Jeremiah 7 FSI - HEAR, O EARTH

> [!title|noicon] **Jeremiah 7 Notes** > [[Jeremiah 6 FSI|<Prev]]   [[Jeremiah 8 FSI|Next>]] > [[Jeremiah 7|Verse list view]] > [Jeremiah 7:1](Jeremiah%207.md#^1) note > > This again reminds us that this is indeed the Word of God as it came to Jeremiah. Jeremiah is the scribe or the secretary, if you will, but God is giving the words. ^jer7-1 > [Jeremiah 7:2](Jeremiah%207.md#^2) note > > In the historical setting, even in this late time, Jeremiah was to go to the gate of the temple and proclaim this word, this call to repentance, lest judgment come. And, sadly, we know from history that judgment did come as the Babylonians destroyed the temple and carried Judah away captive. > > But these verses in Jeremiah are still applicable today. Of course, we don't go to the temple of old, yet we do stand at the gate of the kingdom of God. And Christ is the Gate to the kingdom of God. So wherever we may be we stand in the Gate of the Lord's house, declaring that the way that we come into the Lord's house is through that Gate, through Christ, through the Word of God. For comparison, see [Jeremiah 17:19](Jeremiah%2017.md#^19), [20](Jeremiah%2017.md#^20), [21](Jeremiah%2017.md#^21), [22](Jeremiah%2017.md#^22), [23](Jeremiah%2017.md#^23), [24](Jeremiah%2017.md#^24), [25](Jeremiah%2017.md#^25). Notice in verse 25 of Jeremiah 17, as well as here in [Jeremiah 7:7](Jeremiah%207.md#^7), that the promise for obedience is to dwell in the land *forever*, that the city would remain *forever* -- it winds up as an eternal city. And by this, we know that the historical context here, the physical city of Jerusalem, serves as a picture or a portrait of the eternal kingdom of God that lasts forever. > > So to stand in the Gate of the kingdom of God is to stand in the Lord Jesus Christ, declaring His Word. And what does God declare here in verse 2? "Hear the word of the LORD, all *ye of* Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD." He is declaring this to the very people of Judah and Jerusalem, to those who claim to be believers. The focal point of God's wrath, His warnings, His judgment, is right in the house of God, to those who have a corporate relationship with Christ and are regularly worshiping. But see what God says to them in the next verse, verse 3. ^jer7-2 > [Jeremiah 7:3](Jeremiah%207.md#^3) note > > What does God mean that we must amend our ways? Don't we have a wonderful thing going with our congregation? Don't we have biblical doctrines and hermeneutics? But we must become saved, it is altogether by Christ's work alone, only THEN will we dwell forever in the house of God, in the kingdom of God. ^jer7-3 > [Jeremiah 7:4](Jeremiah%207.md#^4) note > > Here God begins to emphasize the sin. God tells them not to trust in lying words. And anything that is taught as being from the Bible that is not altogether faithful to the Word of God is a lie. Ultimately, no one can claim to be absolutely faithful, everyone must reexamine anything and everything they hold to see if it is faithful to the Bible. But here God specifies the lie, "The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these." That is, they are wrongly defining the very temple of the LORD to be the local churches and congregations and denominations and seminaries with their doctrines and sacraments and confessions and anything else they believe contributes to their salvation that isn't Christ alone. That is what they are trusting in, that is their security. They have developed a salvation plan rooted in the corporate organization over the Bible, they are trusting in their religion, they are trusting in their church or their denomination and all that attends to it rather than in the Lord Jesus Christ. Trusting the Lord Jesus Christ means we trust in the Bible as the only Authority and everything else must be examined by it, even if it means we must categorically reject what we hear in a sermon or a lesson. ^jer7-4 > [Jeremiah 7:5](Jeremiah%207.md#^5) note > > Verses 5-7 stop us cold. The typical reaction to these verses is, "Oh, I better examine my way of life and make these corrections. I need to make sure I'm only worshiping God and that I'm faithful to what this is teaching. And then God promises me everlasting life." The problem is, can anyone of him or herself thoroughly and completely amend their ways and get right with God? The answer is no, we cannot. There must be a Savior. So that is actually what God is saying here, "You need a Savior." So we need to realize that we cannot do these things. Even the slightest slip-up means we'll still end up under judgment, and of course there will be many slip-ups because we are sinners. It is impossible. So we cry out, "Oh Lord, have mercy upon me," and we wait upon Him. > > Now, if we *have* become saved we will be doing these good things (imperfectly still) as a result of the fact that we are saved as God works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. > > But we must not lose sight of the fact that this passage is really an indictment that they are *not* doing these things, that they are in such a dire situation that they need to amend their ways, and that these ways that need to be amended are the very things in which they have become corrupt. But as we'll see beginning in verse 8 and following, it is already too late and God's judgment is already upon them. So here in verses 3-7 we're really reading what "ought to have been" or what God should expect, but sadly what does not actually happen. > > "if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor" -- The phrase translated *execute judgment* here means to do justice. Now, ultimately, where is the real contention between a man and his neighbor? It is between the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the peoples of the world. That is where justice needs to be administered. Before salvation the peoples of this world are in deep trouble before Christ and heading for eternal death. But this contention can be resolved in a very peaceable and wonderful way through the Lord Jesus Christ. So when we are doing justice between a man and his neighbor it means we are bringing the true Gospel to them whereby our fellow man or woman can be in harmony with God. We are declaring that there is a way to become justified before God. ^jer7-5 > [Jeremiah 7:6](Jeremiah%207.md#^6) note > > The stranger, the fatherless (or, orphan) and the widow go together as types