Jeremiah 2:1–8:17

In Jeremiah 1 we have his commission and his character shown. We also have the visions given to encourage him in going on with the work the Lord had entrusted to him. In the same way, Jeremiah 2 shows us the state of Israel, and more particularly of Jerusalem. There the Lord rehearses what He had been to His people, and what their conduct had been, despite His favours. In Jeremiah 3 He says what He is going to do for them.

Prophetic utterances and prophetic signs were generally communicated by "vision" (Isa. 6) or "word of the Lord" (Jer. 2:1).

God said to Jeremiah, "Go, say in the ears of Jerusalem"; but Israel would not hear. Now this was disastrous; but God remembers His relationship to them... However bad their state was, He recalls the memory of their relationship with all its force and energy — "Go, cry in the ears of Jerusalem." It is not, "He who has an ear, let him hear." God goes and speaks in their ears. Oh that He may speak in our ears!

Now the Lord remembers the relationship we know ourselves to be in, as in Jeremiah 2: "Go, speak in the ears of Jerusalem, I remember you, the love of your espousals." This is not God's love to Israel, unfailing as this proved to be, but Israel's love to God. It was love shown when they thought God worth following for Himself, when they had nothing else besides.

They got much of this world's goods in Canaan by following God. They got cities they had not built, wells they had not dug, palm trees they had not planted, and the like. All these things were the consequences of following God; but He does not mention these. Instead He says, "you went after Me in the wilderness, which was a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and the shadow of death, a land that no one passed through, and where no one lived." You went after Me in the wilderness, where there was nothing to set your affections on but Myself. He overlooks all failure. The condition God notices is that He Himself was everything to them. This is what marks a heart when first converted to God — the Lord is everything to it.

Jeremiah 2 is the first recorded word to the people. It gives the first thought which filled the heart of the Lord, the main reason for all the sorrow — those who once loved Him had forsaken Him. He could not forget the kindness of their early years when they first went after Him. He remembered the love of their espousals. But now He complains again and again: they have "gone far from Me"; they have "forsaken Me"; they have "turned their back to Me"; they have "forgotten Me" (see vv. 2, 5, 13, 17, 19, 27, 32).

The Lord never forgets His joy in the first love of His people... Jehovah never forgets Judah's first love. The Lord remembers and desires the Church's first love just as much... Now the threatened judgment can only be turned aside by a recovery to "first love" and "first works." So the two commands needed to this end are "Remember" and "Repent."

The Lord remembers the kind of relationship in which we know ourselves to be. In Jeremiah 2 He says, "Go, speak in the ears of Jerusalem, I remember you, the love of your betrothal." This is not God's love to Israel, unfailing as that proved to be. It is Israel's love to God — when they thought God worth following for Himself, when they had nothing else beside.

What a thing it was for God to say to Israel, "I have not forgotten what you were to Me in the days of your youth, when the heart first turned to Me." … They got much of this world's goods in Canaan by following God. They got cities that they had not built, wells that they had not dug, palm trees that they had not planted, and the like. All these things were the consequences of following God; but He does not mention these. But "you went after Me in the wilderness, which was a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought, and the shadow of death, a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt." You went after Me in the wilderness, where there was nothing to set your affections on but Myself. I Myself was the whole and sole object of your affections. This is what God remembered.

In the worst days He most graciously remembers the best. Here is a striking thing. What the Lord calls here "the love of your betrothal" — the first love — is the love Israel showed during their stay in the wilderness, the "land that was not sown." Did He not hear the murmurs? Did He not see His people's rebellion during those forty years? Surely He did. But He saw this also, and it is what had great value in His eyes: that they, despite everything, went after Him. How? By following the cloud which was the symbol of His presence. When it moved they moved, never going before it or stopping behind.

"First love" is not first in time, but first in quality. It is the best — Luke 15 uses the same word for the "best robe." Nothing but the best will suit the Lord. Who will dare to offer Him less than the best? … Paul said to another church, "I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ." First love is the love of betrothal, and this love is most precious to the Lord.

He looked beneath the surface. He looked for reality, for tenderness of conscience, for subjection of heart to His word; and He found them not. "The kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal" were missing. God will never be satisfied with anything short of thoroughness.

I love to see the affection of soul, and the energy, and fervency, that mark a young convert. You old, cold, critical Christian, do you think your heart is as fresh as it was in the first two weeks after you were saved? Oh, you say, I know a great deal more now. Is the simple love of Jesus, the delight in Jesus, the practical holiness, and the desire to be anything and everything for Jesus, the same as it was then? You may have forgotten that early thrill of affection, but God has not forgotten.

It is not "lost your first love." I do not think that is a scriptural thought. It is, "left your first love." Something has come in that has eclipsed Me, and all your affection for Me and interest in Me has gone, and you can get on without Me now — but there was a time when you could not.

Jeremiah 2 is the first recorded word to the people. It gives the first thought which filled the heart of the Lord, the main reason, as we have said, for all the sorrow. — Those who once loved Him had forsaken Him. He could not forget the kindness of their early years when they first went after Him. He remembered their love as a bride. But now He complains again and again: they have "gone far from Me"; they have "forsaken Me"; they have "turned their back to Me"; they have "forgotten Me."

A blue cord fastened the "plate of the holy crown" to the turban on Aaron's head, and on it were the words "Holiness to the Lord" (Ex. 39:30-31). From Jeremiah 2 we learn that this was how the Lord viewed His people when He brought them out of Egypt. When we consider all the murmurings of Israel, and their rebellion time after time against God, we might wonder how God could see anything holy about them. Yet He was able to view them in this way, as He showed through Balaam (Num. 23:21). God could see what Israel would be for Him under the new covenant, secured through the precious blood of Jesus. In that day the inscription on the horses will be "Holiness to the Lord" (Zech. 14:20).

He had separated Israel to belong to Him, to be a holy nation, the first fruits of His increase, which probably means that God would call other nations to know Him through Israel. He was their protector, and He would hold guilty those who tried to devour them.

By the word "firstfruit" I understand the apostle to mean the nation of Israel in its first calling and honour. As it is written: "Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest" (Jer. 2:3)... But the Lord's blessing had gone, and Israel had become an empty and dishonoured vine (Ps. 80). Yet the Shepherd of Israel and the Stone of their help still remained in His purpose... So the apostle argues that the final destiny of the nation will be worthy of its first calling... The nation is itself the creation of God's promise. Grace is the true source of Israel.

From the moment God is in Israel He identifies Himself with His people. In consequence of this the nations are treated according as they treated Israel... The moment they touch Israel, they touch the apple of His eye.

Eight hundred and fifty years had passed since that people, obeying God, turned their back on Egypt and its meat pots and came out to the Lord. They were holiness to the Lord then. They were then a separate people for the Lord, the third verse tells us. I love to see the affection of soul, and the energy, and fervency, that mark a young convert. Why, you old, cold, critical Christian, do you think your heart is as fresh as it was the first two weeks after you were saved? Oh, you say, I know a great deal more now. Is the simple love of Jesus, the delight in Jesus, the practical holiness, and the desire to be anything, and everything, for Jesus, the same as it was then?

The judgment of "Lo-ammi" was not carried out before the captivity of Judah, for in Jeremiah 2 God still calls them His people. And this was not because the term "Lo-ammi" could apply only to Israel. To show that, I quote verse 4: "Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel." On the other hand, the New Testament shows us that then also all Israel was in view, and that God considered it as not His people, alluding to Hosea.

God said to Jeremiah, "Go, say in the ears of Jerusalem"; but Israel would not hear. This was disastrous; yet God remembers His relationship to them... Bad as their state was, He recalls that relationship with all its force: "Go, cry in the ears of Jerusalem." He does not say, "He who has an ear, let him hear." God goes and speaks in their ears. Oh that He may speak in our ears!

Nothing can be more moving than the Lord's appeal. He reminds them of the promise they made and their dedication to the LORD at the beginning of their history (vv. 1-3). Was the fault in the Lord that their fathers walked after vanity? Were they not willingly ignorant? They did not feel His goodness in bringing them out of the furnace of Egypt, through the dreary desert, and into His good land — the land they had defiled and made an abomination. (vv. 4-7.) Nor were the priests, the shepherds, or the prophets any better. They were worse, or at least more obvious in their sin against Him.

When Israel came out of Egypt they had a deep sense of the Lord's care and protection... What a moving plea for the Lord to bring before His people. Had He changed since that day? No, there was no change on His side. They had lost His presence, and they were unaware of the loss. "They did not say, 'Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt?'" They had forgotten both the grace of the Lord and the kindness of the Lord.

Jeremiah 2 is the first recorded word to the people. It gives the first thought that filled the heart of the Lord, the main reason for all the sorrow: those who once loved Him had forsaken Him. He could not forget the kindness of their early years, when they first went after Him. He remembered the love they had when they were first joined to Him. But now He complains again and again: they have "gone far from Me"; they have "forsaken Me"; they have "turned their back to Me"; they have "forgotten Me" (see vv. 2, 5, 13, 17, 19, 27, and 32).

As Israel of old broke down in responsibility as the witness for the LORD, so the church has utterly failed as a witness for Christ. In both cases the failure goes back to loss of first love... So too the Lord's own words expose the root of all the failure of the church as a light for Christ in the world: "You have abandoned the love you had at first" (Rev. 2:4).

The appeal starts with a moving question: what wrong had their fathers found in Him, that they went far from Him and went after empty things? Was there anything unrighteous in Him? Had He dealt in a treacherous way? Was the fault in the LORD that they had left Him?

Was the Lord at fault when their fathers went after empty things? Were they not deliberately blind? They did not feel His goodness when He brought them out of the furnace of Egypt, through the bleak desert, and into His good land — the land they then defiled and made detestable.

Have I failed towards you in goodness? What is the matter now? Is the Lord changed? Is He worth less now than when you went after Him in the wilderness? No; but we have gone far from Him, gone after empty things, and become empty ourselves. We have enjoyed His blessing, grown fat, and kicked back at Him. So we have fallen into the weakness and misery of our own hearts.

Those who make idols "are like them." They have no wisdom and no ability to think straight. They have brought themselves down to the level of empty "nothings." And this is true of everyone who trusts in such empty things.

What a touching plea for the Lord to bring before His people. They had lost His presence, and they were not aware of the loss. "They did not say, 'Where is the LORD who brought us up out of the land of Egypt?'" They had forgotten both the grace of the Lord and the kindness of the Lord.

We know that in its early days the church was promised to Christ as a pure bride. Long ago Israel broke down in its responsibility as the witness for the LORD. Sadly, the church has failed just as completely as a witness for Christ. In both cases the failure goes back to the loss of first love.

Their folly and ingratitude were worse than that of the surrounding nations. That was the failure of the nation God had chosen. The failure of the Christian world is even greater. God has shown greater love in the gift of His Son, and has given greater blessing and deliverance.

Finding fault with the Lord leads to leaving Him. Being satisfied with the Lord keeps us in the safe place... Enjoying the Lord's fellowship, in keeping with the favour He has shown us, is itself a protecting power.

Gideon remembered what God had been to Israel in the days when they were first joined to Him, and that memory was the secret of his strength. He was near enough to God to ask, "Where is the LORD?" — and then what a burden falls off the heart.

What a touching plea for the Lord to bring before His people. Had He changed since that day? Ah no, there was no change on His side. They had lost His presence, and they were not even aware of the loss. "They did not say, 'Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt?'" They had forgotten both the grace of the Lord and the kindness of the Lord.

The word here translated shadow of death means darkness, or dangers that may threaten death. It does not mean physical death itself. We find it used in the same sense elsewhere in the book of Psalms 44:19; 107:10, 14; so also Isa. 9:2; Jer. 2:6.

Both testify to the existence of the Law. Jeremiah 2:8 says, "Those who handle the law do not know me." Jeremiah 8:8 says, "How can you say, 'We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us'?" So before anyone found the book, "The Law" existed and was called "The Law of the Lord." … Here are allusions, in sense or in word or both, to Deuteronomy 8:15; Numbers 14:7-8; Leviticus 18:25-28; Numbers 35:33-34.

They were in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, and God brought them safely through. That was the very proof that God was with them. They went on badly enough. They went back in heart to Egypt, and Dathan and Abiram despised Him. Still, their being there in the wilderness proved that they cared for the Lord enough to follow Him. And the Lord here complains … that no heart looked back to that time. Now Gideon did plead in this way. His faith was in the Lord who brought them out of Egypt, and this was the secret of his strength. For God said to him, "Go, in this your might."

"You went after Me in the wilderness, where there was nothing to set your affections on but Myself. I Myself was the whole and sole object of your affections." This is what God remembered. He overlooks all failure. The condition God notices is that He Himself was everything to them. This is what marks a heart when it is first converted to God — the Lord is everything to it.

They had not thought about His faithfulness. He had led them out of Egypt, through the desert and the shadows of death. They forgot it, and when Jehovah brought them to the land of promise they defiled the land. Priests, pastors and prophets had turned away. … Their folly and ingratitude were worse than that of the heathen nations. Such was the failure of the favoured nation. The failure of Christendom is even greater. Think of the greater display of God's love in the gift of His Son, and the greater blessing and deliverance.

Nothing is more moving than the Lord's appeal. He reminds them of the promise they made and the devotion they gave to Jehovah at the start of their history. Was it wrong in the Lord that their fathers walked after emptiness? Were they not ignorant by choice? They did not feel His goodness in bringing them out of the furnace of Egypt, through the dreary desert, and into His good land. And that land they had made defiled and an abomination.

We must keep in mind that Israel had the land of their possession from Jehovah. No doubt they drove out or subdued the Canaanites. As men would say, they held it by right of conquest. But a deeper fact lay underneath the victories of Joshua. God gave them strength to put down the most corrupt race then on the face of the earth. Those people had pushed into a land that He had, from the first, marked out and promised to the fathers.

We need not be surprised at the language, for when God chooses for His people, He always chooses the best.

God had rescued them from Egypt, and they had promised, at Sinai, not to transgress. Sadly, they set up the golden calf before the law even reached the camp. The long list of later idolatries showed how they had broken the covenant. "High places" for idol worship dotted the whole land. In the shade of every green tree the people practised the abominations of the pagan nations.

He had brought them out of Egypt, and He had brought them into Canaan. But somehow they had lost all touch with God, and had fallen into gross idolatry... Such was the low state in Israel. Priests, pastors, prophets, and people had alike forgotten the Lord. We have here what you may call downright backsliding in heart. There are many believers in such a state today, sadly!

They felt their own importance, and forgot the Lord; they had the blessing, and did not want the Lord of the blessing. And is this not true of the church of God? We bring in self, which is only a broken cistern, and depart from Him who is the living fountain and power of blessing.

Are we not likely to forget the Lord our God, to rest in His gifts instead of Himself? Sadly, we cannot deny it. We rest in the stream, instead of getting up to the Fountain.

God certainly made that land a place where the chosen people could live, for it was a good land, flowing with milk and honey. But they did not make it a place where God could live... But when Israel failed and Canaan became an abomination God was not defeated... God could only secure people for Himself, as He wanted, by bringing them into this wonderful relationship with Himself. Knowing Him as Father, their hearts would be satisfied, and so they would be secured for ever for God's own satisfaction.

Every Israelite knew what it was to have an inheritance. As a nation, their inheritance was the land of Canaan. They received it. But sadly it was later corrupted, defiled by idolatry, and lost. Their Christian inheritance is just the opposite: "imperishable, undefiled, and unfading" (1 Peter 1:4).

They felt their own importance, and forgot the Lord; they had the blessing, and did not want the Lord of the blessing (v. 6-8). And is this not true of the church of God? We bring in self, which is only a broken cistern, and turn away from Him, who is the living fountain and power of blessing.

Is the Lord changed? Is He worth less now than when you went after Him in the wilderness? No; but we have got far from Him, and have gone after empty things, and have become empty… So it was with Gideon; Judges 6. He remembered what God had been to Israel in the days when He first took them as His bride. He said, "Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?" And the Lord looked at him and said, "Go in this your might." Gideon's memory of what God was to Israel in those early days was the secret of his strength. In Gideon was a soul near enough to God to say, "Where is the Lord?"

Hypocrites may "enter in at these gates to worship the Lord," trusting in lying words: "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord" (Jer. 7:4). But such sayings did not take the place of inward reality before God. It only made their case worse. "Those who handle the law did not know Me," says the Lord (Jer. 2:8). God had entrusted them with "the oracles of God" (Rom. 3:2), and they said, "We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us" (Jer. 8:8). Yet again we hear an answering echo in Romans: "You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law" (Rom. 2:23).

He had brought them out of Egypt, and He had brought them into Canaan. But somehow they had lost all touch with God, and had fallen into open idol worship… That was how low Israel had sunk. Priests, pastors, prophets, and people had alike forgotten the Lord. We have here what you may call downright backsliding in heart. There are many believers in such a state today, alas!

The word for pastor is "raah," meaning "to feed." Translators render it "pastor" only in Jeremiah; elsewhere they usually render it "shepherd"… It appears to cover all those who care for and feed the flock of God.

They trampled the vineyard of the Lord, and made His pleasant portion desolate, so that it mourned to Him (Jer. 12:10-11). The Lord says, "My people have been lost sheep, and their shepherds (pastors) have led them astray" (Jer. 50:6). He pronounces woe on these scattering, selfish pastors (Jer. 23:1-2).

The worst of them, though moving among God's people, "prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit" (Jer. 2:8); "The prophets prophesy falsely" (Jer. 5:31), and yet they used the Lord's name, though He "did not send them" (Jer. 14:15).

It is refreshing and cheering to find Jeremiah speaking of the time when the Lord will give pastors after His own heart, "who will feed you with knowledge and understanding" (Jer. 3:15)… He also tells of One from David's line, the shepherd king, who will be raised up, and in His days "Israel will dwell securely" (Jer. 23:5-6); the believer knows this Shepherd now, and receives eternal life from Him before He returns to gather Israel.

The appeal starts with a moving question: "What wrong have your fathers found in Me, that they have gone far from Me, and have followed what is worthless, and have become worthless?" Was there anything unrighteous in Him? Had He dealt in a treacherous way? Was the fault in Jehovah that they had left Him? They had not thought of His faithfulness as He had led them out of Egypt, through the desert and the shadows of death. They forgot it, and when Jehovah brought them to the promised land they defiled it. Priests, pastors and prophets had turned away. So Jehovah states His case to plead with them and their children.

Jeremiah 2 contains a most touching appeal to the people at Jerusalem. It needs no explanation, but deserves the heart's serious attention. It testifies in the most striking manner to the kindness and tender love of the Lord.

Next, how slow is the Lord to abandon His people, pleading with those before Him then, and on to their children's children! They could go where they pleased — north-west or south-east, to Greeks or to Arabians. They would hear of no nation as false to its false gods as Israel was to the true God.

"Therefore I still contend with you, declares the LORD, and with your children's children I will contend… Has a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit"… This is His plea. Did the nations — the heathen — ever do what My people have done? My people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. You will find all through Scripture that what profits is the great point. If there has been departure from God, has it profited you?

The Lord's appeal to Israel through the prophet Jeremiah shows us how the nation came to ruin as a people responsible to Him. It all goes back to one source. They lost the love for the LORD with which they began their history as a people called out from the nations.

Jeremiah 1 to 24 is full of the pleadings, the gracious pleadings, of Jehovah with His rebellious, backsliding, guilty, but beloved people… At the time of the prophecy the moral state of Judah was terrible. Every class shared the guilt of having forgotten and forsaken Jehovah. Kings and subjects, high and low, rich and poor, pastors and people, prophets and priests — all alike had fallen and were guilty.

Jeremiah 2 to 6. This section is an appeal to Jerusalem. It warns them about what had already happened to Israel, and calls them to repent. It was given in the days of Josiah. There had been a reformation then, but the people had not turned to God with the whole heart.

See how slow the Lord is to give up His people! He pleads with those standing in front of Him then, and with their children's children. They could go wherever they liked — north-west or south-east, to the Greeks or to the Arabs. They would hear of no nation as false to its false gods as Israel was to the true God.

"Chittim" strictly means the island of Cyprus. But in Scripture the name stands for the West as a whole, seen from the Holy Land as God's centre.

Son of Ishmael, and founder of an important tribe living in the north-west of Arabia. The name is probably also used for Arabs in general. The mentions of lambs, rams, goats, flocks, camels, tents and tent-curtains show that a wandering people is meant.

Israel "had forsaken Him days without number"; they had done a terrible thing, such as no other nation had done.

