Jeremiah 13 FSI - HEAR, O EARTH

> [!title|noicon] **Jeremiah 13 Notes** > [[Jeremiah 12 FSI|<Prev]]   [[Jeremiah 14 FSI|Next>]] > [[Jeremiah 13|Verse list view]] > Jeremiah 13:1-11 Preview note: *The Marred Linen Girdle* > > God sets up an obvious historical parable here. To get the full context, read through verse 11. Jeremiah is to get a linen girdle, that is, some kind of a sash. He was to put it around his loins without putting it in water. This reminds us spiritually of [Ephesians 6:14](Ephesians%206.md#^14) where we are to have our loins girt about with Truth -- that is Christ Who covers us. Then after awhile God tells Jeremiah to hide the girdle in a hole of the rock by the river Euphrates. Then again after many days God commands Jeremiah to retrieve the girdle and it's completely destroyed, it's corrupted, it's decayed so that it is profitable for nothing, it could not be worn again to serve any useful purpose. > > God tells us in verse 11 that this girdle represents the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah. So Jeremiah represents God Himself in this parable and the girdle represents all of those who visibly represent the kingdom of God (Israel and Judah in the Old Testament, the churches and congregations of the New Testament). And it is God who has brought them into an intimate relationship with Himself that they might cling or cleave to Him like this girdle, which is something that is tied very closely to the body. ^jer13-intro > [Jeremiah 13:1](Jeremiah%2013.md#^1) - [2](Jeremiah%2013.md#^2) note > > Make sure to read the [Jeremiah 13:1-11 Preview note](Jeremiah%2013%20FSI.md#^jer13-intro) for context first. > > Interestingly, God tells Jeremiah to put this girdle on his loins but *not* to put it in *water*. Water in the Bible commonly represents the Gospel ([Jn 4:10](John%204.md#^10), [14](John%204.md#^14), [7:38](John%207.md#^38)). We *drink* of this living water that we might never thirst again, spiritually, if we have become saved. And we are *cleansed* or washed by the Gospel of our sins ([1 Cor 6:11](1%20Corinthians%206.md#^11)). > > But this girdle is *not* to be put in water. And this illustrates how it's one thing to be very *close* to God, like this girdle was tied about Jeremiah's waist. But it's another to actually be *in* Christ, or in God Himself. And neither ancient Israel and Judah of the Old Testament nor the churches and congregations of the New Testament were ever in the *eternal* kingdom of God as a whole, there were many unbelievers within them. As a people, they had been brought very *close* to God, as a girdle is tightly tied around a man, having been made the custodian of the Word of God. But they were not actually in Christ or in God, corporately speaking, they were not put in water. Only the elect, the true believers, can be spoken of in this fashion as being in God when they are saved. ^jer13-1 > [Jeremiah 13:3](Jeremiah%2013.md#^3), [4](Jeremiah%2013.md#^4), [5](Jeremiah%2013.md#^5) note > > Now God tells Jeremiah to go to *Euphrates* to hide the linen girdle in a hold of the rock. And the river Euphrates ran right through Babylon. Any time you see Euphrates in the Bible you can know that Babylon, which represents the kingdom of Satan (or the unsaved world) in the Bible, is in view. > > Then in [Jeremiah 16:16](Jeremiah%2016.md#^16) we read about the *holes of the rocks*. That's where the unsaved are found, spiritually speaking, and Jeremiah 16:16 speaks of God fishing them out from there as He is saves His elect out of the kingdom of Satan. > > So this linen girdle, which represents the churches and congregations (the visible representation of the kingdom of God in our day) -- those who were made to be very close to God but did not actually become saved -- is buried in this hole of the rock by the river Euphrates. That is, they have left God for their own kind of a gospel. And once they have left God and set up their own salvation plan, their own rules and such, they are as this girdle in the hole of the rock by Euphrates. They are back in the land of Babylon, the kingdom of Satan, doing their own thing rather than what God is telling them to do in the Bible (see verses [9](Jeremiah%2013.md#^9), [10](Jeremiah%2013.md#^10), [11](Jeremiah%2013.md#^11)). They are hiding away from God. But when they are found they will