Jeremiah 12

Read Jeremiah 12

It is hard for us to hear about the wrath of God against His enemies and then to give a wholehearted “Amen.” As those who are so completely dependent on the Lord's mercy, we have come to love the grace of God. We ourselves have violated God's commandments. How can we rejoice in the justice of the Almighty against other sinners?

Nonetheless, we do love the righteousness of God as well. We know that the Lord is just and that He must punish sin. Jeremiah found himself under assault from His own neighbors for bringing them this true message. God told him that things were not going to get easier any time soon.

The message of God’s judgment against His people was a hard one to deliver to the Lord's people—His “heritage.” God said, “My heritage has become to me like a lion in the forest; she has lifted up her voice against me; therefore I hate her.” Those who were given the sacred task of leading the Lord's chosen ones and of guarding the doctrine and life of the Jewish nation had destroyed the community that they should have been protecting. Now Jehovah’s fierce anger would come upon them all, and the land would be left “desolate.”

When the Messiah came, the opposition against Him would be determined to destroy Him, just as Jeremiah's enemies once hoped to kill Jeremiah in his own day. The religious rulers hated Jesus when He healed on the Sabbath. They resented Him when He asked them whether John’s baptism was from God or from men. They despised Him when He was dying on the cross for sinners. They could not receive His message of God’s judgment against Israel.

Jesus’ warnings were especially against those who thought of themselves as the most righteous in the land. They were highly offended when they understood that He was speaking against them. They were sure that their interpretation of the Law was the right way to live. Jesus told them plainly that their hypocrisy was more offensive to God than the sins of prostitutes and tax-gathering thieves who had gladly listened to John the Baptist and had taken steps of repentance.

Both Jeremiah and Jesus had a final message of hope for those who would receive it. God would have compassion not only upon Jews, but even on those Gentiles who would receive the covenant protection of the Almighty in faith. But what about those who rejected the Word of the Lord? “If any nation will not listen, then I will utterly pluck it up and destroy it, declares the Lord.”

The preaching of the prophets prepared the way for the Lord. When we hear the Word of the Messiah and follow Him, we join all those throughout the ages who have discovered Jehovah's abundant mercy. Let us listen to Him and receive His grace, for we cannot survive the wrath that will one day come against the wicked.

Prayer from A Book of Prayers

Righteous God, the way of the wicked seems to prosper all around us. Stop their progress in sin and rebellion, lest we die. Even within Your church, though men speak friendly words, there is danger everywhere. Have You rejected Your heritage forever? Many shepherds have brought great harm upon Your people. Destroyers have come from within and without. Surely we deserve Your fierce anger. Purify Your Kingdom in mercy, O Lord. We commit ourselves to You again. Do not forsake us forever, O God.

Jeremiah 11

Read Jeremiah 11

One of the jobs of the prophets was to announce God’s determination that the hardened disobedience of His chosen people would lead to exile. In Jeremiah 11 the prophet makes this case with particular reference to the biblical idea of “covenant.”

During the days of the Old Testament the Word of God was especially spoken to the people of Israel and Judah. This message first came to them, at least in written form, in the Ten Commandments. This famous moral code was the ethical heart of what we call the Sinai Covenant—the arrangement that God made with His people through Moses when they were in the wilderness of Sinai on the way to the Promised Land.

A covenant is a deal. In the Bible, the covenants that God made with His people were of two kinds. The first is a promissory covenant such as the promise God gave to Abraham in Genesis 12 when He said, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” A promise rests on the foundation that God will provide the obedience necessary in order to keep the deal in force. The second type of covenant is a law covenant like the one God made through Moses at Sinai. Laws draw our attention to the obedience or disobedience of the people of God.

When the Sinai Covenant came, it did not overrule the promise given to Abraham. God would still keep His Word to bring great blessing upon His elect people, but if His nation refused to obey His moral demands, then they would have to face the sanctions that were a part of the Sinai Covenant. The ultimate consequence would be the loss of the land, with the people being sent into exile.