We would completely miss the lesson meant for us if we concluded that they were worse than other people. They are exceptional only in this: God brought them into a closer visible relationship with Himself than anyone else... Does this prove, as it might seem, that Israel was worse than the nations? No — if all they had were false gods, they would not have changed them either!

This is His plea. Did the nations ever do what My people have done? My people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. You will find all through Scripture that what profits is the great point. If there has been departure from God, has it profited you?

How slow the Lord is to give up on His people! He pleads with those standing before Him, and with their children's children. Go where they pleased — north-west or south-east, to the Greeks or to the Arabians. They would hear of no people so false to their false gods as Israel was to the true God.

They cast aside their proper glory and become occupied with what debases them. That Jehovah was their God was their glory; but they would make gods for themselves.

Do not suppose they were worse than other people. They stand apart only in this: God brought them into a closer, visible relationship with Himself than any other nation… If we do not judge ourselves fully, and give ourselves to Him with the whole heart, then the more we feel His presence, the more unbearable it becomes… Does this prove, as it might seem, that Israel were worse than the nations? No — if they had only had false gods, they would not have changed those either! It is the light, precisely as light, that men must reject when their unchanged hearts want the cover of darkness for their evil deeds.

The path leads downward. Israel left her true God and sinned in a way that the nations with their false gods would have been ashamed to do… The Philistines at Ashdod would not tread on the threshold of their broken Dagon (1 Sam. 5:5). They might well be ashamed of Israel's behaviour.

So man's heart craves a god; sadly, one cannot say it craves God — that is another matter. Israel knew the true God. He had shown Himself to them in a way you would think would win their hearts to Himself forever. What answer did they in fact give Him? For a long time they simply set up the idols of their defeated enemies — the very nations God had driven out for those same sins!

This is His plea. Did the nations ever do what My people have done?… All through Scripture, what profits is the great point. If there has been departure from God, has it profited you?

The things of time and sense — the business, the duties, even the cares of life — we have to face. But if they eclipse Christ, is it profitable? Ask your own heart. It will say No, emphatically. There is a striking word: "He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul" (Ps. 106:15).

If godliness has profit in this life as well as in the life to come, how sure and complete is the loss brought on by a will that wanders from the Source of every good!

They could go wherever they pleased — north-west or south-east, to Greeks or to Arabians: they would hear of no one so false to their false gods as Israel was to the true God. No wonder the heavens are amazed and afraid and utterly desolate at the sight! God's people were guilty of two such evils: they forsook Him, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves — broken cisterns that hold no water!

Is it not an extraordinary thing that God calls on the heavens to gaze on a backsliding people? "They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters." What a lovely title! What a wonderful thing to be in touch with that fountain. How God brings Himself before us in all the freshness of His grace, and the living energy of His love.

The two evils are forsaking the Lord, the fountain of living waters, and hewing out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. The Lord was the storehouse of the living waters, put at the disposal of His people without money and without price. But instead of confessing, "All my springs are in Thee," they had left Him, the source of life and comfort, and turned to broken cisterns of their own invention, as well as to the idols, and worshipped them. It is the same among the professing people of God today; the two evils are present with us also.

With sorrowful eloquence and pitiful pleading He exclaims, "Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD" (Jer. 2:12)! Yet with what condescension and consideration He asks them, "Have I been a wilderness to Israel? a land of darkness" (v. 31)?

The self-satisfied condition of the people must be broken in upon; they must be awakened, and made to feel their poverty and the greatness of their loss.

Unknown to himself, the "spiritual dry-rot" has set in, conduct, character and conversation becoming infected and infectious.

He overlooks all failure, and the condition God notices is that He Himself was everything to them; and this is what marks a heart when it is first converted to God — the Lord is everything to it.

What folly it was for Israel to turn away from Him... What folly it is to turn away from Him today!

"I am displaced," He says. "I do not have My place in the heart of Israel. You have put Me out of My place, you have forsaken Me." That is the first thing, dear friends. Do not be deceived about it at all. You never go and hew out broken cisterns first. People never turn to the world first — they give up God first, they give up Christ first.

The Lord was the storehouse of the living waters. He put them at His people's disposal without money and without price. They should have confessed, "All my springs are in You." Instead they left Him, the source of life and comfort. They turned to broken cisterns of their own invention, and to the idols, and worshipped them.

Broken cisterns! It does not matter whether they are big or small. The point is, if my cistern is not Christ, it is a broken cistern. Sadly, how many believers today are trying to drink at broken cisterns. A broken cistern cannot hold water. Anything short of Christ will fail to satisfy my thirst.

How ready we are on every occasion to look to our fellow-men for sympathy, help and advice instead of looking directly and only to God! This is a serious mistake. In principle it is to forsake the Fountain of living waters, and hew out for ourselves broken cisterns which can hold no water. What can we expect? What must the outcome be? Barrenness and desolation. Our God, in real faithfulness to us, will let our fellow-man fail us, so that we may learn how foolish it is to lean on human strength.

First, they forsook the LORD, and so of course lost all joy and happiness. Then, since they had to have something, they hewed out for themselves cisterns that can hold no water. They turned to the world and tried to find in it what they had lost in forsaking the LORD. But they lost more than their own joy and happiness. They also lost their power of bearing fruit, for we read, "from me comes your fruit."

We often have to learn, through seas of sorrow, that the cisterns we turn to are truly broken and hold no water. The only thing our drifting leaves us with is an aching emptiness, a torn and dissatisfied heart. It is a state of soul, in fact, that had no parallel in the most miserable hours of our unconverted days. Beneath many a smiling face and many a ringing laugh there is a heart of misery, trying by these means to hide the fact that it has left God.

This was Israel's condition exactly when He, with whom was "the fountain of life," was among them. Their self-righteousness and pride kept them from letting Him convince them of their wickedness. So He appealed to their unsatisfied hearts. On "the last day of the feast, the great day," He cried, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink."

Jeremiah 1 to 24 is full of the Lord's pleadings — gracious pleadings — with His people. They were rebellious, backsliding, and guilty, but still beloved... The moral state and condition of Judah at the time of the prophecy were equally deplorable. All classes shared the guilt of forgetting and forsaking the Lord. Kings and subjects, high and low, rich and poor, pastors and people, prophets and priests — all alike had fallen and were guilty.

How can this be? "Out of Egypt I called my son," was God's word long before. He had been a slave, and God had set him free. "Why then has he become a prey?" Should someone who is free, and who knows God's love, go back into slavery?

And why such exposure to enemies? Was Israel a slave from outside, or one born at home? Why then should he suffer the worst wrong and humiliation from the very people they trusted most — the sons of Noph and Tahpanhes — weak as they were? Forsaking the Lord was Israel's punishment and shame. Why should they drink from the river of Egypt, or from the river of Assyria? They must yet learn the bitterness of abandoning the Lord their God.

The two evils are forsaking the Lord, the fountain of living waters, and digging out their own cisterns — broken cisterns that can hold no water... The result for Israel was enslavement. The young lions came (the Assyrian invasion) and made the land waste. Noph (Memphis) and Tahpanhes (Daphnae), that is, Egypt, did the same. It came as the fruit of having forsaken the fountain of living water.

Their hearts, away from God, longed for evil company, and received their due reward... "Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backslidings shall reprove you. Know therefore and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God" (Jer. 2:19). Now here is the first time we get the word "backsliding"... But then it supposes recovery, and that the heart will be turned back again to God, because that is what the Lord wants.

Israel, as seen in Christ, is the Lord's firstborn. Ephraim is still remembered as a dear son, in mercy that chose him and in a promise God will not take back. Yet while under the covenant given through Moses, he was and is like a home-born slave. So if a deliverer from that slavery was to come from Jesse's line, He had to be born in the same condition as the nation; that is, under the law.

This indictment is followed by a touching question. "Is Israel a servant? Is he a slave born in the house? Why has he become plunder?" (Jer. 2:14). How can this be? "Out of Egypt I called My son" was God's word long before (Ex. 4:23; Hosea 11:1). He had been a slave, and God had set him free. "Why has he become plunder?" Is the one who is free, and who knows God's love, to go back into slavery?

And why such exposure to enemies? Was Israel a slave brought in from outside, or one born at home? Why then should he suffer the worst wrong and insult, even from those they trusted most — the sons of Noph and Tahapanes — weak as they were? Jehovah forsaken was Israel's punishment and shame. What did they have to do with drinking from the Egyptian river or from the Assyrian? They still had to learn how bitter it is to abandon the Lord their God. Long ago they had been set free and had promised obedience, but they turned to every kind of loose living. God had failed in nothing: the fault was their own, and the stain would not wash out. (Verses 14-22.)

The two evils are these. The first is forsaking Jehovah, the fountain of living waters. The second is hewing out cisterns for themselves — broken cisterns that can hold no water… The result for Israel was enslavement. The young lions came (the Assyrian invasion) and made the land waste. Noph (Memphis) and Tahpanhes (Daphnae), that is, Egypt, did the same. It came as the fruit of having forsaken the fountain of living water.

"They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters." What a lovely title — "fountain of living waters"! What a wonderful thing to be in touch with that fountain. How God brings Himself before us in all the freshness of His grace and the living energy of His love. "And hewed out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (Jer. 2:13). Broken cisterns! It does not matter whether they are big or small. The point is, if my cistern is not Christ, it is a broken cistern.

First of all, the unfaithfulness of God's people is what puts power into any enemy's hands… No might of Midian could or would have prevailed if the Lord had not permitted it. And He would not have permitted it if there had been no need in Israel's condition. Those who will not learn in fellowship with God must learn it in the hands of the enemy. "Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backslidings will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that you have forsaken the Lord your God" (Jer. 2:19).

They had failed again and again, and so they ended up paying tribute to nations that should have been paying tribute to them. There is no neutral place for the people of God. They must either be above the world, testifying against it for God's glory, or they must be servants to it. If God does not hold Israel above the nations, the nations carry Israel away captive. They can never exist as equals. They must be either masters or slaves. Slavery was their discipline for not keeping the place of masters, and they could only keep it by having the Lord on their side… A Christian out of fellowship is always weaker than the world. The reason is simple: he has lost his strength.

There are two evils. They left the LORD, the fountain of living waters. And they cut out cisterns for themselves — broken cisterns that can hold no water… The result for Israel was slavery. The young lions came (the Assyrian invasion) and made the land waste. Noph (Memphis) and Tahpanhes (Daphnae), that is, Egypt, did the same. It came as the fruit of having forsaken the fountain of living water.

And why such exposure to enemies? Was Israel a slave bought from outside, or a slave born in the house? Why else should he suffer such gross wrong and shame from the very people he trusted most — the sons of Noph and Tahpanhes — weak as they were? Forsaking the Lord was Israel's punishment and shame.

Later their moral corruption was hurrying on the sorrows of the Babylonian captivity. At that time the Lord protested to them through His prophet Jeremiah: "The children of Noph and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head. Have you not brought this on yourself by forsaking the Lord your God when He led you in the way? And now what have you to do with Egypt, to drink the waters of the Nile? Or what have you to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?" Israel had their own "fountain of living waters," if only they had known how to value it. They should never have been in debt to the streams of Egypt or of the nations around them.

All that came upon them was the fruit of their own doing. "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life" (Gal. 6:7-8). We cannot sow a handful of seed without the crop that seed produces coming up.

The world is a definite sphere. In it the principles of man are supreme and at work, under the influence of Satan, "the god of this world"… "Egypt" had its wisdom, its policy and its power. But Egypt could only be the oppressor or the corrupter of the people of God. Nothing in Israel's history is more moving than their constant longing for Egypt. They longed for it despite all they had suffered there, and despite all God had done to deliver them from it.

A city in Lower Egypt, where Pharaoh had a house, and where the people of Judah fled in disobedience after the murder of Gedaliah, taking Jeremiah and Baruch with them. Jeremiah prophesied that the king of Babylon would set his throne in that city and strike the land of Egypt. Jer. 2:16; Jer. 43:7-9; Jer. 44:1; Jer. 46:14; Ezek. 30:18.

Read this second chapter carefully. Follow it out for yourself, and notice how God seeks to reach the conscience as well as the heart. "Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the LORD your God, when He led you in the way?" (v. 17). Everything that came upon them was the fruit of their own doing. "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life" (Gal. 6:7-8). We cannot sow a handful of seed without the crop that seed produces coming up. If sorrow and trial come, what is it? It is the fruit of some seed we sowed years and years ago, when we were away from the Lord.

And why such exposure to enemies? Was Israel a slave brought in from outside, or one born at home? Was that why he had to suffer the worst wrong and insult, even from those they trusted most — the sons of Noph and Tahpanhes — weak as they were? Their forsaking of the LORD was Israel's punishment and shame. What had they to do with drinking of the Egyptian river or of the Assyrian? They must yet learn the bitterness of abandoning the LORD their God. (vv. 14-19.) Long before, God had set them free, and they promised obedience — then they turned to every kind of immorality. God had failed in no case: the fault was their own.

But Israel had already forsaken their God at the very time He was leading them in the way (Jer. 2:17). What a bitter experience it is to forsake God! The people were not aware of what they had done. So the prophet, so to speak, leads them up a hill and declares: "See your way in the valley; know what you have done."

Israel — had they known how to value it — had their own "fountain of living waters," and should never have been indebted to the streams of Egypt or of the nations around them.

"They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters." What a lovely title, "fountain of living waters." What a wonderful thing to be in touch with the fountain of living waters. How God brings Himself before us in all the freshness of His grace and the living energy of His love. "And hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jer. 2:13). Broken cisterns! It does not matter whether they are big or small. The point is, if my cistern is not Christ, it is a broken cistern. Sadly, how many believers today are trying to drink at broken cisterns.

God says it plainly: "Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backslidings will rebuke you. Know and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that you have forsaken the LORD your God, and that my fear is not in you" (Jer. 2:19). This is the first place we get the word "backsliding." But the word assumes recovery — that the heart will turn back to God, because that is what the Lord wants. He longs to have us very near Him. And do our hearts not love to be near Him? But if I am away from Him, and His hand is on me, I cannot blame Him. Is the blame His? No — I know Him too well to say that.

This refers to the river Nile. In Joshua 13:3 it is "Sihor which is before Egypt." In Isaiah 23:3 the river carried Egypt's harvest down to the sea, and Syrian merchants collected it there. Jeremiah 2:18 warns Israel against seeking the waters of the Nile — that is, against trusting in Egypt instead of in God.

Israel had their own "fountain of living waters", if only they had known how to value it. They should never have owed anything to the streams of Egypt, or to the nations around them.

After God redeemed them, neither Egypt nor Assyria had any part in Israel's life. That changed when Israel got away from God. But their hearts, away from God, longed for evil association, and received their due reward.

"They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water." Then He says, "I am displaced." "I do not have my place in the heart of Israel. You have put me out of my place, you have forsaken me." That is the first thing, dear friends. Do not be deceived about it in the least. You never go and hew out broken cisterns first. People never turn to the world first — they give up God first, they give up Christ first.

The LORD could not forget what Judah had done under Ahaz the king. Ahaz sought the help of the king of Assyria. Then, after a visit to that king, he made an altar for another god (2 Kings 16:7, 10–13). Referring to this, the Lord said to Jerusalem and Judah, "what do you gain by going to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?" … Ahaz had sent for Assyrian help, and Israel became their servants. Then the Assyrians fell upon Judah in the days of the son of Ahaz. That made Judah ashamed of those they had trusted.

What had they to do with drinking of the Egyptian river or of the Assyrian? They must yet learn the bitterness of abandoning the LORD their God.

How many have to find cistern after cistern of their own cracked as they cut it, before they turn in full earnest to their own free fountain of living water! How little people understand that Christ and nothing else will more than satisfy. Christ plus a great deal else to supplement Him will only bring a person down to near starvation!

From the Lord's appeal to Israel through the prophet Jeremiah, we learn that the ruin of the nation in its responsibility goes back to one source — the loss of affection for the LORD with which they began their history as a people called out from the nations. The Lord tenderly reminds them of their early love by telling the prophet to go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, "Thus says the LORD, I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness." That was the start of their history, but now the Lord has to say that they have forsaken the LORD their God. They were called to repent, and because they did not, judgment overtakes the nation.

The plagues, like many of God's judgments, are not only blows that He strikes. They show that giving in to sin pays a person back. Sin brings its own penalty.

Midian had no strength that could have prevailed unless the Lord allowed it. And He would not have allowed it if there had been no need for it in Israel's condition. Those who will not learn in close fellowship with God must learn in the hands of the enemy.

If the heart has drifted from the Lord, then "the fear of me is not in you" (Jer. 2:19) is true of that heart. I think that is the first step away: the sense of the fear of the Lord somehow dies out in the soul, and then decline begins.

The root word means "to flow." From it comes the idea of the gum that flows from a tree. That gum is very bitter, so the word also names "bile" and other bitter things — the bitter water of Marah, and the water of jealousy. Naomi called herself Mara, "for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me." The "discontented" men who came to David at the cave of Adullam were, word for word, "bitter of soul." And the prophet declares that it is "evil and bitter" to forsake the Lord.

What had they to do with drinking of the Egyptian river or of the Assyrian? They must yet learn the bitterness of abandoning the Lord their God.

When men depart from Him in any way He gives them up to something else, and unless they repent, their lusts get a stronger hold of them (see Rom. 1:18-32)… The Scripture in Romans refers to man in creature responsibility; this in Jeremiah to Israel in national responsibility; 2 Thessalonians 2:11 refers to Christendom's responsibility.

Now here is the first time we get the word "backsliding"… It is the word that marks the early part of Jeremiah. But the word assumes recovery — that the heart will be turned back again to God, because that is what the Lord wants. He longs to have us very near Him… But if I am away from Him, and His hand is on me, I cannot blame Him. Is the blame His? Ah no, I know Him too well to say that.

"Long ago I broke your yoke and burst your bonds; and you said, I will not transgress; when on every high hill and under every green tree you wandered, playing the harlot" (Jer. 2:20). God had rescued them from Egypt, and they had promised, at Sinai, not to transgress. But the golden calf was set up before the law was even brought into the camp, and the long list of later idolatries told how they had broken the covenant. "High places" for idolatrous worship had dotted the whole land. In the shade of every green tree, Israel practised the abominations of the nations.

Long ago God set them free, and they promised obedience. But they turned to every kind of immorality. God had failed them in nothing: the fault was their own, and their stain would not wash out.

Man throws off God's yoke and does what he takes to be his own pleasure. He supposes he is a free man. The fact is that the moment he first used his sinful will against God's will, he became the servant and dupe of Satan.

We too need discipline to learn dependence. Our will is nothing other than independence. If we let it act, the Lord must break us. He does it to bring us back under His blessed yoke, which is so light and easy to bear.

Departure from God took its outward form in Israel by making for themselves "high places." It was only a heathen habit. It played on the imagination with a worship that has no heart in it. Men still try to satisfy themselves the same way — with music, architecture, drapery, and that most typical "dim religious light," in which they worship a God who is Light itself, and in whom is no darkness at all. Such things work on nature, and produce a feeling that many take for the reality it lacks. So on the mountain tops a man could imagine himself nearer to God than in the valleys. The depths of groves and forests helped too: the beauty of nature made him think he was nearer to the God of nature than he really was.

God has provided a Centre of gathering for His people. To ignore it, and to turn to human thoughts, and to choose places and ways of worship that the word of God does not provide for — that is to worship in the high places… to go on in independence and self-will only prepares the way for wide departure from God.

The prophets say much about Israel's conduct as a wife, and about Jehovah's jealousy over it… Her unfaithfulness has been made plain. She has broken her vows. She has turned away from her Husband, the Holy One of Israel, and He has poured out His burning jealousy on the faithless nation. He is a jealous God, and cannot bear the thought that the heart He claims as His own should be given to another.

Jeremiah 2 is the first recorded word to the people. It gives the first thought which filled the heart of the Lord, the main reason for all the sorrow — those who once loved Him had forsaken Him. He could not forget the kindness of their early years when they first went after Him. He remembered the love of the days when they were promised to Him. But now He complains again and again: they have "gone far from Me"; they have "forsaken Me"; they have "turned their back to Me"; they have "forgotten Me."

It would not be right to say that Israel as the vine was false, because God had planted her. One Old Testament scripture quotes God as addressing Israel and saying, "Yet I had planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then have you turned into a degenerate plant of a strange vine to Me?" As we have said, they failed, but there could be no fault in the planting.