or figures of those in need of salvation. In the historical setting, we read, for example, in [Deuteronomy 24:19](Deuteronomy%2024.md#^19), [20](Deuteronomy%2024.md#^20), [21](Deuteronomy%2024.md#^21). In the New Testament God expresses the same thing in a little different way in [James 1:27](James%201.md#^27). Those who were the lowest of the low, the "bottom of the totem pole," so to speak, were these, the stranger, the fatherless and the widows. And God is indicating that we are to have a concern for them. > > If you go into a country where they have a very tight society, or into a town where they have a close community, and you arrive as a complete stranger, you may feel like, "You are not one of us." And in some places if you are a widow or an orphan there is very little provision for them and they wind up as beggars. > > Spiritually these are figures of speech that God uses to describe those who become believers. We think of [Matthew 5:3](Matthew%205.md#^3), "Blessed are the poor in spirit." The unsaved find their trust and confidence here in this world which is under Satan, under the prince of this world, and the true believers are reviled, slandered and persecuted as aliens who don't belong here because we are antithetical to what they believe. We are treated as the lowest of the low to them. > > But, thankfully, the believers are only looked upon with contempt by the world. We are not really the strangers, orphans and widows because we are eternal citizens of the kingdom of God, we are children of God and married to God as the Bride of Christ. And nothing could be more wonderful than that! But to the world we are cast down and cast out as the refuse of the earth. > > But the role of the true believer is to be concerned with those who are or will become the children of God, those who are on their way to becoming saved as we bring the Gospel so that they are no longer strangers, orphans or widows to God. And that is the emphasis that God is making here in this verse. We are to have a concern for sending forth the Gospel that the elect might come into the kingdom of God. > > "and shed not innocent blood in this place" -- What does it mean to shed innocent blood -- that of the stranger, the fatherless and the widow? Spiritually, if we bring a gospel that is not the true Gospel, then we are leading people to eternal death. For example, if we teach a man-made gospel saying that they can reach out, that this is their hour of decision, that they can pray the sinner's prayer and so on in order to become a child of God, then we are oppressing them, we are doing injustice to them and even murdering them -- we are lying to them to say that this will make them safe and secure with God because it is not the true Gospel of the Bible and there will be no salvation. Instead we would be setting them up for judgment and the second death. There isn't a murder that is worse than setting them up for eternal death. It is the most terrible, devastating thing we could do to our neighbor. > > "neither walk after other gods to your hurt" -- Anyone in a church would protest and say that they aren't worshiping Buddha or Baal or some other god. But the problem is, if they have a gospel that is based on some other authority than the Bible alone, then it is a different gospel and a different god. It is the Bible that is the Authority that sets up what the true Gospel is. So as soon as you have some kind of vision that a pastor or a church father had, or once other documents are elevated to the level of being inviolate, then it's a different authority that the Bible alone. And then it is the worship of another god than the God of the Bible even though you may be convinced in your soul that you are worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ. ^jer7-6 > [Jeremiah 7:7](Jeremiah%207.md#^7) note > > This phrase "for ever and ever" is speaking about the kingdom of God in heaven, in the new heavens and new earth. No church or congregation on this sin-cursed earth will survive as an institution for all eternity, it is set up for this present world as a witness and a testimony to the eternal kingdom of God. And thus the warnings to the 7 churches in Revelation 2 and 3 to remain faithful or be destroyed -- and many churches and congregations have been destroyed or ceased to exist throughout the New Testament era. But when we become saved, we are forever secure in the kingdom of God, in the *heavenly* Jerusalem. ^jer7-7 > [Jeremiah 7:8](Jeremiah%207.md#^8) note > > Sadly, now we are back to the reality. In verses 3-7 God spoke about what should have been, but now we're back to what the situation actually is. Remember in [verse 4](Jeremiah%207.md#^4) God said to trust *not* in lying words. But now He is making the direct accusation, "You trust in lying words." And in verse 4 we saw that the problem is they are trusting in their church, their congregation, their denomination, their distinctives, their doctrines and everything to do with their religion or religious organization. And these things cannot profit them, they cannot bring salvation. They do not have an actual relationship in which they are trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. They do not realize the holiness of the Word of God, there is no fear of God before their eyes. They view the Bible as some theological book. The evidence for this is how so many popular Bibles highlight the words of Christ in red as though they are more important than the rest of the Bible, and how so many inaccurate versions of the Bible there are in use. They trust in lying words, trusting in those who they think have the authority. If you have the fear of God you're going to trust *only* in the Bible. ^jer7-8 > [Jeremiah 7:9](Jeremiah%207.md#^9) note > > This passage must be understood to represent the breaking of the Law of God as expressed in the 10 commandments. If we break the law of God in one point, we break it in all. And if we are still unsaved we are still under the sentence of the law, it's as though we are committing all of these sins because we're accountable to the whole law of God for our sins. > > This verse also applies on a spiritual level. If they are not bringing the true Gospel of salvation, then they are effectively stealing ([Jn 10:1](John%2010.md#^1), [10](John%2010.md#^10)), murdering, committing adultery, swearing falsely and worshiping false gods, spiritually. They are not loving God above all