The Book of Jeremiah - Part 8

Greetings again, everybody, and welcome to the Bible study this evening. Okay, we're starting in Jeremiah chapter 12 and verse 1. It's really a continuation from chapter 11 and 21, so I think we will look at—you're open at that page there—so I think we'll look at Jeremiah 11 and 21 and read into 12 from there, because I don't know why they broke the chapter right there, but really, Jeremiah is contending with and asking a question himself, basically, why did the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer? And it's a continuation of what he was experiencing from his own kinsmen and also hometown people back in Antathos. So we look at Jeremiah 11 and 21, therefore thus says the Lord of the men of Antathos that seek your life, saying, prophesy not in the name of the Lord, that you die not by our hand. So Jeremiah was receiving death threats from his family and from the hometown people, as it were. It's like some of the things that are going on in the nation today that people are actually receiving death threats for even supporting various people or causes at the present time. So Jeremiah was, I'm sure, he was absolutely crushed by the fact that he was receiving such threats from his hometown people. Now in verse 22 of chapter 11, therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons, and their daughters shall die by famine, that is, by hunger, and there shall be no remnant of them, for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathos, even the year of their visitation. So we continue now in 12, where Jeremiah asked this age-old question, righteous are you, Lord, when I plead with you, yet let me talk with you of your judgments. So Jeremiah said, Hey, I really just want to talk with you, Father in heaven, because I just wonder why my kinsfolk, the people of my hometown have turned against me, and why do they keep on prospering, and why am I suffering? And it's one of the age-old questions, all the way going back thousands of years, wherefore does the way of the wicked prosper, and wherefore are they tranquil or at peace, is a better translation than happy? Why are they secure, tranquil? Why aren't they having these trials and difficulties, and they are dealing treacherously? And so why do they prosper? Now that question is an age-old question, and the prophet Malachi, in Malachi's message, so we want to turn to Malachi 2-7.

We may be turning here from time to time. Perhaps we've already turned here, but we should note this, that this question of why do the wicked prosper, and why don't you do something about it, God has called us out and given us a sacred and holy calling, but it's like the old Lynn Anderson song, I beg your pardon, he never promised you a rose garden, and many are going to be the thorns and the thickets and the things that we have to deal with in this life. And so in Malachi, Malachi, the word Malachi, is from the Hebrew word malak, which means messenger. It can be a divine messenger, it can be a human messenger, it can be from an angel, or it can be a human being, and Malachi is inspired to write this book. He's almost like a scribe, just in God is dictating this book to him. This book is written as a dialogue, but it is a monologue. Monologue means God is the one that is doing the speaking, but it's written in a dialogue of God's part on the one hand and the people's response on the other hand. So in Malachi 2.17, this question, you're worthy eternal with your words, yet you say, wherein have we weared him? When you say, everyone that does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them, or where is the God of judgment? So Jeremiah, in a sense, is asking this same question.

