Isaiah 59:2
[39] Revelation 18:2, 11, 13; Amos 2:6
[40] Luke 16:22-23
[41] Matthew 7:15
[42] 2 Timothy 4:3
[43] 1 Peter 3:18

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, thing or things, loathsome to the Lord. God told His people through Moses long ago that idols are detestable to Him. “Cursed is the man who makes an idol or a molten image, an abomination.” [1]

In 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. [2]

After Josiah’s death, the people returned to idols. Jeremiah had a Word from the Lord 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, to defile it. And they built the high places of Baal which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.” [3]

After Jerusalem was destroyed and after some had fled to Egypt, Jeremiah confronted them about worshiping the Queen of Heaven. They defended their idolatry.

“All the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other gods, with all the women who stood by, a great multitude, and all the people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying: ‘As for the word that you have spoken to us in the Name of the Lord, we will not listen to you! But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and saw no trouble.” [4]

We have people like this today. They are in the news cycles. Their cities are burning down around them and they fight anyone who dares to say a word against their wrong doing.

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...” [5]

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.” [6]

“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

Jesus told a parable in which thorns represent cares of this world and deceitfulness of riches. These cares and deceits choke out God’s Word so that it does not produce results in them. The king, princes, priests and false prophets were full of greed. Those hurt people, like Jeremiah, who dared to sow God’s Word among them. Their hearts were fallow – hard – ground. [7]

God was going to bring His Word to earth embodied in human flesh. The Messiah would be a descendant of Abraham. Judah’s leaders needed to break up their fallow ground. Instead of serving idols, they needed to prepare to host their Messiah. He was coming to them.

Hosea said to them, “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.” [8]

“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.” [9]

Christ performs the circumcision that replaces sin with new life in Him. “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.” [10]

“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

The Lord wants the warning trumpet to be sounded. The invading army is about to attack. They need to take shelter. The Lord compares the enemy to an eagle. Once, the eagle begins its descent it is too late to seek refuge. His eyes are sharp. His speed is like lightning.

Judah needed to act on God’s Word instantaneously. “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.” “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.” [11]

“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? “A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken! Who can but prophesy?” [12]

“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.” [13]

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.” [14]

“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

They should sound the alarm. They should weep before the Lord.

“ 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

The false prophets were saying, “Peace, peace, when there was no peace.” [15]

God says that evil men deceive others and themselves are being deceived. [16]

“They [the deceived ones] perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” [17]

“God our Savior desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” [18]

The leaders were not totally to blame either. “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.’” [19]

Ahab was a wicked king. He participated in the murder of God’s servants. The Lord sent a lying spirit to guide him to his destruction. ““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.’” [20]

“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.

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 rescues the wheat from the destiny of the chaff. This is why it is good to draw near to Him and abide in Him. [21]

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

Jesus put it this way, “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.” [22]

“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 defeated and displaced the northern tribes of Dan and Ephraim. Their downfall was a warning to Judah.

“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

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. [23]

After the exile, Nehemiah summarized the “why” of the tribulation, 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…” [24]

“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

God’s heart for Israel was expressed via Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans. “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.” [25]

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.” [26]

“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. 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.” [27]

Prior to His crucifixion, 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.” [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. [29]

“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 the beginning. “The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep...” He sees an apocalyptic scene where people are gone, birds have disappeared, there is no fruit, and cities are gone. A worse scene this awaits those who reject Christ when they meet Him as their judge at the great white throne judgment. “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.” [30]

“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.” [31]

Jesus warned of a like judgment in 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.” [32]

“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

Outward beauty cannot thwart divine judgment. “When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it, and she painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out the window.” [33]

As the Lord brought down Jezebel in the days of Elisha, He will bring down the spirit of harlotry during the last days. “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.” [34]

“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

Jesus and Paul both compared the tribulation of the last days to birth pangs. “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.” “While they are saying, ‘Peace and safety!’ then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.” [35]

There are numerous parallels between Jeremiah’s Jerusalem in the Old Testament and Revelation’s Jerusalem at the conclusion of the New Testament. 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 with valuable insights into what God and His angels do in the heavenlies to rescue people out of such a spiritually dark place.

