The 16th chapter of Jeremiah begins with a description of the horrifying and devastating judgment that will soon come upon the people of Judah:
"For thus saith the Lord concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land: they shall die of grievous deaths...they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth...they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine and their carcasses shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth." (16:3-4)
"Both the great and the small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them." (16:6)
"Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride." (16:9)
As a physical sign before the people of the Lord's coming judgment, His servant Jeremiah is not allowed to marry, nor to have children. Thus, Jeremiah, in a sense is already experiencing the effects of this judgment in his own life. What we are not told is whether or not Jeremiah already had a potential wife chosen for himself, or if he had hopes, as most people do, of having a home and family, only to be told by the Lord that he could have neither. If so, it is no wonder that he was called the "weeping prophet." And yet, he remained obedient and faithful to God!
The people of Judah understood then what was to come, even as they doggedly refuse to acknowledge their sin, as evidenced by the words the Lord says they will speak to Jeremiah after his proclamation of God's judgment:
"And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?"
This passage shows the blindness of heart in the people, the greatness of the deception in which they lived that they were unable to see their own evil towards God. Deception that allowed them to respond to the one true and almighty GOD Himself with words that, in effect, said: "What have we done to deserve such punishment? We have done nothing!" In effect, showing God to be unjust, blaming Him, for their own wickedness!
To which God has Jeremiah reply:
"Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the Lord, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law; and ye have done worse than your fathers, for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me: therefore I will cast you out of this land unto a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers, and there shall ye serve other gods day and night: where I will not shew you favor." (16:11-13)
Mind you, Jeremiah has been preaching to them for a very long time now; he is more than halfway through the time period that the Lord has allowed for the people to hear His words and turn from their evil ways. But they are no more aware of their sin now than they were when Jeremiah began. God, omniscient that He is, knew, even as He brought His servant to preach to them, that they would not turn, knew that even Jeremiah's intercession in their behalf, could not change such hardhearted a people as they were. Yet, for His Name's sake, He would be gracious to hold back His wrath for a period of time, so that the survivors of this judgment (such as Jeremiah and Daniel) could look back and know that His love caused Him to do all that was possible to bring the people back to Himself before bringing such terrible judgment upon them.
The reason God sites as the cause of the judgment to fall is that men "walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart." In fact, this phrase is reiterated a total of 7 times in the book of Jeremiah [3:17; 7:24, 11:8, 13:10, 16:12, 18:12, 23:17]. SEVEN TIMES! We know that seven is the number of God, the number of perfection; perhaps indicating to us the perfection or "rightness" of God's judgment upon evil men.
Walking after the imaginations of our own evil hearts is a malady afflicting all off mankind: from the creation of man in the garden, to this very day and beyond. Scripture is filled with examples throughout the past generations of man and to be seen in future generations as well, until the Lord returns, of man doing his own thing, while fully rejecting God:
Judges 21:25: "In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes."
"For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away..." (Matthew 24:38)
"And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: and behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink for tomorrow we shall die." (Isaiah 22:12-13)
"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put biter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own sight!" (Isaiah 5:20-21)
Are we modern-day people not just such people? Are we not all wiser than ever before because of the knowledge we can easily gain from the internet? Do we find ourselves calling out to God for His wisdom, or do we trust more in our own educated, independent thinking? Isn't society around us, that which calls evil good, and good evil, just an extension of ourselves and our modern-day thinking? We have become gods in our own sight, according to the evil imaginations of our own deceived hearts.
And the deception that allows us to walk in such evil imagination is so great, that only God Himself, in human form, called by the name of Jesus, could deliver us from this great bondage that seeks to drive us all towards the wrath of a holy God.
Only Jesus, by the sacrifice of His own spotless sin-free life, could break the chains of such deception in us. Jesus is the grace of God given to us. We are as foolish and hardhearted as the people of Judah, if we will not recognize God's goodness to us in this period of grace and repent from our own ways before the grace period is finished!
The earth itself and all who are in it are in just such a period of grace, for the bible (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12) declares that the day will come when the power of the Holy Spirit that is currently restraining evil, will be removed from the earth, leaving evil to destroy all that remains, by design of a sovereign and holy God who will bring judgment to those who continue to reject His great gift of grace: His Son Jesus, our Savior, our Deliverer!
"Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward, how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation...?" (Hebrews 2:1-3)
"For thus saith the Lord concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land: they shall die of grievous deaths...they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth...they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine and their carcasses shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth." (16:3-4)
"Both the great and the small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them." (16:6)
"Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride." (16:9)
As a physical sign before the people of the Lord's coming judgment, His servant Jeremiah is not allowed to marry, nor to have children. Thus, Jeremiah, in a sense is already experiencing the effects of this judgment in his own life. What we are not told is whether or not Jeremiah already had a potential wife chosen for himself, or if he had hopes, as most people do, of having a home and family, only to be told by the Lord that he could have neither. If so, it is no wonder that he was called the "weeping prophet." And yet, he remained obedient and faithful to God!
The people of Judah understood then what was to come, even as they doggedly refuse to acknowledge their sin, as evidenced by the words the Lord says they will speak to Jeremiah after his proclamation of God's judgment:
"And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?"
This passage shows the blindness of heart in the people, the greatness of the deception in which they lived that they were unable to see their own evil towards God. Deception that allowed them to respond to the one true and almighty GOD Himself with words that, in effect, said: "What have we done to deserve such punishment? We have done nothing!" In effect, showing God to be unjust, blaming Him, for their own wickedness!
To which God has Jeremiah reply:
"Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the Lord, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law; and ye have done worse than your fathers, for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me: therefore I will cast you out of this land unto a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers, and there shall ye serve other gods day and night: where I will not shew you favor." (16:11-13)
Mind you, Jeremiah has been preaching to them for a very long time now; he is more than halfway through the time period that the Lord has allowed for the people to hear His words and turn from their evil ways. But they are no more aware of their sin now than they were when Jeremiah began. God, omniscient that He is, knew, even as He brought His servant to preach to them, that they would not turn, knew that even Jeremiah's intercession in their behalf, could not change such hardhearted a people as they were. Yet, for His Name's sake, He would be gracious to hold back His wrath for a period of time, so that the survivors of this judgment (such as Jeremiah and Daniel) could look back and know that His love caused Him to do all that was possible to bring the people back to Himself before bringing such terrible judgment upon them.
The reason God sites as the cause of the judgment to fall is that men "walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart." In fact, this phrase is reiterated a total of 7 times in the book of Jeremiah [3:17; 7:24, 11:8, 13:10, 16:12, 18:12, 23:17]. SEVEN TIMES! We know that seven is the number of God, the number of perfection; perhaps indicating to us the perfection or "rightness" of God's judgment upon evil men.
Walking after the imaginations of our own evil hearts is a malady afflicting all off mankind: from the creation of man in the garden, to this very day and beyond. Scripture is filled with examples throughout the past generations of man and to be seen in future generations as well, until the Lord returns, of man doing his own thing, while fully rejecting God:
Judges 21:25: "In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes."
"For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away..." (Matthew 24:38)
"And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: and behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink for tomorrow we shall die." (Isaiah 22:12-13)
"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put biter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own sight!" (Isaiah 5:20-21)
Are we modern-day people not just such people? Are we not all wiser than ever before because of the knowledge we can easily gain from the internet? Do we find ourselves calling out to God for His wisdom, or do we trust more in our own educated, independent thinking? Isn't society around us, that which calls evil good, and good evil, just an extension of ourselves and our modern-day thinking? We have become gods in our own sight, according to the evil imaginations of our own deceived hearts.
And the deception that allows us to walk in such evil imagination is so great, that only God Himself, in human form, called by the name of Jesus, could deliver us from this great bondage that seeks to drive us all towards the wrath of a holy God.
Only Jesus, by the sacrifice of His own spotless sin-free life, could break the chains of such deception in us. Jesus is the grace of God given to us. We are as foolish and hardhearted as the people of Judah, if we will not recognize God's goodness to us in this period of grace and repent from our own ways before the grace period is finished!
The earth itself and all who are in it are in just such a period of grace, for the bible (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12) declares that the day will come when the power of the Holy Spirit that is currently restraining evil, will be removed from the earth, leaving evil to destroy all that remains, by design of a sovereign and holy God who will bring judgment to those who continue to reject His great gift of grace: His Son Jesus, our Savior, our Deliverer!
"Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward, how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation...?" (Hebrews 2:1-3)
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