be completely marred, destroyed and worthless like this girdle because they have no relationship of any kind with God. ^jer13-4 > [Jeremiah 13:6](Jeremiah%2013.md#^6) - [7](Jeremiah%2013.md#^7) note > > In verses 4-5 we saw where God had commanded Jeremiah to *hide* the girdle. And that's exactly what humanity does. God had brought them, in the figure of this girdle, to be very close to Him as a girdle clings to a man. But it had not been washed in water ([v1](Jeremiah%2013.md#^1)), representing the fact they had not actually become saved or cleansed through the water of the Gospel. And so they think they are hiding from God when they come up with their own Bible doctrines and interpretations, they go about as if He doesn't see what they are doing. They are in essence attempting to hide their sins from God (subconsciously or spiritually speaking), much like Adam and Eve did with the fig leaves when they had fallen into sin. We all want ourselves and each other to believe that all is well with us. > > But God finds them where they are -- in the hole of the rock by Euphrates in Babylon. God knows the heart, so He sees through all of our stratagems and hypocrisy and all we do to appear very holy when we aren't. This hiding in the hole of the rock reminds us of [Revelation 6:15](Revelation%206.md#^15), [16](Revelation%206.md#^16). They may think that they did this and that for the Lord and had showed themselves to be saved, but they now realize they have not because they had been hiding their sins. They had hidden themselves away in a gospel where they could live the way they wanted to live, so that on the surface they looked like they were with the Word of God, but in actuality when the chips are down they wanted their own way. > > So this is the situation that God has set up with Jeremiah and the girdle. People are hiding themselves in the hole of the rock by Euphrates in Babylon to illustrate what they are doing, they have gone their own way and are not listening to the Word of God ([v11](Jeremiah%2013.md#^11)). ^jer13-7 > [Jeremiah 13:9](Jeremiah%2013.md#^9) note > > Notice in this verse and verse 11, *God* is the prime Mover here. They had been brought into a very close relationship with God by God Himself without ever having become saved. He set up the rules that they are to follow the Bible and to send it out into the world and so on. But when they go their own way, *God* will mar their pride, *He* will bring them into destruction. Pride is a deadly sin. We cannot take the credit for anything, all of the glory must go to God. But this is the problem, people want what they want and not what God wants. And the moment we walk in pride we are not right with God. This is expanded in verse 10. ^jer13-9 > [Jeremiah 13:10](Jeremiah%2013.md#^10) note > > There it is, you see. What is the ultimate authority? Is it the confession of the church? Is it the beliefs of the denomination? Or is it the Bible itself? When they're against the Bible then what are they going to do? They are walking in the imagination of their own heart and refusing to hear God's Words. And God equates this with walking after *other* gods to serve and to worship them. We cannot pick and choose from the Bible to come to conclusions that we like. No conclusion can stand unless we're willing to examine and scrutinize it against everything else the Bible teaches with regard to that conclusion. We cannot trust our or someone else's minds over the Word of God. And thus we cannot have a method of Bible interpretation that comes from the mind of people, that is contrary to the Word of God. And this is why God's wrath has come upon the congregations of our day. If what we are following for our spiritual health doesn't come from God then it comes from people, and ultimately from Satan, unto destruction. ^jer13-10 > [Jeremiah 13:11](Jeremiah%2013.md#^11) note > > Again, God is using this girdle as a picture of the visible representation of the kingdom of God -- Judah and Jerusalem in the Old Testament, the local churches and congregations in the New Testament. They have been brought as near to God as a girdle cleaves to the loins of a man. And if we truly become saved, we become a people to God for a name and for a praise and for a glory. But unless God actually saves them then they do not have an eternal relationship