READ Jeremiah 5–8
Jesus commanded storms and walked on water. Could it be that the world’s weather is controlled by God? Peter tried to do that walk and sunk when he took his eyes off Jesus. Could it be that when we think we can overcome the elements, we will fail if we try to do it without trusting Jesus?
Some scoff, yet the OT repeatedly tells of God’s control over events and how He sends calamity to show His people that He is sovereign, we are not, and what will happen when we turn from Him to run their own affairs.
Some Christians dismiss the OT claiming that Jesus brought mercy instead of judgment. However, the NT says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) Sin is still an affront to the holiness of God. Trying to run my own life mocks His wisdom, love, and even His sovereign power. Should I persist in doing my own thing, He has the right, as my Lord and God, to show me otherwise.
In the OT, Jeremiah writes strong words concerning God’s people in danger of His judgment:
Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her. Though they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’ yet they swear falsely. O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent. (Jeremiah 5:1–3)
However, Jeremiah made excuses for them: “These are only the poor; they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the Lord . . . . I will go to the great and will speak to them . . . .” But they did not listen to him or to God who warned them of captivity in a foreign land: “Shall I not punish them for these things? And shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?” (Jeremiah 5:29)
These were people with uncircumcised ears that cannot listen. They scorned the word of the Lord. All were greedy for unjust gain, dealing falsely and giving false assurance saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace. They were unashamed when they committed abominations. When given godly advice, they said they would not walk in it or pay attention. Their religious offerings and sacrifices were not acceptable and they would perish. (Jeremiah 6:10–21)
God told them through Jeremiah, “Hear the word of the Lord . . . . Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words . . . . For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever . . . . Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations?”
He told them to remember past judgments for sin and see how God deals with evil by casting them out of His sight. He also told Jeremiah “Do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you.” Yet He continued to command His people, “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.”
Mercy was available but they . . . “Did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.” God sent His servants and they would not listen or do what He said, just as God told Jeremiah “So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you. And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.’ ” (Jeremiah 7:23–28) These passages say everyone was greedy and dealing falsely, yet not ashamed and their spiritual health was not restored.
Sad stuff. Jesus came to defeat sin, to take the wrath of God upon Himself. So what happens to those who reject His offer and are not safe in His loving grace? Does God look the other way? Or is He the God who never changes?