There was a day when the “olive tree” of the nation of Israel was green and full of life. The Lord heard the cries of His people for help, and He accepted their offerings to Him. But in the days of Jeremiah they had been offering the blood of animals to false gods. Judgment would soon come.

Even Jeremiah's neighbors opposed God's prophet with secret plots. The Lord revealed these dangers to Jeremiah. The residents of his town wanted the prophet's name to be forgotten forever, but God would not allow that to happen.

When our final prophet came, the Lord of the New Covenant was put to death on the cross. Jesus was cut off from the land of the living. We deserved the ultimate exile, cast out of any right to the kingdom of heaven because of our violation of the Law of God. Yet He who knew no sin became sin for us, so that the promise of God to Abraham could be fulfilled.

According to the Law, we are dead men, but by God's promise we have eternal life. Shall we then continue in sin? By no means! We will hear the Word of the Lord who loved us. We will believe in Jesus, and follow after Him by the provision of His holy presence with us. This is the only way for us to express our sincere appreciation for the riches of His grace.

Prayer from A Book of Prayers

Lord of the Prophets, You have spoken to us in the words of Your covenant. Your people have known the truth of Your provision and Your Law. Yet they have not been willing to truly hear Your Word. You brought upon them words of trouble in the sanctions that came against them. We thank You for the sacrifice appointed for us in Christ, our Lord. We confess to You that we have not had hearts ready to obey You. How could this be? Surely our prayers are hindered and our usefulness in Your Kingdom is limited when we have not humbled ourselves before Your Word. Our deeds testify against us. We have devised schemes against You and Your servants, even though we are a part of Your church. How we wander, O Lord! Have mercy on us, on our towns, and on our families.

Jeremiah 10

Read Jeremiah 10

God called the people of Judah to a better way of life. “Learn not the way of the nations.” The other people groups of the earth worshiped lifeless idols. How could it be that God's own chosen ones would desire these other “gods” and turn away from the Almighty?

“There is none like You, O Lord.” Jehovah alone was the true God. All the other man-made objects of worship and demonic spirits would one day “perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”

A small taste of final judgment would come to Judah in the days of Jeremiah. They would face an enemy siege that would leave them hungry and completely demoralized. God would send them off into exile where they would be subject to those who were not His people.

This fact broke the heart of the prophet Jeremiah, but it also was something that Jehovah Himself grieved. Speaking of the place where the Lord had lived among His people, God said, “My tent is destroyed, and all My cords are broken; My children have gone from Me, and they are not.”

This grief of God for His wandering elect, together with His holy justice and faithful love, would one day be lived out most fully in the death of Jesus on the cross. Salvation would come through Christ alone.

Jeremiah knew that “the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.” Human beings needed to be humble before the sovereign Lord of all. They needed correction, but would they be able to stand the judgment of God?

The prophet asked that the Lord would give Judah the measured “justice” of a courtroom, and not the “anger” of a powerful soldier coming against his enemy. God's ultimate answer for all discipline and every punishment that His beloved people deserve would be found entirely in the cross. The Son of God would take all of the eternal sanctions that were coming against us, and we would receive all the rewards of divine blessing that the Almighty had prepared for Jesus.

Prayer from A Book of Prayers

God of Truth and Beauty, we will not be fooled by the idolatry of the nations. Their gods are objects made by men. You alone are the Lord, full of wisdom, and speaking words of the most valuable instruction. You are clothed in majesty. You have wrath that we could never endure. You made the earth by Your power and understanding. You control the motions of the clouds, and the lives of human beings. You are the portion of Your people and the Lord of angels. You bring distress upon us when we need Your fatherly discipline. Take away our stupidity. Give us sense. Show us the way of life. Do not correct us in Your anger, or we will be brought to nothing.

Jeremiah 9

Read Jeremiah 9

God has given us the capacity to weep. In Jeremiah 9, not only was the prophet Jeremiah truly distressed, but also God Himself grieved concerning the spiritual condition of His people.