God is sounding the alarm. He says, “Draw near to Me, and I will draw near to you.” [36]

[1] Deuteronomy 27:15
[2] 2 Kings 23:13
[3] Jeremiah 32:33-35
[4] Jeremiah 44:15-17
[5] Genesis 22:18
[6] Galatians 3:8, 16
[7] Matthew 13:22
[8] Hosea 10:12
[9] Deuteronomy 30:6
[10] Colossians 2:11-12
[11] Hosea 8:1; Deuteronomy 28:49
[12] Amos 3:8
[13] Daniel 7:4
[14] 2 Kings 24:1
[15] Jeremiah 6:10
[16] 2 Timothy 3:13
[17] 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12
[18] 1 Timothy 2:3-4
[19] Isaiah 30:10
[20] 1 Kings 22:19-23
[21] Matthew 3:12
[22] Matthew 23:25
[23] 2 Kings 25:1
[24] Nehemiah 9:26-27
[25] Romans 9:2-5
[26] Galatians 4:19
[27] Isaiah 1:3
[28] John 16:2-3
[29] Romans 1:22, 28
[30] Genesis 1:2; Revelation 20:11
[31] Luke 21:20-22
[32] Revelation 6:12, 15
[33] 2 Kings 9:30
[34] Revelation 17:1-2
[35] Matthew 24:7-8; 1 Thessalonians 5:3
[36] James 4:8

Turning from Idols to Christ

“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

God’s people were all over the map in regards to their beliefs. He compared them to a “harlot with many lovers.” He points out that it would defile a land if men embraced women who betrayed them to become harlots.

The Lord did have a way for such wives [Judah] to return to Him. He said, “Yet return to Me.” The Lord could forgive them, give them new hearts and help them to become what they never were before, namely, faithful lovers of Him.

God’s love moves Him to pursue us even when we try to evade Him. He offers to us an uncommon opportunity for a renewed relationship with Him. “Though you have been unfaithful, return to Me.”

The Lord does not want us to perish in our sin. He does not want a heaven without us, but we have to turn to Him if we want to be saved.

God made a standard for relationships between men and women that is much lower than His standard towards people. “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house.” [1]

Men may divorce unfaithful wives, but God endures with longsuffering much maltreatment from people. He knows that apart Him a person has no hope of being with Him in paradise.

In regards to harlotry, the Law is to purge it. “They shall bring out the girl 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.” [2]

So, we actually have the Gospel in the Book of Jeremiah. The Lord said, “You have played the harlot with many lovers; yet return to Me, says the Lord.”

Though you have sinned and fallen short of My glory… I love you. Return to Me prodigal, and I will forgive you, and welcome you back.

Jesus embodied this message: “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, but finally answered them saying, ‘He who is without sin among you let him throw a stone at her first.’” They all left. Jesus did not condemn her but told her to go and sin no more. She deserved to die for her sin, but so did all of her accusers. Jesus demonstrated the same patience with her as God did with Judah. [3]

At one point, God instructed His servant Hosea to marry a harlot to reflect His marriage with His people. “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the Lord.” [4]

The harlots of Jerusalem turned to Jesus for salvation but the religious leaders scornfully rejected Him. Jesus told them, “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.” [5]

The Lord deemed Judah’s dependance on Egypt as harlotry. The Egyptians leaders were idolators, immoral and abusive people. They were not in a relationship with God. The Lord said to Judah, “You also played the harlot with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, and multiplied your harlotry to make Me angry.” [6]

“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.” Jeremiah 3:2

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 sin pollution caused by God’s people having more loyalty to foreign religions than to Him. This is spiritual pollution and it negatively impacts a nations longevity.

