CHAPTER 5
We now enter a number of chapters that over and over again
DENOUNCE the sins of Israel and Judah. During this time of 2008
as I write, when the election for the President of the United
States of America is in full swing, and emotions and expectations
are high once more, just as they were for the time when Bush was
elected for the White House (he's now going down in history as
the least popular President in the popular rate polls since
Richard Nixon [when he had to re-sign from being President]); to
say that our leaders are FAR from God, far from turning our
nations back to the true ways of the Lord, far from taking away
some gross sins such as abortion and same sex marriage, would
seem to most people as FANATICAL in perspective. That perspective
is still mild when you listen to how the Eternal speaks to Israel
and Judah through the book of Jeremiah.
God asks us to run through the streets of Jerusalem (hence
Judah - the Jews in the Holy Land) and see if you can find a man
that executeth JUDGMENT, that SEEKS TRUTH; if you can God says He
will pardon that city and the Jewish people. God says many may
say He lives, but in practicality they talk with falsehood. The
Lord's eyes are on the real truth of the matter. He has at times
stricken them, consumed them, in many different ways, BUT they
still will NOT be CORRECTED, they have made their faces harder
than a rock; they REFUSE to RETURN to Him. They are FOOLISH, they
know NOT the WAY of the Lord, nor the judgment of God. Some of
their old famous men did know the way of God, but the moderns
have broken that knowledge, they are corrupt and simply do not
know the ways of the true God of Israel. They have transgressed
in many ways and their backsliding has increased. God cannot
pardon them. The children have also forsaken the path of truth
and righteousness, and have moved into sexual sins as never
before, like neighing horses they have fallen into adultery and
into the harlot's house.
God says, "Shall I not visit with punishment for these
things; shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?"
The answer is obviously YES He will punish (verses 1-9).
The DESTROYER is to come! But not to make a full end. Her
battlements are to be taken away, there will be no defence in
that day.
Is this just said to Judah? No, it is said to BOTH the House
of Israel and the House of Judah, for BOTH have dealt
treacherously against the Lord (verses 10-11).
Oh, you Jews, and you people of North-Western Europe and the
British Commonwealth and the United States of America, you may
say NO EVIL will be upon us, neither shall you see the sword or
famine: but your prophets shall become as wind, the word of truth
is not in them, so indeed they shall be taken away as with the
wind (verses 12-13).
This prophecy is for BOTH Judah and Israel. Listen O house
of Israel, a mighty nation, an ancient nation, a nation you do
not understand, they are mighty as their past history has shown
only too well during the 20th century, with starting two world
wars. They shall eat your fruit, they shall impoverish your
fenced cities with the sword (verse 17). This is the nation of
Assyria (the German people today) and God will again use them to
punish Israel and Judah (see Isaiah 10).
There will not be a full end. When they ask as to why this
punishment, it is for your serving false gods and forsaking the
holy ways of the Lord. So in serving strange gods you will serve
strangers in the land that is not yours (verses 18-19).
All this is to be declared in the House of Israel and
published in Judah (verse 20). Ah, yes, as Israel had already
gone into captivity decades before Jeremiah walked the streets of
Jerusalem, this is a prophecy not so much as for his day, but for
the time of the end, when Israel and Judah will FALL TOGETHER
under the heel of the modern Babylon the Great.
All the tribes of Israel are FOOLISH people, they have no
understanding, which means their leaders are just as foolish and
just as much without understanding. They are a people with eyes
but they see not, with ears but they hear not. Will you not fear
the God who sets the bounds of the sea and the sand? You are a
people that have a REVOLTING AND REBELLIOUS HEART! You will not
fear the One who gives the rain. Your iniquities and sins will
hold the good things from you; among you are found WICKED men,
like those who set a trap. You have perverts and bi-sexual, you
have homosexuals, you have child molesters, and all who seek
after the sins of wrong sexuality (verses 21-26).