with God, and that is ultimately the case with the visible representation of the kingdom of God that has historically been mixed with believers and unbelievers. As the unbelievers take hold and bring in doctrines and theology that is not Biblical, the believers in the midst must depart from them, leaving them as a shell that has no Gospel. And this is what happens over time as the world and Satan creeps in until it is entirely overrun, they are no longer listening to God, they would not hear His Word. ^jer13-11 > [Jeremiah 13:12](Jeremiah%2013.md#^12) note > > Sometimes *wine* is used in the Bible to represent the highest good, such as *salvation* and the *blood* of Christ. There was wine in the wedding of Cana of Galilee in [John 2](John%202.md), where Jesus turned the water into the finest wine for the guests of the wedding feast (cp [Isa 55:1](Isaiah%2055.md#^1)). And this points to the marriage feast of the Lamb in Heaven ([Rev 19:7](Revelation%2019.md#^7), [9](Revelation%2019.md#^9)). > > But in many other verses wine has to do with the *judgment* of God, such as in [Revelation 14:10](Revelation%2014.md#^10) and [16:19](Revelation%2016.md#^19). That is because the Gospel is a 2-edged sword, bringing a savor of life unto life and a savor of death unto death ([2 Cor 2:16](2%20Corinthians%202.md#^16); [Heb 4:12](Hebrews%204.md#^12)) -- it brings salvation and judgment. > > So this verse is bringing both of these ideas into view. God through Jeremiah is telling them that every bottle will be filled with the wine of the wrath of God, but they are presuming that their bottles will be filled with the wine of salvation. They are in full agreement that their bottles will be filled with wine, but they are expecting that all is well and wonderful, that they are going to enjoy the grapes of the vineyard with all of the blessings of it. But God disabuses them of this thought in verse 13. ^jer13-12 > [Jeremiah 13:13](Jeremiah%2013.md#^13) note > > So God clarifies that the wine they will be filled with will cause *drunkenness* ([Prv 20:1](Proverbs%2020.md#^1)). They think they have the true Gospel and that they have salvation (v12). But that Gospel is bringing *judgment* upon them for going their own way, they are as spiritually drunk people and are not under the blessing of God. This is seen also in [Isaiah 29:9](Isaiah%2029.md#^9), [10](Isaiah%2029.md#^10), [11](Isaiah%2029.md#^11). Being drunk spiritually relates to when God closes their eyes, that is, the eyes of their understanding as they read the Bible so that they cannot understand the Truth (see also [Is 28:7](Isaiah%2028.md#^7), [8](Isaiah%2028.md#^8) where God uses the figure of wine to illustrate what He is teaching here in Jeremiah 13 and Isaiah 29). This is parallel to what we read in [Acts 28:26](Acts%2028.md#^26), [27](Acts%2028.md#^27) and [Is 6:9](Isaiah%206.md#^9), [10](Isaiah%206.md#^10). > > So those who have been hidden in the hole of the rock by Euphrates (v 1-11) are spiritually drunk with wine, God has given them the Gospel as a judgment upon them rather than as a blessing to them. And again, God is speaking about *His* people, visibly and corporately speaking: "Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness." He isn't speaking about those "out there" in the world, or just the poor folk of the congregation who don't know much about the Bible. He is speaking about them *all*, from the greatest to the least of them -- the kings, the priests, the prophets (anyone with rule and spiritual authority) and all of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. So no one can claim an exemption. > > Now, of course, if anyone left is a true believer who has become saaved God will bring them out, like Lot from Sodom. They will not be left to stand for judgment. ^jer13-13 > [Jeremiah 13:14](Jeremiah%2013.md#^14) note > > This is a terribly ugly and ominous verse. It has all of the marks of finality about it. It's irreparable and cannot change. He is finished with them and will destroy them without mercy. And He speaks about the fathers over against the sons. This is normally the closest relationship that we have, parents and their children. Say a terrible scourge is coming -- what is the first concern of the father? For the children, for his family. And what is the first concern of children? For their