“The land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the Lord.” “The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant.” [7]

“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 3:3

As goes our relationship with God so goes our circumstances. The Lord promised in the Torah, “I will also break down your pride of power; I will also make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze.” So, much of our food today is produced with scientific tampering to overcome adverse weather, pests and disease. We have a lot of food, but a lot of it is bad for us. [8]

From the very beginning when Adam and Eve first sinned the earth was negatively affected by sin. God brought adverse weather, pests and diseases on Egypt when they hardened their hearts against Him. He did the same to Isreal when they worshipped idols. “Furthermore, 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.” He will do it again during the seven seals, seven trumpets and seven bowls plagues in the last days. [9]

“The fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. 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.” [10]

“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.” Pride says, “I would rather have anyone, or anything else be God except for the real God!”

God urged them to cry out to Him as their Father. Request His guidance! David wrote, “You are my hope; O Lord God, You are my confidence from my youth. O God, You have taught me from my youth, and I still declare Your wondrous deeds.” [11]

Jesus taught us to pray, saying, “In this manner, therefore, pray: ‘Our Father in heaven.’” This was not a new concept of God. God revealed Himself to Israel via Moses in this way, “Do you thus deal with the Lord, O foolish and unwise people? Is He not your Father, who bought you? Has He not made you and established you?” [12]

“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

The Psalmist wrote, “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever.” “As a father pities His children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.” [13]

“Then the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king, ‘Have you seen what faithless Israel did? 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.’” Jeremiah 3:6-7

The Lord began speaking to Jeremiah 13 years into the reign of King Josiah. King Jehoahaz reigned after Josiah. Jehoahaz reigned for three months. King Jehoiakim reigned after him. At this point, God has been speaking to and through Jeremiah for 22 years. [14]

“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 3:8

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 their idolatrous practices and turn back to God.

“In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried Israel away into exile to Assyria, and settled them in Halah and Habor, on the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. Also Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God but walked in the customs which Israel had introduced.” [15]

“So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.” Jeremiah 3:9

The Lord spoke of a spirit of harlotry leading them astray. Paul wrote, “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” In the Gospel, Jesus commanded oppressive spirits to depart with a word. When we talk with an unbeliever about Christ, we can bind up spirits of deception in the Name of Jesus as we talk with them. The devil wants to distract or cloud their thinking, but he yields to the power of Jesus’ Name. [16]

“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 3:10

If we fake our turning back to God, we only fake out ourselves not God. He knows our heart. The Lord says, “You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” [17]

“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

Jesus gave a similar word to the Christians in Laodicea, saying, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.” [18]

The Lord wants an admission of our unloving ways towards Him. He wants to hear us say that we are ready for His intervention. He is waiting for the opportunity to help: “The Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you...” [19]

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. And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.” Jeremiah 3:14-15

In His mercy, God brought one from a city and two from a family into a relationship with Him. God calls and equips these “elected ones” to be His ambassadors to the others.

Despite their unfaithfulness, the Lord proclaims that He is still married to them. He offers them incentives. If they return to Him, He will give them shepherds who have His heart. These shepherds will feed them with knowledge and understanding of Him.

Good shepherds turn people from forms of religion to the focus of religion, namely, the Lord. The people in Jeremiah’s day were trusting in religious articles instead of in God.

Do you know anyone who keeps a coin, rabbit’s foot or cross for good luck? These items have no life in them. They cannot hear thoughts. They cannot answer prayers.

“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 about that new day. 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. We, that is all of us who believe in Jesus, “have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus.” “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” [20]

“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

Shepherds after God’s heart, no more Ark of the Covenant, Jerusalem called the throne of the Lord, nations coming to Jerusalem, coming to the Name of the Lord, and no longer following the dictates of their evil hearts... this sounds like a reference to the millennium that is mentioned six times in Revelation 20. And also in the prophecy of Isaiah, “Now it will come about that In the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it.” “Many nations will join themselves to the Lord in that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you.” [21]

“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 Father would bring His estranged family members together. They would no longer be at odds with one another. God’s beautiful plan was big enough for the both of them. King David wrote, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! For there the Lord bestows His blessing, even life forevermore.” [22]

“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 the nations among His children and give them a pleasant land? Adopt them! “...You have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’” “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” “He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.” [23]

God’s adoption of people is according to His grace in Christ Jesus.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason, the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.” [24]

“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 because He wanted a better relationship with her..

