In Jeremiah 4:6, we hear God saying "I will bring evil from the north, and great destruction." Our sovereign God will use vessels of honor (His prophets) and vessels of dishonor (our enemies),in order to accomplish His purposes in us. His instrument in this case will be Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, and his armies. In Ezekiel 38 it is the Scythians [aka Eurasian or Russian] who will come from the north (even farther north), an event which is still to happen in our own lifetime. [And probably soon, given that this, the Shemitah or Sabbath year, will end on September 15, 2015, a year of shaking and "letting fall", a turning point. "The mystery of the Shemitah ordains that an economic and financial transformation take place in the seventh year." -The Mystery of the Shemitah, Jonathan Cahn, p. 96.] For the land of Judah, the end of its Shemitah year in 586 B.C. brought with it the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians.
In 4:19, we see the pain that Jeremiah actually feels for his people. In 4:23 through 26,we see the vision of desolation that Jeremiah sees coming. The desolation is so great, that Jeremiah uses the same words used in Genesis 1 that describe the earth before the Spirit of God moved over it. This is an interesting parallel, as God seems to indicate that He will pull His Spirit out of Judah completely, (although we know that the Holy Spirit remains with God's prophet, Jeremiah) and thus the land will become as desolate as it was before creation itself. The Spirit of God gives life, without the Spirit there is only death:
"A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse. Even a full wind from those places shall come unto Me: now also will I give sentence against them." (Jeremiah 4:11-12)
The Hebrew word for "wind" here is ruach, which can also mean "spirit." The Spirit will return to God.
And yet, there is always that heart-felt pleading from God, that longing to see His people saved: "O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee? (Jer. 4:14)
But always, God loves us too much to allow us to spiritually prosper in disobedience:
"Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in His season, He reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you." (Jer. 5:24-25)
Finally, we come to the end of this particular sermon. Chapter six is the sounding of alarms, the sounding of trumpets:
"O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction." (Jeremiah 6:1)
The name Tekoa actually means "a sound as though from a trumpet" and was the home of another prophet of God, Amos. Bethhaccerem means "house of the vineyard".
"For thus hath the Lord of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her." (Jer. 6:6) Interesting that God instructs trees and stone, the very objects of their false worship, to be destroyed or used against Jerusalem in its coming destruction. The Lord is always appropriate in His method of judgment against unrepentant sin.
Then comes a scripture verse which we have heard many times: "They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, where there is no peace." (Jer. 6:14)
This speaks of the false prophets of the time, who in Jer. 5:13 are described as having a different kind of wind, one that is not of the Holy Spirit, but is "empty, or of no consequence": "and the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them."
And then the final warning of this sermon:
"Thus saith the Lord, Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised form the sides of the earth. They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, o daughter of Zion. We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail. Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side. O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us." (Jer. 6:22-26)
The people are told (paraphrased) to hide in their homes and weep because it will not be safe out on the streets, not that even their hiding will keep them safe. This is the opposite of what the followers of Jesus are told to do when they see Jerusalem besieged by the Romans in 70 A.D. They were told to flee to the hills, not even hanging around home long enough to bring a change of clothing or anything from their houses. That is because death and destruction occurred inside the walls of Jerusalem as the siege continue for more than a year, and people starved to death, unable to escape the walls without being killed. But this which Judah faces, is utter desolation. In the words of Jeremiah, intense terror will fill the hearts of the people of Judah when this enemy descends upon them as the instrument of God's judgment for their disobedience. It doesn't sound all that much different than the terrorists we face today. How have we sat in our own homes and wept at the carnage left in the wake of modern-day terrorists, such as we all experienced on 9/11. What more may come our way and are we prepared for it? Spiritually prepared that is, for there is no other preparation that will save us. If God is for us, who can be against us?
In the person of Jeremiah, we find the nation's most caring patriot; one who is in great pain and distress as he understands the devastation that is coming. He does not compromise the reason for this devastation, he continues to bring home time and time again that the unrepentant sins of the people will bring this to pass. He never lets go of the moral issue, and the fact that judgment is inevitable, yet his weeping exhibits his care for them individually and collectively, while his grief reveals his anguish at what is about to happen.
