Jeremiah: Fourth Sermon, Part 2

Returning to our study of Jeremiah, we see in Jeremiah 11:9 that God speaks of a "conspiracy".  All conspiracies contain an element of secrecy.  Thus, the people in this conspiracy of which the Lord speaks are those who choose to continue to serve other gods, probably in secret resistance to the reforms that King Josiah instituted against pagan practices; resistant even to the point of making secret plans to assassinate the prophet Jeremiah (verses 11:18-19), who is preaching things the people do not want to hear. Thus, this conspiracy has double meaning.

There is a danger, as I have mentioned before, of feeling removed or uninvolved with the sins of Judah, since today most of us do not light candles to idols in a secret back room of our house. But we have to understand how subtle the act of worshipping an idol can be in our own lives. 

I found a very clear description of this from an interesting blog that says:

"Contrary to cultural opinion, possessions or positions or people cannot and will not bring us any closer to a sense of peace, prosperity or security." [ http://bogdankipko.com/why-idolatry-is-infused-with-irony ]

The problem is that in very subtle ways we so often put our trust in "possessions or positions or people" that only the Holy Spirit can reveal to us that we are NOT trusting Jesus, because we will continue to affirm that we ARE trusting Jesus as our hearts continue to deceive us. Whatever we give more of our time, thought, and even our money to, rather than to the Lord, is our idol.

It is because of the seriousness of this idol worship in Judah that the Lord tells Jeremiah NOT to pray for them in verse 11:14.  This is a clear indication of how grieved God is with the people, how angry He is because of their continued rebellion against Him, and for choosing vain and useless idols over the God who gives them their very breath. God declares that He will "not hear them in the time that they cry unto Me..." 

It was these sins of the people of Judah, as well as our own sins, for which Jesus, on the cross, experienced this relentless turning away of God in a time of great need:  "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"  In that transcendent moment, Jesus became the sin of all the world, and received the punishment, in our place, of this divine proclamation against such sin.

It is always the idols in our lives that turn us away from God, and Him away from hearing us.  This is why our prayer each and every day should be such as David prayed:

"Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts; And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24)

Even in these last days, God's Word through His prophet Zechariah declares that He will not hear the cries of His people Israel until they repent of their iniquity and cry out for help to the Messiah whom they earlier rejected.

In chapter 12, we see the closeness of Jeremiah's relationship with the Lord; so intimate that Jeremiah seems to actually criticize the Lord:

"Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?" (Jeremiah 12:1)

David speaks of this same issue, as does Habakkuk.  It was a difficult thing for the people of God, who strived to walk in righteousness, to reconcile in their minds this prosperity of the wicked.

We have the advantage of the cross of Christ.  We are able to place less importance on the prosperity of the wicked, having been witnesses to the gift of God through Jesus Christ, a gift whose value is priceless to those who have received it.  The treasures of the wicked hold no appeal to those who have the real riches of Jesus.

There is a hint in verse 12:4 of the reason that Judah is eventually led into captivity, and that is of the land mourning, and the "herbs of every field" withering. This refers to the Sabbath years, every seventh year in which God commanded that the land should lay fallow, unworked, to give it rest. We will see later in our study that the years of Judah's captivity are relative to the number of years that the land did not receive its Sabbath rest. This is a powerful statement of God's concern for His creation.  And yet, there are those in society who do not care for the land in the specific way that God commanded, but instead worship the land, rather than worship God.  Another form of idolatry for us to guard against, while yet remaining obedient to God's command. 

There is an interesting analogy in verse 12:9 and that is of "a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her..."

This speaks of a type of mob mentality: a flock of birds wanting to gang up on and attack the bird that is different than they are, the only bird in the flock with spots.  A group always attacks the deviant in its midst, even when, as in the case of Jeremiah, the deviant is the only one going the right way, while the rest of the group all go the wrong way.  Jeremiah is following the Lord, while the world around him is following the idols.  The world is all in agreement, while Jeremiah alone voices his disagreement.  Simple solution to the problem is to remove the deviant from their midst, thus the conspiracy to assassinate Jeremiah.

The question for us is this: are we the deviant in the world?

Or are we one of them?