Why was God mourning? Judah had succumbed to the worst moral failures. They ought to have been holy and righteous as imitators of the Lord, but they were adulterous and treacherous. The prophet very forcefully exposed their lying ways. They were deceivers and liars who kept on adding to their iniquity, moving from oppression and deceit to more of the same.

God needed to respond with correction. “I will refine them and test them.” Ignoring the offenses of His people forever would have been an affront to His own character.

Jeremiah exposed the hypocrisy of the nation, particularly among the religious leaders that were called to speak about the danger of rejecting the Word of God. They should have all been sounding the alarm. Instead they continually said that God would give immediate peace. The people also spoke words of pretense to their neighbors, pretending to love those around them, but then setting up traps to abuse them.

Those who would not listen to the truth did not want to be reminded of the Lord's Word. They preferred idols and foreign gods. They would soon be thrust out of the land by God.

The Lord Jesus wept over sin and death. He looked over Jerusalem, and mourned about her unwillingness to hear, repent, and draw near to hear His Word. He was brought to the tomb of His friend Lazarus, and He wept, though He knew that He would bring him back to life. God is moved by sin and by the sad consequences of our hardhearted rebellion.

Christ grieved about our sin and misery, but He did more than cry. He defeated sin and death for us through the cross. He took away our guilt and changed our hearts. By His Spirit we have been marked as His and granted a new willingness to hear and follow His voice in the Word.

The One who obeyed the Law so perfectly for us could not be left in tears forever. His victory will soon do more than remove His own grief. He will wipe away every tear from the eyes of all who have been granted new hearts and lives by the Holy Spirit.

Prayer from A Book of Prayers

Lord God, we mourn for our loved ones in Your church. They are Your people, but they are adulterers, slanderers, and workers of iniquity who refuse to know You. Refine them, O Lord. Is there some other way besides suffering? Father, we pray not merely about some unknown creatures, but about our own friends, even our sons and daughters, who have not obeyed Your voice. We raise a wailing because of Zion. Lord, we lament concerning Your people everywhere. Young men and women who should have more sense and maturity are in love with foolishness. How can we reach their hearts, O Lord? You must touch them, O Lord, and draw us all back to You.

Jeremiah 8

Read Jeremiah 8

It is a measure of God’s judgment against the life and character of a deceased king that the Lord would deny him a dignified burial. The kings of God’s people had worshiped the sun, moon, and stars. Now their remains were left uncovered before the celestial bodies they seemed to prefer to the invisible God. Life would be very difficult for the members of the ruling class that survived. They had dishonored their God, and He would send them out of the Promised Land. Instead of wealth and prestige, they would soon live in disgrace.

God had sent many warnings, yet these were not heeded. The leaders of Judah showed no sensitivity to His hand of correction and were in perpetual rebellion.

Despite the Lord’s words and actions against those in authority, the prophets and priests were stuck on the idea that they were wise, and that they were in the right concerning the Law. They thought that they would soon experience “peace” from the hand of God, but the future before them would not be bright. God would cause some to lose their wives and their fields to conquerors. The Lord would come to His “fig tree” and examine her for ripe fruit, but would find none. (Matthew 21:19)

It was inescapable that Israel's biggest problem in life and death was the righteous judgment of God against their sin. One day Christ would come as the Great Physician—not the false doctor who might try to convince the patient that the wound was slight when it was life-threatening, but the healer who would cure their disease by taking their soul sickness upon Himself.

He had no sin, but He carried the guilt of His people through the wonder of the cross. Now our hope goes far beyond the grave. The Lord’s promise for us is so much more than an honorable and orderly burial. The dead in Christ shall rise to eternal blessedness, and there will be a final separation between the world and the church. That “balm” for our sin-sick souls has come, and He has defeated sin, death, and even the grave.