We as a people are full of DECEIT, whereby many become waxen
rich in material wealth. We are FAT, we pass-over the deeds of
the wicked; we judge not as we should the cause of the fatherless
and the needy. Yes we do some things for such people, but obviously
it is not enough as God sees it. We will spend trillions of dollars
in Space exploits while we do not enough for the needy and the widows
and the orphans. Shall God not visit with punishment such a people?
Yes, He says He will!
Your prophets O Israel and Judah, do give false prophecy. Your
priests bear rule out of their own mind, and you love to have it
so. They tell you what you want to hear; the truth of God they
and you do not want. So what can you do to stop the end result of
it all? Nothing! (verses 27-31).
It is only a matter of TIME, the WHEN of God's punishment is
up to Him, but the certainty of it is only a matter of time. If
our nations will not REPENT of our sins we WILL face all that is
written. God is no respecter of persons. Many nations in past
history have FALLEN because of their sins and wickedness. It
shall come upon us as it came upon them!
CHAPTER 6
A prophecy directly to Zion and Jerusalem, hence the people
of Judah.
The daughter of Zion is to prepare for WAR, the dark of the
night is come and she is to be destroyed. It is Jerusalem that is
to be visited for as a fountain cast out its water so she is
casting out her wickedness; there is violence; before the Lord
there is continual grief and wounds. God cries out for her to be
INSTRUCTED, lest He make her DESOLATE, a land not inhabited. But
the Eternal One knows their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot
harken to Him. The Word of the Lord is a reproach to them; they
have no delight in it. So the Lord is weary of holding back His
fury, He will pour it out. All, young and old, man and woman,
will feel His anger. It must be so for from the least of them to
the greatest of them all are given to covetousness; from the
prophet to the priest every one deals falsely. They have tried to
heal the bruise of the people by saying, "Peace, peace; when
there is no peace" (verses 1-14).
The people of Judah and Jerusalem, are NOT ashamed of the
ABOMINATIONS of sin that they practice; they do not even blush;
so they shall indeed fall with those that fall: at the time God
says it is to happen it will come to pass (verse 15).
I have said it many times already. The people of the land we
call Israel today are SECULAR!! They are not even trying to
follow the ways of the Lord. They have rejected Him and His word,
they will not accept Jesus the Christ as Messiah, as their Lord
and King.
Some, like this Website, try to tell them to TURN and to
serve the Almighty, to walk in the good and perfect way so true
peace and rest they can have, but they WILL NOT DO SO! God then
says, "Hear, O earth: behold I will bring EVIL upon this people,
even the very thing they think about (war and death) BECAUSE they
will NOT harken unto My words, nor to My LAW, but they REJECT it!
(verses 16-19).
There will come a people from the NORTH country, a GREAT
NATION from afar. They will have the weapons of war; they are
cruel; THEY WILL HAVE NO MERCY; THEY ROAR LIKE THE SEA, THEY WILL
COME AS MEN OF WAR TO DESTROY JERUSALEM, to lay bare the daughter
of Zion (verses 22-23).
God tells the daughters of His people: "Gird you with
sackcloth, and wallow yourself in ashes: make ready to mourn, as
for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the SPOILER SHALL
SUDDENLY COME UPON YOU" (verse 26).
Why will the spoiler come? Because, "They are all grievous
REVOLTERS, walking with SLANDER: they are as BRASS and IRON; they
are all CORRUPTERS ... the WICKED are not plucked out of them.
People round about shall call them REPROBATE SILVER, because the
Lord will REJECT them (28-30).
Many may be saying the Lord is too hard on the people of
Judah and Jerusalem. Many will look and say are they not just
trying to live life as others do in other nations. And maybe that
is so, but they are not just anyone in any nation, they are the
children of Judah, one of the tribes of Israel called and chosen
to be a special people in the world, a people to show all others
the true ways of the true God. They are to be a light of
righteousness in a dark world. But they have REJECTED the
teachings of the Lord; they go about doing their own thing; they
have like the rest of Israel, thrown God out of the window,
rejected His LAW. They just live according to what seems right to
them, but that way ends in death and destruction. It will come,
for what a man sows that shall he reap.