Israel was that vine: God had brought that nation out of Egypt and planted them in the most favourable circumstances to bring forth fruit for Him. But though He had planted them wholly a right vine, they turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine to Him. The cause of their doing so we have in Jeremiah 2:13: "My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water." First they forsook the LORD, and so of course lost all joy and happiness. Then, because they had to have something, they turned to the world to find what they had lost in forsaking the LORD. But they lost not only their own joy and happiness, they also lost their power of fruit bearing.

God foreknew Israel's departure and the evil that would mark the nation. He knew He would have to remove them from the land they would corrupt. Even so, it brought sorrow to His heart. God's care of Israel, and the display of His great goodness to His people, only proved that man under the very best conditions was completely beyond correction and could not bring forth fruit to please God.

After centuries of cultivation and care the vine only produced "wild grapes." The noble vine planted by the Lord God of hosts had by Jeremiah's day "turned into a degenerate plant of a strange vine." So God set Israel aside, and Christ the true Vine took its place morally. He alone could bear fruit, and He did. The mark of a true disciple is not simply to be a branch in the vine — Judas was that — but to be a fruit-bearing branch.

God set man up perfect in innocence, and Adam fell. The priesthood of Aaron was perfect in its kind, but there was failure in Nadab and Abihu. Whatever God has planted, He has planted wholly a right seed according to His mind. Whatever comes from God must be perfect, and no other work can improve it… God had "planted you a noble vine; how then have you turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine to Me?" The reason is simple: as soon as anything passes into man's hands, departure begins.

If the first estate is not kept, there may be long patience, but there is no remedy. And when God comes in to judge, He always goes back to the first departure from the original standing. So Stephen, when speaking of the departure and sin of Israel, goes back to the golden calf, their first departure (Acts 7). We must go back to the original to judge the present state. "I planted wholly a right seed."

Jeremiah 2 to 6. This section is an appeal to Jerusalem, with calls to repent, and warnings about what had happened to Israel. It was given in the days of Josiah, when there had been a reformation, but they had not turned to God with the whole heart.

Long ago they had been set free, and they promised obedience, but they turned to every kind of immorality. God had failed in nothing: the fault was their own, and their stain would not wash out.

This is the natron we know today, not what is now called nitre, which is saltpetre… It is a mineral alkali, and mixed with oil it makes soap.

"Kabas" is the last word for "wash," and its use is just as distinctive as the word we looked at before. It means to "tread," and so to wash by treading. It is used only for washing clothes and other articles, or for describing the spiritual effect of cleansing, as in Psalm 51:2, 7; Jeremiah 2:22; Jeremiah 4:14.

But it is of no use for a backslider to try and put things right outwardly. That is the next point. External washing will not do. It is the inside — the heart — that must be put right… How God knows what our hearts are!

Once they wake up to some sense of their condition, they begin to try to improve themselves. They try to purify their own hearts and to make themselves fit in this way for the favour of God. But they soon discover that the only effect of all their efforts is to bring their own sin and vileness to light. Or they may succeed in weaving a robe of self-righteousness and hide their ugliness for a time. Then the moment they come into the presence of God, the robe itself appears, in the light of His holiness, as nothing but filthy rags.

Nothing could be more opposed to the basic truth of the gospel than the theory that the sinner's condition improves bit by bit. He is born in a certain condition, and until he is "born again" he cannot be in any other. We may try to improve. He may resolve to be better in future — to "turn over a new leaf," to live a different kind of life. But all the while he has not moved a hair's breadth out of his real condition as a sinner.

The blood is the only means of cleansing from guilt. This is the way God appointed and God gave. It therefore shuts out every other method… It is only the blood of Christ that can make the sinner whiter than snow.

It is the blood by itself alone that has this power. There can be no addition to it. It is not the blood and something else. Add to it in any way — by feelings, prayers, or sorrow for sin (all of which have their proper place) — and you spoil its cleansing power.

They had broken the covenant and acted like an unfaithful wife. The fine vine He had planted had gone bad. Their guilt stood on record before the Lord, and nothing they did could remove the stain (verse 22). Yet they denied that they had gone after idols.

Self-confidence and self-exaltation, in every form, always come from a conscience that is never exercised. Just put a man in the Lord's presence: that will keep him humble, and able to discern spiritually. But there is nothing we lose more easily than the sense that God is present.

When the conscience is awakened and the heart is engaged, we come to rest in the presence of God. Whenever the Lord calls a soul back, He calls it back to His own presence. He will work on the conscience; He will speak plainly to us. So every rebuke comes to us as the expression of the most wonderful tenderness.

The people did not realise what they had done. So the prophet, in a sense, takes them up to a hilltop and says: "Look at your way in the valley; know what you have done — a restless young camel running here and there" (v.23).

Should we not also look back at every stage of our lives and consider the path already covered? What kind of footsteps have we left behind us? Have we followed the Lord without turning aside, or have we wandered about, seeking our own interest and not the Lord's?

We are told that the people served the Baals. The name means "Lords." God's Lordship and ownership is a truth: God does own mankind. He is God over them. But how many gods and lords men have set over themselves! Each one holds some element of divine truth, but only an element. What is it to leave God and serve the Baals? It is to set aside a single attribute of God and put some human attribute in its place.

The dromedary is really the same animal as the camel. The name is given to those of a lighter and more valuable breed. People use them for the same purposes as the camel.

When believers are caught up in evil principles and practices, saying either "There is no hope" or "I have not sinned" (Jer. 2) shows in both cases the evil heart of unbelief. The Word of God condemns such words; it does not justify them.

Chapters 1 to 24 of Jeremiah are full of the Lord's pleading — His gracious pleading — with His people. They were rebellious, backsliding and guilty, but still beloved. Judah's moral state at the time of the prophecy was deplorable. Every class shared the guilt of forgetting and forsaking the Lord: kings and subjects, high and low, rich and poor, pastors and people, prophets and priests. All alike had fallen, and all were guilty.

The wild donkey is very wild and very swift. It is seldom tamed. It is a fitting picture of man's natural birth. Job 11:12. The Lord demanded of Job, "Who has let the wild donkey go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey?" Job 39:5; compare Jeremiah 7:24; Daniel 5:21.

They were self-righteous, yet quick to do evil and beyond reclaiming, hopelessly given over to others (verses 23-25). Their guilt was as plain as a thief caught in the act.

But it is no use for a backslider to try to put things right on the outside. That is the next point. External washing will not do. It is the inside — the heart — that must be put right. "Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord GOD" (Jeremiah 2:22). Then He turns to show that they were like the wild donkey (Jeremiah 2:24). Like the thief who is caught (Jeremiah 2:26), they were ashamed, because they had fallen into outright idolatry.

Should we not also look back at every stage of our lives and consider the path already covered? What kind of footsteps have we left behind us? Have we followed the Lord without turning aside, or have we wandered about, seeking our own interest and not the Lord's?

Here is the first time we get the word "backsliding." It is the characteristic word in the early part of Jeremiah. But it assumes recovery — that the heart will turn back again to God, because that is what the Lord wants. He longs to have us very near Him.

The Lord tells them, "keep your feet from going unshod." He means this: stop running after strange gods so hard that the sandals wear out and the feet go bare. They boldly declared, "It is hopeless, for I have loved foreigners, and after them I will go." They had turned both their backs and their faces away from the Lord. But when the time of trouble comes, they will say, "Arise, save us." But could those false gods they had made respond and save them? Would they? Some day a remnant of that nation will turn to the Lord and cry, "Arise, save us," and He will answer.

Affliction sometimes weighs heavily on the people of God. They are not enjoying all the privileges that faith knows belong to them. In that state faith says, "How long, O Lord!"… So we often meet such expressions in the Psalms and Prophets, like "How long, O Lord!" and "There is none to say, How long!" — there is no one who knows how to count on the faithfulness of God. When under chastening, if there is no faith to use this expression, a worse one takes its place: "I have loved foreigners, and after them I will go." Then the people abandon themselves to wickedness.

"You went after Me in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that none passes through, where no man dwells." You went after Me where there was nothing to set your affections on but Myself. I Myself was the whole and sole object of your affections. This is what God remembered. He overlooks all failure, and the condition He notices is that He Himself was everything to them. This is what marks a heart when it is first converted to God — the Lord is everything to it.

The Lord lamented concerning Israel, "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown"… "But you said, 'It is hopeless, for I have loved foreigners, and after them I will go.'" In Revelation 2 we hear the Lord's rebuke to Ephesus: "I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first." Works were there. Sound doctrine and church order were there too. But the decay of love spread its dismal blight over them all.

If the heart has departed from the Lord, then "the fear of Me is not in you" (Jer. 2:19) is true of that heart. I think that is the first step away. The sense of the fear of the Lord somehow dies out in the soul, and then the decline begins.

Perhaps there may be one here who is a backslider… Read Jeremiah 2 – 4 before you go to bed tonight, and you will see what He does. Israel forgot Him, but He never forgot Israel. "Ah," you may say, "it is many a month since I thought much of Him, and many a bitter thing has happened since then." Yes, and He knows all about it. When you come to Jeremiah 4 you will see that the heart is recovered through perfect grace.

They were self-righteous, yet swift to do evil and beyond recovery. They were given up hopelessly to others, and were as plainly guilty as a thief caught in the act. And this was true not of the masses only, but of their kings, their leaders, their priests, and their prophets. They said to a tree, "You are my father," and to a stone, "You gave me birth."

The moral state and condition of Judah at the time of the prophecy were deplorable. Every class shared the guilt of forgetting and forsaking the Lord — kings and subjects, high and low, rich and poor, pastors and people, prophets and priests. All alike had fallen and were guilty.

Amon, his successor, walked in all the ways his father walked in, and served the idols his father served. Priests, prophets, and people followed these kings. We find Jeremiah complaining: "The priests did not say, 'Where is the Lord?' … The shepherds also transgressed against Me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal. The house of Israel shall be shamed: they, their kings, their officials, their prophets, saying to a tree, 'You are my father,' and to a stone, 'You gave me birth'" (Jer. 2:8, 26).

The Lord says, "My people have been like lost sheep, and their shepherds have caused them to go astray" (Jer. 50:6). God pronounces woe on these selfish shepherds who scatter the flock (Jer. 23:1-2).

But do not mistake this for repentance. Shame merely drives them to hide from God and to excuse themselves to Him. And so with us. As long as the shame of sin lasts, we try to hide it and get away from it. But it only drives us farther and farther from God. This is not a conscience taught by God. We are more concerned about the shame before men than about the sinfulness before God.

Some sins are so shocking that a man who falls into them is shocked at himself. But this is not self-judgment about those sins, either before God or man. It is only disgust and surprise that they have overtaken him.

It is no use for a backslider to try to put things right outwardly. That is the next point. External washing will not do. It is the inside — the heart — that must be put right… like the "thief found out" (Jer. 2:26) they were "ashamed" because they had fallen into downright idolatry (Jer. 2:27). How well God knows what our hearts are! … The Lord tells us, "In the time of their trouble they will say, 'Arise and save us'" (Jer. 2:27). Well may He reply, "But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you in your time of trouble" (Jer. 2:28). Let the thing you have been occupied with deliver you. That cannot be.

A lifeless stock that man forms cannot be, or duly represent, the God who made him and all things.

People turn away from God as He shows Himself to us in Christ. They make a god of their own imagination and give free vent to the lusts of their own hearts. That is why there is so much corruption in the name of religion.

They were as obvious as a thief caught in the act. And this was not the masses only, but their kings, their leaders, their priests, and their prophets, saying to a stock, "You are my father," and to a stone, "You have brought me forth." In their trouble they might turn to God with "Arise and save us"; but God challenges their gods to arise if they can save them.

King Amon walked in all the ways his father walked in, and served the idols his father served. Priests, prophets, and people followed these kings. Jeremiah complains: "The priests did not say, 'Where is the Lord?' … The shepherds transgressed against me, the prophets prophesied by Baal" (Jer. 2:8).

Jeremiah 2 is the first recorded word to the people. It gives the first thought that filled the heart of the Lord, the main reason for all the sorrow: those who once loved Him had forsaken Him. He could not forget the kindness of their early years when they first went after Him. He remembered the love of their engagement days. But now He complains again and again: they have "gone far from Me"; they have "forsaken Me"; they have "turned their back to Me"; they have "forgotten Me" (see vv. 2, 5, 13, 17, 19, 27, and 32).

It is no use for a backslider to try to put things right outwardly. That is the next point. Washing the outside will not do. It is the inside — the heart — that must be put right… How God knows what our hearts are! If we get ever so far away from the Lord, and trouble and sorrow come, what should we do? The Lord tells us, "In the time of their trouble they say, 'Arise and save us!'" He may well reply, "But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you, in your time of trouble." Let the thing you have been occupied with deliver you. That cannot be.

When Israel sinned, and cried out in their distress, "We have sinned," there was no true self-judgment. They mourned their misery, not their sin. So after every deliverance they sinned again, and worse than before.

They had turned both their backs and their faces away from the Lord. But when the time of trouble comes, they will say, "Arise, save us." But could or would the false gods they had made respond and save them? Some day a remnant of that nation will turn to the Lord and cry, "Arise, save us," and He will answer.

It is no use for someone who has wandered from God to try and put things right on the outside. Outward washing will not do. It is the inside — the heart — that must be put right. How God knows what our hearts are! If we get ever so far away from the Lord, should trouble and sorrow come, what should we do? The Lord tells us, "In the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us" (Jer. 2:27). Well may He reply, "But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you, in your time of trouble" (Jer. 2:28). Let the thing that you have been occupied with deliver you. That cannot be.

In their trouble they might turn to God with "Arise and save us"; but God challenges their gods to arise if they can save them. It was from no lack of number, sadly! For Judah's gods were as many as their cities.

Read the long list of the detestable things he destroyed and abolished (2 Kings 23:4-20). Notice too that it took him six years to cleanse the land and the house. Anyone who does that cannot fail to form at least some faint idea of the terrible scale of Judah's idolatry during the reigns of that king's two immediate predecessors (Jer. 2:28).

These chapters also contain references and quotations which identify the law with the five books of Moses as we now have them. In verse 28 the prophet says, "Where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you, in your time of trouble," clearly a quotation of Deut. 32:37-38.

In contrast to these helpless idols that have to be carried, the house of Israel is reminded that Jehovah carries the remnant of Israel. He made His people, carries them, and will deliver them from all their enemies. Idols are contrasted with Jehovah here, but cannot for a moment be compared with the true God. Jehovah is the Maker, but an idol has to be made. Once made, instead of carrying others it has to be carried. Set in its place, it cannot move, cannot answer the cry of need, and cannot save from trouble.

And let us remember that the same tendency is at work with us today. That is why the first letter of John ends with the words, "keep yourselves from idols." For us an idol is anything that traps us. It takes over in our hearts the place that belongs to God alone.

Jeremiah 1 to 24 is full of the pleadings, the gracious pleadings, of Jehovah with His people. They were rebellious, backsliding and guilty, but still beloved.

The complaint starts with a moving question. "What wrong did your fathers find in Me, that they went far from Me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?" Was there anything unrighteous in Him? Had He acted treacherously? Was it Jehovah's fault that they had left Him? They had not thought about His faithfulness. He led them out of Egypt, through the desert and the shadows of death... So Jehovah states His case, to plead with them and with their children.

They were self-righteous, yet quick to do evil and beyond recovery. They were given over to others with no hope, and as clearly guilty as a thief caught in the act. And this was not only the crowds, but their kings, their leaders, their priests and their prophets, saying to a block of wood, "You are my father," and to a stone, "You gave me birth"... Their excuses were useless. They were all guilty. Far from accepting Jehovah's correction, their own sword had devoured their prophets.

Their folly and ingratitude were worse than that of the nations who did not know Him. Such was the failure of the nation God had favoured. The failure of the Christian world is even greater, when we think of the greater showing of God's love in the gift of His Son, and the greater blessing and deliverance.

Who is at fault? How empty it is to think God is! How impossible to find anything but perfection in the Holy One! Think that, and you will silence all the harps of heaven, darken its blessed light, and bring disaster and ruin everywhere. There is no danger: He will be justified in His words, and will win when He is judged. But it is an old argument, and a common one: "Will you even put aside My judgment? Will you condemn Me so that you may be righteous?" We must do that, or else submit to God's judgment on ourselves. For it is written about us, "None is righteous, no, not one," and "whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God."

When Eve pleaded the serpent's trickery, and Adam pleaded the woman's gift to him, the Lord God did not stoop to answer their pleas. And who of us today does not declare Him right in passing that sentence without answering those excuses?

Before God can righteously remember their sins no more, He must be put in remembrance. In other words, Israel must confess their sins in full before God can justify them. So Jehovah has to say, "Put Me in remembrance; let us argue together; set forth your case, that you may be proved right." Let Israel go back to their "first father" and confess their sin and rebellion against Jehovah... When Israel confesses their sin like this and justifies God in His dealings with them, God will justify Israel. He will blot out their transgressions and remember their sin no more.

In their trouble they might turn to God with "Arise and save us." But God challenges their gods to arise, if they can save them. Sadly, it was not for lack of numbers — Judah's gods were as many as their cities. They excused themselves in vain. They were all guilty. Far from accepting the Lord's correction, their own sword had devoured their prophets.

Scriptures such as Jeremiah 2:30, Jeremiah 6:3, Jeremiah 7:28 and Zephaniah 3:2 show a similar spirit among the people in Jerusalem, just before Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it. Those who refuse "correction" thereby claim to be all they should be… The same thing meets us in Revelation 3. Laodicea is so rich that it has need of nothing, and therefore no need of correction.

We go further and say this: at no time do we find that God's dealings in judgment produce reformation. In Egypt God dealt with Pharaoh, increasing the severity of His strokes. Was his heart softened? No, it was hardened.

Isaiah says, "Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel?" Of the generation in his day, Jeremiah had to say, "You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish." And again, "I have paid attention and listened, but they have not spoken rightly; no man relents of his evil, saying, 'What have I done?'" Are we then to wonder that the sword of the Chaldean entered the land?

The prophets dealt with the people's sin, exposing it without fear in the light of truth, righteousness, and God's judgment… They held the light of God against the wicked will of man, and that light condemned it. This is what drew out the hostility of Israel. It made the prophet a man dishonoured and opposed, nowhere so much as in his own country. Jeremiah was not one bit behind the rest in the bitter contempt and open persecution he had to bear from priests, prophets, and princes. He gives plain testimony to God's sending on the one hand, and to Israel's rebellion on the other.

He sent prophets not only to reprove but to win Israel back in an extraordinary way. But they took His servants, beat one, killed another, stoned a third. He sent others, more than the first; but they persisted instead of repenting, and did even worse. He still had one beloved Son, so He sent Him to them last of all, saying, "They will respect my Son." But they said to one another, "This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours."

When the hearts of His people turn away from Him God may have to act in discipline. The goal of discipline is to restore, correct and bring about repentance. The correct reaction to God's discipline is to accept it. That does not mean being indifferent. It means learning the lesson God wants to teach. Running away from discipline will only make it worse. Bowing under God's discipline brings blessing… Even in discipline God shows grace.

Yet with what condescension and consideration He asks them, "Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness?" But it was no use; they were shameless and idolatrous. Pastors, prophets and people went after Baal; the priests did not say, "Where is the Lord?" He had chastised them in vain; they took no correction.

Nothing could be more touching than God's next question here, "Have I been a wilderness to Israel?" Was I barren? Was there barrenness in My land? Is there barrenness in heavenly things? What a striking expression for God to use to His people! But that is what it is. If the heart loses the sense of grace, it loses its delight in Christ.

When did the Lord bring up His people? It was when the circumstances He led them through, and into, proved that the Lord was the one bringing them there. He brought them into a land of deserts and pits. There they had no need to lean on a broken reed, because they leaned on God Himself. A broken reed pierces the hand of the man who leans on it. "Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years." And why? Because "the LORD alone guided him, no foreign god was with him."

The root of all sin is not in the desires where it shows itself so hatefully. It is in having a will of our own. It is the will leaving God — the will to be independent, free to do our own will: "Who is Lord over us?" When we separate from God like this, we must have something. We cannot be enough for ourselves, and we sink into desires in which our will works.

We have seen what is said about the kings, prophets, priests, and pastors. Now we shall see that the people become like their princes. Like master, like man… They had not only forsaken and forgotten the Lord, though they still named His holy name; they had become idolatrous. The Lord pleads with them, but they would not hear… Jerusalem, the princes and the people, would therefore become "a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse." And He carried out His word with startling exactness.

This is a wilderness, and we need something like it to drive us to Him who has said, "Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness?" To me He has not been so, and is not in Himself.