Prayer from A Book of Prayers

Eternal Lord, we live for a time on this earth, and then all that remains of us are dry bones. Is there hope for resurrection? Surely Your Son has risen from the dead. He has assured us that we have resurrection hope in Him. He said that He went to prepare a place for us, that where He is, we also shall be. Though we have sinned badly, He is the hope of our weak souls. We have been greedy in our hearts for unjust gain. We have joined a loud chorus of those who claim to know You, and yet who keep on sinning. Is there a way of peace for people like us? We thank You for the way of life through faith in Jesus Christ. He has defeated that serpent of old. Though our joy on earth may be gone, we have yet a spark of hope and a weak flame of new life. Hear our prayer and heal us. Restore us once again to a more vigorous spiritual health.

Jeremiah 7

Read Jeremiah 7

In the days of Jeremiah there were many people who were devoted to the temple of the Lord. They were counting on that great building as a badge of merit that distinguished them from the other people groups of the nations around them. Surely Judah would be blessed by the Almighty because of the temple. But this was not to be.

God said, “Amend your ways and your deeds.” The Lord would not allow His people to continue to dwell in the Promised Land when they abused the poor and the widow, shed innocent blood, and worshiped false gods. He would not permit His temple to stand forever as “a den of robbers.”

Jehovah called the attention of Jeremiah's hearers to earlier days and to previous places of holy worship. He invited them to look at what had become of Shiloh. Once it was a great center of worship. Now it was nothing but a ruin and a memory.

The Lord invited everyone to examine the evidence of their own rebellion. The people of Jerusalem were making cakes for the so-called “queen of heaven.” They poured out drink offerings to other gods. They were destroying themselves in their idolatry, and God would surely bring His wrath upon their land.

According to the Old Testament sacrificial system, the whole burnt-offering was to be completely consumed in the fire on the altar of the Lord, but here God said, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh.” He was telling them to consume this food themselves because He did not want their ceremonial gifts. When idolaters, oppressors, and immoral men did their religious rituals just right, the Lord was not pleased.

Jeremiah was told by God to speak all these words to His people, yet God informed His prophet that they would not listen. They were blinded by their idolatry. They had brought false objects of worship into the temple itself, as if they were doing nothing wrong. They had even burned their sons and daughters in a brutal system of child sacrifice.

The desperate worship of paganism can never bring any lasting help to anyone. The Word of God is our only rule for faith and life. We must not abandon the Scriptures or the Son of God.

Jesus is the incarnate Word of the Father. He demonstrated to us in person what the prophets spoke about through their inspired speech. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He is the temple of the Lord, and now we have become the temple of the Holy Spirit as Jesus and His Word richly dwell within us.

One day the confusion and heartbreak of our fallen condition will be behind us. Until then we look to Jesus, the Word who gave His life for us, and we listen to the Scriptures that speak to us from heaven. God is showing us what it means to follow Him and granting us the power to hear and obey.

Prayer from A Book of Prayers

Lord God Almighty, there is much evil in the land. We imagine that we will be safe in Your church because of our dedication to a sacrament or some show of religious worship or act of dedication. Yet we go on doing all these abominations that are against Your Law. You have spoken persistently, but we have not listened. Father, we need the intercession of Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Please forgive us, O God, and hear the perfect prayer of the One who atoned for our sins. Though we violate Your commandments, we continue to cling to the hem of His holy garment. What else can we do? We resolve to obey you, but we keep on sinning. You know the truth about us. Our only hope is in Christ. We will listen to Your Word, and we will be attentive to Your discipline. What will you do to us when we forget our promises and fall asleep when we should be hearing Your voice? Surely we deserve to be food for the birds of the air, as our fathers were in the days of the prophets. Yet You are a God who will keep Your covenant, and You will magnify Your holy Name. Save us, O Lord.

Jeremiah 6

Read Jeremiah 6

The prophets called Israel and Judah to run toward God and His Word. In the days of Jeremiah, many of God’s people were plainly unwilling to respond to the Lord's warning. It all sounded so distant until foreign adversaries were right at the city gates. The “lovely and delicately bred … daughter of Zion” had a very hard heart. She simply would not hear. One day it would be too late to flee from the enemy. When the siege mounds were laid against Jerusalem, there would be no way of escape.