Where is the God of judgment? Why doesn't God intervene? Why doesn't God straighten things out? And then chapter three is the answer to that question, basically speaking. Verse one says, I'm going to send John the Baptist. He'll be a forerunner. He'll prepare the way for a messenger of the covenant, Jesus Christ. He's going to try the typical sons of Levi, and the reason that people don't receive ultimate judgment—I know we mentioned this last time—if we received ultimate judgment without mercy, then we would all be destroyed because all of sin can come short of the glory of God and the wages of sin is death. So verse six says, I am the Eternal. I change not therefore. You sons of Jacob are not consumed. You think you want the God of judgment? Well, you better repent and straighten your ways if you want the God of judgment, and you want God to pass over your sins. And now we pick it up again in verse 13. Your words have been stout against me, says the Eternal, yet you say, see, it's a monologue written in the form of a dialogue between God and the people, yet you say, what have we spoken so much against you? You have said it is vain to serve God, and what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance and that we have walked mournfully before the eternal host? But now we call the proud happy. Yea, they that work wickedness are set up. Yea, they have tipped God, and they are even delivered. And when this is going on—notice how verse 16 starts, when? When this talk is going on, where is the God of judgment? When people begin to let the four great enemies of faith fear doubt, human reasoning creep in, then that is the time to really exercise faith. Then they that fear the Eternal, when that's going on, when they are doubting, when they're asking, where is the God of judgment? The Eternal spoke often when them that fear the Eternal spoke often one to another, and the Lord heard it, and He wrote a book of remembrance. It was written before Him, for them that feared the Eternal, that thought upon His name. So it is very clear that God does allow the righteous to suffer. He even allows the righteous to suffer when they are doing the work of God. So Jeremiah is asking, why do you allow this? So now we're going back to Jeremiah 12 verse 2. You planted them, yes, they have taken root. They grow, yes, they bring forth fruit. You are near in their mouth and far from their reins. Now, reins was used anciently in Judah in ancient Israel to indicate the veins in the heart. Or another translation would be this, and far, far from their heart. In other words, you are near in their mouth. You take the name of God in your mouth, and you talk about God, but in your heart and in your actions, they are far from God. Remember what it says in Proverbs 15 verse 8. If you haven't memorized Proverbs 15 verse 8, I will give it to you right now. It says, the sacrifices, and I'm paraphrasing, the sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination to God. In other words, you can go through the motions and pretend, but God is looking on the heart. And that concept is basically repeated again in Proverbs 21 and verse 27. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to God.

So they talk about you. They say this, that, or the other, and speak favorably, but in their heart, they're far from you. Verse 3, But you, O eternal, you know me, you've seen me and tried mine heart toward you. Pull them out. In other words, separate them like sheep for the slaughter.

So if you get ready for to have a meal or whatever, you may go out and you pick out. You separate one that you're going to slaughter. So separate the wicked for the slaughter and prepare them for the day of slaughter. Now continuing in verse 4, How long shall the land mourn?

And once again, until you really begin to read the book of Jeremiah verse by verse, I don't know of any book in the Bible that has more metaphors, more figures of speech, just continually with various comparisons. And most of these comparisons are drawn from nature, from agriculture, from animal husbandry. How long shall the land mourn in the herbs of every field whither? For the wickedness of them that dwell therein, the beasts are consumed, and the birds, because they said, He shall not see our last end. The false prophets are saying, once again, God is not really going to do anything. He's not going to do anything. And also, it could be a warning to Jeremiah, look, don't worry about the wicked prospering.

You know how they're going to end up, unless they repent. And then this warning to all of us, and to Jeremiah, if you have run with a footman, in other words, if you have been bothered and really down and depressed about how the people of Anathoth have treated you, and they have weared you, how then can you contend with horsemen?

It's probably the best translation. How are you going to contend with the great trials when you go to Jerusalem and you prophesy there from the streets of Jerusalem in the streets of other cities throughout Judah? And in the land of peace wherein you trust, they weared you. So if you're a hometown people weared you, and the people that you trusted in when they turn, how will you do in the swelling of Jordan?

Of course, once again, you remember when when Israel came to Jordan on the way to the Promised Land. They came in from the east going west, and the Jordan River, which was swollen at that time of the year. In the springtime of the year, it was swollen, and God caused Jordan to stand still so that they could cross over into the Promised Land. A lot of people talk about the Red Sea, the parting of the Red Sea. This was a great miracle as well, where Jordan stood still, and Israel passed over from what is now modern-day Jordan across the the river there into the Promised Land.

My wife and I had the opportunity to visit Israel back in 1989, and we actually made the crossing from Jordan across the river into Judah or Israel today, modern-day Israel. Now verse 7. Verse 6, I'm sorry, where even the brethren of the house of your father, even they have dealt treasure-ishly, we read this with you, yes they are called a multitude after you. Believe them not, though they speak fair words unto you. So the people back in the hometown were saying, oh yeah, great Jeremiah, we're with you and this, that, and the other, but actually they were stabbing him in the back.