and their neighbor as themselves. Rather, there's much self-interest to gain power and respect and adulation and money and all of that. They are stealing what belongs to God in order to further their own interests and causing their hearers to be set up for judgment and eternal death. And any sin that is committed is spiritual adultery against God, it is the worship of some other god. Whenever they say, "Thus saith the LORD," and the Lord has not said, again they are stealing God's Word and modifying it to achieve their own personal interests, which is adultery against the Word of God. > > So even if these sins are not literally, physically being committed, they are indeed being committed on a spiritual level when they have a different authority than the Bible alone, regardless of what that other authority is. It is all man-made. > > "and walk after other gods whom ye know not" -- They have been taught to worship the God of the Bible, to worship and serve Christ. But they don't realize, they don't know that they are actually worshiping Satan. They are worshiping other gods whom they don't even know. ^jer7-9 > [Jeremiah 7:10](Jeremiah%207.md#^10) note > > The big theme in the churches is salvation. "So many people have been baptized, so many people are coming in, we had this massive crusade and so many thousands of people became saved. We are delivered." But the product of true salvation is obedience to the Bible, we have been given a new resurrected soul and indwelt by the Holy Spirit so that we have an ongoing desire to do the will of God. But here they are convinced they have become saved and are under the Name of Christ, yet they go on and do all of these abominations while claiming to be delivered. ^jer7-10 > [Jeremiah 7:11](Jeremiah%207.md#^11) note > > This phrase "den of robbers" is seen in a number of places. For example, in [Mark 11:17](Mark%2011.md#^17) we see where Christ is faulting national Israel and says that they have made God's house a den of thieves. And we know that thieves steal [Jn 10:1](John%2010.md#^1), [10](John%2010.md#^10). > > But this word *den* in the Hebrew is a very curious word. In the Old Testament it is normally translated *cave*, and even in the New Testament the Greek word sometimes it is translated as *cave*. And this word cave is normally used as a place of hiding: [Joshua 10:16](Joshua%2010.md#^16); [1 Kings 18:4](1%20Kings%2018.md#^4); [Hebrews 11:38](Hebrews%2011.md#^38). In [John 11:38](John%2011.md#^38) the cave is the place of Lazarus' grave, so it is still a place for covering or a hiding place there. That's why we read in Revelation 6 that as judgment falls the people will be hiding in the *dens* and rocks of the mountains -- trying to hide away from God. > > So God is here asking in Jeremiah 7:11 if His house has become a den or a hiding place for robbers in their eyes. Here are all these people who believe they are safely hidden from the wrath of God because they are members of a local congregation. They think they don't need to worry about judgment day coming, after all, "they are saved." "What a day that will be, when we all get to Heaven we will be shouting and praising God!" They feel safe and secure in their own eyes. But Christ is here blowing the whistle on them, so to speak, that they have made His house a hiding place for thieves because they are stealing the Gospel for their own personal gain. They are merchandising the Gospel in such a way that gives them a kind of comfort or solace, and yet they have abused it and are not *really* teaching the whole counsel of God. So it is a hiding place that God is exposing: > > "Behold, even I have seen *it*, saith the LORD" -- God sees all that is going on, they cannot hide from Him. Their hiding place is a self-deception on their part but God is not deceived. And likewise, again in Mark 11 where they are profiting and merchandising the House of God, we see where Christ exposed them for what they were doing as He overturned their money changers and accused them of being a den of thieves ([Mk 11:15](Mark%2011.md#^15), [16](Mark%2011.md#^16), [17](Mark%2011.md#^17)). They were stealing from God in order to further their own private interests through all of their activities. But God sees the hearts, He sees everything that's going on, nothing escapes His notice, no-one can hide ([Heb 4:12](Hebrews%204.md#^12)). ^jer7-11 > [Jeremiah 7:12](Jeremiah%207.md#^12) note > > God has shown His mercy and His wrath in the way He has dealt with the world from the beginning. He demonstrates His seriousness throughout the Bible concerning the law of God, and He will do what He says He will do. And now God is warning here and in the next 3 verses of Jeremiah 7 that He will do to them what He did in Shiloh. That is, we can see how God responded to Israel in the past to understand how He will respond and has responded today. God is the same yesterday, today and forever so what He has done in the past indicates what He will do now. So what happened in Shiloh? > > Early on in Israel's pilgrimage from Egypt in the wilderness, God had Israel set up a tabernacle, a large tent, to act as the place of worship. And inside this tabernacle was an ark that represented the Presence of God in a veiled area called the Holy of Holies. And God set up rules for the handling of this ark, that only certain people could carry it when they decamped and so on. No one was even to look upon it but the high priest once each year within the veil. > > Now when Israel came into the land of Canaan the tabernacle was set up in Shiloh for a little over 300 years. So that's where the priesthood was during this time. Now in [1 Samuel 4](1%20Samuel%204.md) we read about what's going to happen at the *end* of Shiloh, when Eli was high priest, which is what God is speaking about here in Jeremiah 7. > > To set the stage, in [1 Samuel 4:1](1%20Samuel%204.md#^1), [2](1%20Samuel%204.md#^2) we see that about 4 thousand men of Israel were smitten by the Philistines in battle. Then in [verses 3](1%20Samuel%204.md#^3) and [4](1%20Samuel%204.md#^4) we see sin of the highest order. God had given tremendously strict rules that the ark was to remain in the Holy of Holies, and it was to be looked upon only once a year by the high priest within the veil. > And now Israel had come to the point where they are going to take the ark from the tabernacle and bring it down to the battle line, saying, "That is our god. *It* will save us