To make good use of the prophetic Word, the people of God needed “circumcised” ears. Though they had been marked in their flesh as covenant keepers, they would not listen to the Lord. They were bringing the wrath of God upon themselves.

The judgment that was coming against Jerusalem was not only for one segment of society. God's discipline would be experienced by husband and wife, young and old, rich and poor. Those who should have known better tried to drown out Jeremiah's warning with a false message of peace for the complacent. They would not return to the “ancient paths” where humble sinners hear the true call of God and return to Him.

God would judge wickedness among His covenant people in the sight of the nations of the world. The Lord would finally bring “terror on every side” to the remaining people in the land. No matter how much God warned His people, both with words of correction and actions of chastisement, nothing changed their hearts.

When would God's chosen ones finally listen? First the problem of their unrighteousness had to be solved through the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ. Then their debt had to be paid through the highest price imaginable—the Lord’s own holy blood. With that great work completed, the Risen Savior of the world entered the true Jerusalem above. From that place of divine victory, He and the Father would send forth the promised Holy Spirit. Only then would Jew and Gentile receive what was so desperately needed—ears to hear.

We thank the Son of God for this spiritual blessing bought at such a very great price. Through the powerful Holy Spirit and according to the decree of our glorious Father, we are being refined for His glory. We have found our eternal safety and everlasting joy in almighty God.

Prayer from A Book of Prayers

Father God, the Day of Your Wrath is coming. Before that final moment, there are many times of trouble for Your church, for You discipline those whom You love. We thank You for Your care that claims and restrains us. Our ears are not listening to Your Word as we ought to. We are not blushing at Your correction. We ignore the warnings of Your watchmen. We love the things of this world. When trouble comes, we are sometimes made more willing to consider Your Law. Will we be doomed to fall over the stumbling-blocks that have come into our path? This is no one’s fault but our own. We have had hearts of iron and have been unwilling to hear. Have mercy on us.

Jeremiah 5

Read Jeremiah 5

How do we know the soul of a city? How do we discern the heart, mind, and will of a nation? We are so limited in our ability. We can only make educated generalizations as we interpret the evidence within our reach. To do much more than this would take a lifetime, and no city stands still for our analysis. God has His hand on the pulse of any place that we can think of. His knowledge of any one man or woman is complete, and His awareness is never limited to a random sample. He has full awareness of all His creatures. Furthermore, His interpretation of the facts is always flawless.

If God had sent out an army of observers to run throughout the streets of ancient Jerusalem to take note of what could have been seen by the eyes of men, they would never have been able to rightly contradict His own perfect understanding of what was really going on there. The Lord invited Jeremiah's readers to examine the details of the city. He was confident that they would not be able to find even one man who did justice.

We may think that our assessment of matters would have been better than God’s. We too quickly believe the word of men. We often ignore the contradictions that can be seen in their deeds, and we know so little about their hearts. God knows all of these things. He is not impressed by those who say, “As the Lord lives,” but who then tell lies and try to back them up with the name of the God that they do not fear.

Even Jeremiah wondered if all of Jerusalem was truly that bad. The prophet said, “These are only the poor; they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the Lord.” He imagined that “the great” would not be so universally mired in sin. What did Jeremiah find? “They all alike had broken the yoke” of God's Law.

What would they do when enemies came upon them like “a lion from the forest” or “a wolf from the desert?” Their show of obedience was only pretense. They were full of spiritual unfaithfulness and immoral adultery. How could the Lord pardon hardhearted unrepentant Jerusalem? He knew their hearts, and they were committed to evil.

A nation was coming from afar. Jerusalem would be destroyed. Yet despite the seemingly universal wickedness of the Lord’s people, God stated here that He would not make “a full end” of them. The enemy would overwhelm them, the rain would be withheld, the hand of God would be against His people, and the fault will be entirely theirs. They had abused the fatherless and the needy, and had forsaken the Almighty. Yet still God would not bring upon them all that they deserved.