parents. But here God is saying there is no protection, there is total chaos, it is the total end. It's bad enough that society has broken down and destroyed the family unit. But now we see wholesale that there is no love shown anymore, everybody is out for themselves. And *God* is the one acting here. So as we see parents despising their children and children despising their parents, it is an evidence that the world is under judgment. > > We are almost sick to our stomach thinking about this where there is *no* mercy of God left, *none*! Everyone deep down in their subconscious mind deceives themselves that they have some kind of hope. But when God flatly declares that He will not have pity, that He will not have mercy, that He will destroy them -- it is the end, there is no hope. And God isn't even speaking about the whole world here, He is speaking about those who claim to be or identify with His people, as we saw in [verse 13](Jeremiah%2013.md#^13) -- the kings, the priests, the prophets, the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In today's vernacular that includes the churches and congregations and denominations and so on. They are sadly the most dangerous place to be in our day, the only safe place to be is to get out. ^jer13-14 > [Jeremiah 13:15](Jeremiah%2013.md#^15) note > > This underscores where the true focal point belongs. God is saying to *listen*! He has *spoken*! This isn't just a personal philosophy of ours or some kind of an idea or feeling that we have about things. It's all coming from the Fountainhead of Truth, the Bible! Yet many in their pride say, "No way, no way. We know that we are okay, what we believe is all fine and we're safe and secure. Don't we have good systematic theology? Don't we have a good confession of faith? This is what we're trusting in as we say that we trust in the Lord Jesus." So proudly they go on. But God tells them, remember in [verse 9](Jeremiah%2013.md#^9), that He will mar or destroy their pride, the pride of Judah and Jerusalem, those who claim to be His people but have gone their own way. So here He is saying again to listen and not be proud because He has spoken. ^jer13-15 > [Jeremiah 13:16](Jeremiah%2013.md#^16) note > > The opposite of pride, which God tells them (and us) in verse 15 to put off, is to give glory to the LORD your God as we see here. "Be not proud, but give glory to the LORD your God." If we walk in our own pride, declaring all of the great things we have done, it is not giving glory to God. And that's the nature of humanity. People want to be recognized for how great or good they are. And the warning here is, ". . . before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, *and* make *it* gross darkness." That is, if you walk in your pride you are headed for darkness, it's the darkness of being cast away from the light of the Gospel and Christ forevermore unto eternal death. ^jer13-16 > [Jeremiah 13:17](Jeremiah%2013.md#^17) note > > God is again speaking about their pride. They think they are the authority over the Scriptures and not giving Him *all* of the glory. And so He will weep in secret places with tears because of their fall. God has no happiness in this ([Jer 9:1](Jeremiah%209.md#^1); [Eze 33:1](Ezekiel%2033.md#^11)). As we look throughout history, we do not see a cruel, vengeful God. God does not respond in order to get even with people. No, there is ongoing mercy and patience until the very end. When people cry out in their misery God is merciful and sends forth a deliverer. But when we come to the final judgment and the trial is set, there is no more mercy, no more pity or possibility of salvation. But God has no pleasure in this, He is secretly weeping as He must destroy them -- all because of their pride, all because they will not listen. Only because He is absolutely just, holy and righteous must His fury and divine wrath come upon them because that is the consequence of rebelling against God. His own flock, that is, those who are visibly identified with His Name as Christians, are carried away captive by the enemy, by Satan himself as he has deceived them into following their own kind of a gospel. It is a very, very serious matter with God and terribly serious judgment has fallen. ^jer13-17 > [Jeremiah 13:18](Jeremiah%2013.md#^18) note > > The king and the queen represent