and give us the victory." > > Now remember, God is using Shiloh here as a picture of the end-time church. He is saying in Jeremiah 7, I will deal with you as I dealt with them at Shiloh. The moment that the congregations -- the theologians and the preachers and Bible teachers -- begin to believe that they are the pillar and ground of Truth, when they begin to trust in their doctrines and distinctives and church fathers and confessions and so on, this is exactly what happens. And in [1 Samuel 4:4](1%20Samuel%204.md#^4) we see the active priests, the 2 sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, participating in this dreadful thing. They had put their trust in the ark, in what was a visible *representation* of God -- not in the *God* of the ark Himself. And they thought that God would bless this effort, they were essentially dictating to God how this was all going to happen. And they were so confident in their delusion that they believed God would bring them the victory ([1 Sam 4:5](1%20Samuel%204.md#^5)). They shouted with a great shout, as if to say, "God is with us! God is with us! Now we cannot lose." But they had established their own kind of victory, their own kind of gospel. And this is what God says the local churches are like in their wrong understanding. Our trust must be in the God of the Bible -- not in our church, not in our heritage or in our efforts or in our documents. > > In [1 Samuel 4:4](1%20Samuel%204.md#^4) we read about the LORD dwelling the cherubims (the word "between" was added by the translators). And these cherubims represented God as the Judge of all the earth ([Gen 3:24](Genesis%203.md#^24), [Ps 99:1](Psalm%2099.md#^1)). In Genesis 3:24 they are a picture of the fact that in order for us to gain access to the Tree of Life (Christ), we must go through judgment to get to it. And that's what Christ has done on our behalf if we are saved so that we might have access to the Tree of Life ([Rev 2:7](Revelation%202.md#^7), [22:14](Revelation%2022.md#^14)), which represents eternal life. And the cherubims looked down at the ark in which was the law of God. And it is the law of God that condemns us for our sin. But between the cherubims and the law that was in the ark was the mercy seat ([Ex 25:20](Exodus%2025.md#^20), [21](Exodus%2025.md#^21)), and that represents Christ as our atonement, we are covered by Christ as the Mercy Seat. > > So as we understand this, we see even more how Israel was simply flaunting the most sacred law of God. The ark was a very holy object in what it represented and in how God had commanded them to treat it with reverence, respect and special care according to His instruction. But it was not God Himself, it was not an object of superstition to stand in the place of God. And now they dared to just drag it out from its place into the camp of the army as though it would superstitiously save them, completely contrary to what God would allow. So this was a complete disaster: [1 Samuel 4:10](1%20Samuel%204.md#^10), [11](1%20Samuel%204.md#^11). The priesthood was killed, 30,000 of Israel were slain and the ark was taken by the Philistines. This represented the fact that *God had departed from Israel* -- again, not that the ark itself was God, but it *represented* His departing from them. > > This is seen very clearly in the closing verses of [1 Samuel 4:15](1%20Samuel%204.md#^15), [16](1%20Samuel%204.md#^16), [17](1%20Samuel%204.md#^17), [18](1%20Samuel%204.md#^18), [19](1%20Samuel%204.md#^19), [20](1%20Samuel%204.md#^20), [21](1%20Samuel%204.md#^21), [22](1%20Samuel%204.md#^22). Eli, the high priest, fell backward and broke his neck; and it was declared through the birth of Icabod that the glory of the LORD had departed from Israel. And to fall backward and have the neck broken unto death, and the pains of travail all indicate that the judgment of God was upon them, God had departed from them. > > And this is what God is warning here and in the next 3 verses of Jeremiah 7 will happen (and has happened) with the churches as they focus upon their man-made designs in place of the Bible, as unbelievers eventually overrun them with their own kind of gospels. The man-made institution that is left has no spiritual strength or authority of any kind as the glory of God has departed from them, the Word of God has been effectively silenced. They have fallen backward unto the breaking of the neck, being *slain in the spirit* (so to speak), the spiritual priesthood is dead. ^jer7-12 > [Jeremiah 7:13](Jeremiah%207.md#^13) note > > This matter of God rising up early and speaking illustrates the love and patience of God. In [Deuteronomy 6:6](Deuteronomy%206.md#^6), [7](Deuteronomy%206.md#^7) we see the language of us teaching God's precepts to our children constantly and diligently using the phrase "when you lie down and when you rise up." God has been calling to us early and often to listen to His Word. But as the doctrines of the Bible have been substituted by the teachings of men in so many areas God is faulting the churches for not hearing and not answering. And this has been going on for many years. ^jer7-13 > [Jeremiah 7:14](Jeremiah%207.md#^14) note > > Now God tells us what He is going to do as He indicated beginning in [verse 12](Jeremiah%207.md#^12). This is a deliberate action of God, and it is precisely what we can see is happening as we look into the Scriptures. And what is the house that is called by God's Name that He has given to us and to our fathers? It is any congregation that claims to follow the Bible, that identifies with Christ as Christians. God is the One Who set up the churches and gave instruction for their spiritual oversight. > > But God also says, "wherein ye trust." Just as Israel trusted in the ark that was in Shiloh in 1 Samuel 4 -- just as Israel trusted in their religious activity: in their priesthood, in their circumcision, in their offerings and sacrifices and holy days, and in the fact they were the chosen people of God -- so do the churches and congregations trust in their religious activity. To a high degree the trust of many is in whatever church they are in -- in their church fathers, in their doctrines. And this is fatal as they proclaim, "[Peace, peace, when there is no peace.](Jeremiah%206.md#^14)" Remember, it is God who is making this charge here! We are not to trust in the visible *representation* of the kingdom of God, but in God Himself. And when trusting in the visible