What would complete justice have looked like? Consider what our great Redeemer faced for us on the cross. There we see the fullness of God’s just wrath. The sinless substitute was given the pains of hell and a torment that you and I will never know. Because He took our punishment, our outlook now is one of the greatest blessing rather than the endless curse of our holy God.

When even “the prophets prophesy falsely,” God’s people must yet resist the devil. If we love the Son of God and the way of the cross we cannot love the way of corrupt men. We must choose God’s way today, though many others may choose corruption.

Look all around the kingdom of God. See if you can find one man who does justice and seeks truth. Thanks be to God, there is one such Man now in the Jerusalem above. The power of His death, and the greatness of His justice and truth are more than enough to make the whole of His redeemed city full of people who are counted as righteous because of Jesus Christ. The new Jerusalem that the Son of God has saved from destruction will one day be perfectly holy.

Prayer from A Book of Prayers

Righteous Lord, we have filled Your church with sin. Even when we have been disciplined by You, we have refused to repent. This is not merely the record of the uninformed, but leaders in Your house have forsaken You. We are full of unfaithfulness. Where is the church that remains clean? Like the house of Israel and Judah, we have been treacherous against You. Is there a way of mercy for us? Please do not utterly consume us and destroy us. For the glory of Your Name, purify Your church, but leave a remnant through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. As we have served foreign gods and strange religious ideas, we have brought trouble upon Your people. We have turned away from You over and over again. Wicked men are easily found among Your people, even among those in important positions of trust and authority. Preachers preach falsely, and those who lead move us along in sinful directions. What will we do when the end comes? Please forgive us and help us.

Jeremiah 4

Read Jeremiah 4

The prophets of God were sounding an alarm when they brought the truth of God to Jerusalem. What was the danger that they were warning against? They were soon to have unfriendly visitors from the north. A “lion,” a “destroyer of nations,” would decimate their cities, leaving them in ruins and slaughtering many people. This distressing providence was from the “fierce anger of the Lord.”

It is not God’s highest and best will to destroy His people and to reduce their property to rubble. He would have preferred that they listen to His entreaties, responded to His correction, and returned to His love. But they would not.

How is it that such sad news was decreed by God against Jerusalem? He tells us plainly that their ways and their deeds brought the day of disaster to them. Trouble will soon strike all of their leaders. King and officials, priest and prophets—they will all lose their courage when God speaks and acts in judgment upon them. When that day comes, they will know that they are ruined.

With God, there is always hope for His people. Even when the day of destruction will surely come, kings have learned that God may choose to delay His discipline. But as a father announces his intention to discipline his sons, any possibility of a different outcome will depend on the ears of those who hear his clear warning. What if God’s children are foolish? What if His children have no understanding? Even in the most severe acts of fatherly discipline, God always has a plan for grace. Here He says, “The whole land shall be a desolation, yet I will not make a full end.”

The answer for the people of God must come in some real change of heart. They cannot seek false hopes that come from idols or foreign powers. They must return to God. This is the Lord’s plea to them in the opening verses of the chapter. If they use His name, it must be in a real promise that is consistent with truth, justice, and righteousness. They cannot merely trust in some outward sacrament. They need the circumcision of the heart.

When Christ came as our only hope for true righteousness, He was despised and rejected by men. Yet after He gave His life for us on the cross and the Spirit was poured upon the church, the word of God was boldly preached by Peter. It was then that the people who once shouted for the death of Jesus were cut to the heart. They repented and were baptized for the forgiveness of sins. Many truly turned to God who once had trusted only in their physical circumcision.

The call to repentance is still a part of God’s plan for our reclamation. We who were dead in our transgressions are summoned through the preaching of the Word to turn from disobedience and to rest upon the One who knew no sin.

A genuine work of grace in our hearts will yield changes in our lives. The Lord was not pleased with mere outward ceremonies in the day of Jeremiah, and He is not fooled with such things today. Christ has offered up the perfect sacrifice of His own holy life to the Father. The nations have heard of His love and have embraced His great mercy. Let us hear His Word and live a life of grateful repentance.