It is not inappropriate for us to be Jeremiahs in our own time, and to weep for our own country, America, for there is a poignant parallel between Israel and America: our root of this country, its discovery, initial charter, and foundations were clearly given by God and acknowledged by its population. But we are truly living in the post-Christian era in America. It is not inappropriate for us to care for our country and to weep for it as well, all the while understanding what is to come, as Billy Graham so succinctly stated: "If God does not judge America, then He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorra."
Our country is in great peril today and anyone who does not understand that is truly and spiritually blind. We are in peril morally. We are in peril economically. We are in peril militarily. But most of all, we are in peril spiritually.
Jeremiah 6:13 declares the condition of our own society today: "For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness..."
Our society today has highly engineered covetousness. The idols in our own times are vastly more attractive, seductive and entangling than the ones in Jeremiah's day. Evil has gown more efficient in achieving its goal to deceive and destroy multitudes. God has been displaced in our society by vain things. And Revelation tells us that when judgment comes, the people will still cry out to the rocks to hide them, rather than cry out to God even then, for they will be (they are already) blinded and deceived, becoming as dead as the things they worshipped (see Rev. 6:15-16).
And yet...
...just as Jeremiah gives instances of hope, so do we have a confident hope that as we remain hidden in Christ, no matter what befalls us, we are safe, if not in this world, then certainly in eternity, and that is much more important than this fleeting life here. For those of us who trust in Jesus, and who remain repentant and humble of heart, the refiner's fire will produce silver that is purged and cleansed; never will we be called "reprobate silver" - the dregs of impurity that are cast out of silver and thrown away (Jer. 6:30) Silver never melts away completely in the fire. It is merely purged and refined until it begins to reflect the face of the Refiner Himself.
Even for our own nation, there is hope: that the nation will turn back to God and see the fury of God mitigated in this land. But a change must come first. I quote Jonathan Cahn once more here:
"Without God, there is no true security or safety for America. Without His hand of protection, no matter how many systems of defense the nation employs, they will fail just as they did on 9/11. America cannot defy the God of its keeping and expect that protection to continue. 'Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.' (Ps. 127:1)"
We can begin that turning back of a nation towards God with His glory reflected in us, for all the world to see and be drawn to, as Jesus in us will draw all men unto Himself. Let us not be the subject of Jeremiah's message: an unrepentant humanity that becomes like the false gods they worship.
Let us set aside the vain idols of our society. Let us worship Jesus Christ, and become like Him.
In 4:19, we see the pain that Jeremiah actually feels for his people. In 4:23 through 26,we see the vision of desolation that Jeremiah sees coming. The desolation is so great, that Jeremiah uses the same words used in Genesis 1 that describe the earth before the Spirit of God moved over it. This is an interesting parallel, as God seems to indicate that He will pull His Spirit out of Judah completely, (although we know that the Holy Spirit remains with God's prophet, Jeremiah) and thus the land will become as desolate as it was before creation itself. The Spirit of God gives life, without the Spirit there is only death:
"A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse. Even a full wind from those places shall come unto Me: now also will I give sentence against them." (Jeremiah 4:11-12)
The Hebrew word for "wind" here is ruach, which can also mean "spirit." The Spirit will return to God.
And yet, there is always that heart-felt pleading from God, that longing to see His people saved: "O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee? (Jer. 4:14)
But always, God loves us too much to allow us to spiritually prosper in disobedience:
"Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in His season, He reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you." (Jer. 5:24-25)
Finally, we come to the end of this particular sermon. Chapter six is the sounding of alarms, the sounding of trumpets:
"O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction." (Jeremiah 6:1)
The name Tekoa actually means "a sound as though from a trumpet" and was the home of another prophet of God, Amos. Bethhaccerem means "house of the vineyard".
"For thus hath the Lord of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her." (Jer. 6:6) Interesting that God instructs trees and stone, the very objects of their false worship, to be destroyed or used against Jerusalem in its coming destruction. The Lord is always appropriate in His method of judgment against unrepentant sin.