Jesus Christ had this to happen to him. You know, Judah's one of the inner circle, one of the twelve, stabbed him in the back, and there have been many people who have been betrayed through the years. We think of Absalom and how he stole the hearts of the people of Israel after David allowed him to come back, after Absalom had killed his brother and had fled, and eventually they let him come back, and he stole the hearts of the people rebelled against David, and David only had about 300 people with him, maybe less.

Verse 7, I have forsaken mine house, mine house, figuratively once again. The temple was in Jerusalem, the place where God had placed his presence after Solomon built the house. The Restoration Temple, of course, the Restoration Temple came after the time of Jeremiah. I've left mine heritage. I've given the dearly beloved, and oftentimes, beloved—we mentioned this last time—that Jesus Christ was called the beloved Son of God. He is the beloved Son of God, here Him, when He came up out of the baptismal waters.

But dearly beloved also can be a reference for wife. The dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of enemies. You just think how Jeremiah felt so badly with regard to the people of his hometown talking behind his back, stabbing him in the back, and then yet at the same time how God and Christ must have felt in that here are the people that they had delivered time after time from Egyptian bondage through the wilderness for 40 years, through the various lands that they had to go through, through the various problems and times of the Judges, through the period of into the Kings where they are now, and how that Israel had already been taken captive, and how now Judah was to be taken captive, and how God and Christ must have been grieved themselves, because in essence they were being stabbed in the back.

Verse 8, My heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest. Of course, a lion in the forest is like ravening the prey, stalking there. Maybe he's just lying low, waiting to pounce on any prey that might come along. It cries out against me. Therefore, I have hated it.

My heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, and commentators speculate here that the speckled bird might probably refer to the vulture, the vulture, the vulture species of birds, the fowls of the air, those who feed off the carrion, the birds round about are against her. Come, ye assemble all the beasts of the field. Come to devour. And so the fowls of the air, like we read from Revelation 19 one night about this great battle in which the vials of the air are invited to partake of the meal of the slaughter that's going to take place when the peoples of the earth resist the returning Jesus Christ and the saints. Verse 10, Many pastors, once again, this is not pastors in the sense that we think of just the pastors, though it does include them, but it's the whole leadership. The priests and the rulerships, the kings, the priests, the elders have destroyed my vineyard. You remember in Isaiah chapter 5, in Isaiah chapter 5, Israel is likened unto a vineyard, and God talks about how that he has kept his vineyard, how he put a hedgerow against around his vineyard, how he protected them, and they turned on him. And later in the chapter of Isaiah 5, it talks about them calling evil good. They have tried my portion underfoot. They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. Remember, that part of the world was called the the promised land. It's a land flowing with milk and honey. You remember when the spies came back, the 12 spies that were sent out to spy out the land, that they brought back grapes, and the bunches of grapes were so heavy, it weighted down two people. And one of the, you go to, we went to Bethlehem, and there they have all kind of wood carvings of shepherds and sheep. And one of the ones is depicting two people with a pole on their shoulder and in between hanging off the pole. This great, great clump of grapes. Clump, it's not the right word, but of grapes hanging off the pole. They have made it desolate, and being desolate, it mourns unto me. The whole land is made desolate because no man lays it to heart. They were just making a mockery out of their position, and they had still maintained, they maintained a facade of worshiping God, a false front, but their hearts were not in it. The spoilers had come up all high places through the wilderness, for the sword of the Lord shall devour from one end of the land even to the other end of the land. No flesh shall have peace. There will be no place to escape. You know, it talks about when the sixth seal is opened, how the rich men of the earth will flee to the mountains and last for the rocks to fall on them, throw their gold and silver into the streets and all kind of things, because they think that through their physical means they can be saved, but there will be no place to hide. There was no place to hide at that time. They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns. They have put themselves to pain, but shall not profit, and they shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the Lord.

The revenues from out of among many, it has to do with ashamed of your revenues of what God has brought upon them.