Verses 31-37. Israel's conduct was beyond understanding. Once more it is the "Why" of Jehovah. What had He done that they should turn away from Him? Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet His people had forgotten Him, who had loved and adorned them, days without number. He will plead with them because they said, I have not sinned.

The prophet closes this appeal on the Lord's part by asking if He had been a desert or a land of darkness to Israel, that they came no more to Him. They forgot Him unnaturally and continually. They taught the wicked their ways. And with the most obvious blood-guiltiness, they still pretended to innocence.

Then He adds, "Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number" (Jer. 2:32). What had He done every day? Watched over and cared for them. Yes, blessed be His name, He had continually thought of them. We have forgotten Him, perhaps, but He has never forgotten us. We are engraved on the very palms of His hands, and the one thing He has in mind is to have the backsliders brought back.

Peter, in self-confidence, yet with real love to his Master, promised he would face prison and death for his beloved Lord. Then, at the voice of a servant girl, he denied his Master with oaths and cursing! Peter sinned, but his faith did not fail (Luke 22:31-34, 54-62). It is so with each one of us. Even in the darkest season of fiercest temptation, those who have the weakest faith always cling to Christ, the Son of the living God (1 Peter 1:4-7). Yet the lips may cruelly deny that they know Him! "Peter was following at a distance." "My people have forgotten me days without number." Jer. 2:32. "Yet I will not forget you." Isa. 49:15.

The true heart is not indifferent to this departure from the truth. He surely feels it keenly, like the blessed Lord Himself. Touchingly we find Him saying to the assembly at Ephesus: "I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first" (Rev. 2:4). And to Israel also: "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride" (Jer. 2:2). He continues: "They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters" (v. 13); "My people have forgotten Me days without number" (v. 32). How all this shows us what the heart of the Lord feels about the ungrateful behaviour of those who profess His name.

Suppose the Lord crossed our path today and asked, "What are you talking about?" Would He find us talking about Him, His interests, and His things? It is very good for us if He would. But if not, we shall simply have to admit how true was the word of the Lord, "My people have forgotten me days without number" (Jer. 2:32). Blessed be His name, He has never forgotten us.

In our chapter we learn that the nation of Israel was seeking the lethal waters of Egypt and Assyria (vv. 28 and 36). The people turned first to one and then to the other. But they ought to be ashamed of both. They would learn that it was an evil and bitter thing to forsake the Lord (v. 19). He cries out in sorrow: "My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jer. 2:13)… But it is of no avail, they were shameless and idolatrous (vv. 20–30).

The prophet closes this appeal on the Lord's part with a question. Had He been a desert to Israel, or a land of darkness, that they came to Him no more? They forgot Him against all nature, and forgot Him without end. They taught the wicked their own ways. Their guilt of blood was plain to see, yet they claimed to be innocent. And it was only a change of sin. Before it had been Assyria; now it was Egypt. But shame and sorrow would be all their corrupt affections gained.

Manasseh "led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the people of Israel." It was the worst of all corruptions — the corruption of the best. The higher the fall, the deeper the plunge… And what must the surrounding nations have thought of this record of Judah — a people who did "more evil than the nations" around them? Seven hundred years later the apostle wrote by the Spirit, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." That could truly be said of Manasseh and Judah.

Such are the people of God when they follow the inclination of their own hearts, instead of walking in obedience to His word! Note too that when the saints fall into sin, it is often into worse and uglier sins than those committed by the people of the world. It is as if Satan, having gained the advantage over them, mocks them and gloats over them by putting the most horrible forms of the flesh on display.

But "you went after Me in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and deep darkness, a land that none passes through, where no man dwells." You went after Me in the wilderness, where there was nothing to set your affections on but Myself. I Myself was the whole and sole object of your affections. This is what God remembered. He overlooks all failure. The state God notices is that He Himself was everything to them. That is what marks a heart when first converted to God — the Lord is everything to it.

The true heart is not indifferent to this departure from the Truth. He feels it deeply, as the blessed Lord Himself does. It is touching to hear Him say to the assembly at Ephesus: "But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first" (Rev. 2:4). And to Israel also: "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride" (Jer. 2:2)… All this shows us what the heart of the Lord feels about the ungrateful behaviour of those who claim His Name.

They were self-righteous, yet quick to do evil and past correcting, and their sin was as plain as a thief caught in the act… The prophet closes this appeal on the Lord's part by asking whether He had been a desert to Israel, or a land of darkness, that they came to Him no more. They forgot Him against all nature and without stopping. They taught the wicked their own ways. Their blood-guilt was completely plain, yet they pretended to be innocent. And truly it was only a change of sin. It had been Assyria; now it was Egypt. But shame and sorrow would be the outcome of their corrupt desires.

Because they had fallen away, God in His government let foreign nations lay their land waste and burn their cities until no one lived in them. Despite God's discipline, Israel would not be corrected (verse 30). They were indifferent, forgetting God days without number, and felt nothing of their guilt, saying, "I am innocent" (verses 32-35).

In Israel the sin named here is less tied to the law itself. It comes from that turning away from the fear of God which lets a man give in to the selfishness of his own heart, and oppress the very people God cares about… The charge of despising the poor is repeated again and again in this prophecy.

Sin lies at the root of the mischief; and even if men sin in secret, it is no use. All stands out clear and distinct in the light of God's face.

The deliberate shedding of man's blood pollutes and defiles the land, and only the shedding of the murderer's blood cleanses it. Seen in this light, we live on an earth that is deeply defiled — above all by the death of the Son of God.

Deuteronomy 21 gives another rule for keeping the land from being defiled by blood, and declares that life belongs to God: when His rights are violated, He will not overlook it. We cannot fail to see that the blood of Christ is, above all, the blood Israel is guilty of here. And the blood of Jesus is the only atonement for the sin that shed it. The elders excuse themselves by pleading that they did not know what had been done… Yet nothing but the blood of the heifer that never bore a yoke can wipe away sin. In this way the guilt of innocent blood will be taken away from the people.

The prophet closes this appeal on the Lord's part with a question: had He been a desert to Israel, or a land of darkness, that they came to Him no more? They forgot Him unnaturally and constantly. They taught the wicked their ways. The clearest blood-guilt lay on them, and still they pretended to be innocent.

Despite God's discipline, Israel would not take correction (verse 30). They were indifferent, and forgot God days without number. They felt nothing of their guilt, and said, "I am innocent" (verses 32–35).

Their iniquity was marked before the Lord, and nothing that they did could remove the stain (verse 22). Yet they denied their guilt of going after idols.

But it is of no use for a backslider to try and put things right outwardly. That is the next point. External washing will not do. It is the inside — the heart — that must be put right. "For though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord" (Jer. 2:22).

Israel's conduct made no sense. Once more it is the "Why" of the Lord. What had He done that they should turn away from Him? Can a young woman forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet His people had forgotten Him, who had loved and adorned them, days without number. He will plead with them because they said, I have not sinned.

"If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." If we pretend not to have sinned, we make Him a liar. It is not merely that the truth is not in us; I am making God Himself untrue in His word. To say that I have no sin is to deceive myself. But to say I have not sinned is to deny God's truth openly, because He says all have sinned. I am really denying the whole truth of God.

It is of the very greatest moral importance to see this: whenever we justify ourselves, we condemn God. And when we condemn ourselves, we justify God… The greatest folly anyone can be guilty of is to justify himself, since God must then charge him with sin. But the truest wisdom is to condemn oneself utterly, for in that case God becomes the Justifier.

So in Jeremiah 3, after pressing all this upon them, the Lord says: "Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the Lord your God… and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the Lord. Return, O faithless children, declares the Lord; for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion."

And truly it was only a shift of sin. It had been Assyria; now it was Egypt. But shame and sorrow would be the outcome for their corrupt desires.

The Lord could not forget that Judah, through Ahaz the king, had sought the help of the king of Assyria. After visiting the king of Assyria, Ahaz then made an altar for another god (2 Kings 16:7, 10–13)... Ahaz had sent for the help of the Assyrians, and Israel became their servants. Yet the Assyrians attacked Judah in the days of the son of Ahaz. This surely made Judah ashamed of those they had trusted.

Egypt, too, was to reap the results of her ways. Israel kept turning to her for help instead of turning to the Lord (Jer. 2:17-18). Now the Lord says, "You shall be put to shame by Egypt" (Jer. 2:36). Chapter 46 records His word about her.

"And now what do you gain by going to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? Or what do you gain by going to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?" (Jer. 2:18). After their redemption neither Egypt nor Assyria had anything to do with Israel until they got away from God. But their hearts, away from God, longed for evil association, and received their due reward.

Israel was still wicked, yet said, "I have not sinned." So the Lord righteously rejected the things they trusted in (vv. 35 and 37). They had become to Him the degenerate plant of a strange vine.

Now here is the first time we get the word "backsliding." Then you get the expression again in Jeremiah 3, in verses 6, 8, 11, 12, 14 and 22. It is the characteristic word in the early part of Jeremiah. But it assumes recovery — that the heart will be turned back again to God, because that is what the Lord wants. He longs to have us very near Him. And do not our hearts love to be near Him? But if I am away from Him, and His hand is on me, I cannot blame Him. Is the blame His? No — I know Him too well to say that.

Ahaz had sent for the help of the Assyrians, and Israel became their servants. Those same Assyrians then attacked Judah in the days of Ahaz's son. That surely made Judah ashamed of those in whom they had placed their confidence.

They excused themselves, but in vain. And truly it was only a shift of sin. It had been Assyria; it was now Egypt. But shame and sorrow would be the lot of their corrupt affections.

In our chapter we learn that the nation of Israel was seeking the deadly waters of Egypt and Assyria. The people turned first to one and then to the other. God would make them ashamed of both. They would learn that it was an evil and bitter thing to forsake the Lord. … They were still wicked, yet Israel said, "I am innocent." So the Lord rightly rejected the things they trusted in.

Egypt has been a breaking staff to Israel, a staff of reed that offered much but never kept its promises, bringing only ruin to all who trusted it. Going down to Egypt for help was the constant snare of God's people. Yet He had delivered them from that land. In their own deliverance they had seen His judgment on it. Yet again and again they could turn back to it. … God Himself must therefore break this staff that they leaned on.

God's discipline does not always come at once. But it is always perfectly designed, proportionate and effective. If we run away from discipline, the problem that caused it will catch up with us, and the outcome is likely to be even worse. These people could have stayed in Jerusalem and accepted Babylon's rule. Then they could have lived quietly in their own country. But having fled to Egypt, they were still within Nebuchadnezzar's reach, and they would die.

How prone we are to look to our fellow men for sympathy, help and counsel! We do it on every occasion, instead of looking directly and only to God. This is a serious mistake. In principle it is to forsake the Fountain of living waters. It is to hew out for ourselves broken cisterns that can hold no water. What can we expect? What must the outcome be? Barrenness and desolation. Our God, in real faithfulness to us, will let our fellow man fail us, so that we may learn the folly of leaning on an arm of flesh.

In such a case in Israel he was required to give her a certificate of divorce, which left her free to marry another (vv. 1-3). But if she did marry another man and he also divorced her, or if he died, then the former husband must not take her back as a wife (v. 4). This would be most improper, for he had rejected her earlier for what he considered good reason. This is called "an abomination before the Lord." If there had been no marriage to another man, the case would be different. The law is firm and decided about this matter. Yet when the grace of God is known, it can lead to honest self-judgment in those who are guilty. It can wonderfully overcome the evil by a gracious and righteous recovery.

God, however, is nowhere more Himself than in His tender mercy to His fallen people. A man could not take back the wife who had deserted him for another. "Israel had committed fornication with many lovers: yet return again to me, says the Lord." He points out their frequent and shameless unfaithfulness, while they call Him the father and guide of their youth. But whatever they said, they kept on doing evil (vv. 1-5).

Divorce is used symbolically to express God's action in putting away Israel, who had been grossly unfaithful, and giving her a bill of divorcement. Isa. 50:1; Jer. 3:8.

So Jeremiah shows the Lord acting in the very same grace, taking Jerusalem back even after she had proved herself unfaithful and had been legally and judicially put away. Jer. 3.

In Jeremiah 3 the Lord takes a different figure, and likens the sin of His people to harlotry. Even though their sin was as deep as that, we read, "Yet return again to me, says the Lord" (Jer. 3:1). So deep was His desire for their restoration.

In Jeremiah 3 we have the Lord pleading with them. He shows them that, bad as Israel might have been, Judah — which had held out for a time and gave fair promises under Josiah — would turn out no better. The crisis would surely come; but when a man has sunk to the lowest, God appears in His grace.

Nothing can be more clear than this prediction, and nothing more gracious. Here God's grace steps in for the whole people in the last days. That is after the Assyrian captivity, which had already happened, and after the Babylonian one, which was about to happen. After all that, God would recall His people — not part of them, but all of them.

It seems the Canaanite nations used to set up places of worship for their false gods on various heights. They chose those heights to suit their own Satan-controlled desires... The Israelites were to destroy all the high places of the heathen, and so express their horror at their wicked ways. But human nature is no better in those who are near to God than in those who are far from Him. The time soon came, sadly, when Israel chose high places for themselves. Some of these were for idolatrous worship, and some for the worship of Jehovah. But all the high places offended Him, whatever the motives of those who set them up. They were the expression of self-will, of hearts that would not obey His commandments.

"High places" for idolatrous worship dotted the whole land. In the shade of every green tree the people practised the horrors of heathen religion. Spiritually and literally, these unholy and unclean rites deserved the name of harlotry the prophets so often gave them. What could God do with such a nation but put them away?

The Lord then details the extreme impurity that Jerusalem turned to with unbridled lust. She did not only take in every uncleanness of idolatry that passed by. She went out and courted idolatrous dealings with the strangers on every side, and with the most distant Gentiles. Even her Philistine neighbours, content with their own gods, were ashamed of her.

Jeremiah 3 has the same character. It carries on the same address. But it gives details of Israel's and Judah's behaviour. It also announces the restoration of Israel by sovereign goodness, and the blessing of the last days when they return to God. Notice this. Before the Lord pleads with Israel over their folly, He first points out that no one sought Him and no one longed for Him. Neither people nor priests said, "Where is the LORD?"... In this chapter we have the solemn revelation that, as far as the people were concerned, the reformation under Josiah was only hypocrisy.

God, however, is nowhere more Himself than in His pitiful mercy to His fallen people. A man could not take back the wife who had deserted him for another... He points out their frequent and shameless unfaithfulness, while all the time they called Him the father and guide of their youth. But whatever they said, they kept on doing evil.

Here is divine love pleading tenderly with a bold, faithless, shameless people. Here are the assurances of forgiveness and everlasting mercy. They are deeply touching.

God is nowhere more Himself than in His tender mercy to His fallen people. A man could not take back the wife who had deserted him for another. He points out their frequent and shameless unfaithfulness, while they still called Him the father and guide of their youth. But whatever they said, they kept on doing evil.

The rain has an entirely literal meaning. Read the following passages carefully for confirmation: Leviticus 26:4; Deuteronomy 11:14-17; 1 Kings 8:33-35 and Jeremiah 3:3.

We know well that God does not want His people to suffer. He is not stingy, and if the rain is withheld, the fault lies with His people and not with Him. He had made this clear to them, so that they understood that when heaven was "shut up" it was in chastening.

God had promised Israel that if they would listen to His commandments, love Him, and serve Him with all their heart and soul, He would give them the rain of their land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, so that they might gather in their grain, their wine, and their oil. But Israel, by their disobedience and departure from their God, had forfeited this promise, and God in chastisement had withheld both the early and the latter rain… God never withholds from His people except to draw out their sense of need, and to teach them that He alone is the source from which blessing comes.

Forehead: used as a symbol of manifest character. Israel in apostasy is described as having a harlot's forehead, and refusing to be ashamed (Jeremiah 3:3). Ezekiel's forehead was made as hard as diamond, because of the hardness of Israel's forehead, with whom he had to contend (Ezekiel 3:8-9).

The Lord had sent different chastisements on them at different times. There had been famines and drought. Rain fell in one place and not another, so that they might recognise the hand of God in it… Five times in this section we find the same statement, "Yet you have not returned to Me." They were an unrepentant nation and hardened their hearts as Pharaoh did.

In Jeremiah 3 the Lord takes a different figure, and likens the sin of His people to harlotry. Even though their sin was as deep as that, we read, "Yet return again to Me, says the Lord" (Jeremiah 3:1). So deep was His desire for their restoration.

Their conscience will be truly reached then, and they will return to the One they had forsaken and forgotten. "Behold we come to You," they say, "for You are the Lord our God" (v. 22).

God, however, is nowhere more Himself than in His pitiful mercy to His fallen people. A man could not take back the wife who had deserted him for another... He points out their frequent and shameless unfaithfulness, while they call Him the father and guide of their youth. But whatever they said, they kept on doing evil.

Jeremiah 3 goes on to expose their unfaithfulness and what it now costs them. It also pleads with them to cry to the Guide of their youth (vv. 1-5)... The call which follows to return and confess to the One who is married to them looks on to a future day... when in a national sense Israel shall call Him "My Father," and "not turn away from following Him" (vv. 14-19). This has never yet taken place, as we know.

In John the Baptist's time Israel shows the same spirit of self-confidence. They said in that spirit, "We have Abraham as our father." Under the Lord's ministry it is still the same: they still boast in the fatherhood of Abraham and of God (John 8). But these boasts were empty, as both John and the Lord tell them.

In practice they were not His children, whatever claims they might make. We know today that a true believer is a child of God. But if someone is living in rebellion, would it be right for him to announce to others that he is a child of God? He might well be answered as the Lord answered the Jews who claimed to be Abraham's children: "If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did" (John 8:39).

Chapter 3:1-5. Here God gives the gracious invitation for the first time: "Return again to Me, says the LORD." And how many times after this the Lord pleads in the riches of His mercy for His people to return to Him and offers them forgiveness.

"How can I get back?" Listen. "Only acknowledge your iniquity" (Jer. 3:13). There is only one way back, and what is it? Confession. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

Will you not pause, dear ones, before you set out on the untried path that may lie ahead? Will you make the words of Scripture your own, and say to that great and holy God, whose goodness has surrounded you with so many mercies, "My Father, you are the guide of my youth" (Jer. 3:4)?

God, however, is nowhere more Himself than in His compassionate mercy to His fallen people. A man could not take back the wife who had deserted him for another. "Israel had committed fornication with many lovers: yet return again to me, says the Lord." He points out how often and how shamelessly they were unfaithful, while all the time they call Him the father and guide of their youth. But whatever they said, they kept on doing evil. (vv. 1-5)

In this chapter we have the solemn revelation that, as far as the people were concerned, the reformation under Josiah was nothing but hypocrisy.

Jeremiah 3 continues to lay bare their unfaithfulness and the present consequence of the same; pleading with them also to cry to the Guide of their youth (vv. 1-5).

Will you not stop, dear friends, before you set out on the untried path ahead of you? Make the words of Scripture your own. Say to that great and holy God, whose goodness has surrounded you with so many mercies, "My Father, You are the guide of my youth" (Jer. 3:4).

Be careful not to abuse the mercy of God. Do not suck poison out of the sweet flower of God's mercy. Do not think that because God is merciful, you may go on in sin; that is to make mercy your enemy. To sin because mercy abounds is the devil's logic. Anyone who sins because of mercy is like a man who wounds his head because he has a bandage. Anyone who sins because of God's mercy will get judgment without mercy. Mercy abused turns to fury.

Here is the first time the gracious invitation is given: "Return again to Me, says the LORD." And how many times afterwards the Lord pleads, in the riches of His mercy, for His people to return to Him, and offers them forgiveness.

He shows them that bad as Israel might have been, Judah that had held out for a time and gave fair promises under Josiah would turn out no better. The crisis would surely come; but when a man has sunk to the lowest, God appears in His grace.

The book of Jeremiah, who prophesied under Josiah, shows us that the moral state of the people had not changed at all. The king was faithful, so they readily agreed to do away with idolatry, but their hearts stayed as far from God as ever.

There is then, first of all, a contrast between Israel (the ten tribes) and her sister Judah. The Lord judged the house of Israel, the northern kingdom, first. She played the harlot. After she had done so, the Lord said, "Turn to Me." She refused, and her treacherous sister the house of Judah saw it. And when the Lord dealt with the house of Israel in judgment and they went into captivity, Judah did not fear but played the harlot too.

God had rescued them from Egypt, and at Sinai they had promised not to disobey Him. Yet they set up the golden calf before the law even reached the camp, and the long list of later idolatries told how they had broken the covenant. "High places" for idol worship dotted the whole land, and in the shade of every green tree people carried out the detestable practices of the nations around them. Both spiritually and literally, these unholy and unclean rites deserved the name of harlotry that the prophets so often give them. What could God do with such a nation but put them away?