those who rule in the congregations, just as they ruled over Israel and Judah in the Old Testament. And in our day there are many women ruling in the congregations just as much as the men, which is not how it has been throughout most of the New Testament period ([Is 3:12](Isaiah%203.md#^12)). So God is using the figure of a queen ([Rev 18:6](Revelation%2018.md#^6), [7](Revelation%2018.md#^7)). And God is telling them to humble themselves (from their pride), to sit down. In their great pride they thought they ruled so high, even over God Himself as they came up with their own methods for Bible interpretation, their own doctrines, and their own ideas of what salvation is and so on, putting themselves over the Word of God. And so they've locked themselves out of enormous quantities of Truth in the Bible. Yet in their pride they will not be brought down of themselves, they will not change as their pride goads them and drives them along. > > ". . . for your principalities shall come down, *even* the crown of your glory." -- But here God is really saying that they *will* be humbled, they *will* be brought down. But unfortunately, it is a humility that comes too late. It will not bring them to salvation but it will come because they are altogether under the wrath of God. The Hebrew word translated *principalities* here means a *head place*, and it is suggested by the phrase that follows, "*even* the crown of your glory." And when they are reigning as king and queen the crown is upon their head as the place of their glory. And the idea is that their crown will be cast off of them, it will be cast to the ground. In their pride they ruled -- they were the elders, deacons and pastors, they were the great ones and now they are nothing. It is now just a group of people milling around trying to find Truth and they cannot find it because Christ has abandoned them. Their beautiful temples or buildings and beautiful stained-glass windows and robes and so on -- is all a matter of pride. Whereas true salvation gives God all of the glory in humility, recognizing that God has done all of the work in salvation. ^jer13-18 > [Jeremiah 13:19](Jeremiah%2013.md#^19) note > > In [Revelation 3:7](Revelation%203.md#^7) we see where God is speaking to the church in Philadelphia and uses this phrase of *shutting where no man can open*. This is speaking about *understanding* the Word of God and of being given salvation in Christ. And in [Revelation 3:7](Revelation%203.md#^7) we can rejoice that He first speaks about *opening where none can shut* -- it is *guaranteed* that no one can frustrate God's salvation plan, if He purposes to save us then we shall indeed become saved. But that's not what He is speaking about here in Jeremiah 13 where He only speaks about shutting them up and none shall open. Here the cities of the south -- the cities of Judah which represent the visible kingdom of God (the churches and congregations in the present day) -- will be shut up from the Gospel. Once God has abandoned them and has shut them up so that the work of the Holy Spirit is no longer there, *no one* can change this, even God Himself cannot change it because it is according to His purpose (see [Luke 13:24](Luke%2013.md#^24), [25](Luke%2013.md#^25), [26](Luke%2013.md#^26), [27](Luke%2013.md#^27)). As verse 19 declares: > > "Judah shall be carried away captive all of it, it shall be wholly carried away captive." -- *ALL* of Judah is *wholly* carried away captive, just as Judah was completely taken into captivity by Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar many years ago in a figure of what is happening today, with Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar representing the kingdom of Satan. So those making confession of faith or being baptized or whatever are simply doing so according to their own salvation design once God is gone from them. This is what God declares here in His Own Word that they are *completely* carried away captive and His Word is inviolate. ^jer13-19 > [Jeremiah 13:20](Jeremiah%2013.md#^20) note > > Just as Babylon represents the kingdom of Satan, so does the *north* in this verse. In [verse 19](Jeremiah%2013.md#^19) we saw that Judah is represented as the cities of the *south*. So here the enemy, the north, is coming against the cities of Judah who are in the south. God utilizes