- How does God start out?
- He reminds them of the past
- He reminds them of better times
- What is the implication of what was different between then and now?
- Then, they trusted God, at least better than now (actually, the sin then was unbelief, but now the sin is apostasy)
- Now, they have forgotten God
- APPLICATION: As believers, while we do not lose our salvation, we can lose our effectiveness
- Rev 2:2-5 (NIV) I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. // 4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5 Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
- The removal of the lampstand is not the lost of salvation for an individual, it is the removal of a church. In essence, a person and group of people (a church) can lose their ministry influence by refusing to repent
- The first sin is the wickedness that was describe in chapter one -- Israel has forsaken God. What does it mean to forsake?
- Forsaken means to abandon or leave
- Why does Israel leave God?
- Israel was looking for something that satisfied
- God did not satisfied them in the way they wanted to be satisfied, and so they went looking for a different type of satisfaction
- Sin promises satisfaction, but its promises are empty
- Sin can give that temporary boost, but it is immediately empty
- Some people buy things to fill the void, but quickly after the purchase is made, the feeling is gone
- Sexual desires gives instant gratification, but immediately feel hollow when outside of the bounds
- Food gives satisfaction, even eaten in large quantities but afterwards you wish you had not eaten so much
- Is Israel a servant, a slave by birth? The answer is yes, which is why the second question is now so important
- Why then has Israel become plunder?
- If Israel is a slave then he(God uses the pronoun "he" here, it emphasizes a different sin from the use of "she") would have nothing to plunder
- The fact that Israel is plunder means two things
- He became free
- He became rich
- How did Israel become free and rich?
- God did it for them
- God can provide what we need in the quantities that are good for our soul. The problem is we believe that more would be better and so we don't want to wait on God
- APPLICATION: When we don't wait on God, we, in essence, forsake God
- Apparently there were opposing parties at the time. Some were suggesting going to Assyria for help and others thought Egypt would be a better ally (Constable, 2010)
- What does God say about our attempts at to find our own source of water? They backfire upon us
- "Consider" means (1) to know by observing and reflecting, and (2) to know by experiencing. You could also say, put "two and two together" and what is the result?
- God says you should see how evil and bitter it is to forsake God. Rather than getting the rush/satisfaction/desire you hoped for, which you do for a moment, the end result is quite painful
- APPLICATION: If the result is ultimately painful, why do we do it?
- While this question is very specific to Israel and result of failing to follow the mosaic covenant, it has applicability to today. I hear even Christians say, if God is so loving and powerful, how can he let evils, like tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, and flooding to occur?
- When Adam and Eve rebelled against God's rule, mankind said that they wanted to be God and not to have a God
- We were never intended to die. But in the fall, death started, and the decay of sin began to take its affect on all of creation
- Romans says that the earth is under decay because of sin
- The point is that we wanted what we have today. It will not change until there is a new heaven and a new earth. In the meantime, the wrong person to bring charges against is God. We are the ones who should be charging ourselves
- What is God's message and to whom is he giving it?
- The message is to Judah (Israel, the northern kingdom is gone)
- The message is to learn from the mistake of her sister. She disobey and God gave her a certificate of divorce
- God divorces Israel, later he will also divorce Judah for the same reason
- There is a question of remarriage
- Some think it will not happen because the old covenant is abolished
- Some think it will not happen because it is a defilement to remarry someone who has given themselves to another (see 3:1)
- This latter point is weak because technically she does not marry another, instead commits adultery (which is technically different)
- If a certificate a divorce was something Moses added to the law, which I don't think is what Jesus was saying at all, then it would not be a proper action for God
- There is a case for divorce and clearly faithlessness is a proper reason
- APPLICATION: Finally, the argument is not about divorce but rather about learning a lesson from the example of others. God can use another person's failures as a lesson to us
- Who is this message to? Israel, the northern kingdom
- When is the message for?
- A time when the ark won't even be remembered, nor missed, nor replaced
- A time when the people are re-gathered
- A time when the shepherds will have God's heart
- A time when the Lord will reign in Jerusalem from his throne
- CONCLUSION: the millennial kingdom
- Disaster would come from the north, a lion out of his lair. One of the symbols for Babylon is a lion
- Verse 10 is an interesting comment. It reflects the heartfelt response of Jeremiah to the situation. Yet, nowhere in scripture is there any prophecy of peace during this time
- In fact the only ones declaring peace were the false prophets
- He may have not understand that the prophets of his day were false, since their prophecies were still unfulfilled
- What are the reasons for the destruction?
- Judah's own conduct and actions
- Punishment
- NOTE: Deut 28 lays out the blessings and the curses of the covenant. There are 14 verses of blessings and 53 verses of curses
- NOTE: Deut 28:63-67 specifically lay out the punishment of Jeremiah's time
- What is Jeremiah's response to this coming punishment?