Israel's departure from God took an outward form: they made themselves "high places." It was only a pagan habit, a worship with no heart in it that plays on the imagination… On the mountain tops a man could imagine he was nearer to God than in the valleys. The depths of groves and forests, with the beauty of nature, helped him think he was nearer to the God of nature than he really was… It is just here that man so often makes the fatal mistake. He puts what is merely natural in the place of what is spiritual, and so deceives himself.

God is nowhere more Himself than in His tender mercy to His fallen people. A man could not take back the wife who had deserted him for another. "Israel had committed fornication with many lovers: yet return again to Me, says the Lord." He points out their repeated and shameless unfaithfulness, while all the time they were calling Him the father and guide of their youth.

Here is the first time we get the word "backsliding."… It is the characteristic word in the early part of Jeremiah. But then it supposes recovery, and that the heart will be turned back again to God, because that is what the Lord wants.

How can I get back? Listen. "Only acknowledge your guilt" (Jer. 3:13). There is only one way back, and what is it? Confession… How tender the call is: "Turn, O backsliding children, says the Lord, for I am married to you."

The king's power had brought about a great reformation, but it left the hearts of most of the people untouched. It was the last effort of the Spirit of God to restore the people as a nation... But why could God not rest in the improved outward state of the kingdom of Judah in Josiah's day? He looked beneath the surface. He looked for what was real: a tender conscience, and a heart that submitted to His word. He did not find it. "The devotion of your youth, your love as a bride" were missing. God will never be satisfied with anything less than thoroughness.

God, however, is nowhere more Himself than in His compassionate mercy to His fallen people. A man could not take back the wife who had deserted him for another. "Israel had committed fornication with many lovers: yet return again to me, says the Lord."... Israel's uncleanness was notorious, and God had called her back in vain.

meshubah, 'a turning away, apostasy.' Jer. 2:19; Jer. 3:6-12, 22...

God began to deal with the larger part of the nation, which had already rejected their king. They had proved themselves rebels against the royal house God Himself chose for them. They completed that rebellion by turning away from God altogether. He warned them, they ignored Him, and He swept away the ten tribes of Israel first, as a most solemn lesson to those who remained. But Judah was deaf and blind to what God was pointing out through guilty Israel.

Judah was even more treacherous. She despised the warning although she knew better, and sinned even more boldly.

God would rather have what is real, even if our souls are far from Him, than what is unreal — a claimed nearness we are not living in. The ten tribes were openly backsliding and rebellious. But what did Judah do? "Judah did not fear" (Jer. 3:8). "Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the LORD" (Jer. 3:10). We get a great lesson there... The Lord will not have anything but what is real.

"Return, backsliding children, says the Lord; for I am married to you." "Surely as a wife treacherously leaves her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel, says the Lord. … Return, backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. See, we come to You, for You are our God" (Jer. 3). This whole part of Jeremiah is deeply beautiful and touching. God's tender pleading with a bold, unfaithful, shameless people, and His promises of forgiveness and everlasting mercy, are moving beyond words.

The message which begins with the sixth verse was given to Jeremiah during the reign of Josiah. There is then, first of all, a contrast between Israel (the ten tribes) and her sister Judah. (Compare with Ezekiel 23.) The house of Israel, the northern kingdom, was judged first by the Lord. She played the harlot; after she had done so, the Lord said, "Turn to Me." She refused, and her treacherous sister the house of Judah saw it. And when the Lord dealt with the house of Israel in judgment and they were carried away, Judah did not fear but played the harlot.

Divorce is used here as a picture. It stands for God's action in putting Israel away, after she had been shamefully unfaithful, and giving her a bill of divorce. Isaiah 50:1; Jeremiah 3:8.

Israel's uncleanness was well known, and God had called her back in vain. But Judah was even more treacherous. She knew better, yet she despised the warning and sinned with even greater daring.

There was open backsliding and rebellion on the part of the ten tribes. But what did Judah do? "Judah feared not." "Judah has not turned to me with her whole heart, but in pretence, says the Lord." We get a great lesson there. The Lord will not have anything but what is real. In King Josiah's day there had been a revival, as we have seen. You would think that they had truly turned to the Lord. But it was only the effect of Josiah's influence. It was pretend. God would rather have what is real, even if our souls are at a distance, than what is unreal — a claimed nearness we are not living in.

This chapter carries the solemn revelation that, as far as the people were concerned, the reformation under Josiah was only hypocrisy. These two chapters form a general introduction. They show the ways and judgment of Israel and Judah, and their restoration by grace.

Was Jerusalem admonished? Did the sight of Aholah act for good upon Aholibah? No — she was more corrupt in her lust than her sister was. The younger and more favoured sister followed the elder, and went even further in her idolatry.

Jeremiah shows the Lord in that same grace. He takes Jerusalem back even after she had proved herself unfaithful and had been put away by a formal, legal judgment.

Now see how beautifully He works with these backsliding ten tribes to bring them back… He called them, and told them to come back. Now He calls you back. You might ask, How can I get back? You say, I feel God has spoken to my soul through His Word, I am drinking at broken cisterns, how am I to get back? Listen. "Only acknowledge your iniquity." There is only one way back, and what is it? Confession.

Jeremiah prophesied under Josiah, and his book shows that the moral state of the people did not change at all. They were quick to agree when the king's faithfulness put an end to idol worship. But their hearts stayed as far from God as ever.

The tenth verse proves beyond question that the reformation under Josiah was not a true spiritual revival. It reads: "Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the LORD."

And this was not the masses only. Their kings, their leaders, their priests and their prophets said to a block of wood, "You are my father," and to a stone, "You gave me birth." In their trouble they might turn to God with "Arise and save us." But God challenges their gods to arise, if they can save them. And it was not for lack of numbers — Judah's gods were as many as her cities.

But grace in their case, as in ours, in no way sets aside the governmental dealings of God... "But first I will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted My land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and have filled My inheritance with their abominations." ... The present state of Judah was all the more distressing. As the prophet says, "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars."

Israel's uncleanness was notorious, and God had called her back in vain. But Judah was more treacherous still. She despised the warning though she knew better, and her sin was bolder still.

But in fact Judah became more offensive than Israel, Jerusalem more guilty than Samaria. Israel had pleading and warning, promise and threat, but never one ray of goodness from the throne. Judah had some good kings, and God's blessing still reached her through them... Judah as a nation stayed true on the surface, since she held to David's royal line and outwardly to the temple and the worship of the LORD. Yet in heart they were as rebellious as the Israelites. The hypocrisy of Judah was more hateful to God than Israel's open desertion of Him.

God would rather have reality, even though our souls are at a distance, than unreality and professed nearness when we are not in it... We get a great lesson there. The Lord will not have anything but what is real.

He shows them that bad as Israel might have been, Judah — who had held out for a time and gave fair promises under Josiah — would turn out no better. The crisis would surely come; but when a man has sunk to the lowest, God appears in His grace.

You say, I feel God has spoken to my soul through His Word, I am drinking at broken cisterns — how am I to get back? Listen. "Only acknowledge your guilt." There is only one way back, and what is it? Confession.

Jeremiah received the message that begins with verse 6 during the reign of Josiah... The tenth verse proves beyond doubt that the reformation under Josiah was not a true spiritual revival.

The king was faithful, so they readily agreed to get rid of idolatry. But their hearts stayed as far from God as ever.

On the young king's part this was all real, no doubt. But you only have to read the earlier part of Jeremiah's prophecy to see how hypocritical it was with most of the people... They had entered into covenants with the Lord before with great enthusiasm, and the result was always the same — breakdown, and a wider departure from God than ever before.

Israel's uncleanness was well known, and God had called her back in vain. But Judah was even more treacherous. She knew better, yet she despised the warning and sinned even more boldly.

Judah as a nation still claimed to be true, because they held on to the house of David, and outwardly to the temple and the worship of Jehovah. Yet in heart they were as rebellious as the Israelites... The hypocrisy of Judah was more hateful to God than Israel's open desertion of Him. God had His faithful few in both kingdoms.

God would rather have reality, even if our souls are far off, than unreality — a nearness we claim but are not in... The Lord will not accept anything that is not real.

The reformation was the last effort of the Spirit of God to restore the people as a nation, and it was followed by the dreadful relapse in the time of the sons of Josiah... But why could God not rest in the improved outward state of the kingdom of Judah in Josiah's day? He looked beneath the surface. He looked for reality, for a tender conscience, for a heart that submits to His word — and He did not find them... God will never be satisfied with anything less than thoroughness.

Many claimed to follow the King in his holy zeal. But Jehovah, who knows the secrets of every heart, said, "Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense" (Jer. 3:10). In all ages the people love to move with the tide. If the tide flows in the right direction, many will go with it — outwardly. If it flows the wrong way, most will go with it eagerly.

"Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the LORD your God"... There is only one way back, and what is it? Confession... See how tender the call is: "Return, O faithless children, declares the LORD; for I am your master."

This section is an appeal to Jerusalem, with exhortations to repentance, and warnings about what had happened to Israel. It was given in the days of Josiah, when there had been a reformation, but they had not turned to God with the whole heart: backsliding Israel had justified herself more than treacherous Judah.

It is in this chapter that we have the solemn revelation that, as far as the people were concerned, the reformation under Josiah was only hypocrisy.

Israel's uncleanness was notorious, and God had called her back in vain. But Judah was more treacherous still. She despised the warning though she knew better, and sinned even more shamelessly.

Israel as a nation rebelled against God. Judah as a nation kept up the profession, since they held to the house of David and outwardly to the temple and worship of Jehovah. Yet in heart they were as rebellious as the Israelites. God said of them, "This people draws near with their lips, but their heart is far from Me." Judah's hypocrisy was more hateful to God than Israel's open rebellion. God had His remnant in both kingdoms.

God would rather have reality, even if our souls are at a distance, than unreality and a professed nearness when we are not in it. There was open backsliding and rebellion on the part of the ten tribes. But what did Judah do? "Judah did not fear." "Judah has not returned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretence, says the Lord." There is a great lesson there. The Lord will not have anything but what is real. In King Josiah's day there had been a revival. You would think that they had really turned to the Lord, but it was simply the effect of Josiah's influence. It was only pretence.

In Jeremiah 3 we have a pleading of the Lord with them. He shows them that, bad as Israel might have been, Judah — who had held out for a time and gave fair promises under Josiah — would turn out no better. The crisis would surely come; but when a man has sunk to the lowest, God appears in His grace.

"Only acknowledge your iniquity." There is only one way back, and what is it? Confession. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." The call is tender: "Turn, O backsliding children, says the Lord, for I am married to you."

Here is a message to be proclaimed toward the north, calling on backsliding Israel to return. He promises mercy to them. One hundred years before, the house of Israel had gone northward as captives. The Lord knew where they lived and sent them this message of mercy. He knows today where the house of Israel is, the ten tribes, and at some future time the gracious offer given here will be fulfilled in their return.

Here is a message to proclaim toward the north, calling on backsliding Israel to return. He promises mercy to them. One hundred years before, the house of Israel had gone northward as captives. The Lord knew where they lived, and He sent them this message of mercy. He knows today where the house of Israel is, the ten tribes. At some future time the gracious offer given here will be completed in their return.

Israel's uncleanness was well known, and God had called her back without result. But Judah was even more treacherous. She despised the warning, though she knew better, and sinned even more boldly.

God would rather have what is real, even if our souls are far from Him, than what is unreal — a nearness we claim but are not actually in. There was open backsliding and rebellion on the part of the ten tribes. But what did Judah do? "Judah did not fear." "Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the LORD." We get a great lesson there. The Lord will not have anything but what is real.

Now here is the first time we get the word "backsliding." You then find the expression again in verses 6, 8, 11, 12, 14, and 22 of Jeremiah 3. It is the characteristic word in the early part of Jeremiah. But the word assumes recovery. It assumes the heart will turn back to God, because that is what the Lord wants. He longs to have us very near Him.

God, however, is nowhere more Himself than in His mercy and pity toward His fallen people. A man could not take back the wife who had left him for another. Israel had been unfaithful with many lovers, and still the Lord says: return to me. He points out how often and how shamelessly they had been unfaithful, even while they called Him the father and guide of their youth. But whatever they said, they persevered in evil-doing.

He shows them that Judah would turn out no better than Israel, bad as Israel had been. Judah had held out for a time and had made fair promises under King Josiah. The crisis would surely come; but when a man has sunk to the lowest, God appears in His grace.

Backslider! He called them then, and told them to come back. Now He calls you back. You might ask, How can I get back? You say: God has spoken to my soul through His Word. I am drinking at broken cisterns. How am I to get back? Listen. "Only acknowledge your guilt." There is only one way back, and what is it? Confession.

The whole history of Israel as a nation proves that the Lord hates sending His people away. If He did not hate it, He would have renounced Israel long ago, and many times over. They broke His covenant again and again, and so lost every claim on His favour and love. But He bore with them with great patience, for His gifts and His calling are never taken back. In the prophets He kept reminding them that He was joined to them, that He was married to them, and that He could not cast them off.

I need not dwell on the bitter charges of the prophet. The Jews did a double evil. They forsook the Lord, the only source of living waters. They turned instead to cisterns that could hold no water, rushing into idolatry and all its corrupting influences. But in Jeremiah 3 we have a pleading of the Lord with them. He shows them that bad as Israel might have been, Judah would turn out no better. Judah had held out for a time and gave fair promises under Josiah. The crisis would surely come; but when a man has sunk to the lowest, God appears in His grace.

God would rather have reality, even though our souls are at a distance, than unreality and a claimed nearness we are not in. There was open backsliding and rebellion on the part of the ten tribes. But what did Judah do? "Judah did not fear." "Judah did not return to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the LORD." There is a great lesson there. The Lord will not have anything but what is real.

High places for idol worship dotted the whole land, and in the shade of every green tree the people carried on the detestable practices of the nations. These unholy and unclean rites deserved the name the prophets so often give them: harlotry. It fits in both senses, the spiritual and the literal. What could God do with such a nation but put them away?

Backslider! He called them then, and told them to come back. Now He calls you back. You might ask, How can I get back? You say, I feel God has spoken to my soul through His Word, I am drinking at broken cisterns — how am I to get back? Listen. "Only acknowledge your guilt." There is only one way back, and what is it? Confession. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." How tender that call is. There was no break of relationship on God's part.

The historical books of the Old Testament show us how the merciful Lord renewed His blessing whenever the people returned to Him. But if we read the prophets, we see how God searches deeply. He judges the evil that must not remain after the blessing has returned. In the time of Josiah we see a good return of the people towards God, and abundant blessing with it. Even so, at the Lord's command, Jeremiah still says to the people, "Acknowledge your guilt."

Nothing can be more distinct than this prediction, and nothing more gracious. Here we clearly have God's grace stepping in for the whole people in the last days. That is after both the Assyrian captivity, which had already happened, and the Babylonian one that was about to happen. After all that, God would recall His people — not part of them, but all of them. He would recall Israel, and He would recall Judah. He would bring them both back into the land. He would bless them there so richly that all the ancient blessing they had known, even what was known under David and Solomon, would fade beside the brighter glory of the whole united people. From that time they would never depart from the Lord again.

I need not dwell on the bitter charges of the prophet. The Jews did a double evil. They forsook the Lord, the only source of living waters. They turned instead to cisterns that could hold no water, running to idolatry and all its corrupting influences. But in Jeremiah 3 we have a pleading of the Lord with them. He shows them that Judah would turn out no better than Israel. Judah had held out for a time and gave fair promises under Josiah. The crisis would surely come; but when a man has sunk to the lowest, God appears in His grace.

Once judgment has fallen on Israel, God can let His heart flow out in the testimony of grace. This must give a place to Judah as well, since the two are to be united.

The Jewish body was so married — "for I am married to you, says Jehovah" (Jer. 3:14; Isa. 54:4-6). "For your Maker is your husband; Jehovah has called you as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth when you were refused, says your God."

The prophet Jeremiah addressed Israel as married to Jehovah (ch. 3:14). But the Church is only promised in marriage; the wedding is still ahead.

Backslider! He called them then, and told them to come back. Now He calls you back. You might ask, How can I get back?... Listen: "Only acknowledge your iniquity" (Jer. 3:13). There is only one way back, and what is it? Confession. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). What a tender call it is.

Nothing can be more distinct than this prediction, nor more gracious. Here God's grace steps in for the whole people in the latter day. That is after the Assyrian captivity, which had already happened, and after the Babylonian one, which was still to come. After all that, God would recall His people — not part of them, but the whole of them. He would recall Israel and He would recall Judah. He would bring them both back into the land. He would bless them there so richly that even the ancient blessing they once had — the ark of the covenant, and all that was known under David and Solomon — would pass away. It would be completely outshone by the brighter glory of the whole united people in the latter day. And from that time they would never leave the Lord again.

The call which follows is a call to return and confess to the One who is married to them. It looks on to a future day. Then the ark of the covenant of the Lord will be outshone by a greater glory, and the true King will reign... This has never yet taken place, as we know. It supposes the return of our Lord Jesus Christ to Israel as David's greater Son. Their conscience will be truly reached then, and they will return to the One they had forsaken and forgotten.

Notice how beautifully He works with these backsliding ten tribes to bring them back... "Turn, O backsliding children, says the Lord, for I am married to you... and I will give you pastors according to my heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding." Backslider! He called them then, and told them to come back. Now He calls you back. You might ask, How can I get back?... Listen. "Only acknowledge your iniquity." There is only one way back, and what is it? Confession.

In the Old Testament the word is raah, "to feed," and refers to those who should have helped God's people. They, like all others, had failed; they had destroyed and scattered the sheep... In the New Testament it is poimēn, which is applied to Christ Himself as the good Shepherd. The pastor is one of the gifts in the church, Ephesians 4:11. He is gifted to help the saints one by one. He enters into their trials and difficulties, and brings the word to instruct and comfort them, or to challenge and counsel them if needed.

After speaking of the ignorance of the priests, Jeremiah adds, "The pastors also transgressed against Me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal." He tells us, "The pastors have become brutish and have not sought the Lord." ... The Lord says, "My people have been like lost sheep, and their shepherds have caused them to go astray."

The pastors promised to Israel for the last days, who "shall feed them with knowledge and understanding" (Jer. 3:15), are described as being after God's "own heart." Compare those words with the parting charge the Great Shepherd of the sheep gave to Peter, the fallen but now "converted" son of Jonas (John 21:15-17; Luke 22:32). Compare them too with what that same Peter, as a mature apostle, later told his fellow elders in the Church (1 Peter 5:1-4).

A pastor is one who feeds the sheep of Christ. He is not one who stands up and talks a great deal of airy stuff about the higher criticism of Scripture, and usually leads his hearers away into a mist of darkness where they cannot follow him... A teacher of that sort is certainly no pastor. The pastor that Christ gives is one who feeds the hearts of His saints with the bread and water of life.

The pastor is a gift Christ gave when He went up on high. He is placed in the body of Christ as a joint that supplies it. So he is responsible for using this gift, like a talent entrusted to him; Eph. 4:11. Woe to the pastor who does not feed!

Nothing could be more distinct than this prediction, nor more gracious. Here we have God's grace stepping in for the whole people in the latter day. That is after the Assyrian captivity, which had already happened, and after the Babylonian one, which was still to come. After all that, God would recall His people — not part of them, but the whole of them.

He foretells the day when the Lord Himself will recover His scattered people, and "gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock." Of the seed of David, the shepherd king, he tells us, One will be raised up, and in His days "Israel shall dwell safely." The believer knows this Shepherd now, and receives eternal life from Him before He returns to gather Israel.

Here we have God's grace stepping in for the whole people in the latter day — after the Assyrian captivity, which had already happened, and the Babylonian one, still to come. After all that, God would recall His people — not part of them, but the whole of them. He would recall Israel. He would recall Judah. He would bring them both back into the land. He would bless them there so richly that even their ancient blessing, the ark of the covenant, would pass away. The ark was the great mark of David's faith. David made a resting-place for it on Zion, and it was lost soon after Solomon... So great would be the blessing of that day that even what David and Solomon knew would be altogether eclipsed by the still brighter glory of the whole united people. From that time they would never depart from the Lord again.

Josiah tells the Levites to put the ark in its proper place in the temple, and to stop carrying it on their shoulders. That is the last historical mention of the ark in Scripture. From Jer. 3:16 it would almost appear that people had turned it into a showy display, and that the Levites may have carried it in procession through the streets of Jerusalem. It is never heard of again, and probably perished when the Babylonians burned the temple.