Satan against the local congregations today just as He did King Nebuchadnezzar against Judah. So the question is raised: "Where *is* the flock *that* was given thee, thy beautiful flock?" The beautiful flock of Christ's visible church has become marred as we saw in the example of the linen girdle earlier in this chapter, it has become good for nothing. They have become overcome by tares or weeds over against the wheat as God sends strong delusion that they might believe a lie. There is no *beauty* of salvation, no *beauty* of Christ, no *beauty* of holiness, no *beauty* of the Gospel left there ([2 Sa 1:19](2%20Samuel%201.md#^19); [1 Chr 16:29](1%20Chronicles%2016.md#^29); [Ps 27:4](Psalm%2027.md#^4), [90:17](Psalm%2090.md#^17), [96:9](Psalm%2096.md#^9); [Is 3:24](Isaiah%203.md#^24), [28:1](Isaiah%2028.md#^1), [28:5](Isaiah%2028.md#^5); [Lam 2:1](Lamentations%202.md#^1), [1:6](Lamentations%201.md#^6), [2:15](Lamentations%202.md#^15); [Eze 16:15](Ezekiel%2016.md#^15), [28:7](Ezekiel%2028.md#^7), [28:17](Ezekiel%2028.md#^17); [Zech 11:10](Zechariah%2011.md#^10)). They are sadly under the curse of God here. ^jer13-20 > [Jeremiah 13:21](Jeremiah%2013.md#^21) note > > "What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee?" -- As we see in [Matthew 7:22](Matthew%207.md#^22), [23](Matthew%207.md#^23), many will stand before the judgment throne and argue that they prophesied and did mighty works in His Name. But Jesus will say, "I never knew you, depart from me, you who work iniquity." So there's nothing more they can say or bring. And this is emphasized here. There are no arguments that anyone can use of any substance at all. Someone might say, "After all I was a pretty nice person or I did this or I did that." But it won't wash. If they are standing there then they are under judgment. > > "for thou hast taught them *to be* captains, *and* as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?" -- Instead of trusting in the Lord, they have made from or out of themselves those to be captains and chief over them through their own authoritative doctrines and faulty methods of Bible interpretation. That is, those who ruled over them were not coming under the Authority of the Bible altogether, but under their own kind of authority. > > "shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?" -- We saw this phrase in [chapter 4.31](Jeremiah%204.md#^31) and [6.23](Jeremiah%206.md#^23), [24](Jeremiah%206.md#^24). God uses the figure of a woman who is about to give birth to her first baby, which is an especially painful experience throughout history before modern medicine. And you know it's coming, that baby is going to be born. You may not know exactly when, but you know about the time as it approaches. And this is the figure God uses to show how people know that judgment day is coming. Why do people out there talk about Doomsday, even if they don't know much (if at all) about the Bible? Deep down everyone knows that there is a God to whom they must give account for their sins, even though they attempt to submerge it in their lifestyle and intellect to suppress that reality. So ultimately this travail is in the context of the end of the world, as we see in [Isaiah 13:6](Isaiah%2013.md#^6), [7](Isaiah%2013.md#^7), [8](Isaiah%2013.md#^8), [9](Isaiah%2013.md#^9), [10](Isaiah%2013.md#^10), [11](Isaiah%2013.md#^11) and [1 Thessalonians 5:2](1%20Thessalonians%205.md#^2), [3](1%20Thessalonians%205.md#^3). Judgment Day is indeed coming and God sets it up in this picture of a woman in travail. ^jer13-21 > [Jeremiah 13:22](Jeremiah%2013.md#^22) note > > The first half of this statement reflects the arrogance of humanity. They know why it is happening, of course. No one will stand before the Judgment Throne and be able to say, "Why am I here?" That's actually a backhanded way of blaming God like it's His fault they are standing there, just like they tried to shift the blame even in the Garden of Eden for eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. They want to pin it on God and not face the fact that it's all on them for their sin, even though God sets it out very clearly in the Bible. It is for the greatness of their iniquity. > > "thy skirts [are] discovered, *and* thy heels made bare." -- This reflects the great *shame* of their sin, as we'll see in [verse 