Thus says the Lord, verse 14, against all my evil neighbors that touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit, behold I will pluck them out. So he's telling the nations round about, I'm going to separate out Judah for slaughter, as we read earlier. Behold, I will pluck them out of their land and pluck out the house of Judah from among them. So the neighbors round about Egypt, Syria, whomever. I'm going to pluck them out, and they're going to be carried to Babylon. And it shall come to pass after that I have plucked them out. I will return and have compassion on them, and will bring them again every man to his heritage and every man to his land. So even after Judah was taken captive, 70 years were to pass upon them before they were to return.

And then in 70 AD, once again, a great destruction came upon Judah. The Restoration Temple was razzed to the ground and burned.

And yet, in the minor prophets and in many places, we find this promise of restoration.

See, when Judah was taken captive at this time, the Messiah had not been born. If you recall the prophecy back in Genesis chapter 50, where all 12 tribes are given a prophecy about their future. One of the things about Judah, it said, is that the scepter shall not depart from Shiloh, I mean, from Jerusalem or Salem, land of peace or house of peace, until Shiloh comes. Another figurative name for Jesus Christ. And then, of course, we know that Jesus sprang from the house of Judah. Jesus was a Jew. Now, we have now these all kind of religious programs and movements today about the Jewish Jesus and that kind of thing, and embracing Jewish kind of things from wearing holy underwear to wearing tassels on the garments to those kind of things, and going back, well, Jesus did this and Jesus did that. But in view of that, and it is quite a problem in the Church of God today, I want you to look at Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10, verse 1, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved, for I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. So you can be zealous all you want to be. You can put on holy underwear. You can wear tassels. You can have rosaries. You can have whatever icon, whatever physical thing that you want to put on or whatever.

That within itself is not going to bring about righteousness, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. To the righteousness of God is my faith. Does it involve, you could say, works? Because you can, to some degree, equate works with obedience. For Christ is the end, the King James translation. The Greek word here is telos, it means the outcome or result. Christ is the outcome or result of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes.

For Moses described the righteousness which is of the law. And through the law and the sacrificial system, they were able to remain ceremonially clean so that they could approach unto God. And even then, they did not go into God's presence. Only the high priest went into the Holy of Holies on the day of Atonement. That the man which does these things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaks on this wise. Say, not in your heart who shall ascend into heaven, that is, to bring Christ down from above, or who shall descend into the deep, that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead. But what does it say? The word is nigh you, even in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith which we preach. And you could go on and read the rest of the chapter. And so God put them away, and He put them away for their own good so that they would repent. So they would yearn to be back in the homeland. But this promise of restoration that He has made to them is not what we see, though. This restoration of Israel is needful at the present time because it talks about the sacrificial system being renewed in Israel, and one sitting in the temple of God saying that He is God. But here's the point. The point is, this is not the ultimate restoration of Israel.

Israel will be restored after, as a benchmark, Zechariah 1210, where it says, and they shall look upon Him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn every house to itself. And so when they repent of their sins and they receive God's Spirit. Now I want you to turn to Jeremiah 24 because, once again, there are a few verses scattered through Jeremiah. They talk about this restoration. So on your way there to Jeremiah 24, I'm going to read this last part of Jeremiah 1215. I'll have compassion on them. We'll bring them again, every man to his heritage, every man to his land. Then I'm reading from Jeremiah 24.

The Lord showed me, and behold two baskets of figs, were set before the temple of the Lord after the Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jekoniah the son of Jeholachim king of Judah. The princes of Judah with the carpenter Smith from Jerusalem had brought them to Babylon. So Jeremiah had these two baskets of figs set before him, and one basket was rotten or evil figs, and the other was a good figs. And these were symbolic of the people. So we look at verse 4. Again, the word of the Lord came unto me saying, Thus says the Lord God of all Israel, like those good for figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for their good, for their good. They had come to the point that they were so wicked, that they were like beyond repentance they would not hear. For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to the land, and I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, for they shall return unto me with their whole heart. Now, these captives were restored, and they built the what we call the Second Temple, or the Restoration Temple. But this is talking about the ultimate restoration. In the ultimate restoration of Israel, no one will pluck them up again. No one will take them captive. They will dwell securely in the land forever. So now we go back to Jeremiah 12-16. And it shall come to pass that they will diligently learn the ways of my people to swear by my name. The turtle lives as they taught my people to swear by Baal. See the contrast, you lean so heavily on Baal, and you depended on him. Well, the opposite has to happen. You have to turn to God with your whole heart. Then shall they be built in the midst of my people.