That it disappeared is certain. That he hid it, to come out at a future day, we think most unlikely, with the words of his prophecy (Jer. 3:16) before us... A stone took its place in the rebuilt temple, and Ezekiel's temple of the future never mentions it. Jeremiah has told us that it will not be needed, and we can all understand why. The ark was the symbol of the Divine presence, and God needs no symbol when He Himself is there.

The ark had the greatest significance in Israel when it was made. Yet it was only a symbol of Christ. The symbol must vanish away, while the One it speaks of remains for ever in all the excellence of His beauty and glory.

In the holiest place there is no sign and no ark needed: Jehovah fills it alone.

Some events have looked like the fulfilment of many of the prophecies about their restoration — for example, the return of the people from Babylon. But God has given His own marks. He has tied circumstances together that have never yet come true, as in this passage: "All the nations shall be gathered unto it."... In a word, we see three things happening together which surely have not yet happened at the same time: Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah; Judah and Israel united; and the nations assembled to the throne of God. When the church began, Israel was scattered. When Israel returned from Babylon, there was neither church nor gathering of nations.

He sees the living glory and covenant coming in Christ with surpassing splendour, and so he says, "Neither shall they remember it, neither shall they visit it!" A greater glory outshines it. This helps those who cling to the living Lord today. Many are trapped in superstition and darkness by vague and mysterious teaching about "The Ark," and I have met some of them in great distress of mind. We have the living Christ, and we are to follow Him.

Here the prophet speaks of a state that goes beyond everything known under their best kings. Is it the gospel, or what we now know under Christianity? There is not the slightest resemblance. "At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah." Now that is not the gospel. The gospel is not the throne of Jehovah. The throne of Jehovah means governmental power. It is put forth over the whole earth, according to His name, Jehovah. There are to be no idols. There are to be no rivals. The name of Jehovah is to be the one universal name owned and honoured over the whole earth.

Certain early signs have looked like the fulfilment of many prophecies about their restoration. The return of the people from Babylon is one. But God has given His own marks. He has linked circumstances together which have never yet come true. In this passage, "all nations shall gather to it." That did not take place at the return from Babylon. But you will reply, It is the church. No. We see three things happening together which have not yet happened at the same time: Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah; Judah and Israel united; and the nations assembled to the throne of God. When the church was founded, Israel was dispersed. When Israel returned from Babylon, there was neither church nor gathering of nations.

The literal ark has passed away, as Jeremiah tells us, and it will never return. But instead of that throne of His of old, a far greater grace has declared that Jerusalem itself "shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall gather to it... and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart."

Besides the warrior-judgment, there is a judgment from the seat of authority. It comes when Christ has destroyed the beast and Antichrist and has taken the throne of Jehovah on the earth at Jerusalem. For Jerusalem is to be called the throne of Jehovah.

"All nations shall gather to it." The papacy has tried under the gospel to set up a universal spiritual monarchy. That will really be done by the only One entitled to it, the Lord Jesus. He will have this kingdom upon the earth, Jerusalem His centre, and all the nations His sphere. At the same time He will have the heavens, and the new Jerusalem will be the capital.

Jerusalem then is to be the throne of Jehovah. Suppose it is worthy of God, suitable to His grace, and due to His Son, that He should show mercy to the vilest of sinners now. Then will it take from His glory, or lessen His grace, if He pours out His mercy over the earth? Will it, if He yet makes that guilty city a holy city, not in word only, but in deed and in truth? The time shall come when He who saw and wept over its growing wickedness will be its unhindered and eternal blessing, so that the nations may be blessed too.

Jeremiah 3 announces that God will restore Israel out of His own sovereign goodness. It promises the blessing of the last days, when they return to Him... Now that judgment has fallen on Israel, God can let His heart flow out in the testimony of grace. This must give a place to Judah as well, since the two are to be united.

Some events have looked like the fulfilment of many prophecies about their restoration — for example, the return of the people from Babylon. But God has given His own marks. He has linked circumstances together that have never yet come true... In a word, we see three things happening together, and they have never yet happened at the same time: Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah; Judah and Israel united; and the nations gathered to the throne of God. When the church began, Israel lay scattered. When Israel returned from Babylon, there was no church and no gathering of nations.

Here we plainly have God's grace stepping in for the whole people in the latter day. It comes after the Assyrian captivity, which had already happened, and after the Babylonian one, which was still to come. After all that, God would recall His people — not part of them, but the whole of them. He would recall Israel and recall Judah. He would bring them both back into the land, and bless them there... So great would be the blessing of the latter day that the brighter glory of the whole united people would eclipse even what they knew under David and Solomon. From that time they would never depart from the Lord again.

One hundred years before, the house of Israel had gone northward as captives. The Lord knew where they lived and sent them this message of mercy. He knows today where the house of Israel is — the ten tribes. At some future time He will make good the gracious offer given here, and they will return... Israel will be converted. All the nations will be gathered to the Name of Jehovah; the house of Judah with the house of Israel will be reunited. That will be when the King, our ever blessed Lord, comes back.

Very few did return. Most of the nation stayed in Babylon and in the other countries where they were scattered. The ten tribes never returned at all. A second temple did go up, but no ark of the covenant stood in its holy of holies. There was no glory to mark the presence of Him who once dwelt between the cherubim. The restored captives held the land again, but not as an unconditional gift from God — only by permission of their Gentile masters.

What does the Word of God prophesy about the last days? It tells us that the Jews will return to their own land in unbelief... This prophecy is being fulfilled before our eyes. The Jewish people were scattered among the nations for nearly two thousand years. Now they are coming back to their own land in large numbers. Only a little under 50,000 came back in the times of Ezra and Nehemiah.

Jeremiah 3 proclaims the restoration of Israel by sovereign goodness, and the blessing of the last days when they return to God. Notice only this. Before the pleading with Israel over their folly, the Lord first points out that there was no seeking of Himself, no longing after Him: neither people nor priests said, "Where is the LORD?" Since judgment falls on Israel, God can let His heart flow out in the testimony of grace.

God is nowhere more Himself than in His tender mercy to His fallen people. A man could not take back a wife who had left him for another. "Israel had committed adultery with many lovers: yet return again to me, says the LORD."

That land was made a fit place to live for the chosen people, for it was a good land, flowing with milk and honey. But they did not make it a fit place for God… When Israel failed and Canaan became an abomination, God was not defeated… Here are these two things again — the sons of men brought into relationship with God, and the habitable part of His earth. But the question is asked: how could God bring these wayward men of Israel, how could He bring any of the wayward sons of men, to answer His thoughts in a place where He could dwell with them?

Israel's sad history of backsliding proved beyond question that if God was to secure men for Himself, something other than the prophetic word, or even the ministry of angels, was needed. God knew this from the beginning, and gleams of light about it broke out here and there in those earlier fruitless days, as in His lament over Israel's continual treachery. This was what God held in reserve until the fullness of the times had come. He would reveal Himself as Father, and by this revelation secure a true and steadfast response.

The call that follows — to return and confess to the One who is married to them — looks on to a future day. Then a greater glory will outshine the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and the true King will reign… Then, in a national sense, Israel will call Him "My Father", and "not turn away from following Him". This has never yet taken place, as we know. It supposes the return of our Lord Jesus Christ to Israel as David's greater Son.

We must not confuse the adoption of Israel with what we know in Christianity… As a nation Israel could indeed be called God's son, and, in relation to the nations of the earth, His firstborn… Still, this is completely different in character from Christian adoption.

"You shall call Me, My Father, and shall not depart from Me," was God's word to a backsliding people in ancient days. It seems to us that this name, Abba, is what will keep us from wandering and preserve us from worry. In the knowledge of His perfect love and care for us we shall rest.

The sad truth is that Israel was married to Jehovah, as the prophets remind the people (Isaiah 54; Jeremiah 3). So her unfaithfulness is branded as adultery, not as prostitution like the Babylon of the New Testament (so in Hosea 3 and elsewhere). Yet in time His grace may deal with Israel not as a guilty widow, but as a woman forsaken and a wife of youth.

The prophets say much about Israel's conduct as a wife, and about Jehovah's jealousy on that score. Her unfaithfulness is now plain. She has broken her vows. She has left her Husband, the Holy One of Israel, and He has poured out His burning jealousy on the faithless nation. He is a jealous God, and cannot bear the thought that the heart He claims as His own should be given to another.

Again and again Jehovah reminds His people, Israel, of a sad fact. All their trouble came from turning away from Him. He was their ALL, but they looked for comfort elsewhere. "They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters," He said. It was the same with God's people of old. Later John had to write of the assembly at Ephesus, where Paul worked so long and so faithfully: "You have abandoned the love you had at first" (Revelation 2:4).

God knew what was needed from the beginning. Gleams of light broke out here and there in those former, ineffective days. One came in His lament over Israel's continual treachery: "And I thought you would call me, My Father, and would not turn from following me" (Jeremiah 3:19). This was what God held in reserve until the fullness of the times came. He would reveal Himself as Father, and by that revelation secure a true and steady response in the hearts of men.

God, however, is nowhere more Himself than in His tender mercy to His fallen people. A man could not take back the wife who had deserted him for another. "Israel had committed fornication with many lovers: yet return again to Me, says the Lord." He points out their frequent and shameless unfaithfulness, while they still call Him the father and guide of their youth. But whatever they said, they kept on doing evil. Israel's uncleanness was well known, and God had called her back in vain. Judah was even more treacherous. She despised the warning, though she knew better, and sinned more boldly still.

The call that follows — to return and confess to the One who is married to them — looks on to a future day. Then a greater glory will outshine the ark of the covenant of the LORD. The true King will reign, and "they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD." He will be truly exalted, and Israel as a nation will call Him "My Father" and "not turn away from following Him" (vv. 14-19). This has never yet taken place, as we know.

The LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah, "Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore?" … "Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the LORD" (Jer. 3:6, 10). God would rather have what is real, even when our souls are far from Him, than something false — a nearness we claim but are not in. … The Lord will not have anything but what is real.

Verses sixteen to twenty show how God will recover and restore Israel in time to come. Jeremiah 3:21 shows the moral state that comes before restoration — that is, weeping and prayer. Then comes another loving call: "Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness." Who could resist such an appeal? Many a time a poor soul says, How can I get back, what must I go through to get back? Look at this verse … and note the result of the call: "Behold, we come to you, for you are the LORD our God." Behold, we come. It is done.

Look at the way the conscience is at work there. They feel all that they had sought after instead of God. They see how they had turned to the schemes of this world instead of the LORD. Afterwards, in verse 4, you get God's reply: "I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them." But before that comes the sense of where they are. That is the true work of God in the conscience, and it is always so.

The history of Israel proves that the heart may turn away from God long before He withdraws His blessings. Israel forgot the Lord, and how long it was before God came in judgment to show what their state was!

Verses 19–25. These verses predict and anticipate what the true repentance of the people will one day be. There will be weeping and pleading. They will acknowledge that true salvation is in the Lord. They will confess their sins and their disobedience.

The end of the chapter describes at length, and very movingly, the spirit that grace will produce in Israel when God brings them back. It also describes how the Lord will receive them.

I need not dwell on the bitter charges of the prophet. The Jews did a double evil. They forsook the Lord, the only source of living waters, and turned instead to cisterns that could hold no water, fleeing to idolatry and all its corrupting influences. But in Jeremiah 3 we have the Lord pleading with them. He shows them that Judah would turn out no better than Israel, bad as Israel had been. Judah had held out for a time and gave fair promises under Josiah. The crisis would surely come; but when a man has sunk to the lowest, God appears in His grace.

Jeremiah 3:21 shows the moral state that comes before restoration — weeping and prayer. Then comes another loving call. "Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings." Who could resist such an appeal? Many a time a poor soul says, How can I get back? What must I go through to get back? Look at this verse... and note the result of the call: "Behold, we come to you; for you are the Lord our God." Behold, we come. It is done. The soul that heeds the call to return says, "We come to you; you are the Lord our God."

Whether we have backslidden openly or in heart, every backslider will be restored, though it may not be until a deathbed. And all restoration begins with the Lord. The wandering sheep would never return if the Lord in His grace did not go after His sheep. David says, "He restores my soul." Naomi says, "The Lord has brought me home again."

Remember that the Lord never gives His people up, whatever their state or condition. When Israel seemed wholly given over to idolatry, Jeremiah cried, "Turn, O backsliding children, says the Lord; for I am married to you"... No! The Lord never forgets His people, however grievously they may have sinned. The history of Peter, on the sad night when he denied his Lord, proclaims this truth like a trumpet. This is certain. So it is very clear that all who share the Lord's heart for His people will keep His own attitude of unquenchable affection.

Verses 19-25. What the future true repentance of the people will be is here predicted and anticipated. There will be weeping and supplications. They will acknowledge that true salvation is in the Lord. They will confess their sins and their disobedience.

Unjudged sin leads to graver evil. Move on to the eighth chapter, where the Lord asks, "Why then has this people of Jerusalem turned away in perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit, they refuse to return" (Jer. 8:5). If I do not heed His word and return, I shall get into this awful condition of perpetual backsliding.

If someone who has backslidden or fallen reads these lines, we would earnestly urge him to return to Jesus at once. "Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings." What is the response to this moving appeal? "Behold, we come to You; for You are the Lord our God."... The love of the heart of Jesus knows no change. We change, but He is "the same yesterday, today, and forever," and He delights to be trusted... It is sad to fall, to err, to backslide. It is sadder still, once we have done so, to distrust the love of Jesus or His gracious readiness to take us to His heart again.

The end of the chapter dwells, in a very moving way, on the spirit that grace will produce in Israel when God brings them back. It also dwells on the way the Lord will receive them. In verses 23-25 the prophet confesses the people's condition at the time in which he spoke. This chapter gives us the solemn revelation that, as far as the people were concerned, the reform under Josiah was only hypocrisy.

God had rescued them from Egypt, and they had promised, at Sinai, not to transgress. Sadly, they set up the golden calf before the law even reached the camp. The long list of later idolatries told how they had broken the covenant. "High places" for idol worship had dotted the whole land. In the shade of every green tree they practised the detestable rites of the pagan nations. Both spiritually and literally, these unholy and unclean rites deserved the name of prostitution that the prophets so often give them. What could God do with such a nation but put them away?

At first they claimed the high places were for the worship of God. But this very soon turned into the worship of idols. In the same way, we can crave high recognition from people in our outward worship of God. That desire very easily becomes idolatry in all but name. Satan's counterfeit will displace God and take His place.

Mountains surround him, and they look strong, imposing, and immovable. In the same way, some people in the world seem firmly established in power, and beyond the reach of an enemy. But can we trust in any fellow creature? … Realising his need of help, and that the help of man is in vain, the godly man turns from the creature to the Creator.

The mountains had once been Israel's trust. In their day of pride they had leaned upon the creature more than the Creator. But that help had only been a pitfall of destruction to them. They had stumbled and fallen, and been trapped and broken. And now they are waking from the long and dishonoured sleep of their night of blindness. They turn to seek Israel's Saviour in the only Maker of heaven and earth.

This has never yet taken place, as we know. It supposes the return of our Lord Jesus Christ to Israel as David's greater Son. Their conscience will be truly reached then, and they will return to the One they had forsaken and forgotten. "Behold, we come to you, for you are the LORD our God", they say (v. 22). They confess their sin, owning that the salvation of Israel is in Him alone (v. 23).

In Jeremiah 3 we have the Lord pleading with them. He shows them that, bad as Israel might have been, Judah would turn out no better. Judah had held out for a time, and gave fair promises under Josiah. The crisis would surely come; but when a man has sunk to the lowest, God appears in His grace.

The end of the chapter dwells, in a very moving way, on the spirit that grace will produce in Israel when God brings them back. It also dwells on how the Lord will receive them. In verses 23-25 the prophet confesses the people's condition at the time when he spoke.

Ishbosheth means "man of shame." People might easily suppose that name came from his history, rather than being his original one. We know from Chronicles that his original name was Esh-baal. We have a similar change in Jonathan's son Meribbaal, changed into Mephibosheth. In Hosea 9:10 Baal himself is called "that shame." There is no real doubt that this sense of the shameful character of idolatry led to these changes.

It may seem that there is much to gain by taking your own way and putting the fear of God out of mind. Satan will suggest, too, that it costs too much to live for God. He offers tempting bait to the unhappy heart that has begun to crave other things. But in the end it only proves that disobedience to God is a costly indulgence — an unholy luxury that nobody can really afford... Departure from God is the most foolish and worst investment any child of grace ever made.

For if fathers and children are alike sinful, the punishment is due either way — for the fathers or for the children. If God judges, it must come. How much better, then, to repent than to complain and murmur! That only makes the evil worse and ensures vengeance on such growing rebellion against God.

The call that follows, to return and confess to the One who is married to them, looks on to a future day... Their conscience will be truly reached then, and they will return to the One they had forsaken and forgotten.

Such is the result of departure from God, a sorrowful result that is not limited to God's ancient people, Israel. If we get away from the Lord and seek the things of this present world, we expose ourselves to the enemy. Someone might say, surely Christians would not choose new gods? But the apostle John writes to us, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (1 John 5:21). Everything that would challenge Christ's right to fill the heart is an idol!

Jeremiah 3 gives details of how Israel and Judah behaved. It proclaims the restoration of Israel by God's sovereign goodness, and the blessing of the last days when they return to God. The end of the chapter dwells, in a deeply moving way, on the spirit that grace will produce in Israel when God brings them back, and on the way the Lord will receive them. It is in this chapter that we have the solemn revelation that, as far as the people were concerned, the reformation under Josiah was only hypocrisy. In verses 23-25 the prophet confesses the people's condition at the time in which he spoke.

In Jeremiah 3 we have a pleading of the Lord with them. He shows them that Israel may have been bad, but Judah would turn out no better. Judah had held out for a time and made fair promises under king Josiah. The crisis would surely come. But when a man has sunk to the lowest, God appears in His grace.

The call which follows tells them to return and confess to the One who is married to them. It looks on to a future day… This has never yet taken place, as we know. It supposes the return of our Lord Jesus Christ to Israel as David's greater Son. Their conscience will be truly reached then, and they will return to the One they had forsaken and forgotten. "Behold we come to You", they say, "for You are the LORD our God" (v. 22). They confess their sin, owning that the salvation of Israel is in Him alone (v. 23).

Here it is the confession of the remnant. First they confess their own sins. Then they add, "Our fathers sinned, and are no more; and we bear their iniquities" (Lamentations 5:7). Even in the days of Jeremiah there was a godly remnant, and the prophet speaks for them. There will be others like them in the last days. They will cry to God while they suffer, as the nation suffers, before the Lord comes to act for them.

This is no proof of conversion. It is only the main proof that man has got into a bad conscience, and cannot get out of it… But do not mistake this for repentance. Shame merely drives them to hide from, and excuse themselves to, God. And so with us: as long as the shame of sin lasts, we try to hide it and get away from it. But it only drives us farther and farther from God. It is not a conscience taught by God, because we care more about the shame before men than about the sinfulness before God… our sense of the guilt of sin should always be deeper than our sense of its shame.

Truth may cover our faces with "shame and confusion" as we feel our shortcomings deeply. But grace restores the paths, and restores souls to walk in them. "If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." This is the only true place for a wounded conscience to stand. Here, and here alone, we gain a complete victory over all our sad failures. It happens when we confess all our sins and shortcomings in full, and cast ourselves on the boundless grace of our God.

Jeremiah 4 takes up again the subject of chapters 2 and 3. Applying it at that time to the people, it tells them that if they return, it must be to the Lord Himself. Neither forms nor half-measures would be of any use.

The pathway of restoration is a return to Himself, not to outward observances. Nothing short of that will do. As for His people — blessed be His Name — our God is satisfied with nothing less than their heart. And this is not about what they can be to Him, but about what He can be for them.

Let them return to Himself, putting away the abominations that had been a snare to them. If they returned in that way, they would be established as a nation, and widespread blessing would reach the nations around them. Let them return to the Lord, not to national greatness, but to the Lord their God, and the other would follow. Let them "Return to Me" — not to national salvation, but to their Saviour God; then all else would come right. Let them "RETURN TO ME" — not to fullness of blessing, but to the Blesser Himself; overflowing blessing would follow.

Committing abomination is a frequent expression in the Scriptures for idolatry (see Jer. 4:1; Dan. 9:27; Matt. 24:15).