organization becomes the norm, God departs from them just as He did in the days of Shiloh, as we see again in the next verse, verse 15. ^jer7-14 > [Jeremiah 7:15](Jeremiah%207.md#^15) note > > God casting them out of His sight is the same as His departing from them in 1 Samuel 4. When God is finished with the visible representation of the kingdom of God at the end of time just prior to Christ's return, the days in which we now live, He casts them out of His sight as they have become overrun by unbelievers, by the kingdom of Satan, as they have come up with their own gospels and trust in their churches. And they are all cast out just as God says He cast out *the whole seed of Ephraim*, which is where Shiloh was located. Ephraim was also the key tribe of the northern kingdom of Israel after the split between Israel and Judah, and they were also all utterly carried away captive into Assyria in 709 BC, so that those 10 tribes never existed again as tribes. So because they have become so unfaithful God is going to cast them out. ^jer7-15 > [Jeremiah 7:16](Jeremiah%207.md#^16) note > > When God says not to pray for someone, His wrath is *final*. When people have died, for example, there's no value in praying for them any longer with regard to salvation. Their eternal fate has been sealed. Likewise, when God's plan has come to the fullness of time in history, it is done. This doesn't mean we cannot continue to pray for individuals who are still in the churches and congregations, but God is not going to reverse His plan for the churches that judgment begins with the house of God. God has already decreed and declared His intention and He *will* carry it out without exception and without question. ^jer7-16 > [Jeremiah 7:17](Jeremiah%207.md#^17) - [18](Jeremiah%207.md#^18) note > > The queen of heaven has to do with the worship of the stars, like astrology. God specifically prohibited this kind of worship ([Deut 4:15](Deuteronomy%204.md#^15), [16](Deuteronomy%204.md#^16), [19](Deuteronomy%204.md#^19)) and yet Israel violated it ([Jer 19:12](Jeremiah%2019.md#^12), [13](Jeremiah%2019.md#^13)). > > We find a frightening example of this after Judah had been taken captive into Babylon -- there were various people still left in Judah who wanted escape into Egypt. But God specifically commanded them not to do this or He would destroy them ([Jer 44:11](Jeremiah%2044.md#^11), [12](Jeremiah%2044.md#^12), [13](Jeremiah%2044.md#^13), [14](Jeremiah%2044.md#^14)). And the answer of the people to this is found in the following verses, [verse 15](Jeremiah%2044.md#^15), [16](Jeremiah%2044.md#^16). Here we see how sin develops into more sin -- the first sin was that they set up their own gods. And now when God comes very specifically to them saying not to go into Egypt (a picture of going even deeper into sin), they come right back and say that they are going to go, they will go their own way. This is the nature of sin -- sin leads to deeper sin and rebellion and eventually to destruction. > > And then we see the queen of heaven in [Jeremiah 44:17](Jeremiah%2044.md#^17), [18](Jeremiah%2044.md#^18), [19](Jeremiah%2044.md#^19), [20](Jeremiah%2044.md#^20), [21](Jeremiah%2044.md#^21), [22](Jeremiah%2044.md#^22). The message here is this: They were convinced that based on the good things they thought were coming to them before Nebuchadnezzar attacked Judah, they felt it was because they worshiped these other gods, including the host of heaven (which includes the queen of heaven). > > Just as an aside, according to the secular evidence, one of the most powerful Mesopotamian gods was the planet Venus, named Ishtar or Astarte. And they looked upon Venus as the god of fertility and was very important to the pagan women for bearing children. And here in Jeremiah 7:18 we see how the whole family was involved in this pagan worship. It was absolute rebellion against God to worship the host of heaven. > > So now we might ask how this applies to anyone today in the churches and congregations. They don't literally worship Venus, they don't bake actual cakes for the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to the stars and other gods. But if their worship service comes from the minds of men and women rather than from the Bible, that is effectively what they are all doing. And, sadly, this is done as whole families if they are in that church or congregation, just as this verse here in Jeremiah 7:18 speaks of the children, the fathers and the women. > > *Any* worship that does not come thoroughly from the Bible alone is the false worship of other gods, no matter how holy the robes, the worship ritual or the doctrines are in appearance. And just as they insisted on going down into Egypt in Jeremiah 44 and perished there, so it is today. They do not want the Bible, they do not want the Word of God, they want their theology and their confessions and their spiritual protocol and they are *convinced* that they are right. But, sadly, they are under the wrath of God. ^jer7-17 > [Jeremiah 7:19](Jeremiah%207.md#^19) note > > "Do they provoke me to anger? saith the *LORD*:" -- This is a rhetorical question as we see in [verse 20](Jeremiah%207.md#^20): "Therefore thus saith the Lord *GOD* Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place. . . ." When God gave the command not to worship any other gods He was not playing games, He was not just making an idle statement, it wasn't just an incidental warning like it's not really all that bad. No way! When God gives those commands He means what He says! > > "*do they* not *provoke* themselves to the confusion of their own faces?" -- This statement means there ought to be *shame* in their faces. When they say, "Thus saith the Lord," and the Lord has not said, they are making themselves to be greater than God Himself. That's why we read in [Ezekiel 28:2](Ezekiel%2028.md#^2), "yet thou *art* a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God. . . ." God is saying there's a vast separation -- God is holy, He is eternal, He is the infinite, almighty King whereas we are simply sinful creatures subject to all kinds of rebellion against God. So how dare we *ever* pit ourselves against God? The moment we do so we are doomed. Yet that's exactly what humanity does in its sin, including in the churches and congregations. They have decided, "We have the Truth, we have the proper, correct order and everyone is becoming saved" and so on. But it's all a