But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, says the turtle. So obviously, in order for prophecy to be fulfilled, he had to restore Judah back into the land. And in order for prophecy to be ultimately fulfilled, the nation of Israel must repent and turn to God and receive his Spirit. Now we go to chapter 13.

Chapter 13. Let's see how things are progressing at this point in chapter 13 and verse 1. Verse 13. Thus says the eternal enemy, Go and get you a linen girdle.

Now the word girdle is used both Old and New Testament, and it is used to indicate intimacy.

It is the garment you put over the private parts. It is symbolic of ultimate intimacy.

And put it upon your loins, and put it not in water. So it is not to be washed.

So I got a girdle according to the word of the eternal, and put it on my loins.

And the word of the eternal came unto me the second time, saying, Take the girdle that you have got, which is upon your loins, and arise and go to Euphrates.

Now I looked at a map of the Middle East just before the Bible study started, once again. If you recall, there are two great rivers in the land of Babylon, ancient Babylon. Today it is modern day Iraq.

And these two rivers have their source in Turkey. So there is a river, a stream coming out of Turkey. And then this river separates into two rivers. The Tigris River is the one, the easternmost one, the one toward China, toward the Orient. And the Euphrates is the westernmost one, the one nearest to Israel. But where these rivers come out into Babylon is almost due north of Jerusalem, slightly more east, probably, than north. And the Abrahamic covenant said that Israel would inherit the land. This is from Genesis 15. From Egypt all the way to the Euphrates. So from the south, from Egypt all the way to the Euphrates. Now Israel never occupied that whole area.

If you recall, Abraham was called out from Ur of the Chaldees. And the Chaldees were the Chaldeans, or the priestly cast in ancient Babylon. Sometimes they're called Babylonians.

When it says Chaldeans, it's generally talking about the learned ones, the priestly cast of people. They're the ones that the king would call on to interpret the dreams and to give them spiritual guidance. And you know the story of the handwriting on the wall where the Chaldeans were called, and none of them could interpret the handwriting on the wall. And the same thing happened earlier in chapter two, where Nebuchadnezzar had this vision. Chapter five is Belted Shazar. I think he's Nebuchadnezzar's grandson. But anyhow, Israel never occupied that whole area. They will, in the future, occupy that whole land and fulfill that Abrahamic covenant in the physical sense. As we've said many times, God has not forsaken Israel. The Church of God does not teach replacement theology. Now, replacement theology says that the Church has totally replaced Israel. But the Church has not totally replaced Israel, but the mission given to Israel initially back in Exodus chapter 19, where they were to be a kingdom of priests under the terms of the Old Covenant and bring other nations in, Israel failed. And now it is that mission of bringing other nations in is that of the Church. So the Church was commissioned by Jesus Christ, Matthew 28 verses 19 and 20. Go ye therefore into all the world, disciple all nations, teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you, even to the end of the age.