CHAPTER 7
Jeremiah is now commanded to stand in the gate of the Lord's
house and proclaim:
"Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah, that have some
resemblance of religion. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel,
AMEND YOUR WAYS AND YOUR DOINGS, and you will continue to live in
this place. Trust not in lying words, 'We are the temple of God,
the temple of God.' It is only by THOROUGHLY AMENDING your ways
and doings, executing JUDGMENT one with another and your
neighbor. If you oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and
the widow, if you shed not innocent blood, neither walk after
other gods to your hurt. Then I will cause you to dwell in this
place, in the land that I gave to your fathers. But you trust in
LYING words, that cannot profit you. Will you steal, murder, and
commit adultery, and swear falsely, and worship and serve gods
that are no gods, then come and say to me, we have the freedom to
do these things, we will do anything we like to do" (verses 1-
10).
The CONTEXT of this chapter is in the time of Jeremiah, what
was taking place and what God was going to do to Judah and
Jerusalem, but it is still a lesson for us today. As they say
history often repeats itself IF people will not learn the lesson
of history. So as we read this prophecy set in the time frame of
the days of Jeremiah we still need to take it to heart, for the
same overall lesson applies to the Jews today who live in the
temple of God, the holy land, we call the State of Israel.
From the New-Living Translation:
11 "Do you think this Temple, which honors my name, is a den of
thieves? I see all the evil going on there," says the LORD. 12 "Go
to the place at Shiloh where I once put the Tabernacle to honor
my name. See what I did there because of all the wickedness of my
people, the Israelites. 13 While you were doing these wicked
things," says the LORD, "I spoke to you about it repeatedly, but
you would not listen. I called out to you, but you refused to
answer. 14 So just as I destroyed Shiloh, I will now destroy
this Temple that was built to honor my name, this Temple that you
trust for help, this place that I gave to you and your ancestors.
15 And I will send you into exile, just as I did your relatives,
the people of Israel."
Yes, the House of Israel had already gone into captivity
when Jeremiah was sent to warn Judah and Jerusalem. God is no
respecter of persons. Sin eventually brings destruction and
death. All empires, large or small, have faced the result of
their sins and their rebellion. In the original captivity of
Israel and Judah we had about 100 years between each of their
captive punishments, but in the last days, at the time of the
end, all prophecy shows BOTH Israel and Judah will fall TOGETHER!
We see here that PHYSICAL anything, does not win favor with God
over heart-felt obedience and walking in His true ways and
commandments.
Judah's Persistent Idolatry
16 "Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray
for them, and don't beg me to help them, for I will not listen to
you. 17 Do you not see what they are doing throughout the towns
of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 No wonder I am so
angry! Watch how the children gather wood and the fathers build
sacrificial fires. See how the women knead dough and make cakes
to offer to the Queen of Heaven. And they give drink offerings to
their other idol gods! 19 Am I the one they are hurting?" asks
the LORD. "Most of all, they hurt themselves, to their own
shame." 20 So the Sovereign LORD says: "I will pour out my
terrible fury on this place. Its people, animals, trees, and
crops will be consumed by the unquenchable fire of my anger." 21
This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Away
with your burnt offerings and sacrifices! Eat them yourselves! 22
When I led your ancestors out of Egypt, it was not burnt
offerings and sacrifices I wanted from them. 23 This is what I
told them: 'Obey me, and I will be your God, and you will be my
people. Only do as I say, and all will be well!'"
Here is one of the key sections of Scripture that show
"animal sacrifices" were NOT originally a plan of God for Israel
to have as part of their worship towards the Lord Almighty. It
was ADDED because of their hard-heart and to give emphasis to SIN
and to that which is WRONG and CORRUPT and EVIL. The shedding of
animal blood was to give emphasis to the fact that SIN can only
be cleansed and washed away by the blood of the Messiah Savior.
