Questions for thought:
1. Jeremiah preached to the people about their sins. They ignored him and went their way as if they had none. How is that like today?
2. Jeremiah said it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps. How has God made it possible for us not to have to direct our own steps in religious matters? What happens when we discard His word and make up our own rules?
3. In Jeremiah’s time the heathen world had vain customs of worship to their gods. Israel often copied those customs. What is the possibility if we fail to teach our children, of them doing the same with the religious customs of the day which are not according to God’s word? Might they see their friends observing some religious practice not found in the scripture and decide they too want to observe that practice?
Last time we covered Jeremiah 1-6 looking at how God had been so good to Israel, but they had continued to rebel against Him. He had pleaded with them to return to Him and take up the old paths and serve Him, but they said they would not.
In Jeremiah 7 God has given Jeremiah another sermon to preach to the people of Judah right at the temple gates. Jeremiah was to tell the people to amend their ways and quit hurting other people. They were told to quit oppressing the strangers, fatherless, and widows. They were told to quit shedding innocent blood. And they were told to quit serving other gods (verses 3-6). Then Jeremiah accused the people of committing such sins as stealing, murdering, adultery, false swearing, burning incense to Baal, and following other gods and then coming to the temple to worship as if they had no sin, making it a den of thieves (verses 9-11). God again promised them the same fate as northern Israel had suffered, that of captivity to be soon coming.
In Jeremiah 7:28 God accused them of being a nation that obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God, a nation that would not receive correction, and a nation for whom truth was perished. How does that sound when compared to what we see today? Because of such abomination, God warned in verse 34 the voice of mirth and gladness would cease from their streets. In chapter 8 the plight of Judah continues with more information concerning how God had pled for them to come back but they refused. In 8:6 it is evident the people refused to accept their guilt and felt at peace. In 8:11 the words of 7:14 are repeated concerning how the people thought there was peace but there was none.
In chapter 8 verse 20 we have such a sad plight. The harvest is past, summer is ended, and we are not saved. In verse 22 the question was asked is there no balm in Gilead and no physician there. The implication is there was balm in Gilead and there were physicians there but the people refused to apply the balm or attend to the physician. The same is true today in our land where the Lord’s word is plentiful and the Great Physician has said for us to come unto Him, but we will not.
Jeremiah continued to lament for his people in chapter 9. Beginning in verse 9 he gave more of the description concerning the coming destruction. The people would be scattered and those of the uncircumcision would be the ones God used to punish Israel.
In chapter 10 we have a description of the heathen people who surrounded Israel. Jeremiah says they had vain customs. One of them was cutting a tree from the forest and decorating it with silver and gold and fixing it so it would stand steady. It is obvious from they are using this as representing a god and as a worship symbol. But in verse 5 God said it had no power. In verse 10 we read the Lord is the true God and it was His wrath with which they should have concerned themselves. He is the one who created all things (verses 11-12). Jeremiah confessed to God in verse 23 it is not in man that walks to direct his own steps. If that was so in Jeremiah’s day, is it any different today? Can we direct our own steps by creating our own gods and worshipping them?
Almost as if God were saying, “you are right, Jeremiah, man can’t do it on his own,” we read in Jeremiah 11 verse 3 cursing upon those who did not obey the words of the covenant God commanded the fathers when He brought them out of Egypt. God continued to tell Jeremiah how He had tried to guide man’s steps, but man refused. In verse 8 we read how man obeyed not. In verse 10 man turned back. God told Jeremiah in verse 14 not to even pray for these people as God would not hear them anymore in their time of trouble.
In the end of chapter 11 we read about those who did not want the prophets to prophesy the truth. We see here in verse 21 they were seeking Jeremiah’s life because of his prophecy. God promised punishment upon those people too. He even said there would not be a remnant of them left.
Jeremiah in chapter 12 begins to do a little of what we saw Habakkuk doing. He wants to know why the wicked are prospering and they seem all happy and nothing is happening to correct them. He wants to know how long God would let the land suffer because of their doings. God replied to Jeremiah beginning in verse 5 where He in turn begins to ask Jeremiah questions. He wants to know if Jeremiah is worn out by the footmen what will he do if he must run against the horses. If he was having trouble running on dry ground, what would he do if required to run through the flooded waters. God seems to be telling Jeremiah this is just the beginning. If you are having troubles with what you are seeing now, what will you do when it really gets bad. God went on to reassure Jeremiah when it was all done, He would return and have compassion on that remnant and He would bring them back to their land where if they would then learn God’s ways, they could remain but if they would not, He would utterly destroy the nation (verse 17).
The Lord gave Jeremiah two signs in chapter 13 and three other warnings concerning what to come. He began with the sign of the marred girdle. He told Jeremiah to get and wear a girdle or sash around his waist and then he told him to take that sash and hide it in a hole of a rock in Euphrates. Jeremiah did as the Lord said and after some time the Lord told him to go get the sash. When Jeremiah dug it out of the earth, it was ruined. In verse 9 the Lord explained that was the same way He was going to mar the pride of Jerusalem. The people who had refused to hear Him would become good for nothing (verse 10).
In the second symbol recorded in 13:12-14, Jeremiah was to tell the people every bottle would be filled with wine and when they mocked him by saying they already knew that, he was to tell them it was the people who were represented by the bottles and God’s wrath was the wine. God’s wrath would render the people helpless and hopeless before their enemies.
Next is the warning against the pride of Israel in verses 15-17. Then there is a warning concerning the officials in verses 18-19 because of their lack of humbleness. Finally in verses 20-21 there is a warning of defeat coming from the north with a promise in the rest of the chapter of a scattering due to the sins of the people.
Judah’s punishment was surely going to happen. Woe was headed their way. They were not listening to Jeremiah. They were going on their own road to destruction. Is that similar to people today?
Next time we will begin with Jeremiah 14 where Jeremiah pleads with God to look upon Judah and continue to bless her.
Christian Women's Responsibility in Sharing God's Word 