So Jeremiah puts on this girdle and he heads out toward the Euphrates, and it says, Go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a hole of the rock. So verse 5, So I went and hid it by Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me, and it came to pass, and it came to pass after many days that the Lord said unto me, Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from there, which I commanded you to hide. Now, some of the commentators, there are two views of this. Did Jeremiah literally go to the river Euphrates? It's about 200 miles from Jerusalem to the river Euphrates. Of course, Euphrates, if you go due north up there, the border between Turkey and Babylon, I guess that's the 200 miles. As the river goes, it's there basically to the north, and then it goes slightly to the southeast. So I don't know what the shortest route would be, but that's immaterial. So some will say, Okay, he literally went to the river Euphrates, and some there is a way through philology that is through word study to come out with and say, Okay, Euphrates can mean a derivation of Bethlehem, but that doesn't seem to fit it. But there are two theories with regard to that. So take the girdle from there from where you hit it, which I commanded you to hide there. Then I went to Euphrates and dig and took the girdle from the place where I had hit it, and behold, the girdle was marred. It was probable for nothing. So what the symbolism here is that when God first entered into the intimate relationship with Israel, he cleaned them up, and so to speak, they had on a clean girdle. And once again, I reference Ezekiel 16, which pictures what God did cleaning up Israel. Israel is pictured in Ezekiel 16 as a newborn that has not been cleaned up. It still has all the afterbirth and all of that still on it in a mess. So this girdle is symbolic of Israel being clean in an intimate relationship with God at one time.

Now, this girdle when Jeremiah goes back to get it is what Israel and Judah had become over the years in going after other gods and committing spiritual fornication and spiritual adultery. So now the girdle is rotten and it's good for nothing.

So verse 7, Then I went to Euphrates and dig and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it, and behold the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.

Now verse 8, Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Thus says the Lord, after this manner will I mar the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. Now, what was the greatest pride of Jerusalem?

The greatest pride, and they boasted in this as well and even used it in the wrong way to say, Well, God is not going to intervene here because the temple is here.

And then God said, and we read this earlier in the book of Jeremiah, Well, go look at Shiloh where I initially placed the tabernacle, and look at that now. And it was like Shiloh was wiped off the map.

Now verse 10, This evil people which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, well, the imagination of their heart. That has so many. You could preach a sermon off of that for sure.

And we're warned in 2 Corinthians 10 and verse 5 to cast off vain imaginations and every thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and to put on the spiritual weapons, to use the spiritual weapons. Paul says, though we walk after the flesh, they were flesh and blood human beings, we do not war after the flesh because the weapons of our warfare are mighty till it pulling down of strongholds. Now vain imaginations is what gripped the hearts of people today, and a lot of people who once were in the church, they have made God over in their own image. And they say, well, the God that I worship wouldn't do this or wouldn't do that, or the God that I worship does this. And yet, people say, I believe in God. If you believe in God, and if God exists, there must be some way that God communicates with his people. And the way he communicates with us, of course, is through his Word. You have, as Peter writes in 2 Peter 1 17, 1 18, 1 19, you have a more sure Word of prophecy, where until you do well to take heed. So we have a more sure Word of prophecy. We have the very words that God inspired the prophets to write. So they walk in their imagination of their heart and walk after other gods, and serve them and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.

So once again, a comparison between the false gods and the nothingness of the girdle in its rotten condition. For as a girdle cleaves to the loins of a man, so I have caused a cleave unto the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, says the eternal, that they might be unto me for a people and for a name, like I told you when you first called them, that this girdle cleaned intimate relationship, and he cleaned them up and made them his for a praise and for glory, but they would not hear. See, they received a great commission in an Exodus 19. The commission is enlarged upon in Genesis, I mean Exodus 20, 21, 22, 23, 24. They enter into the terms of the old covenant 25. They begin building the sanctuary. At least they took up the offering and begin to receive the instructions. Now verse 12, therefore you shall speak unto them this word, thus says the Lord God of Israel, every bottle shall be filled with wine, and they shall say unto you, do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine? Then shall you say unto them, thus says the Lord, behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit upon David's throne, and the priest, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with drunkenness.

So the bottles of wine were symbolic of they were going to be filled with drunkenness. Not necessarily literally, though I'm sure quite a lot of that was taking place as well.

And I will dash even one against another. Of course, you know, if you dash bottles of wine against each other, glass against glass, what's going to happen? And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons. Together says the eternal, I will not pity nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them. And one of the things now I want you to turn, we'll be coming back there, of course, now I want you to turn to Micah chapter 7. It's the last chapter of Micah. In Micah chapter 7, it said, I'm going to take these bottles, smash them together, I'm going to take these people, smash them together.