concoction of their own making. There is no human or group of people who can get someone saved, no matter how holy, no matter how great they are or how much they are adulated, it means nothing. It requires God Himself, we all stand before Him. ^jer7-19 > [Jeremiah 7:20](Jeremiah%207.md#^20) note > > What does it mean that God will bring His wrath upon the beast and upon the trees of the field and upon the fruit of the ground? We must realize that we have an intimate relationship with the ground. We are made from the ground, we find our strength from the ground, from this earth. Everything finally comes from the ground. And when humanity fell into sin, God also cursed the current creation so that there are thorns and thistles, poisonous snakes, meat-eating animals, harmful viruses and bacteria, volcanoes, hurricanes and earthquakes and so on. So everything that humanity has dominion over ([Gen 1:26](Genesis%201.md#^26)) came under the curse. So the very creation itself is waiting for the day of redemption of the believers to become a new creation ([Romans 8:19](Romans%208.md#^19), [20](Romans%208.md#^20), [21](Romans%208.md#^21), [22](Romans%208.md#^22)). ^jer7-20 > [Jeremiah 7:21](Jeremiah%207.md#^21) note > > In [Leviticus 1:1](Leviticus%201.md#^1), [2](Leviticus%201.md#^2), [3](Leviticus%201.md#^3), [4](Leviticus%201.md#^4) we read a little about the *burnt offerings* which were offered on the altar ([v8](Leviticus%201.md#^8)). There were sin offerings, there were trespass offerings, there were peace offerings -- sometimes the offering was of an animal, sometimes of grain or meal -- and then they were eaten by the priests or in some instances by those who offered the sacrifice. And the burnt offerings pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ who suffered the fiery wrath of God in order to be our Savior. > > But here in Jeremiah 7:21 God is telling them that their burnt offerings are valueless, they have no meaning. This is seen also in [Isaiah 1:10](Isaiah%201.md#^10), [11](Isaiah%201.md#^11), [12](Isaiah%201.md#^12), [13](Isaiah%201.md#^13). What God is effectively saying there is that they have made a mockery of God's commands to obey Him by putting their trust in the burnt offerings and sacrifices alone as though they had a free pass to sin and be forgiven. Their trust was in the sign and the ceremony and not in God Himself. And this is parallel to those today who put their trust in their baptism or in some other action they have taken, or in their association with their church and all that their denomination entails, without having become a new creation in Christ. They have effectively made the ceremonial law equal to the substance of salvation. And this is what God is saying they are doing here in Jeremiah 7. It's almost a statement of ridicule here in verse 21 -- as if to say, "Go ahead and eat it. You might as well because you don't have a Savior. It doesn't signify anything at all, it's pure nonsense, it's a form that has no substance and is no help for you at all, but you go on ahead and do it." ^jer7-21 > [Jeremiah 7:22](Jeremiah%207.md#^22) note > > Of course God spoke about the burnt offerings in [Leviticus 1](Leviticus%201.md), not long after Israel came out from Egypt, but that was not when they first came out from Egypt. . . . (continue to the next verse) ^jer7-22 > [Jeremiah 7:23](Jeremiah%207.md#^23) note > > In [Exodus 19:3](Exodus%2019.md#^3), [4](Exodus%2019.md#^4), [5](Exodus%2019.md#^5), [6](Exodus%2019.md#^6) we see where God stresses to Israel that they are to obey His voice, His Word. Then in the next chapter of Exodus God gave them the 10 commandments. And this is the essence of salvation, not the burnt offerings and sacrifices that they wrongly turned into their salvation. That is, God demands *perfect* obedience to His Word ([James 2:10](James%202.md#^10)), which then shows us how much we need and must have a Savior in order to be right with God. > > Likewise, during the church age God has come with the Gospel, with the message that we must have the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot become right with God through ceremonial laws and sacrifices or through any action that we can take of ourselves, it requires the perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf. He is the personification of the Word, He must be our Righteousness, only in Him will it be well with us as we can never come close to perfectly obeying God's voice unto salvation. ^jer7-23 > [Jeremiah 7:24](Jeremiah%207.md#^24) note > > This is *God's* indictment and assessment. This isn't just something we're making up. If we honestly desire Truth then we will listen to this. God is making the judgment that they aren't listening to His Word but are walking in the counsels and imagination of their evil heart. And they went backward -- that is, what Truth they had learned and had gained they have turned away from instead of moving forward in their understanding of God's Word. And the indictment just gets worse in the next several verses. ^jer7-24 > [Jeremiah 7:25](Jeremiah%207.md#^25) note > > In the historical illustration this was true of Israel. God sent them prophet after prophet, those who would save Israel out of captivity again and again, but each time they would turn again to their own way in rebellion against God. And this is true throughout the church age. The Bible has been there, opened on pulpit after pulpit, and many coming with the Gospel and declaring Truth. But after each season there was a subsequent falling away, a turning backward away from Truth. > > This phrase "daily rising up early and sending *them*" is parallel to what we read in [verse 13](Jeremiah%207.md#^13). It's also seen in [Jeremiah 11:7](Jeremiah%2011.md#^7), [25:3](Jeremiah%2025.md#^3), and [29:19](Jeremiah%2029.md#^19). As stated in verse 13, this matter of God rising up early and speaking illustrates the love and patience of God. In [Deuteronomy 6:6](Deuteronomy%206.md#^6), [7](Deuteronomy%206.md#^7) we see the language of us teaching God's precepts to our children constantly and diligently using the phrase "when you lie down and when you rise up." God has been calling to us early and often to listen to His Word. But as the doctrines of the Bible have been substituted by the teachings of men in so many areas God is faulting the churches for not hearing and not answering, as we see again in verse 26. ^jer7-25 > [Jeremiah 7:26](Jeremiah%207.md#^26) note > > Again, this is God's indictment of them. There is a presumption amongst most churches that they are a saved congregation, otherwise they would not have been allowed to join as members. So they focus on all kinds of other things apart from the Gospel of salvation. They presume peace upon those who are in the congregation based on agreement with the teachings and doctrines and service. So they don't really understand what it means to become saved or what being saved is and do not have an honest relationship with God. > > "but hardened their neck" -- This is a figure of having a stiff neck. This probably comes from the animal world. If you have a horse, or an ox, or a mule or a donkey that is cantankerous and will not obey -- you're trying to get it to bow its head so you can put the halter on, or you're trying to make it go this way or that way -- and it keeps its neck stiff, it's going to go its own way. That's the figure God is using of humanity. We have a stiff neck, we are stubborn, we're going to go our own way and we will not do it God's way. > > "they did worse than their fathers" -- This is another way of saying what we read in verse 24 that they want backward and not forward. The progression of sin when we go away from the Word of God is that we get farther and farther away from Truth. ^jer7-26 > [Jeremiah 7:27](Jeremiah%207.md#^27) note > > These are the words that we've been reading here in Jeremiah 7, as well as all of the other words throughout the Bible that God is speaking. And yet, though these words are spoken and recorded, God knows that they will not listen, they will not answer. God has given them up, as we see in Romans 1, to greater and greater sin. ^jer7-27 > [Jeremiah 7:28](Jeremiah%207.md#^28) note > > "But thou shalt say unto them, This *is* a nation that obeys not the voice of the LORD their God" -- The kingdom of God, corporately, is a nation, and today it is spiritually bankrupt, they will not obey God's voice. Notice it says here that they obey not the voice of the LORD *their God*. God is the God of that institution. This is speaking corporately or visibly of the representation of God's people, the churches and congregations. > > "nor receives correction" -- They have forgotten that the Bible down to the letter in the original languages is *the* Word of God that gives us correction ([2 Ti 3:16](2%20Timothy%203.md#^16)). They do not hold the Bible to be *absolutely* trustworthy. And any time we read the Bible it is *the* voice of God that must be listened to. > > "truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth." -- What, or Who, is Truth? It is Christ ([Jn 14:6](John%2014.md#^6)). He is the Word of God ([Jn 1:14](John%201.md#^14)). So this is saying that Christ isn't there anymore. Christ is out and they are on their own. Their theology is based upon what their own minds say, not upon the Word of God. So what they believe and what they are teaching is no longer the Truth, it is cut off from their mouth regardless of how holy and faithful it may sound to them. It is as good as chaff with no spiritual value of any kind. They have established their own kind of gospel so that within their own framework it all seems fine but it is a delusion. Their candlestick has been removed, as we read in the warnings to the 7 churches in Revelation 2 and 3. ^jer7-28 > [Jeremiah 7:29](Jeremiah%207.md#^29) note > > "Cut off thine hair, *O Jerusalem*, and cast *it* away" -- The Hebrew word translated *hair* here is only translated as such in this verse. It is normally translated as crown, separation or consecration. And it is found 18 times (in noun and verb form) in [Numbers 6](Numbers%206.md):1-21 as either consecrate/consecration or separate/separation in connection with the Nazarite vow. And this vow of separation for the Nazarite did involve not cutting the hair, but allowing it to grow out. So God uses uncut hair as a representation of being separated unto God in faithfulness to Him, under the headship of Christ. So cutting the hair spiritually represents removing one's separation unto Christ. Remember Samson who lost all of his strength once his hair was cut. That spiritually represented losing the blessing and protection of God in a figure. > > In [Ezekiel 5:1](Ezekiel%205.md#^1), [2](Ezekiel%205.md#^2), [3](Ezekiel%205.md#^3), [4](Ezekiel%205.md#^4), Ezekiel also represents those who come out from under the blessing of God due to unfaithfulness as he is told to shave off all of his hair. And again, as God states in [verses 4](Ezekiel%205.md#^4) and [5](Ezekiel%205.md#^5), Ezekiel represents *all the house of Israel and Jerusalem*, those who are normally part of the visible kingdom of God. And Ezekiel prophesied around the same time as Jeremiah in Babylon and points to what happens when God's judgment comes upon the local congregations also in our day. > > Notice in [Ezekiel 5:2](Ezekiel%205.md#^2) and [12](Ezekiel%205.md#^12) how God emphasizes a 3-fold judgment upon the "third part" -- and compare that with how frequently the phrase *third part* is mentioned in [Revelation 8](Revelation%208.md). That's because Revelation 8, too, describes the wrath of God as it falls upon the churches and congregations. > > So the cutting off of the hair represents the cutting off of the separation that the visible kingdom of God, the churches and congregations in our day, have had in relation to God. They are no longer His, they are no longer identified with Him in reality. They are altogether under the wrath of God for corrupting His Word to suit their own kind of worldly gospel, and God declares they have become even more wicked than the world around them: [Eze 5:5](Ezekiel%205.md#^5), [6](Ezekiel%205.md#^6), [7](Ezekiel%205.md#^7), [8](Ezekiel%205.md#^8), [9](Ezekiel%205.md#^9), [10](Ezekiel%205.md#^10), [11](Ezekiel%205.md#^11), [12](Ezekiel%205.md#^12) (and on through the rest of [Ezekiel 5](Ezekiel%205.md) to verse 17). And as we read there in [verse 8](Ezekiel%205.md#^8), God, in His perfect justice, comes in judgment against them in the sight of the nations -- it is seen by the rest of the world. And there is super ugly language in [verse 10](Ezekiel%205.md#^10) of cannibalism which spiritually refers to how they are destroying one another with their trust in false gospels where there is no hope whatsoever. > > "take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath" -- A lamentation is a funeral dirge lamenting