A return must be a return to Him, the Lord; anything less is not enough. Their abominations must be judged and put away. Every return of backsliders must happen the same way. It is a true return to the Lord, with confession of sin, self-judgment, and turning from evil.

How often there is a measure of recovery to God. It shows in giving up this or that indulgence, or this or that association. Something is given up partially, but it is only cut off above the root. The outward fruit is cut off. But we do not cut loose from the root of the thing itself. Above all, we do not get clearly back to God. "If you will return, return to Me," is what God says, and there is great danger in partial restoration to communion.

If we come to ourselves it is, "I will arise and go to my father." If it is restoration, "If you will return, return to Me." Indeed a soul is never really restored until it does. Short of that it is not in the light in a way that purges the flesh, even if the fruits of the flesh have been confessed. Nor is sin seen as it is in God's sight.

If someone reading these lines has backslidden or fallen, we would urge him with all our heart to return to Jesus at once... The love of the heart of Jesus knows no change. We change, but He is "the same yesterday and today and forever," and He delights to be trusted. No doubt it is sad to fall, to go wrong, to backslide. It is sadder still, after we have fallen, to distrust the love of Jesus, or His gracious readiness to take us back to His heart.

Let them return to the Lord — not to national greatness, but to the Lord their God — and the other would follow. Let them "Return to Me", not to national salvation, but to their Saviour God, and all else would then come right. Let them "RETURN TO ME", not to fullness of blessing, but to the Blesser Himself, and overflowing blessing would result. Let them "RETURN TO ME, says the Lord", not to be the head of all the nations, but to the King of nations, the King of Eternity, the living God. National headship would follow.

And then comes the call that God could not be satisfied with outward forms. "Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and remove the foreskin of your hearts, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest My fury come forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it."

Time after time Jeremiah tried to wake the people of God with the cry, "THE LORD LIVES!" "THE LORD LIVES!!" … This is the way of true revival, and of overflow for others.

The Lord said, through Jeremiah, "Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and 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."

As for His people, blessed be His Name, our God will accept nothing less than their heart. And this is not about what they can be to Him, but about what He can be for them. "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD."

The world's blessing awaits Israel's restoration to God and to Canaan. Not to the Church, but to Abraham, Jehovah said: "in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 22:18). … Israel and Jerusalem form the pivot upon which everything turns for the nations and for creation. Neither London, Berlin, nor Rome is, nor ever can be, God's centre of administration and blessing.

It is a true picture — alive, moving, and told in few words. It shows the happy rule of blessing on earth in the coming age, after the church is taken to her heavenly home, and after the great tribulation that follows. Israel is seen saved and exalted in the Lord. In Him the nations gathered around Israel will bless themselves and glory!

Jeremiah 4 continues the moral pleadings with the people. Then comes the call showing that God could not be satisfied with outward forms. "Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest My wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it." The prophet has the Jew in particular in view, and his moral unfitness for the blessing of God.

As it is in nature, so it is spiritually. Man's heart is, to say the least, a fallow field. It must be broken up before the seed of the word of God can be sown there and bear fruit. So the Lord calls "the men of Judah, and Jerusalem" to "break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns."

The lazy man would not do the preparatory work this needed. Sinners would rather not have their hearts broken. It is humbling and painful work. They resist the ploughshare in the conscience, and prefer to be left alone in their sins. Long ago, as the apostle Paul "reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, 'Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you.'" Felix felt the apostle's powerful appeal to his conscience, but he did not answer it. He refused the ploughshare, and his heart stayed unbroken.

Still, there must be repentance, and the deeper the better. It is good that the plough should do its work, breaking up the fallow ground. It makes deep furrows where the incorruptible seed of the Word can take root. We do not believe anyone ever had cause to complain that the ploughshare entered too deeply into the soul. On the contrary, we are sure of this. The more we are led down into the depths of our own moral ruin, the more fully we will value the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ.

The roots of the thorns were left in the third plot, though it seems their tops had been cut off. They should have been rooted up. It was sowing among thorns, contrary to the word of God through Jeremiah, which we have looked at. Yet it was not the sower's responsibility to root up the thorns. The ground might look cleared, but the roots remained: worldliness, cares, riches, and pleasures.

He will break up the fallow ground in His people's hearts with the ploughshare of His chastisement and judgments, so that they will cry to Him in their sorrow. Then their hearts will be ready for the sowing of His Word within them.

What is needed everywhere is a great revival of clear gospel preaching. It must press home on the consciences of men and women their lost condition, despite church membership, if they have not personally received the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word says, "Break up the fallow ground"; sow not among "thorns." We often hear people say they would like to see more old-time conversions. Well, there must first be the old-time preaching of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and of the lost condition of all people by nature as well as by practice. This must go on until the old-time conviction takes hold of the souls of Christless men and women. Then the old-time gospel will be welcomed as the only relief.

Jeremiah 4 takes up again the subject of chapters 2 and 3. Applying it to the people of that time, it tells them that if they return, it must be to the Lord Himself — neither forms nor half-measures would be of any use. After verse 4 the prophet announces the certain judgment of God. It would come from the north and fall on Jerusalem in destruction.

Jeremiah 4 pursues the moral pleadings with the people... And then comes the call, showing that outward forms could not satisfy God... You notice the peculiarity. It is the Jew in particular who comes into the prophet's view, and it is about his moral unfitness for the blessing of God.

Circumcision is said to "be a token of the covenant between Me and you" (Genesis 17:11). That chapter tells us who took part in the rite and when to carry it out. It becomes clear that circumcision means the flesh must be kept in the place of death. The flesh can contribute nothing towards carrying out the will of God.

I suppose that the exhortation to "circumcise ourselves to the Lord" means to cut off those "lusts of the flesh" which so easily trap us.

Perhaps this is the most important reference, because it is the goal set before us. The real value of anything we do shows when we do it to the Lord. Someone may have taken the greatest care in carrying out the act of circumcision — but was it done to the Lord? We can ask the same about the many areas of service that occupy us. We need to question our motives. Is it really done to Him?

The prophet seeks true circumcision "to the Lord", the circumcision which touches the heart, preparing it for Him. With pleadings and warnings he labours to reach them. It is the same today. Unless we have been reached in the heart, in the spirit, in the very centre of our being, we are alienated from the living God. That is true even though, like these Jews, we call ourselves "the people of God" and have priests and a form of religion.

Jeremiah is also the only prophet who refers to the "token of the covenant" — to "circumcision". After the book of Joshua the first mention in the Old Testament is in Jeremiah 4:4. The Holy Spirit quotes it in Romans 2:28-29, to stress the inward reality necessary for the true Jew.

A return must be a return to Him, the Lord; anything less is not enough. Their abominations must be judged and put away. Every return of backsliders must be in the same way — a true return to the Lord with confession of sin, self-judgment, and abandonment of evil. The circumcision of the heart means regeneration.

Jeremiah 4 takes up again the subject of chapters 2 and 3. Applying it to the people of that time, it tells them that if they return, it must be to the Lord Himself. Neither forms nor half-measures would be of any use. After verse 4 the prophet announces the certain judgment of God. It would come from the north and fall on Jerusalem in destruction.

In the prophets the trumpet nearly always means war. Jeremiah puts it this way: "I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war."

Verses 5-13. This is the first definite announcement of the coming judgment from the north, which Jeremiah had seen in the vision of the boiling pot facing the north (chapter 1). The lion who comes, the destroyer of the nations, who makes the land desolate, is Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon.

There was no one to save the sad situation! So God raises up the instrument of His anger. The event the book points to is about to happen. Nebuchadnezzar — the lion of Babylon — the destroyer from the north is coming! The battle flag goes up! The trumpet sounds! Evil comes, and a great destruction!

Later in the chapter he says, "A lion has gone up from his thicket, a destroyer of nations has set out" — he means Nebuchadnezzar — "he has gone out from his place to make your land a waste; your cities will be ruins without inhabitant." And again: "In that day, declares the LORD, courage shall fail both king and officials. The priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded." No power would be found anywhere, because God had been forsaken.

In Josiah's day, things looked very prosperous at Jerusalem. Still, the prophet foretold that "disaster from the north, and great destruction" would come on the city. It happened exactly as he said, but we tend to overlook how miraculous that was.

It is God's way to sound the trumpet before He draws His sword. You can see this plainly in Ezekiel 33:4-5. Before God destroyed the earth by water, He sounded the warning trumpet through Noah. In our own time, before the last blow falls, His trumpet sounds in the gospel call. Will you not listen to it, and seek salvation while you may? "Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid?"

There was no man to save the sorrowful situation! Therefore the instrument of God's anger is raised up. The event to which the book points is to take place. Nebuchadnezzar — the lion of Babylon — the destroyer from the north is coming! The battle standard is unfurled! The trumpet sound is heard! Evil comes and a great destruction! Set up a sign of fire!

Jeremiah 4 summons the people to return to the Lord, and this in truth of heart, so that His fury does not break out and burn like fire. Let the trumpet assemble them to the fortified cities, for destruction comes from the north. It is Nebuchadnezzar.

Jeremiah from first to last dwells very much upon Babylon. Babylon was this northern power that is in the mind of the Spirit of God throughout. It is not the Assyrian. The Assyrian was northern too, but the Assyrian power was now destroyed, and it is only in the latter day that Assyria will rise again. But meanwhile Babylon was the great power that overshadowed the earth.

Let them return to the Lord, not to national greatness, but to the Lord their God, and the other would follow. Let them "Return to Me" — not to national salvation, but to their Saviour God, and all else would then come right. Let them "RETURN TO ME" — not to fullness of blessing, but to the Blesser Himself; overflowing blessing would result.

A return must be a return to Him, Jehovah; anything less is not enough. Their abominations must be judged and put away. Every return of backsliders must be in the same way — a true return to the Lord with confession of sin, self-judgment, and abandonment of evil.

In Josiah's day, things looked very prosperous at Jerusalem. Still, the prophet foretold over the city "evil from the north, and a great destruction." This came true exactly, but we are apt to overlook how miraculous it was. Suppose someone announced today that St. Petersburg would be captured and destroyed. Most people would smile and dismiss the idea. If it took place, the fulfilment would be all the more striking because of their scepticism. So it is with Jeremiah's prophecy about Jerusalem.

There was nothing immediate or sudden. Jeremiah spoke the word of the Lord and suffered for it. God in long-suffering mercy waited on the people, patiently looking for their repentance. That did not happen; and meanwhile the prophet was reproached and ill-treated. In the end the hearts of the people, the princes, the priests, the prophets and the pastors grew utterly hard. Then Jeremiah's words came true, and fast.

God was not, and is not, in any hurry to judge, and He never sits in judgment without giving plenty of warning; but doom comes at last, and deservedly.

This is the first clear announcement of the coming judgment from the north. Jeremiah had already seen it in the vision of the boiling pot facing north (chapter 1). The lion who comes, the destroyer of the nations, who makes the land desolate, is Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. It is a very vivid description of the approaching judgment.

"The first was like a lion and had eagles' wings." There, beyond question, we have the empire of Babylon. It is nothing new for the Holy Spirit to apply the figure of a lion to Nebuchadnezzar, or of an eagle either. Jeremiah has already used the same figure: "A lion has gone up from his thicket, a destroyer of nations has set out." Ezekiel, like Jeremiah, also pictured him as an eagle. He is in fact called both the lion and the eagle in Jer. 49:19-22. In Daniel's vision the Holy Spirit combines the two figures in one symbol, to give a fitting picture of what the empire of Babylon was in the mind of God.

He was the man in whom God set up the Gentiles. The house of David, the throne of Judah, had corrupted itself; the people's sin had reached its full measure, and God's patience had run out in Nebuchadnezzar's day. The Lord uses him as the rod of His anger against Jerusalem, and as the hand that takes from Him the sword of rule and judgment in the earth.

Later in the chapter he speaks of Nebuchadnezzar: "he has gone out from his place to make your land a waste; your cities will be ruins without inhabitant." Then, in that day, says the Lord, the heart of the king will fail, and the heart of the princes; the priests will be astonished, and the prophets will wonder. No power will be found anywhere, because they had forsaken God.

Jeremiah 4 takes up again the subject of chapters 2 and 3. Applied to the people of that day, it tells them that if they return, it must be to the Lord Himself — neither forms nor half-measures would be of any use. After verse 4 the prophet announces the certain judgment of God, which would come from the north and fall on Jerusalem in destruction.

Every return of backsliders must be in the same way — a true return to the Lord with confession of sin, self-judgment, and abandonment of evil.

In Josiah's day, things looked very prosperous at Jerusalem. Yet the prophet foretold for the city "disaster from the north, and great destruction." It came true exactly, but we easily overlook how miraculous it was. If someone announced today that an enemy would capture and destroy a great capital city, most people would smile and dismiss the idea. If it took place, the fulfilment would be the more striking because of their scepticism. So it is with Jeremiah's prophecy about Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 4 summons the people to return to the Lord, and this in truth of heart, in case His fury breaks out and burns like fire. Let the trumpet gather them to the fortified cities, for destruction comes from the north. It is Nebuchadnezzar. "The lion has come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the nations is on his way. … For this put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned back from us."

From these passages we see that sackcloth was the badge of mourning. People wore it at times of bereavement, calamity, or personal and national repentance. It was worn by the prophets, no doubt in keeping with their own mourning and with their call to the people to repent.

The Lord was not indifferent to Israel's plight, for He called "for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth." The Lord wanted His people to feel how serious their departure from Him was. He wanted them to return to Him in true sorrow and repentance.

Had they mourned because the trouble had come on themselves? Or because the trouble came from the dishonour and shame they had brought on God? … They had fasted for themselves and cried over their own disaster, but had failed to repent. They had grieved over their own fate rather than asking what caused God's judgments and mourning over their condition. To be sad about ruin is not the same as humbling yourself before the Lord.

Jeremiah 4 continues the moral pleading with the people. "If you will return, O Israel, says the Lord, return to Me." Then comes the call showing that God could not be satisfied with outward forms. "Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and remove the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Otherwise My fury will come out like fire and burn, and no one will be able to quench it."

God was not, and is not, in any hurry to judge. He never sits in judgment without giving plenty of warning. But the sentence comes at last, and it is deserved.

"I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light. I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking… I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the air had fled. … The fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the Lord, and before His fierce anger." All this was a vision of the trouble hanging over the Jews, and in fact over the nations as a whole. This prophecy goes far beyond what Nebuchadnezzar inflicted, and includes judgments still future.

From Jeremiah 4:3 to the end of Jeremiah 6 the prophet deals with the state of Israel. Like the chaos that overtook the distant creation of Genesis 1:1, ignorance of God and injustice were bringing the same thing on the nation. There was no man to save the sorrowful situation! So the instrument of God's anger is raised up. The event the book points to is about to happen. Nebuchadnezzar — the lion of Babylon — the destroyer from the north is coming! The battle standard is unfurled! The trumpet sound is heard!

"The lion has come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the nations is on his way" — referring to Nebuchadnezzar. … No power will be found anywhere because God was forsaken. … This prophecy goes far beyond the damage Nebuchadnezzar did. It takes in judgments that are still to come.

In Jeremiah, the first of three features is God's testimony against the prophets. "The priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded" (Jer. 4:9). "An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so" (Jer. 5:30-31). "From prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely" (Jer. 6:13).

It is always a mark of false prophecies that in a day of evil they promised prosperity. When the people of God have departed from Him, false prophets prophesy smooth things. They have their glowing dreams of progress and of the extension of the work and blessing of the Lord. The coming of great things and pleasant things is their invariable testimony. A true prophet, on the contrary, in the day of evil warns of the coming of the Lord to judge the ungodly.

The prophet seeks true circumcision "to the Lord", the circumcision that touches the heart, preparing it for Him. With pleadings and warnings he labours to reach them. It is the same today. Unless we have been reached in the heart, in the spirit, in the very centre of our being, we are strangers to the living God. That is true even if, like these Jews, we call ourselves "the people of God" and have priests and a form of religion.

The path of restoration is a return — not to outward observances, but to Himself, and nothing less than that. "If you return, O Israel, declares the LORD, to me you should return" (Jer. 4). As for His people — blessed be His Name — our God is satisfied with nothing less than their heart. And this is not about what they can be to Him. It is about what He can be for them.

But, as always, God keeps a remnant. They truly turn to the Lord Himself, and they are true in heart to Him. So He will not make a full end of the nation.

So he says later on in the chapter, "The lion has come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the nations is on his way." He means Nebuchadnezzar. "He has gone out from his place to make your land desolate; and your cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant." "And in that day, says Jehovah, the heart of the king will fail, and the heart of the princes. The priests will be astonished, and the prophets will wonder." No power will be found anywhere because God was forsaken.

Verse 10 does not mean that Jeremiah is blaming the Lord for deceiving the people. Jeremiah did not preach peace, but the false prophets did. They came and spoke in the name of Jehovah, saying there would be peace. Jehovah allowed both these prophets and their message as a judgment. So the people were deceived.

It is a wrong translation in verse 7 which makes Jeremiah accuse the Lord of deceiving him. It should read, "Lord, You have enticed me," being the same word as in verse 10.

The false prophets must be the first to fall by the very disaster they promised the people would escape. And the people must learn through their own just ruin how foolish it is to heed man's promises.

When the people of God go wrong, the spirit of false prophecy is always there. It would have them believe that all goes well. Men in authority love to hear that they need not be discouraged. Look at the opposition Jeremiah met in Jerusalem. The false prophet helps this along. He keeps the conscience from turning back to God, who would use chastening to bring the conscience into direct contact with Him.

Does God cause darkness? Yes, truly, and blindness too, if people refuse His light. No darkness is deeper, and no blindness more complete, than the darkness God sends as a judgment on those who treat His Word lightly.

There is no shortage of people who prophesy smooth things. In Jeremiah's day some said, "Peace, peace," while the Lord's sword hung over the land. We have similar false prophets among us today... All who speak this way are deceivers of men's souls.

The fan was a small shovel. A worker threw wheat up into the air with it, so the wind might carry away the chaff (Isaiah 30:24; Jeremiah 4:11). Scripture also uses it as a picture of the judgements of God (Isaiah 41:16; Jeremiah 15:7; Jeremiah 51:2), and of the separating power of the testimony of the Lord Jesus (Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17).

Threshing is the simple picture of judgment. But winnowing carries the double idea of separation both to mercy and to judgment, and this is especially so where the fan is in view.

Verses 5-13. This is the first definite announcement of the coming judgment from the north. Jeremiah had seen it in the vision of the boiling pot facing north (chapter 1). The lion who comes, the destroyer of the Gentiles, who makes the land desolate, is Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. It is a very vivid description of the approaching judgment.

Verse 10 does not mean that Jeremiah is blaming the Lord for deceiving the people. Jeremiah did not preach peace, but the false prophets did. They came and spoke in the name of the LORD, saying that there would be peace. The LORD allowed these prophets and their message as a judgment. And so the people were deceived.

In the Lord's appeal to Israel, through the prophet Jeremiah, we learn what ruined the nation in its responsibility. It had one source: they lost the affection for the LORD with which they began their history as a people called out from the nations. (Jeremiah 2:2, 13, 19; 3:12, 14, 22; 4:11, 17.)

Jeremiah 4 takes up the subject of chapters 2 and 3 again. Applied to the people of that day, it tells them that if they return, it must be to the Lord Himself. Neither forms nor half-measures would be of any use. After verse 4 the prophet announces the certain judgment of God. It would come from the north and fall on Jerusalem in destruction.

The day of the Babylonian leads the prophet on to the day of Israel's allied enemies at the end (Jeremiah 4:10-11). This closing judgment will be severe. Scripture presents the rejection of Christ as the occasion and the warrant for it. Judah insulted Messiah when He came to them. They struck the Judge of Israel on the cheek (Matthew 27:30). But the One whom they refused and insulted shall be their only hope. This is Joseph again, and Moses again. Those whom the nation once refused are their only strength and hope in the day of disaster.

The fan was a small shovel, used to throw a portion of wheat up into the air so that the wind might carry away the chaff. Isaiah 30:24; Jeremiah 4:11. It is also used as a symbol of the judgments of God, Isaiah 41:16; Jeremiah 15:7; Jeremiah 51:2; and of the discriminating power of the testimony of the Lord Jesus. Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17.

God uses the wind, as He uses everything else, to work out His purposes with man. Exodus 10:13; Psalm 135:7; Ezekiel 13:13.

Verses 5-13. This is the first definite announcement of the coming judgment from the north. Jeremiah had already seen it in the vision of the boiling pot facing north (chapter 1). The lion who comes, the destroyer of the nations, who makes the land desolate, is Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. It is a very vivid description of the approaching judgment.