For as me, I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits as the grape gleanings of the vintage. There is no cluster to eat, my soul shall desire the first ripe fruit. Now we're talking about what he has said back there in Jeremiah, is that he's going to turn every person against his neighbor, and that you are to trust no one.

And that is basically what is happening in our society today, and it's going to happen even more in the future. Verse 2, the good man is perished out of the earth.

As there is none upright among them, they all lie and wait for blood.

Oh, we're going to hunt down everybody this, this, that, and the other. They hunt every man, his brother, with a net, trying to trap him.

That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asks and the judge asks for a reward, and the great man, he utters his mischievous desire, so they wrap it up.

They keep it a secret. The best of them is of the brier. The most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen and your visitation comes now shall be their perplexity. Trust you not in a friend. Put you not confidence in a guide. Keep the doors of your mouth from her that lies in your bosom. For the son, dishonors the father, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a man's enemies, or the men of his own house.

And of course, that happened to some degree with Jesus Christ. And one of the things that talks about there in Matthew is that the enemies will be in the members of your own household when you turn to the truth, because the truth burns in the hearts and minds of the wicked. They hate it. They don't want to hear it. And then in Matthew 24 in the Olivet prophecy, we are warned concerning this again.

Matthew 24.10, And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

And many faults profit shall rise, and shall deceive many, because iniquity shall abound, and the love of many shall wax cold. Now we go back to Jeremiah, and we read this verse again, Jeremiah 13-14. And I will dash them one against another, remember the bottles of wine.

Even the fathers and the sons together says the Lord, I will not pity nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them. And we read those verses from Micah and from Matthew.

Hear you and give ear, be not proud, for the Lord has spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains. And while you look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. You know, light and darkness is contrasted throughout the Bible. Jesus Christ says in John chapter 1, and he talks about that he was the light, that he is the light of the world. And it is this light, and the church is called the light of the world. And the light is not to be hid, it's not to be put under a bushel, set on a hill, and people will see it and glorify God. And that, of course, was what ancient Israel was called to do. They failed in the covenant. Now that light on the hill and the commission to bring all nations into a relationship with God has passed on to the church. But God is not going to forget Israel, as we have seen. He will bring them back to the land.

Now verse 17, but if you will not hear, if my soul, you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places. Notice that my soul, my inner being, shall weep in secret places for your pride, and mine eyes shall weep sore and run down with tears, because the Lord's flock is carried away.

The Lord's flock is carried away. Now, basically what happened is that the true believers—it's not true in every case, but to a large degree, the remnant that really feared God—of course, there were others taken as well—but the remnant that really feared God were the ones that did not revolt against Jeremiah's words, and they surrendered peacefully to the Babylonians. And we read a verse earlier from chapter 12 that those who stayed in the land would be sought out and utterly destroyed. There would be no place to hide. The flock is carried away, chapter. You remember in Stephen's sermon in Acts chapter 7, it talks about the church in the wilderness. There has been a faithful thread of people down through the ages. We come all the way down to the time of Christ's birth, and remember how Anna the prophetess rejoiced when they brought Jesus there for the purification, because she had spent decades at the temple praying and fasting that she would see the day of the Messiah. Verse 18, Say unto the king and the queen, humble yourselves, sit down, for your principalities shall come down, all your royal pump and glory shall come down, even the crown of your glory. The cities of the south shall be shut up, none shall open them, Judah shall be carried away captive, all of it shall be wholly carried away captive. Of course, as we have mentioned, there were those who did resist, who did escape, yet they were sought out, and basically they were destroyed. In the Restoration, Cyrus had to issue the decree, and God inspired him to issue the decree that the captives were the ones who came back and built the temple. It was not those who stayed in the land, because basically those who stayed in the land were either destroyed or they wound up going with the Samaritans or fleeing somewhere else. Okay, 21. What will you say when he shall punish them? For you have taught them to be captains, and as chief over you shall not sorrows take you as a woman in travail. And that woman in travail is a metaphor that is used time after time in the Bible. God is a very, very painful time. And remember that when Eve was cast out of the garden, that's one of the things that it said about childbearing, that it will be with travail.