“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. Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Indeed we do come to You, for You are the Lord our God.” Jeremiah 3:21-22

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.

“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. They had offered sacrifices to idols on the mountains. In the wake of their losses, they will know not from the hills but from the One who made the hills comes their salvation. “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from where does come my help. ... my help comes from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.” [25]

“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. Afterwards, they lamented, “The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!” [26]

The Hebrew word for repent is: שׁוּב shoove. Shoove is to turn FROM something TO something. John the Baptist turned many of the children of Israel TO the Lord their God. The Thessalonians turned FROM idols To God. [27]

“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 sin to Christ. [28]

Paul counted all things as loss compared to gaining Christ. This brings us back to the first and greatest commandment which is “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” That’s what heaven is about. Everyone there is filled with exceedingly great love for our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. [29]

[1] Deuteronomy 24:1
[2] Deuteronomy 22:21
[3] John 8:3-11
[4] Hosea 1:2
[5] Matthew 21:31-32
[6] Ezekiel 16:26
[7] Isaiah 24:5; Hosea 1:2
[8] Leviticus 26:19
[9] Genesis 3:17-18; Amos 4:7
[10] Revelation 16:8-9
[11] Psalm 71:5, 17
[12] Matthew 6:9; Deuteronomy 32:6
[13] Psalm 103:8-9, 13-14
[14] Jeremiah 25:3
[15] 2 Kings 17:6, 19
[16] Hosea 4:12; Ephesians 6:12; Matthew 8:16; Acts 16:18
[17] Jeremiah 29:13
[18] Revelation 3:19
[19] Isaiah 30:18
[20] Hebrews 10:19; 4:16
[21] Isaiah 2:2; Zechariah 2:11
[22] Psalm 133:1, 3
[23] Romans 8:15; Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 1:5
[24] 1 Peter 1:3; 1 John 3:1
[25] Psalms 121:1-2
[26] Lamentations 5:16
[27] Luke 1:16; 1 Thessalonians 1:9
[28] Blake Glosson – Quote
[29] Philippians 3:8; Matthew 22:37

Return to Your First Love

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

“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.” [1]

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.

“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

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.

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? God is love! He is the source of love! Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights. The worse sin is not to love God and trust Him. Apart from Him we can do nothing. [2]

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.

The Lord urged Israel to return to their first love to Him. He said the same to the Church in Ephesus during the first century. “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” [3]

“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. Those who sought to devour Israel offended the Lord and He brought disaster on them. “You are a holy people to the Lord your God...” “He permitted no man to oppress them, and He reproved kings for their sakes.” “You are a chosen generation... that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” God resourced them to be His messengers to the world. [4]

“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.

Nowadays, we, as God’s messengers need to make people to feel the injustice of how we treat God. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, came to pay the penalty for our sin. He was treated poorly. However, this is how God demonstrated His love for us.

Paul wrote, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” [5]

God’s heralds of good news, the Israelites, had turned from God to idols and became idolators. This was such a grief for God. Those who were supposed to be testifying about His goodness were talking more about fake gods. I think it is terrible when so called Christians 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.

While sitting in the belly of a great fish, Jonah said, “Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own mercy.” [6]

Paul said to His listeners, “We preach the Gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God...” [7]

“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?”