26](Jeremiah%2013.md#^26) (cp [Nah 3:5](Nahum%203.md#^5)). It is the shame of their sinfulness, of their naked exposure before God -- again, as Adam and Eve attempted to cover their nakedness and to hide from God ([Gen 3:7](Genesis%203.md#^7), [10](Genesis%203.md#^10)). This is seen also, for example, in [Isaiah 20:2](Isaiah%2020.md#^2), [3](Isaiah%2020.md#^3), [4](Isaiah%2020.md#^4), [5](Isaiah%2020.md#^5); [47:3](Isaiah%2047.md#^3). Both the uncovering of the body as well as the bare foot represent this nakedness and shame in the Bible. And the terrible shame of sin will be exposed altogether at the Judgment Throne in graphic evidence. > > This is why John the Baptist declared that he was unworthy to unlatch the shoe of Christ's foot ([Mk 1:7](Mark%201.md#^7); [Jn 1:27](John%201.md#^27)). Christ hung on the cross naked as a demonstration of the nakedness of our sins that He was laden with. It also represented redemption, as we see when Boaz, the kinsman/redeemer, as a figure of Christ, purchased Ruth to be his bride that she might have an inheritance -- a figure of the redemption that Christ has made for us ([Ruth 4:7](Ruth%204.md#^7), [8](Ruth%204.md#^8)). So John the Baptist was in effect saying that he was unworthy for Christ to become naked in his place (that is, to take on the shame of his sins before God), he was unworthy to be redeemed by Christ to have an eternal inheritance as typified by Boaz and Ruth. > > The word translated *heels* in this verse can also be translated *supplant*, as we see in [Genesis 27:35](Genesis%2027.md#^35), [36](Genesis%2027.md#^36) and [Jeremiah 9:4](Jeremiah%209.md#^4). In Genesis 27 when Esau complains that Jacob had supplanted him we might recall that Jacob had taken hold of Esau's heel when they were born ([Gen 25:26](Genesis%2025.md#^26)). So in another sense when God says that their heels have been made bare He is saying that they have been *supplanted*, that their being supplanted has been made bare (see [Lk 13:28](Luke%2013.md#^28), [29](Luke%2013.md#^29), [30](Luke%2013.md#^30)). All those sinners "out there" will come into the kingdom of God while they themselves are thrust out. ^jer13-22 > [Jeremiah 13:23](Jeremiah%2013.md#^23) note > > God isn't picking on the Ethiopians as if they are sinners worse than anyone else, even though He does use various kingdoms (like Babylon) to represent the sinful nations of the world under the rulership of Satan. Here He is not speaking of the Ethiopians either for good or bad, He is simply stating the fact that they cannot change the color of their skin. Nothing negative is being suggested of itself by this. Nevertheless He is using the impossibility of them changing their skin to refer to those who are accustomed to doing evil somehow doing good. It is not possible of themselves, it is not possible short of a miracle of God. By nature we are sinners and it is impossible for us to change apart from God. And the same is true, of course, regarding the leopard changing his spots. Only with God are all things possible, salvation is a dramatic miracle of life that only He alone can perform. ^jer13-23 > [Jeremiah 13:24](Jeremiah%2013.md#^24) note > > This is the language of harvest. Remember when Jesus was announced by John the Baptist in [Matthew 3:11](Matthew%203.md#^11), [12](Matthew%203.md#^12), there is the language of judgment when the chaff (that is the stubble here in Jeremiah 13:24) will be burned up with unquenchable fire. In Revelation 14 God speaks about 2 harvests. In [Revelation 14:14](Revelation%2014.md#^14) we read about the Son of Man with a golden crown coming on a cloud with a sharp sickle which is used for harvesting. One would cut the wheat with the sickle, bundle it together into shocks and then bring it into the threshing floor to separate the wheat from the chaff. And this is Christ Who is coming with the sharp sickle to reap the harvest ([Rev 14:15](Revelation%2014.md#^15), [16](Revelation%2014.md#^16)). But then we see another harvest in [Revelation 14:17](Revelation%2014.md#^17), [18](Revelation%2014.md#^18), [19](Revelation%2014.md#^19), [20](Revelation%2014.md#^20). This is the end of the world harvest where all the peoples of the world are gathered into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And this is akin to those who are scattered as the stubble, they are the chaff