So that metaphor is used quite often. It is a time of great trial and trouble.

And if you say in your heart, Wherefore come these things unto me? For the greatness of your iniquity. In other words, why are you doing this? Well, the reason is because of your iniquity, your lawlessness are your skirts discovered and your heels made bare.

Now in the Bible, nakedness is used as a metaphor at times for sin. So you can put a skirt on, you can dress up, you can put on priestly garments, you can look the part, you can look the role, you can deceive people, but you cannot deceive God. So what he's saying, look, everything is going to be laid bare and the secret parts will be discovered and there you will be without any covering. Can the Ethiopian, and this word for Ethiopian, kushyde or kush, can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots, then may you also do good that are accustomed to do evil. In other words, those who are wholly set on wicked, can you just snap your finger and change your spots?

There is a process even with repentance. The person has to come to see themselves. They have to be convicted by the word and the Spirit of God to see themselves as they really are and cry out to God for repentance and forgiveness. It is not just an instantaneous thing that you're suddenly unquoted to the revival meeting and you give your heart to the Lord in one fell swoop and you're suddenly saved and all of that. We know the story of the Apostle Paul, but the Apostle Paul had a great history in the Old Testament, and even though he was persecuting Christians, he knew the Old Testament well, and when he was struck down, he was a ready instrument in the hand of God. So in verse 24, therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passes away by the wind of the wilderness. The stubble, and it's analogous to if you are winnowing wheat and you have taken the seed off, there's still the husk, and if you pour that from one container to the other, we used to do this with we would pick the dry peas, put them in a sack, the sun would come and bake the hull of the of the pea hull, then you would take a stick axe handle, probably you beat the and you beat the the hull, the seed in the hull, the seed is separated from the hull, and then you pour it from one container to the other, and the wind blows the hull the bad part away leaving the seed. So therefore will I scatter them as stubble that passes away by the wind of the witness, wet wilderness. The wilderness in that part of the world is the hot, dry desert area where that wind comes off the desert. This is your lot, the portion of your measures, for me says the eternal because you have forgotten me and trusted in lies and false with it.

Therefore I will discover your skirts. Once again we talked about this upon your face that your shame may appear. You'll not be able to hide anymore. The real you will be made manifest, and that will always be the case. That God will eventually be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever man sows that shall he also reap, and that which is not repented of will have to be given account for. I've seen your adulteries and your neighings, once again back to the animals, where they neigh when they get the the whiff, and your neighings, the lewdness of your haughter, and your abominations on the hills and the fields. One do you owe Jerusalem. Will you not be made clean? When shall it once be, the way it used to be? When will you be made clean? Now we go quickly to Matthew 23. Matthew 23, with Jesus Christ speaking, talks about under the first one, to you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites. That's repeated, verse 23. Now we want to go to verse 34.

Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets and wise men, scribes. Some of them you shall kill and crucify, and some of them shall you scourge in your synagogue and persecute them from city to city. Well, Jeremiah was not killed, but he received much of the rest. He wasn't crucified. He wasn't killed, but he was scourged. He was thrown in the well and persecuted greatly. Verse 35.

That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel, and of the blood of Zacharias and of Bar-Chias, whom you slew between the temple and the altar.

Rarely I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets and stone them which are sent unto you. How often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her children under her wings, and you would not. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, you shall not see me henceforth till you say, blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. And when they look upon him whom they have pierced, like it says in Zacharias 12.10, then they will recognize what they have done.

So woe unto you, O Jerusalem, will you not be made clean. When shall it once be? When shall you be clean like you were when I cleaned you up? Well, that time is coming. The time is coming in which Israel, Judah, will be cleaned up and restored back in the land.