Jeremiah

Chapter 13:15-27 (ESV) - Hear and give ear; be not proud,
    for the LORD has spoken.
Give glory to the LORD your God
    before he brings darkness,
before your feet stumble
    on the twilight mountains,
and while you look for light
    he turns it into gloom
    and makes it deep darkness.
But if you will not listen,
    my soul will weep in secret for your pride;
my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears,
    because the LORD's flock has been taken captive.

Say to the king and the queen mother:
    “Take a lowly seat,
for your beautiful crown
    has come down from your head.”
The cities of the Negeb are shut up,
    with none to open them;
all Judah is taken into exile,
    wholly taken into exile.

“Lift up your eyes and see
    those who come from the north.
Where is the flock that was given you,
    your beautiful flock?
What will you say when they set as head over you
    those whom you yourself have taught to be friends to you?
Will not pangs take hold of you
    like those of a woman in labor?
And if you say in your heart,
    ‘Why have these things come upon me?’
it is for the greatness of your iniquity
    that your skirts are lifted up
    and you suffer violence.
Can the Ethiopian change his skin
    or the leopard his spots?
Then also you can do good
    who are accustomed to do evil.
I will scatter you like chaff
    driven by the wind from the desert.
This is your lot,
    the portion I have measured out to you, declares the LORD,
because you have forgotten me
    and trusted in lies.
I myself will lift up your skirts over your face,
    and your shame will be seen.
I have seen your abominations,
    your adulteries and neighings, your lewd whorings,
    on the hills in the field.
Woe to you, O Jerusalem!
    How long will it be before you are made clean?”

Question to consider: Why does Jeremiah seem to write the same warnings over and over again?

If the theme of this book seems repetitive, it only drives home the deep sadness that Judah refused to repent. When Jonah preached to the Ninevites, he gave them the bare minimum sermon, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4). The entire kingdom repented immediately in sackcloth and ashes hoping that the judgment would not be carried out against them. The king’s logic was sound. If the LORD was not capable of mercy, He never would have had Jonah make the announcement. He just would have wiped them off the face of the earth. Jonah understood this about the LORD as well which is why he didn’t want to obey the LORD and preach in the first place. Jonah did not want the Ninevites to be spared.

However, Judah had a Jeremiah among them who was willing to plead with them over and over again with tears to repent, but instead of listening to him, they threatened his life for contradicting the false teachers. Yet Jeremiah continued to plead with these men who were once his mentors, “Don’t you care about your beautiful flock that is being carted off into exile?” Shouldn’t they feel some sense of remorse that the ones who were taking their flock captive were the very ones they assured the people were their friends and would bring about peace?

Instead of pangs like a woman in labor for how they deceived the people and brought about this judgment, they would ask, “Why have these things come upon me?” It’s as if they were gaslighting God. They constantly ignored His commands and worshiped other gods, and then responded as if God was unjust in bringing judgment to them.

Just because the LORD lets people get by with saying all kinds of blasphemies against Him, it doesn’t mean that they will never be held accountable for their foolish words. The LORD was at the point where their judgment had been measured out. Their ability to do good was as possible as an Ethiopian changing his skin or a leopard changing his spots, and so the time for mercy had ended, and the LORD had measured out His judgment against them.

How long would it be before they were made clean? We’ll find out it’s seventy years so the land could find its rest. A sabbatical year was once every seven years so seventy of them came to 490 years the LORD had patiently sent prophets to warn them to turn from their sin. Compare this again to the immediate repentance of the Ninevite Gentiles whose only knowledge of the LORD was that He delivered Jonah from their sea god, Dagon.

Have you, dear reader, repented of your sin? Have you been reconciled through the way of righteousness God provided in His Son? Rather than 490 years, we’ve had over two thousand, but there is no guarantee that we’ll have tomorrow. Listen to the tears of Jeremiah. Listen to the warnings of the apostles. Listen to the call of the Holy Spirit and be baptized into Christ Jesus.

Prayer

Dear heavenly Father, please help us to see that we have fallen short of Your commands whether it is to fully love You or our neighbor. Thank You that Christ fulfilled both and willingly gives us His righteousness to wear like a coat so that we may stand before You without spot or blemish. Amen.