- It is bitter
- It pierces the heart
- This is the first of Jeremiah's lamentations, and why he is referred to as the weeping prophet
- Jeremiah felt the pain even before Israel experienced the punishment
- APPLICATION: We need to ask God for a tender heart to feel the pain he has in his heart for people. We don't want to be like the Pharisee who was vocally glad that he was not like those around him that suffered. We need to empathize with the pain in the world, because that is God's pain
- This is still the choice today. There is a way that leads to life, but the path is narrow, and there is a wide road that leads to death
- One offers rest for our souls
- But we still rebel. We don't to walk according to God's word. We don't want to listen to God's word
- So God gives us the disaster that comes from ignoring his truth and the fruit of our schemes because we have rejected him
Jer 2:1-3 (NIV) The word of the Lord came to me: 2 "Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem:
"'I remember the devotion of your youth,
how as a bride you loved me
and followed me through the desert,
through a land not sown.
3 Israel was holy to the Lord,
the firstfruits of his harvest;
all who devoured her were held guilty,
and disaster overtook them,'"
declares the Lord.
Jer 2:13-14 (NIV) "My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
14 Is Israel a servant, a slave by birth?
Why then has he become plunder?
Jer 2:18-19 (NIV) Now why go to Egypt
to drink water from the Shihor?
And why go to Assyria
to drink water from the River?
19 Your wickedness will punish you;
your backsliding will rebuke you.
Consider then and realize
how evil and bitter it is for you
when you forsake the Lord your God
and have no awe of me,"
declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
Jer 2:29-30 (NIV) "Why do you bring charges against me?
You have all rebelled against me,"
declares the Lord.
30 "In vain I punished your people;
they did not respond to correction.
Your sword has devoured your prophets
like a ravening lion.
Jer 3:6-10 (NIV) During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, "Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there. 7 I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. 8 I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery. 9 Because Israel's immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood. 10 In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense," declares the Lord.
Jer 3:12-18 Go, proclaim this message toward the north:
"'Return, faithless Israel,' declares the Lord,
'I will frown on you no longer,
for I am merciful,' declares the Lord,
'I will not be angry forever.
13 Only acknowledge your guilt —
you have rebelled against the Lord your God,
you have scattered your favors to foreign gods
under every spreading tree,
and have not obeyed me,'"
declares the Lord.
14 "Return, faithless people," declares the Lord, "for I am your husband. I will choose you — one from a town and two from a clan — and bring you to Zion. 15 Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. 16 In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land," declares the Lord, "men will no longer say, 'The ark of the covenant of the Lord.' It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the Lord. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. 18 In those days the house of Judah will join the house of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your forefathers as an inheritance.
Jer 4:5-9 (NIV) "Announce in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem and say:
'Sound the trumpet throughout the land!'
Cry aloud and say:
'Gather together!
Let us flee to the fortified cities!'
6 Raise the signal to go to Zion!
Flee for safety without delay!
For I am bringing disaster from the north,
even terrible destruction."
7 A lion has come out of his lair;
a destroyer of nations has set out.
He has left his place
to lay waste your land.
Your towns will lie in ruins
without inhabitant.
8 So put on sackcloth,
lament and wail,
for the fierce anger of the Lord
has not turned away from us.
9 "In that day," declares the Lord,
"the king and the officials will lose heart,
the priests will be horrified,
and the prophets will be appalled."
Jer 4:10-18 (NIV) Then I said, "Ah, Sovereign Lord, how completely you have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, 'You will have peace,' when the sword is at our throats."
11 At that time this people and Jerusalem will be told, "A scorching wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward my people, but not to winnow or cleanse; 12 a wind too strong for that comes from me. Now I pronounce my judgments against them."
13 Look! He advances like the clouds,
his chariots come like a whirlwind,
his horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe to us! We are ruined!
14 O Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart and be saved.
How long will you harbor wicked thoughts?
15 A voice is announcing from Dan,
proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim.
16 "Tell this to the nations,
proclaim it to Jerusalem:
'A besieging army is coming from a distant land,
raising a war cry against the cities of Judah.
17 They surround her like men guarding a field,
because she has rebelled against me,'"
declares the Lord.
18 "Your own conduct and actions
have brought this upon you.
This is your punishment.
How bitter it is!
How it pierces to the heart!"
Jer 4:19-22 (NIV) Oh, my anguish, my anguish!
I writhe in pain.
Oh, the agony of my heart!
My heart pounds within me,
I cannot keep silent.
For I have heard the sound of the trumpet;
I have heard the battle cry.
20 Disaster follows disaster;
the whole land lies in ruins.
In an instant my tents are destroyed,
my shelter in a moment.
21 How long must I see the battle standard
and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 "My people are fools;
they do not know me.
They are senseless children;
they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil;
they know not how to do good."
Jer 6:16-19 (NIV) This is what the Lord says:
"Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.
But you said, 'We will not walk in it.'
17 I appointed watchmen over you and said,
'Listen to the sound of the trumpet!'
But you said, 'We will not listen.'
18 Therefore hear, O nations;
observe, O witnesses,
what will happen to them.
19 Hear, O earth:
I am bringing disaster on this people,
the fruit of their schemes,
because they have not listened to my words
and have rejected my law.
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