24 "But my people would not listen to me. They kept on doing
whatever they wanted, following the stubborn desires of their
evil hearts. They went backward instead of forward. 25 From the
day your ancestors left Egypt until now, I have continued to send
my prophets - day in and day out. 26 But my people have not
listened to me or even tried to hear. They have been stubborn and
sinful - even worse than their ancestors. 27 Tell them all this,
but do not expect them to listen. Shout out your warnings, but do
not expect them to respond. 28 Say to them, 'This is the nation
whose people will not obey the LORD their God and who refuse to
be taught. Truth has vanished from among them; it is no longer
heard on their lips. 29 0 Jerusalem, shave your head in mourning,
and weep alone on the mountains. For the LORD has rejected and
forsaken this generation that has provoked His fury.'"
The Valley of Slaughter
30 "The people of Judah have sinned before my very eyes," says
the LORD. "They have set up their abominable idols right in my
own Temple, defiling it. 31 They have built the pagan shrines of
Topheth in the valley of the son of Hinnom, where they sacrifice
their little sons and daughters in the fire. I have never
commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to
command such a thing! 32 So beware, for the time is coming," says
the LORD, "when that place will no longer be called Topheth or
the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.
They will bury so many bodies in Topheth that there won't be room
for all the graves. The corpses of my people will be food for the
vultures and wild animals, and no one will be left to scare them
away. 34 I will put an end to the happy singing and laughter in
the streets of Jerusalem. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and
brides will no longer be heard in the towns of Judah. The land
will lie in complete desolation.
CHAPTER 8
1 "In that day," says the LORD, "the enemy will break open the
graves of the kings and officials of Judah, and the graves of the
priests, prophets, and common people. 2 They will dig out their
bones and spread them out on the ground before the sun, moon, and
stars - the gods my people have loved, served, and worshipped.
Their bones will not be gathered up again or buried but will be
scattered on the ground like dung. 3 And the people of this evil
nation who survive will wish to die rather than live where I will
send them. I, the LORD Almighty, have spoken!
When God decides to punish there is no messing around as we
say, it is punishment that will bring much sorrow, pain, and
finally full and deep repentance.
Deception by False Prophets
4 "Jeremiah, say to the people, 'This is what the LORD says: When
people fall down, don't they get up again? When they start down
the wrong road and discover their mistake, don't they turn back?'
5 Then why do these people keep going along their
self-destructive path, refusing to turn back, even though I have
warned them? 6 I listen to their conversations, and what do 1
hear? Is anyone sorry for sin? Does anyone say, 'What a terrible
thing I have done'? No! All are running down the path of sin as
swiftly as a horse rushing into battle! 7 The stork knows the
time of her migration, as do the turtledove, the swallow, and the
crane. They all return at the proper time each year. But not my
people! They do not know what the LORD requires of them.
Knowing the ways and commandments of the Lord, knowing His
mind, having the mind of Christ in you, is the key to having God
walk with you. It would seem that when Israel and/or Judah fall
into sin they just cannot turn out of it. It seems to be our
nature that makes it extremely difficult to turn from sin once we
are deeply caught in its clutches. It would seem only HARD
PUNISHMENT gets the Israelites out of deceptive sin and a stiff-
hard-heart, towards correctly serving the Almighty One.
8 "How can you say, 'We are wise because we have the law of the
LORD,' when your teachers have twisted it so badly? 9 These wise
teachers will be shamed by exile for their sin, for they have
rejected the word of the LORD. Are they so wise after all? 10 I
will give their wives and their farms to others. From the least
to the greatest, they trick others to get what does not belong to
them. Yes, even my prophets and priests are like that. 11 They
offer superficial treatments for my people's mortal wound. They
give assurances of peace when all is war. 12 Are they ashamed
when they do these disgusting things? No, not at all - they don't
even blush! Therefore, they will lie among the slaughtered. They
will be humbled when they are punished, says the LORD. 13 I will
take away their rich harvests of figs and grapes. Their fruit
trees will all die. All the good things I prepared for them will
soon be gone. I, the LORD, have spoken!"