Prayer from A Book of Prayers

O God of Jacob, we return to You. We remove our detestable things from Your presence. We look to You alone with hearts that are able to mourn for our sin by Your grace. We will take up the tasks that You have for us today with confidence in You. When You call us to lament for our sin and fruitlessness, we take up that true cry and turn our hearts to You. Do not speak in judgment against us, for Your Son has saved us. There is trouble among us, O God, and we need You. Our ways and our deeds have brought this upon us. We come to You in anguish as those who love You and love Your people. Much of Your church seems to be a wasteland. Where is that wisdom that is from above? We need One Man to come and rescue us. Come Lord Jesus! We mourn for our sin. Will You utterly forsake us, O Lord? We turn away from our prostitution and murderous hate. We trust in You again. 

Jeremiah 3

Read Jeremiah 3

Deuteronomy 24 contains a provision concerning marriage. If a man found some indecency in his wife and gave her a certificate of divorce, if she then went and married a second man who also gave her a certificate of divorce or died, her first husband was not permitted to take her back again as his wife. The reason given was that such casual behavior concerning marriage was “an abomination before the Lord” which would bring sin upon the land.

God sent Israel away because of her spiritual adultery. His people worshiped other gods rather than the real God, and they gave their love to these idols. The Lord's action was a divorce. Could Israel repent and come back to Him again after they had been with other gods? According to the marriage law of Deuteronomy 24, God could not take them back, but everything must give way to the greater news of God’s mercy to repentant sinners. If they would truly repent, He says that He would take them back.

In the beginning of Jeremiah 3 God’s people seem completely unwilling to admit their sin and to return to God. They are said to have the stubborn “forehead” of a woman who sells her body to anyone for money. They will not tell the truth about their sin. They refuse to be ashamed. They cry out to God wondering why He won’t help, but they won't confess what they really know.

God still indicates that He will accept them when they come back. He talks to His people as two sisters. One is the northern kingdom of Israel and the other is the southern kingdom of Judah. Israel was sent away first by God. Even though Judah saw what happened to Israel, Judah sinned even more than Israel. Yet God calls them both to return to Him, and He indicates that some small number will do this.

God then moves from this situation in the 6th century before Christ and speaks forward to a much later day using the expression “in those days.” The Lord will give shepherds or pastors who will feed His people with knowledge and understanding. No one will care about the Old Testament Ark of the Covenant, the holiest object of Old Covenant worship. Yet not only will Israel and Judah come home to God—all the nations of the world will gather to the throne of the Lord.

What is so very exciting about this prophesy is that God says that His people will come to Him with true hatred of their sin and with hope in the God of salvation. This is what has happened throughout the New Covenant era. God has sent forth His messengers everywhere; from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. He has filled them with the Word of His Son Jesus, the one descendant of the tribe of Judah who could fully atone for their sins. During His days on earth He led previously faithless people back home. Now He has healed our faithlessness and exposed to us the filthiness of our idolatry. He has not only given us the strength to tell the truth about our sin, He has also accomplished our redemption through His sacrifice on the cross, taking away our guilt.

What Jeremiah said would happen “in those days” has now come about through Christ and the preaching of the Word. As we embrace His truth, a miracle of healing takes place. Former enemies are softened to hear a gospel of heart-warming love. We respond to His entreaties again, walking away from our former life of sin, knowing that we are safely home in the house of the Lord.

Prayer from A Book of Prayers

Husband of Your Church, we have been an unfaithful bride, and have polluted the land. Your people of old claimed You as their God even as they had done all the evil that they could. Will we follow in this treacherous way, and not return to You in truth? Please restrain our sin. We are not interested in the way of pretended religion. We want You and not some worthless foreign idol. You are the Master of Your people. Take us back, so that we will know Your love again. We will not stubbornly follow our evil hearts. You have brought us into a pleasant land. We turn from every perverted way. You are the Lord our God, and in You alone is the salvation of Your church. We honestly admit that we have sinned against You from our youth, even until this day, for we have not obeyed Your voice.

