“O, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” Jeremiah 9:1
Have you ever shared the Word of the Lord with someone in a passionate way, only to have that person turn away and harden his or heart against the Lord? I experienced the Lord’s grief for such a soul. Tears began to flow as I prayed after the conversation ended.
Isaiah 22:4, Isaiah grieved for the people of Jerusalem, “Let me weep bitterly, do not try to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
Jeremiah lamented, saying, “O, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for travelers; that I might leave my people and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.” Jeremiah 9:2
Strangers at a lodge were more apt to listen to him than his own people.
“Like their bow they have bent their tongues for lies. They are not valiant for the truth on the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know Me, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 9:3
BE VALIANT for TRUTH! In John 18:37, Jesus said, “For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
DON’T be FOOLED by LIES! In 2 Timothy 3:3, Paul wrote, “Evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
2 Corinthians 4:4 says, “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” “The god of this world” refers to Satan. Jesus said in John 8:44, “He is a liar and the father of it.”
“Everyone take heed to his neighbor, and do not trust any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will walk with slanderers.” Jeremiah 9:4
Telltale signs of a society’s demise is the increase of deception and betrayal. In Matthew 10:21, Jesus said of the last days of a society, “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.”
“Everyone will deceive his neighbor and will not speak the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity.” Jeremiah 9:5
Satan’s thoughts and words are like venom. We need a cure for them lest we perish. In Romans 3:13, Paul wrote of liars, “Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips.”
The sinful nature is comparable to snake venom in the bloodstream of humanity. In Romans 5:12 wrote, “Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” In Psalm 58:3-4, David wrote, “The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; they are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear.”
One cure for a snake’s bite is an antivenin made from a sheep’s blood. When bitten by a viper, the sheep’s blood releases powerful antibodies that overcomes the venom. The sheep’s antibodies can be injected into human snake bite victims and save them.
Jesus Christ is our antivenin to overcome the deadly side effects of sin, namely, death.
“Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know Me, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 9:6
Psalm 55:23 says, “Deceitful men shall not live out half their days.”
Lies destroy people. Truth saves people.
Proverbs 12:19 says, “The truthful lip shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment.”
“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: behold, I will refine them and try them; for how shall I deal with the daughter of My people?” Jeremiah 9:7
The purging of falsehood from us is a great blessing, and even better when God moves us by His Spirit to do it because we love Him and want more of Him.
God promised His people in Isaiah 1:25, “I will thoroughly purge away your dross from you and remove all your impurities.” In 1 Peter 4:12, Peter wrote, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you.”
“Their tongue is an arrow shot out; it speaks deceit; one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lies in wait.” Jeremiah 9:8
In Matthew 26:48, Jesus was betrayed by one who kissed Him. Judas Iscariot told the guards, “Whomever I kiss, He is the One; seize Him.”
“Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord. Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?” Jeremiah 9:9
The Lord’s Word via Jeremiah is consistent with His Word in Revelation 21:8: “All liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
“I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, and for the dwelling places of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that no one can pass through; nor can men hear the voice of the cattle. Both the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled; they are gone. I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a den of jackals. I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.” Jeremiah 9:10-11
Adam’s disobedience negatively impacted his environment. Jerusalem’s disobedience negatively impacted their environment.
The empire that disregards God’s warnings to repent... falls. It doesn’t matter what technology or military hardware they have. No one has ever fought against God and won.
Revelation 18:2 says, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird.”
Jesus urged His readers in Revelation 3:16 to, “Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.”
“Who is the wise man who may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? Why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness, so that no one can pass through?” Jeremiah 9:12
A wise person understands that negative behavior negatively impacts the environment. A person who hears from the Lord understands that negative behaviors negatively impact the environment and has sufficient conviction to speak about it to others.
Hosea 14:9 says, “Whoever is wise, let him understand these things. Whoever is discerning, let him know them. The ways of the Lord are right. The righteous will walk in them, but transgressors will stumble in them.”
Jesus said in Revelation 1:3, “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.”
“The Lord said, because they have forsaken My Law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it, but they have walked according to the dictates of their own hearts and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them.” Jeremiah 9:13-14
Why does the land perish? The Law was forsaken. God’s voice was not obeyed.
“Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.” Jeremiah 9:15
Gall and wormwood are very bitter. Gall was the poppy from which came the juice called opium. Morphine, codeine, and other alkaloids are extracted from opium. Wormwood was a green shrub which was used to produce very bitter medicine. Wormwood is an antiseptic and antispasmodic used to treat indigestion and fever.
Wormwood and gall were mixed in sour wine (vinegar) to give to those who were dying. During the crucifixion, Jesus Christ was offered a drink of vinegar mixed with gall and myrrh.
The judgments of God on sin in Jeremiah are reflected in Revelation 17:4. Wormwood and gall symbolize the abominations in the cup of Prostitute Babylon. Wormwood is the demonic brew of Prostitute Babylon.
“I will scatter them also among the Gentiles, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them.” Jeremiah 9:16
They were displaced by a conquering army!
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for skillful wailing women, that they may come.” Jeremiah 9:17
What is a wailing woman? She is a woman whom God has chosen to come before Him and cry out for those who are wounded. The people of Jerusalem needed to learn how to grieve because they were about to incur major losses. Singer Sarah Groves testified of how God led her to write songs to help people process grief. She compared her work to that of the wailing women. Grieving a loss is a part of the healing process.
The Lord can turn mourning into rejoicing, but He uses grief to bring about newness in us.
“Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run with tears, and our eyelids gush with water.” Jeremiah 9:18
In Luke 19:41, when Jesus drew near to the city of Jerusalem, He wept. He knew that they would incur many losses because of their refusal to receive Him.
“For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How we are plundered! We are greatly ashamed, because we have forsaken the land, because we have been cast out of our dwellings.’” Jeremiah 9:19
Like Adam and Eve, the people of Jerusalem suffered eviction due to their sin. In Lamentations 5:2, Jeremiah sighed, “Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to aliens.”
“Yet hear the Word of the Lord, O women, and let your ear receive the Word of His mouth; teach your daughters wailing, and everyone her neighbor a lamentation. For death has come through our windows, has entered our palaces, to kill off the children—no longer to be outside! And the young men—no longer on the streets! Jeremiah 9:20-21
Egypt experienced the angel of death passing through their homes and taking from them their children, after they abused people and forced them to kill their sons.
“Speak, thus says the Lord: even the carcasses of men shall fall as refuse on the open field, like cuttings after the harvester, and no one shall gather them.” Jeremiah 9:22
The hyphen on a gravestone represents all the moments between birth and death. The hyphen’s legacy is defined by how that life was lived—through relationships, actions, and impact. Many of the people in Jeremiah’s generation did not live well.
“Thus says the Lord: let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight, says the Lord.” Jeremiah 9:23-24
In John 17:3, Jesus said, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Knowing God is vital to our eternal survivor.
In Luke 10:22, Jesus declared, “No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” Do you know God?
As to boasting, Paul wrote in Galatians 6:14, “May it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
The mission of the Church is to glorify God!
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will punish all who are circumcised with the uncircumcised—Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, and all who are in the farthest corners, who dwell in the wilderness. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.” Jeremiah 9:25-26
He will punish the uncircumcised and uncircumcised in heart because they both refuse to repent of sin and turn to God for a new heart that loves as Christ loves.
In Philippians 3:3, Paul wrote, “We are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.”
Thus, the prophet, the apostle and Jesus have wept at times because they had the antivenin to save their poisoned listeners from the lies of the devil, but their listeners refused to receive the antidote. What more could be done for them?
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