The ones who are supposed to be wise, the ones who are to
teach the way and law of the Lord, have FALLEN SHORT, they have
MISSED THE MARK, they have REJECTED THE TRUTH, they are as Jesus
said the blind who lead the blind, and both shall fall into the
ditch. Death and destruction shall come on all the leaders and
those who follow them, in their wrong way of life.
14 "Then the people will say, 'Why should we wait here to die?
Come, let's go to the fortified cities to die there. For the LORD
our God has decreed our destruction and has given us a cup of
poison to drink because we sinned against the LORD. 15 We hoped
for peace, but no peace came. We hoped for a time of healing, but
found only terror. 16 The snorting of the enemies warhorses can
be heard all the way from the land of Dan in the north! The whole
land trembles at the approach of the terrible army, for it is
coming to devour the land and everything in it - cities and
people alike.'
17 "I will send these enemy troops among you like poisonous
snakes you cannot charm," says the LORD. "No matter what you do,
they will bite you, and you will die."
Such is death, such is knowing you are sent to die for your
sins and rebellious ways. God will eventually punish the children
that He loves, to correct them, to bring them back to serving Him
in spirit and in truth. It is one of the great written lessons of
God dealing with Israel and Judah through the centuries. SIN
finally brings DEATH!
Jeremiah Weeps for Sinful Judah
18 My grief is beyond healing; my heart is broken. 19 Listen to
the weeping of my people; it can be heard all across the land.
"Has the LORD abandoned Jerusalem*?" the people ask. "Is her King
no longer there?" "Oh, why have they angered me with their carved
idols and worthless gods?" asks the LORD. 20 "The harvest is
finished, and the summer is gone," the people cry, "yet we are
not saved!" 21 I weep for the hurt of my people. I am stunned and
silent, mute with grief. 22 Is there no medicine in Gilead? Is
there no physician there? Why is there no healing for the wounds
of my people?
Do YOU weep at times for the sins of Israel and Judah today?
We have many terrible and huge sins ... crimes, killings, drugs,
drunkenness, sexual immorality, adultery, abortion,
homosexuality, lesbianism, same sex marriage, broken homes, hate,
violence, child abuse, and on and on it goes. We have an outward
form of religion but it has no power to make our nations live
closer to the way of the Lord. We have doctors, medicine,
hospitals, but there is no real healing of our hearts and minds.
The overall of the way our nations live has angered the Holy One.
He will have to punish us, a very severe punishment, to bring us
back to Himself in humble repentance.
CHAPTER 9
1 "Oh, that my eyes were a fountain of tears; I would weep
forever! I would sob day and night for all my people who have
been slaughtered. 2 Oh, that I could go away and forget them and
live in a shack in the desert, for they are all adulterous and
treacherous."
Judgment for Disobedience
3 "My people bend their tongues like bows to shoot lies. They
refuse to stand up for the truth. And they only go from bad to
worse! They care nothing for me," says the LORD.
4 "Beware of your neighbor! Beware of your brother! They all take
advantage of one another and spread their slanderous lies. 5 They
all fools and defraud each other; no one tells the truth. With
practiced tongues they tell lies; they wear themselves out with
all their sinning. 6 They pile lie upon lie and utterly refuse to
come to me," says the LORD.
7 Therefore, the LORD Almighty says, "See, I will melt them in a
crucible and test them like metal. What else can I do with them?
8 For their tongues aim lies like poisoned arrows. They promise
peace to their neighbors while planning to kill them. 9 Should I
not punish them for this?" asks the LORD. "Should I not avenge
myself against a nation such as this?"