Jeremiah 2

Read Jeremiah 2

God had a message for Jerusalem, but would His people hear Him? The Lord reminds Judah of a better day. When we read in the Scriptures of the forty years in the wilderness, it does not appear to be a high point of holiness. Yet God remembers it as the glory days of Israel’s youth by the time of Jeremiah. Back in the time of the Exodus, though Israel rebelled, they had no choice ultimately but to literally follow God or perish in the desert. During that time God defended them against their enemies. While we can call to mind many episodes of faithlessness, and we know that an entire generation was lost in that wilderness and was not permitted to enter the Promised Land, yet by the time of Jeremiah the trouble of the Lord’s people was far more severe. They seemed utterly insensible to the correction of the Almighty.

God inquires in Jeremiah 2 concerning any supposed fault that Judah may have found in Him that would lead them to reject Him. Of course there is no such fault in the Lord. Nonetheless His people abandoned the Lord and set their hearts on worthless idols.

Though the Lord corrected His people on many occasions, and though during the time of the Judges the people responded in part to the discipline of the Lord, even then any repentance among the Lord’s flock became less and less significant with each passing generation. Eventually they did not seem to be responding at all. When they faced trouble they did not sincerely ask, “Where is the Lord?” The people defiled the land and even the leaders did not appear to be faithful to the Word of God. So few were calling the nation back to spiritual fidelity.

Even nations with man-made religions do not readily abandon their gods, and yet the people of the Lord preferred idols that their hands made to the God who was able to save them. They committed these two evils: 1) They gave up on the real God who was a “fountain of living waters,” and 2) They made “broken cisterns” of false spiritual water instead, clinging to useless idols of wood and stone.

What could possibly be done to change this sad situation? At times Judah ran to Egypt and Assyria for help, but they would not flee to the God who made them. They killed and committed adultery. They abused the poor for their own gain. They turned to a tree or a stone and said, “You are my Father,” and then turned away from their real heavenly Father as an unwanted stranger. Would further correction actually help in such a situation? There was nothing left but to give them over to the nations whose gods they had so frequently admired.

This spiritual heartbreak is not just an Old Covenant nightmare. Even today the church can become insensible to the discipline of God. Many turn away from the Christ in whom they were nurtured, and decide that everything else would be better, no matter how foolish. The faithful patterns of obedient living that were the delight of our Savior’s heart are cast off quickly and replaced with personal choice and mysticism. Many within the church become so completely conformed to the pattern of this world, and yet they say with the Old Covenant rebels, “I am innocent.”

What can be done in such a sad situation? The Lord knows how to keep His own. We need to remember this when everything seems hopeless. God raises up the faithful from the most pitiful situations when His own covenant children are determined to spurn Him. He will not be mocked, and His will shall not be frustrated in the end. The Lord may yet have mercy upon us. Our true Father knows who He is and He knows us. He is able to rescue us from the blindness of idolatry.

Why would we turn away from the one true God who has ransomed us through the blood of His Son? Do not make up your own salvation from the false spiritual answers all around us. Remember the Lord who remembers you, and follow Him.

Prayer from A Book of Prayers

Father, we have a job to perform for You today. You have been faithful from the beginning. You raised up Your people, and they have gone far from You. There is no fault in You. There can be no justification for our rebellion. We have made Your church an abomination to many because of our disobedience and pride. How could we turn to idols? How could we exchange Your glory for that which does not profit? You are a fountain of godliness and life for Your people. Why have we forsaken You as You led us in the way, only to choose broken vessels of bitter and polluted waters? We turn to You again in repentance. We turn away from wild ways of defiling sin. Cleanse us now by Your pure and powerful Spirit. Restrain our spiritual lust when we would move in the direction of strange gods. A tree is not our father. A stone cannot rise up and save us. You are the only true Source of life for us, and Your Son is the Rock of our salvation. Gather us again from the wilderness of foolishness, for we have forgotten You for many days. We are only innocent in the blood of the Lamb. Our shame is obvious, but our holiness is also real through the cross of Christ.