Finding That Missing Person

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Next, Jeremiah approached great people to speak with them.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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