which has been separated from the wheat for the burning. It is the final harvest standing before the Judgment Throne of God to be found guilty of their sins. ^jer13-24 > [Jeremiah 13:25](Jeremiah%2013.md#^25) note > > "This *is* thy lot, the portion of thy measures from me, saith the LORD" -- The *lot* or *portion* from God indicates that it is His right to do this in accordance with His sovereign Will and according to His Law that they are to come under damnation. God is making us understand that this is *His* action altogether, He does everything perfectly. *No one* will be falsely accused when they stand before the Judgment Throne. He knows the thoughts and intents of the very heart and mind. So we can know absolutely that He is perfect in His assessment of the situation and in His condemnation. There are no mistakes possible. > > ". . . because thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood." -- When churches have fallen to their own gospel that they have designed in place of the Bible then they have forgotten God and trusted in falsehood. And there is all kinds of evidence out there that the main gospel they are following is not from the Bible, it is designed by themselves. They pick and choose verses they think they understand and they don't check their conclusions against the whole Bible, so they wind up trusting in falsehoods rather than in Christ. ^jer13-25 > [Jeremiah 13:26](Jeremiah%2013.md#^26) note > > This was discussed in [verse 22](Jeremiah%2013.md#^22) ([see v22 note](Jeremiah%2013%20FSI.md#^jer13-22)). Humanity was created to serve God. We are given all kinds of blessings, yet we rebel against God. We set up our own standards of conduct and trust in our own self-worth or our own good works and what have you. But before God it is all a sham and a shame of much sin that we refuse to recognize in our pride. And the only way that we can return to God is to be completely covered by Christ's robe of righteousness so that the shame of our sin is covered. ^jer13-26 > [Jeremiah 13:27](Jeremiah%2013.md#^27) note > > "I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, *and* thine abominations on the hills in the fields." -- God uses the most ugly language because sin is so ugly and terrible, our rebellion is so terrible. Who neighs? A horse neighs. When we look at the whoredom of Aholah and Aholibah in [Ezekiel 23](Ezekiel%2023.md) we see this kind of language in all of its ugliness and the disaster that comes from it. And what Ezekiel 23 represents is when God's visible people, the nations of Israel and Judah during the Old Testament and the churches and congregations in our day, go hankering after the pleasures, enticements and the mindset of the world. God speaks of it as spiritual adultery whenever we pursue sin and worship other, false gods of *any* kind. We become alienated from God when we corrupt our hearts and minds in the things of the world. It is like a stallion or a stud horse going after a mare that is in heat -- it is the insistent, evil desire of those who really ought to know better going after their own thing rather than what is pleasing to God. So like [verses 25](Jeremiah%2013.md#^25) and [26](Jeremiah%2013.md#^26), they have forgotten God and trusted in falsehood to their own shame. This is the language of spiritual adultery where people want their own kind of gospel rather than God's Gospel. We must piteously look to God for His mercy to save us. > > "Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean when *shall it* once *be*?" -- This is again the impassioned statement of God as He weeps over His people that He must bring under judgment. "Will you not be made clean?" It's a rhetorical question. They don't want to be made clean. They are like the leopard that cannot change its spots and the Ethiopian that cannot change his skin ([v23](Jeremiah%2013.md#^23)). They are locked into their sin, they want their own way. > > That's why it's truly a miracle when any one of us becomes saved because not one of us deserves His salvation at all. And if we believe we have become saved we should be thrilled with thanksgiving and asking God 1,000 times a day how it can be possible, and how we can demonstrate that thanksgiving to Him for such a wonderful salvation. ^jer13-27 Tags: #Old_Testament #Jeremiah #Gods_judgment_on_His_people #FSI