Then comes a scripture verse which we have heard many times: "They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, where there is no peace." (Jer. 6:14)
This speaks of the false prophets of the time, who in Jer. 5:13 are described as having a different kind of wind, one that is not of the Holy Spirit, but is "empty, or of no consequence": "and the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them."
And then the final warning of this sermon:
"Thus saith the Lord, Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised form the sides of the earth. They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, o daughter of Zion. We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail. Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side. O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us." (Jer. 6:22-26)
The people are told (paraphrased) to hide in their homes and weep because it will not be safe out on the streets, not that even their hiding will keep them safe. This is the opposite of what the followers of Jesus are told to do when they see Jerusalem besieged by the Romans in 70 A.D. They were told to flee to the hills, not even hanging around home long enough to bring a change of clothing or anything from their houses. That is because death and destruction occurred inside the walls of Jerusalem as the siege continue for more than a year, and people starved to death, unable to escape the walls without being killed. But this which Judah faces, is utter desolation. In the words of Jeremiah, intense terror will fill the hearts of the people of Judah when this enemy descends upon them as the instrument of God's judgment for their disobedience. It doesn't sound all that much different than the terrorists we face today. How have we sat in our own homes and wept at the carnage left in the wake of modern-day terrorists, such as we all experienced on 9/11. What more may come our way and are we prepared for it? Spiritually prepared that is, for there is no other preparation that will save us. If God is for us, who can be against us?
In the person of Jeremiah, we find the nation's most caring patriot; one who is in great pain and distress as he understands the devastation that is coming. He does not compromise the reason for this devastation, he continues to bring home time and time again that the unrepentant sins of the people will bring this to pass. He never lets go of the moral issue, and the fact that judgment is inevitable, yet his weeping exhibits his care for them individually and collectively, while his grief reveals his anguish at what is about to happen.
It is not inappropriate for us to be Jeremiahs in our own time, and to weep for our own country, America, for there is a poignant parallel between Israel and America: our root of this country, its discovery, initial charter, and foundations were clearly given by God and acknowledged by its population. But we are truly living in the post-Christian era in America. It is not inappropriate for us to care for our country and to weep for it as well, all the while understanding what is to come, as Billy Graham so succinctly stated: "If God does not judge America, then He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorra."
Our country is in great peril today and anyone who does not understand that is truly and spiritually blind. We are in peril morally. We are in peril economically. We are in peril militarily. But most of all, we are in peril spiritually.
Jeremiah 6:13 declares the condition of our own society today: "For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness..."
Our society today has highly engineered covetousness. The idols in our own times are vastly more attractive, seductive and entangling than the ones in Jeremiah's day. Evil has gown more efficient in achieving its goal to deceive and destroy multitudes. God has been displaced in our society by vain things. And Revelation tells us that when judgment comes, the people will still cry out to the rocks to hide them, rather than cry out to God even then, for they will be (they are already) blinded and deceived, becoming as dead as the things they worshipped (see Rev. 6:15-16).
And yet...
...just as Jeremiah gives instances of hope, so do we have a confident hope that as we remain hidden in Christ, no matter what befalls us, we are safe, if not in this world, then certainly in eternity, and that is much more important than this fleeting life here. For those of us who trust in Jesus, and who remain repentant and humble of heart, the refiner's fire will produce silver that is purged and cleansed; never will we be called "reprobate silver" - the dregs of impurity that are cast out of silver and thrown away (Jer. 6:30) Silver never melts away completely in the fire. It is merely purged and refined until it begins to reflect the face of the Refiner Himself.
Even for our own nation, there is hope: that the nation will turn back to God and see the fury of God mitigated in this land. But a change must come first. I quote Jonathan Cahn once more here:
"Without God, there is no true security or safety for America. Without His hand of protection, no matter how many systems of defense the nation employs, they will fail just as they did on 9/11. America cannot defy the God of its keeping and expect that protection to continue. 'Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.' (Ps. 127:1)"
We can begin that turning back of a nation towards God with His glory reflected in us, for all the world to see and be drawn to, as Jesus in us will draw all men unto Himself. Let us not be the subject of Jeremiah's message: an unrepentant humanity that becomes like the false gods they worship.
Let us set aside the vain idols of our society. Let us worship Jesus Christ, and become like Him.
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