10 "I will weep for the mountains and wail for the desert
pastures. For they are desolate and empty of life; the lowing of
cattle is heard no more; the birds and wild animals all have
fled.
11 "I will make Jerusalem into a heap of ruins," says the LORD.
"It will be a place haunted by jackals. The towns of Judah will
be ghost towns, with no one living in them."
12 Who is wise enough to understand all this? Who has been
instructed by the LORD and can explain it to others? Why has the
land been ruined so completely that no one even dares to travel
through it?
Are you friend wise enough to understand what the God of
Israel has here written and preserved? Can you see behind and
beyond the nice sounding politics of those who would desire to be
your leader of your Nation, your State, your Province, your Town
or City. Yes, they may be sincere, they may want to see good
things coming to pass, a better future, better prosperity, better
health, equal pay for equal work, a greener economy, peace and
not war. They may say all this, promise all this, yet they do NOT
have the heart or the mind to TURN our people BACK to serving the
Holy One of Israel in spirit and in truth. No matter who comes to
lead your nation, the downward slip into more sin and a moving
away from the Word of the Lord, is and will be, ever heading
down. Are you wise enough to see the picture as God sees it?
Why did it come on Judah in the days of Jeremiah? Why will
it come on us, at the time of the end? Here is why!
13 The LORD replies, "This has happened because my people have
abandoned the instructions I gave them; they have refused to obey
my law. 14 Instead, they have stubbornly followed their own
desires and worshipped the images of Baal, as their ancestors
taught them." 15 So now, listen to what the LORD Almighty, the God
of Israel, says: "Look! I will feed them with bitterness and give
them poison to drink. 16 I will scatter them around the world,
and they will be strangers in distant lands. Their enemies will
chase them with the sword until I have destroyed them
completely."
They were to be destroyed completely, the destruction was to
be full and complete, but not every single person was to be
destroyed.
Weeping in Jerusalem
17 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Think about what is
going on! Call for the mourners to come. 18 Quick! Begin your
weeping! Let the tears flow from your eyes. Hear the people of
Jerusalem (Heb. Zion) crying in despair, 'We are ruined! Disaster
has come upon us! We must leave our land, because our homes have
been torn down.'"
20 Listen, you women, to the words of the LORD; open your ears to
what he has to say. Teach your daughters to wail; teach one
another how to lament. 21 For death has crept in through our
windows and has entered our mansions. It has killed off the
flower of our youth: Children no longer play in the streets, and
young men no longer gather in the squares. 22 And the LORD says,
"Bodies will be scattered across the fields like dung, or like
bundles of grain after the harvest. No one will be left to bury
them."
23 This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man gloat in his
wisdom, or the mighty man in his might, or the rich man in his
riches. 24 Let them boast in this alone: that they truly know Me
and understand that I am the LORD who is just and righteous,
whose love is unfailing, and that I delight in these things. I,
the LORD, have spoken!"
Are you coming to KNOW the Lord more and more? Are you
growing in grace and knowledge? Are you understanding the mind
of God more each day as you study His word?
25 "A time is coming," says the LORD, when I will punish all
those who are circumcised in body but not in spirit 26 the
Egyptians, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, the people who live in
distant places, and yes, even the people of Judah. Like all these
pagan nations, the people of Israel also have uncircumcised
hearts."
Truly God is no respecter of persons. All nations will be
punished in time for their sins and for the way of living that
seems right in their eyes but which are the ways of death.
This is the lesson we need to get from the passages we have
read about the original destruction that was to come on Judah in
the days of Jeremiah. It is written for our instruction, it was
recorded (see Jeremiah 30:1-3) for the time will come once more
that Israel and Judah will need to be punished for their sins, to
again go into captivity, to once more be delivered from the lands
of their enemies, to be brought, with weeping and crying, with a
humble repentant heart, back to the land of promise, under the
mighty arm of the Messiah Christ Jesus, to be the delight of God
forever more.
...................
To be continued
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