the death of those who have been killed. And it's on the high places. It's where all of the doctrines and practices that *they* have designed are found, it's where they have put their trust, it's where *their* kind of a salvation program is found in the churches and congregations. And now they have become a lamentation because God's wrath is there, God has forsaken them. And now it is too late, there is no more salvation, there is no more mercy there. ^jer7-29 > [Jeremiah 7:30](Jeremiah%207.md#^30) note > > Notice again here that God is speaking about the children of *Judah* who have done evil in His sight. It would be one thing if God said the children of Babylon or Egypt or Ethiopia -- but it is the children of Judah. It is the visible representation of those who are in the kingdom of God, those who were identified with God. They are the ones who have done evil and are under the wrath of God as see in [verse 29](Jeremiah%207.md#^29). It is where you should normally find the true believers, but now God has rejected them, He is finished with them. > > "they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it" -- They have taken the core of the Gospel, salvation itself, and redesigned it so that it is a salvation based on man's work. They have blasphemed in saying Christ has paid for the sins of every single human being in the world and now it's up each person to accept Him, which is absolutely contrary to the Word of God. They say, "Now that Christ has paid for your sins, you can reach out, you can accept Christ, you can be baptized in water and know for sure that you are saved." And they alter all kinds of biblical rules to make them more like the world, to be more compatible with what the world likes. It is like telling God, "This is what you *should* have done, this is what *we* expect you to have done." But it is an abomination, it is ultimately the abomination of desolation that we read of in Daniel where the church has made a mockery of the laws of God and set up their own man-made laws under the headship of Satan. But the reality is that we can only be saved by the mercy and grace of God in Christ alone, it does not involve anything we can do whatsoever. ^jer7-30 > [Jeremiah 7:31](Jeremiah%207.md#^31) note > >Tophet and Hinnom have to do with the garbage dump outside of the temple area where they burned their rubbish. And they had literally set up altars to sacrifice their children in order to appease God as they falsely understood Him. We see in their heathen worship where this idea of sacrificing a child developed: [2 Kings 17:16](2%20Kings%2017.md#^16), [17](2%20Kings%2017.md#^17), [18](2%20Kings%2017.md#^18); [21:1](2%20Kings%2021.md#^1), [6](2%20Kings%2021.md#^6). But when we get to King Josiah we find that he tore down those altars: ([2 Ki 23:10](2%20Kings%2023.md#^10)). > > Now in Genesis 22 God actually tested Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice his son, Isaac ([Gen 22:1](Genesis%2022.md#^1), [2](Genesis%2022.md#^2)). Abraham there is a picture of God Himself, our heavenly Father, with Isaac being a picture of Christ by Whom we are saved through His sacrifice on our behalf. And, of course, it turned out that God provided a ram in the stead of his son Isaac so that Isaac wasn't sacrificed in reality, only in principle as a figure. > > But in heathen worship where they sacrifice their own children in the fire, they are effectively saying that they will provide for their own salvation, they will provide their own sacrifice by which they will have forgiveness of sin. In their zeal, they may think they are making the ultimate sacrifice for their god. But they are effectively making themselves to be like God -- just as God has sacrificed His Son, so they will sacrifice *their* children and provide the payment for their own sin. This is the insidious nature of this. It is a false gospel that mimics the true Gospel but the provision is made by the heathen worshiper rather than by God. > > Spiritually, this is in principle what the churches and congregations have done when they come up with their own doctrines and other gospels. They are standing in the place of God with their own human-devised worship that credits their own ideas and this brings the fire of judgment upon themselves and their children. They are setting themselves up for the burning of eternal damnation. See [Isaiah 4:1](Isaiah%204.md#^1) -- they want the Name of Christ but they eat their own bread and wear their own apparel, a reference to providing their own kind of gospel while being outwardly associated with the name of Christ. > > A very similar phrase is seen in [Jeremiah 19:5](Jeremiah%2019.md#^5) where they are worshiping Baal, a word that means "Lord". But it was never God's intention that anyone could offer their child as a burnt offering and make it possible to get right with God. God alone can do this on our behalf. > > Both Tophet and the son of Hinnom are associated with one of the words commonly translated "hell" in the New Testament. ^jer7-31 > [Jeremiah 7:32](Jeremiah%207.md#^32) note > > The valley will be full of dead bodies, this is anticipating the wrath of God. ^jer7-32 > [Jeremiah 7:33](Jeremiah%207.md#^33) note > > The word *fray* means to frighten, none shall frighten the fowls of heaven away from feeding on their corpses. And this is a picture again that judgment has come ([Rev 19:17](Revelation%2019.md#^17)-[18](Revelation%2019.md#^18)). The foes have been totally vanguished and the bodies are there rotting in the fields so that the carrion eaters and hyenas and other animals that feed on the carcasses are feeding on them. It is the end, there is no one to drive them away, there is no hope, there is no salvation any longer. ^jer7-33 > [Jeremiah 7:34](Jeremiah%207.md#^34) note > > Remember God is talking about Judah and Jerusalem here -- the visible representation of the kingdom of God, not the heavenly Jerusalem. And today that is the churches and congregations. And the Gospel has been silenced, there is no more the voice of joy and gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the bride -- the land is desolate, there is no more salvation. Christ, the Bridegroom, is no longer there, He has abandoned them and His voice, His Word, the Gospel of salvation, is gone. The abomination of desolation is standing in the holy place so that the land is now desolate. ^jer7-34 Tags: #Old_Testament #Jeremiah #Gods_judgment_on_His_people #FSI