When Elisha picked up the mantle of Elijah, he used it to strike a river. As he struck the river, he asked, “Where is the God of Elijah?” God divided the river and he crossed the dry river bed. [8]

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.” [9]

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

The Lord gave the Israelites a beautiful land filled with fruit and goodness. They inherited houses they did not build, and fields that they did not plow. He expected from them love, but they “shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with the blood.” [10]

“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. “The sons of [High Priest] Eli were worthless men [priests]; they did not know the Lord.” The Lord lamented, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…” Jesus explained the reason behind the mistreatment that His disciples would receive, “These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.” [11]

Messengers who do not message for God but behave like dogs are disappointing to God. Isaiah wrote, “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…” [12]

“Therefore, 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 were idolators. They did not forsake their do-nothing idols. Life among them was unpleasant. The Psalmist wrote, “Woe is me… for I dwell among the tents of Kedar.” Even so, they did not betray their idols as Israel betrayed their God. [13]

God told Israel that He would set His face against them if they served and worshiped idols. “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.” [14]

“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

The Apostle Peter describes “false prophets and false teachers” as “wells without water… for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” [15]

The Lord satisfies our soul’s thirst. The Psalmist testified, saying, “He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness.” I have noticed when my soul is satisfied in Jesus, the world’s offerings are distasteful to me. “For with You [Lord Jesus] is the fountain of life; and in Your light we see light.” [16]

“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 roaring and growling like lions anticipating the moment they could 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 the whole of Egypt. The reference is to the coming invasion of Judah by Pharaoh-Necho of Egypt, on his return from the Euphrates, when he deposed Jehoahaz and levied a heavy tribute on the land. Pharoah-Necho also previously slew Judah’s leader: King Josiah. [17]

God spoke a Word to Judah before all this happened via his messenger Isaiah, saying, “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!” [18]

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? 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

The Lord warns us against scammers who project themselves as saviors but do not save.

“Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord, who take counsel, but not of Me, and who devise plans, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin.” “The strength of Pharaoh shall be your shame, and trust in the shadow of Egypt shall be your humiliation.” [19]

“This is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the Law of the Lord; who say to the seers, ‘Do not see,’ and to the prophets, ‘Do not prophesy to us right things; speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits. Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.’ Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel: ‘Because you despise this Word, and trust in oppression and perversity, and rely on them, therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, a bulge in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant. And He shall break it like the breaking of the potter’s vessel, which is broken in pieces; He shall not spare. So, there shall not be found among its fragments a shard to take fire from the hearth, or to take water from the cistern. For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: in returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength. But you would not.’” [20]

Have we trusted in an ungodly government’s message over and above the Word of the Lord? Have we been misled to believe that they were greater than God to meet our needs? Have we told God and His servants not to speak to us? “Heavenly Father, please forgive us for trusting the words of ungodly people. Please grant us childlike confidence in Your ability to meet all our needs according to riches in Christ Jesus. Please help us to rest quietly and confidently in Your power to provide and protect us. In Jesus’ Name, I ask this. Amen.”

Our confidence in God glorifies Him. God is ready to act and do exceedingly abundantly more than we ask Him to do.

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.

The Lord said via Isaiah, “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!” [21]

“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

Judah broke covenant with God. He brought her out from under the yoke of Egyptian slavery. That liberation was their betrothal with Him. He brought them to Mount Sinai and made a covenant with them to be their God and they to be His people. They were unfaithful to Him. Their harlotry was with foreign gods. They even offered their children in sacrifice to demonic gods. As they drifted farther from God, their sins grew increasingly grotesque.

God’s messenger helps God’s people by urging them to remember and consider the greatness of God’s deeds on their behalf. Moses asked, “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?” [22]

God’s messenger 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.” [23]

“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. The Lord warned them of their future if they forsook Him via a song that He gave Moses 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.” [24]

Jesus told a parable in which He characterized God as a vineyard owner looking for His laborers to produce and yield to Him good grapes, but they acted violently against Him. You can see how offensive Judah’s behavior had been towards Him. Is it any wonder that He allowed them to experience great tribulations?

“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

Our good works do not erase our sins. Our good intentions do not negate them. Regret for our sin does not remove it. “Without shedding of blood there is no remission.” Jesus said, “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Only faith in the atoning blood of Jesus cleanses our sins away. [25]

“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 is bad. It blinds us from seeing wrong from right. The Lord compared Judah to a swift camel (a dromedary) and a wild donkey that had an insatiable desire for illicit sex. They were so captivated by this lifestyle, so bound by this sin, so addicted to it, that they assumed that there was no use to turn to the Lord for help. Even when confronted about it, they would not change.