"A lion has gone up from his thicket, a destroyer of nations has set out." That refers to Nebuchadnezzar. "He has gone out from his place to make your land a waste; your cities will be ruins without inhabitant." … No power will be found anywhere because God was forsaken.

The vision comes from the north, for a storm cloud of divine indignation from the north (Babylon) was to burst over the house of Judah. The whirlwind, the cloud, and the fire that the prophet Ezekiel saw are symbols of glory, the divine presence and judgment. (See Psalm 18:8-13; Habakkuk 3; Jeremiah 4:12-13.)

Jeremiah 4 takes up again the subject of chapters 2 and 3. Applying it to the people of that day, it tells them that if they return, it must be to the Lord Himself. Neither forms nor half-measures would be of any use. After verse 4 the prophet announces the certain judgment of God. It would come from the north and fall upon Jerusalem in destruction.

The pathway of restoration is a return to Himself, not to outward observances, and nothing short of that. "If you return, O Israel, declares the LORD, to me you should return" (Jeremiah 4). As for His people — blessed be His name — nothing less than their heart satisfies our God.

With pleadings and warnings he works to reach them. It is the same today. God must reach us in the heart and in the spirit, in the very centre of our being. Without that we are strangers to the living God, even though, like these Jews, we call ourselves "the people of God" and have priests and a form of religion. … But, as at all times, God reserves a remnant. These truly turn to the Lord Himself and are true in heart to Him (Jeremiah 4:27 and 5:18). So He will not make a full end of the nation.

Jeremiah 4 summons the people to return to the Lord, and this in truth of heart, in case His fury breaks out and burns like fire. Let the trumpet gather them to the fortified cities, for destruction comes from the north. It is Nebuchadnezzar… The prophet next tells Jerusalem plainly that these bitter things fall on her because of her sins.

Verses 5-13. This is the first definite announcement of the coming judgment from the north. Jeremiah had seen it in the vision of the boiling pot facing north (chapter 1). The lion who comes, the destroyer of the Gentiles, who makes the land desolate, is Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon.

Then follows the vivid and terrible description of the Chaldean power: "Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour" (Hab. 1:8). More than once Jeremiah uses the same expressions (Jer. 4:13; 5:6; etc.)… The swiftness and agility of the Chaldeans were like a pack of hungry wolves rushing on silently. With gleaming eyes glowing in the dark, they were sure to reach their prey. Just at the right moment the horsemen came storming on, swift as eagles.

So they represent strength (Job 39:19; Ps. 147:10), swiftness (Jer. 4:13; Hab. 1:8), fearlessness (Job 39:18; Jer. 8:6), majesty (Esther 6:8), and strength in the battle.

God might use Jeroboam to discipline Solomon and his house. He might use the kings of Assyria to discipline Jeroboam's subjects. He might use Nebuchadnezzar to discipline Judah and its kings. But all these in their turn God has had to judge. These rods of His anger (Isa. 10:5) were no more faithful to God than the people He used them against.

Verse 10 does not mean that Jeremiah is blaming the Lord for deceiving the people. Jeremiah did not preach peace, but the false prophets did. They came and spoke in the name of Jehovah, saying that there would be peace. And Jehovah permitted these prophets, and their message, as a judgment. And so they were deceived.

"While people are saying, 'There is peace and security,' then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape"… Sudden destruction indeed hangs over those who trust themselves and their own thoughts, rejecting the testimony of God.

A return must be a return to Him, Jehovah; anything less is not enough. Their abominations must be judged and put away. Everyone who has drifted away must return in the same way — a true return to the Lord with confession of sin, self-judgment, and turning from evil.

Jeremiah 4 summons the people to return to the Lord, and to return in truth of heart. If they do not, His fury will break out and burn like fire. Let the trumpet gather them to the fortified cities, for destruction is coming from the north. It is Nebuchadnezzar... The prophet then tells Jerusalem plainly that these bitter things fall on her because of her sins. Then he pours out the grief of his own anguished heart over the horrors hanging over the guilty but beloved city and land.

But it is no use for a backslider to try to put things right outwardly. That is the next point. External washing will not do. It is the inside — the heart — that must be put right. "Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord God" (Jer. 2:22).

"Kabas" is the last word for "wash," and its use is just as distinctive as the one we have just examined. The word means to "tread," and so to wash by treading. Scripture uses it only for washing clothes and other things, or for describing the spiritual effect of cleansing, as in Psalm 51:2, 7; Jer. 2:22; Jer. 4:14. One passage uses three words, each in its own way: rinsing the hands, washing the clothes, and bathing the person (Lev. 15:11).

Sinners would rather not have their hearts broken. It is humbling and painful work. They resist the ploughshare in the conscience, and prefer to be left alone in their sins. It was the same long ago. Paul "reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment," and "Felix was alarmed and said, 'Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you'" (Acts 24:25). The powerful appeal of the apostle to the conscience of Felix was felt, but not answered. He refused the ploughshare, and his heart stayed unbroken.

Jeremiah 4 continues the moral pleadings with the people. "If you will return, O Israel, declares the Lord, return to Me." And then comes the call showing that God could not be satisfied with outward forms... Notice the peculiarity. It is the Jew in particular who comes into the prophet's view, and it is his moral unfitness for the blessing of God.

We must be reached in the heart, in the spirit, in the very centre of our being. Without that we are alienated from the living God. Like these Jews, we may call ourselves "the people of God" and have priests and a form of religion.

And the appeal of God still goes out... "Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes" (Isa. 1:16). "Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded" (James 4:8). But there can be no real national response until they look on Him whom they pierced... Then the Lord Himself will undertake their purification. He promised long ago: "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you" (Ezek. 36:25).

The purpose of God is to save the nation — all Israel. But the heart of Jerusalem must be washed (Jer. 4:14) before salvation can be placed in Zion for Israel His glory (Isa. 46:13).

The portion of land that fell to Dan was found to be too small, so a party of them went far north to Leshem or Laish, which they took and destroyed. They built a city there and called it after their father Dan (Joshua 19:47). This is often named as the north border of Palestine; "from Dan to Beersheba" means the whole land. It was here that open idolatry was set up early.

This does not refer to any particular mountain, but to the range of hill-country in Ephraim.

Ephraim is not only the name of one tribe. It is also the general name for the ten tribes who gathered under that leading tribe. Judah and Ephraim are the two main titles the prophets use, again and again, to contrast the two houses of Israel.

Ignorance of God and injustice were bringing on the nation the same chaos that overtook the creation of Genesis 1:1. There was no man to save the sorrowful situation. Therefore the instrument of God's anger is raised up! The event to which the book points is to take place! Nebuchadnezzar — the lion of Babylon — the destroyer from the north is coming! The battle standard is unfurled! The trumpet sound is heard! Evil comes and a great destruction!

This is the first definite announcement of the coming judgment from the north, which Jeremiah had seen in the vision of the boiling pot toward the north (chapter 1). The lion who comes, the destroyer of the Gentiles, who makes the land desolate, is Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon.

The doom of Jerusalem and Judah is sealed; there can be no escape. Their ways and their doings brought all upon them. And when Jeremiah hears it from the lips of the Lord, he breaks out in a lament: "My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent, for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war."

All this was a vision of the trouble hanging over the Jews, and in fact over the nations as a whole. This prophecy goes far beyond the harm Nebuchadnezzar did. It also takes in judgments of repayment that are still to come.

It is God's way, before drawing His sword, to sound the trumpet. Turn to Ezekiel 33:4-5 and you will see this clearly: "But if anyone hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head." So before God destroyed the earth by water, He sounded the warning trumpet through Noah. And in our own time, before the last stroke falls, His trumpet sounds out in the gospel call. Will you not heed it, and seek salvation while you may? "Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid?" (Amos 3:6).

Why announce so widely and publicly that He is going to carry out judgment? Only so that people will take the sentence home to themselves, and so remove the need to carry it out at all. He speaks it aloud; He says it in people's ears, so that they may turn to Him. No soul ever turned to Him with a sense of coming judgment and failed to find mercy from Him — the freest and fullest mercy possible.

From Jeremiah 4:3 to the end of Jeremiah 6 the prophet Jeremiah deals with the state of Israel... ignorance of God and injustice were bringing the same chaos upon the nation. There was no man to save the sorrowful situation! So God raises up the instrument of His anger! The event the whole book points to is about to happen! Nebuchadnezzar—the lion of Babylon—the destroyer from the north is coming! The battle standard goes up! The trumpet sounds! Evil comes, and a great destruction!

He was the man in whom God set up the Gentiles. The house of David, the throne of Judah, had corrupted itself. The measure of the people's iniquity was full. God's patience had run out in Nebuchadnezzar's day. So the Lord used him as the rod of His anger against Jerusalem, and as the hand that took from Him the sword of rule and judgment in the earth.

Here the Lord brings in Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, the great oppressor of the Jews of whom He had warned. He had told His people what was coming if they did not repent, and they had not repented. Now He announces that He will send and take all the families of the north, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, His servant.

It is God's way before drawing His sword to sound the trumpet. Turn, please, to Ezekiel 33:4-5, and you will see this plainly. "Then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning." So before God destroyed the earth by water, He sounded the warning trumpet through Noah. In our own time, before the last blow falls, His trumpet sounds in the gospel call. Will you not listen to it, and seek salvation while you may?

The doom of Jerusalem and Judah is sealed; there can be no escape. Their ways and their doings brought all upon them.

The book of Jeremiah is mostly testimony spoken straight to the conscience of the people. It deals with their moral condition at the time the prophet speaks, and it looks ahead to the judgment hanging over them... The prophet's heart was overwhelmed with grief, because he loved the people. At the same time, he was filled with a deep sense of their relationship with the Lord.

As faithful witnesses for God, it is our duty to warn an evil world of the judgment appointed. Woe to us if we fail to sound the warning! But how do we do it? Is it in a stern spirit of denunciation, or is it with trembling lips and compassionate hearts? Have we forgotten that, but for the infinite grace of God and the costly sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, we would be in the lake of fire ourselves?

Jeremiah 4 summons the people to return to the Lord, and to return in truth of heart. Otherwise His fury will break out and burn like fire. Let the trumpet gather the people to the fortified cities, for destruction comes from the north. It is Nebuchadnezzar… The prophet next tells Jerusalem plainly that these bitter things come on her for her sins. Then he pours out the grief of his own anguished heart at the horrors hanging over the guilty but beloved city and land.

Every kind of shameful moral impurity marked the people, priests, prophets and elders. Men were offering to false gods and their women baking cakes to the Queen of heaven. They are foolish (Jer. 5:21), deceitful (Jer. 5:27), stupid (Jer. 4:22), hopeless (Jer. 3:25), rebellious (Jer. 4:17), treacherous (Jer. 3:7), and brazen (Ezek. 2:4)… Remember too, that they had their religion. How like the Christian world today. They boasted of the ark of the covenant… The temple too was their lying boast but they had made it a den of thieves.

The Lord appeals to Israel through the prophet Jeremiah. From that appeal we learn that the ruin of the nation, in its responsibility, comes from one source. They lost the love for the LORD with which they began their history as a people called out from the nations. The Lord tenderly reminds them of their early love… That was how their history began. But now the Lord has to say, "You have forsaken the LORD your God." He called them to repent. They failed to do so, and judgment overtakes the nation. (Jer. 2:2, 13, 19; 3:12, 14, 22; 4:11, 17).

First of all, we are reminded that the power of any enemy is put in his hands by the unfaithfulness of God's people. "The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years." No might of Midian could or would have won if the Lord had not permitted it. And He would not have permitted it if Israel's condition had not made it necessary. Those who will not learn in communion with God, must learn in the hands of the enemy.

A return must be a return to Him, the LORD; anything less is not enough. Their abominations must be judged and put away. Every return of people who have drifted away must be the same. It is a true return to the Lord, with confession of sin, self-judgment, and evil given up. The circumcision of the heart means regeneration.

Israel made high claims, but they did not know the Lord! They were "stupid children" with "no understanding". They were "wise to do evil", but they had no knowledge of how to do good (Jer. 4:22). Woe and anguish must therefore come on them (v. 31). But, as at all times, God reserves a remnant. Such turn in reality to the Lord Himself, and they are true in heart to Him (Jer. 4:27 and 5:18); therefore, He will not make a full end of the nation.

The prophet next tells Jerusalem plainly that these bitter things happen to her because of her sins. Then he pours out the lament of his own anguished heart over the horrors hanging over the guilty but beloved city and land.

The doom of Jerusalem and Judah is sealed; there can be no escape. Their ways and their doings brought all of it upon them.

This is no arbitrary thing. The law is the same physically and morally — "Whatever one sows, that will he also reap." In the true sense here, man is the maker of his own destiny.

No doubt, in such a case, the Father may use the necessary consequences of past sin as a present discipline for the soul of His child. But we tend to see this and similar cases as examples of that great and solemn governmental rule: "Whatever one sows, that will he also reap." You may see men suffering all their lifetime the natural consequences of past folly and excess. We must learn to tell the difference between the way grace acts and the way God's government acts. Grace pardons and restores; but government takes its course. If you sow weeds, you cannot reap wheat. Grace can pardon your folly in sowing the weeds, but it will not change the crop.

After their redemption, neither Egypt nor Assyria had anything to do with Israel until they got away from God. But their hearts, away from God, longed for evil company, and received their due reward… But if I am away from Him, and His hand is on me, I cannot blame Him. Is the blame His? Ah no, I know Him too well to say that.

They have "forsaken Me!" they have "forgotten Me!" they have "turned their backs to Me!" He says again and again. This shows how He felt their treatment and the bitter suffering they were bringing upon themselves… It is indeed very touching to think of this rejected love, this love divine.

While foretelling the doom coming on Jerusalem by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah works to reach the heart of the people… The prophet seeks true circumcision "to the Lord", the circumcision which touches the heart, preparing it for Him. With pleadings and warnings he works to reach them. It is the same today. Unless we have been reached in the heart, and in the spirit, in the very centre of our being, we are alienated from the living God. That is true even though, like these Jews, we call ourselves "the people of God" and have priests and a form of religion.

But, as at all times, God reserves a remnant. They truly turn to the Lord Himself, and they are true in heart to Him; so He will not make a full end of the nation.

Jeremiah 4 summons the people to return to the Lord, and this in truth of heart, in case His fury breaks out and burns like fire. Let the trumpet gather them to the fortified cities, for destruction comes from the north. It is Nebuchadnezzar… The prophet next tells Jerusalem plainly that these bitter things come on her for her sins. Then he pours out the lament of his own anguished heart over the horrors hanging over the guilty but beloved city and land.

The coming disasters are so vast that the vision before him reminds us of the chaotic state of the world described at the very beginning of Genesis. … All this was a vision of the trouble hanging over the Jews, and in fact over the nations as a whole. This prophecy goes far beyond what Nebuchadnezzar inflicted. It also includes punishing judgments still to come.

The doom of Jerusalem and Judah is sealed; there can be no escape. Their ways and their doings brought it all on them. And when Jeremiah hears it from the lips of the Lord, he breaks out in a lament.

Listen to the lament of Jehovah in the book of Jeremiah, in highly figurative language, when He says, "My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!" (Jeremiah 4:19-22). Then compare the words of the same blessed Person when He lived here on earth and wept over the deluded people, saying, "If you had only known…" (Luke 19:41-44).

Like our Lord Jesus Christ, the prophet loved Israel and Jerusalem. He felt how real their sorrowful state was. Jeremiah entered into it so deeply that we find him crying out, "My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!" (Jer. 4:19). And as though their desolation were his own, he cries, "My joy is gone; grief is upon me; my heart is sick within me" (Jer. 8:18).

Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, takes up the same sorrowful song… His tears remind us how a poor sinner saved by grace should warn other sinners of coming judgments. The spirit should be one of weeping appeal, not stern, harsh condemnation and rebuke.

The prophet seeks true circumcision "to the Lord," the circumcision that touches the heart and prepares it for Him. With pleadings and warnings he works to reach them. It is the same today. Unless we are reached in the heart and in the spirit, at the very centre of our being, we are alienated from the living God. That holds even when, like these Jews, we call ourselves "the people of God" and have priests and a form of religion… But, as always, God keeps a remnant.

From Jeremiah 4:3 to the end of Jeremiah 6 the prophet deals with the state of Israel. Like the chaos that overtook the distant creation of Genesis 1:1, ignorance of God and injustice were bringing the same upon the nation. There was no man to save the sorrowful situation! So the instrument of God's anger is raised up! The event the book points to is about to take place! Nebuchadnezzar — the lion of Babylon — the destroyer from the north is coming! The battle standard is unfurled! The trumpet sound is heard! Evil comes, and a great destruction!

Verses 14-22. The doom of Jerusalem and Judah is sealed; there can be no escape. Their ways and their doings brought all upon them. And when Jeremiah hears it from the lips of the Lord, he breaks out in a lament.

The prophet seeks true circumcision "to the Lord", the circumcision which touches the heart, preparing it for Him. With pleadings and warnings he labours to reach them. It is the same today. Unless we are reached in the heart and in the spirit, in the very centre of our being, we are alienated from the living God. We may still, like these Jews, call ourselves "the people of God" and have priests and a form of religion. What good is their claim to be a religious nation, if the Lord is not exalted? … Israel made high claims, but they did not know the Lord! They were "stupid children", they had "no understanding", they were "wise — in doing evil", but how to do good they did not know.

Like our Lord Jesus Christ, the prophet loved Israel and Jerusalem. He truly felt their sorrowful state. He entered into it so deeply that we find him crying out, "My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!" And just as if their desolation were his own, he cries, "My joy is gone; grief is upon me; my heart is sick within me."

Jeremiah was the faithful Jew in his day; he witnessed the sin and foretold, even weeping, the sorrows of his people. And so the Lord in His day stood in the middle of the evil, alone faithful. As a second weeping Prophet, He told of the coming judgments on the daughter of His people. In Jeremiah we have the Christ, not as the Lamb of God, but as the Kinsman, the faithful weeping Prophet of Israel. And it is in this character that we must hear Him saying, "Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?"

Among the prophets the trumpet is generally linked with war and nothing more. Jeremiah puts it this way: "I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war." Yet a few passages leave a very strong impression on the mind. Isaiah 27:13 is one: "And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain at Jerusalem."

The prophet then sees what will happen to the land of Israel after the threatened judgment has passed over it. Only Israel's land is in view. We must not overlook that the Lord said: "The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end." This is Israel's hope.

No power will be found anywhere because God was forsaken.

In these chapters (4 to 6), the Lord again declares the cause of all their distress. He says, "They have forsaken Me, they have not known Me, they do not fear Me" (Jer. 4:22; 5:7, 19, 22).

Foolish. Jer. 4:22. Anglo-Saxon, sot, stupid.

They are foolish (Jer. 5:21), deceitful (Jer. 5:27), sottish (Jer. 4:22), hopeless (Jer. 3:25), rebellious (Jer. 4:17), treacherous (Jer. 3:7)… This was the state of things that Jeremiah and the remnant had to meet. Remember too, that they had their religion.

Unless God has reached us in the heart and in the spirit, in the very centre of our being, we are strangers to the living God. That is true even though, like these Jews, we call ourselves "the people of God" and have priests and a form of religion. What good is their claim to be a religious nation if the Lord is not exalted!… Israel made high claims, but they did not know the Lord!

It is true that the mind of man is a marvellous creation… but he has lost the knowledge of God by sin, and all desire for that knowledge. "No one understands; no one seeks for God." The guilt is not in the capacity, but in the will. "People loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil."… The prophets declare of Israel… "For my people are foolish; they know me not."

Remember that the word "ignorance" comes from the word "ignore." Israel had ignored the clear teaching they were given, so they were ignorant… "If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God" (John 7:17). An obedient heart will always have understanding.

"I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil" (Rom. 16:19; compare Jer. 4:22). Dwelling on evil does not by itself improve the state of our soul. If the Lord shows it to us, it is not so that we should be taken up with it. No, He would have us in the enjoyment of Himself, despite the mischief which Satan has worked.

The wisdom of the world must know its tricks to avoid them. But God has a path of His own in the world, one that wisdom has marked out… Once I learn this, I need not know all the evil, or any of it. I will walk in the wise and holy path I know, and I need not know the rest… If I know the one right path across the wasteland, I need not learn all the paths that lost themselves in it.

There was no man to stand in the gap. No one carried out justice. No one even looked for the truth… Both the land and the nation must wait for the return of "The Man Christ Jesus," raised from among the dead, of the seed of David, now hidden in the heavens. They will not wait in vain!