The Bible says that “an adulterous woman eats and wipes her mouth, and says, ‘I have done no wrong.’” “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” Jesus warned the Church of Laodicea against such cavalier attitude, saying, “You say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” [26]

Praise God for the conviction of sin! Praise God for the conviction of our need to turn to Him for deliverance from sin’s chains. Praise God for making the impossible possible! Replacing a sin stained heart with a clean heart.

“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 that He deserved. They called images carved out of wood and chiseled out of stones their parents. They loved the works of their own hands. Acknowledging and confessing their sin required humbling themselves. They needed to say to God, “You are right. We are wrong. Please forgive us and change us.”

When they were in trouble, they wanted God to save them, but didn’t want to change their lifestyles. They didn’t want the personal relationship with Him that He wanted with them.

“But 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 2:29-30

The Lord addressed their mistreatment of Him. They wanted to manipulate the Creator and Sustainer of the universe to enable their sinful lifestyles. They had made gods out of all kinds of falsehoods and then wanted a God who only speaks truth to come to their aid. “Are you pleading with Me?” asked the Lord. 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, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous.” “Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city.” They were bad people and needed to hear it. [27]

As the people were in the days preceding Jerusalem’s fall to Babylon in Jeremiah’s day, and in Jesus’ day, so will they be during the time of the great tribulation before the Lord returns.

“Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory.” [28]

“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

Jesus told the parable of woman who lost a precious coin. “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. “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.” [29]

Virgin Judah had forgotten her betrothal ornaments. The love and joy she had in the Lord! She forgot her wedding attire. The covenant she made with God on Mount Sinai! The Lord wanted Judah to remember her first love for Him and be happy to regain that first love.

“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. The hatred in their hearts leads them to betray God and those who love them the most in the world. Their bitter and hateful 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 are hurting? How can they live with themselves?”

Prior to Judah’s exile to Babylon, King “Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another...” “He filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; and the Lord would not forgive.” “They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons.” I believe that abortion amounts to a sacrifice to demons because it is an act led not by the Holy Spirit but by a blood thirsty spirit – a demon. [30]

“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

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.

To love the Lord our God is the heartbeat of our mission. If we will receive the Lord’s love for us and love Him in return, we will abide in Him. John the Apostle wrote, “We have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” Jude urged us, “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” By simply listening to the Lord words of love for us and loving Him in return, we avoid bad decisions that hurt us and others. [31]

Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things [food, clothing, daily needs] shall be added to you.” As we seek the Lord, He guides our thoughts and desires in good ways, and He fights our battles for us. [32]

[1] Hebrews 1:1-2
[2] Matthew 22:37; James 1:17; John 15:5
[3] Revelation 2:4
[4] Deuteronomy 14:2; Psalms 105:14; 1 Peter 2:9
[5] Romans 5:8-10
[6] Jonah 2:8
[7] Acts 14:15
[8] 2 Kings 2:14
[9] Judges 6:12-13, 16
[10] Psalms 106:38
[11] 1 Samuel 2:12; Hosea; John 16:3
[12] Isaiah 56:10-11
[13] Psalm 120:5
[14] Leviticus 20:5
[15] 2 Peter 2:1, 17
[16] Psalm 107:9; 36:9
[17] 2 Kings 23:29-35
[18] Isaiah 31:1
[19] Isaiah 30:1, 3
[20] Isaiah 30:9-15
[21] Isaiah 31:1
[22] Deuteronomy 4:34
[23] Joshua 24:15-16
[24] Deuteronomy 32:32
[25] Hebrews 9:22; Matthew 26:28
[26] Proverbs 30:20; 1 John 1:8; Revelation 3:17
[27] Matthew 23:29, 34
[28] Revelation 16:9
[29] 2 Kings 21:16; 2 Kings 24:4; Psalms 106:37
[30] Luke 15:8-10
[31] 1 John 4:16; Jude 1:21
[32] Matthew 6:33