Jeremiah speaks through time to God's people today...

 

I am doing a read-through-the-Bible plan on You Version and my comments have often been too long to share on the app.

Several things from the devotional reading (Jeremiah 14-17) gave me pause...

“They have loved to wander thus; they have not restrained their feet; therefore, the Lord does not accept them."

Might God's people today be wandering into things from which He would want them to restrain?

"Though they fast, I will not hear their cry... I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.” 

That's a scary thing. But Psalm 66:18 has a similar warning.  

IS God hearing the prayers of the majority of Christians today, or no?

Jeremiah then gives a reason God's people are deceived.

"Ah, Lord God, behold, the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.'” 

This is so true. I hear things like this all the time — that God sees Christ when He looks at Christians (minus an evaluation of their daily habits) AND that there will be a pre-trib rapture that somehow voids for Christians the warnings given of the final days (the mark of the beast time) in which saints are told to endure. 

In many churches today, Christians are not taught to analyze their own behavior and character next to Biblical law, which defines God's character and will. They, instead, believe doctrines that make them feel OK and safe. 

The Lord replied to Jeremiah,

“The prophets are prophesying lies in my name... the deceit of their own minds.

(14:10‭, ‬12‭-‬14 ESV)

I believe this is true today. In my experience, most churched people seem not to know the word of God very well. They mostly regurgitate what they've been told it says. 

The next verses in Jeremiah were so sad.

“Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go! And when they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: “ ‘Those who are for pestilence, to pestilence, and those who are for the sword, to the sword; those who are for famine, to famine, and those who are for captivity, to captivity.’"

Revelation 13:10 says the same thing. 

"If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints."

 

The Lord then tells Jeremiah, 

"...you keep going backward, so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you— I am weary of relenting."

Obviously then, Jeremiah feels God may be gesturing to him and he evaluates himself...

"Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts. I did not sit in the company of revelers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone, because your hand was upon me, for you had filled me with indignation."

I think this is what all God's people ought to be about. It goes along with the mourning of which God takes note in Ezekiel 9:4. 

Paul talks about how our life should be with a mindset of not really being attached to our experiences here. Our mind should be so on where God is and what He is about. We are His 'pawns'. 

"This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away." (1 Cor. 7:29‭-‬31)

I think the Lord wants His people to take seriously that about which He accuses them,  "they loved to wander thus; they have not restrained their feet".

In chapter 15 of Jeremiah, the Lord says,

“If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them. And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares the Lord."

(15:1‭-‬3‭, ‬6‭, ‬16‭-‬17‭, ‬19‭-‬20)

In other words, living God's way is going to get us attacked. But God promises to make us like "a fortified wall of bronze".

I can't help but consider what God told Jeremiah about having a family (16:2-5) and how Paul felt about having a family (1Cor.7:7-9 & 28-29) and compare it to how my daughters feel about having families in this crazy time. But, back on topic...

If we were to accuse today's typical congregation of apathy, I think we would hear the same questions as did Jeremiah. 

“... What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?"

And God answered, 

"... Because your fathers …have gone after other gods ... and have not kept my law, and because YOU have done worse than your fathers, for behold, every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me."

(16:2‭, ‬4‭-‬5‭, ‬8‭-‬12)

I hear in this verse a follow-your-heart mentality from God's people. The church HAS preached a freedom from thinking too deeply about one's own works. They mainly preach that we just need to love God and love people: coming off more like a mindless toleration that doesn't expect too much of oneself or of others. Love seems to have become more of a feeling one chooses to have or outward display one chooses to manufacture, whereas it is something so much deeper than feelings and more real than personal discipline. Love is God because God is love. When we have God, we have love. Love actually produces evidence of the Spirit who possesses us and isn't so much something manufactured by one's own will. Because of a follow-your-heart mentality, members of local church bodies don't end up thinking the same things regarding what a Christian home should look like nor do they agree on what Christians should avoid as far as interactions with the world and with what the world has to offer. Christians are very dependent on most things the world has to offer pertaining to living 'normally'. And I think we need to consider whether we are prepared to let loose of all dependencies when the mark of the beast is implemented. But, like I said earlier, preachers and teachers are explaining away Scripture that gives this warning. I have heard Christians say, "Oh, we don't have to worry about the mark of the beast. I heard a preacher explain that only people saved after the rapture will have to go through that." Where in Scripture do they get this idea? The saints of God are not mentally or physically prepared to endure.

In chapter 17, God says that he "who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength ...is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come" while he who has practiced dependency on God "is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” 

And that's like Psalm 1.

The Lord says He will "search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” 

And then Jeremiah launches into a lengthy discourse about the one of the Ten Commandments MOST ignored by the church. 

"Thus says the Lord: Take care for the sake of your lives, and do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day... And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath or do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers. Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck, that they might not hear and receive instruction...

But if you listen to me, declares the Lord, and bring in no burden... on the Sabbath day, but keep the Sabbath day holy and do no work on it, then ...this city shall be inhabited forever. But if you do not listen to me, to keep the Sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden... on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire... and shall not be quenched."

(Jeremiah 17:5‭-‬6‭, ‬8‭-‬10‭, ‬21‭-‬25‭, ‬27 ESV)

First off, THE Sabbath isn't Sunday. The early Catholic church persecuted Christians who kept the Sabbath as Judaizers, and made a law against resting on the real Sabbath. Then they gave the first day of the week, sun-god day, Sabbath status. It has been this way for hundreds of years. But now, Christians just don't pay much, if any, attention to what 'keeping the Sabbath' should mean. In the millennial reign, the Sabbath is actually important (Isa.66:23), so why don't we honor a Sabbath between the time of Christ and His millennial reign? 

Why is the Feast of Tabernacles going to be important for ALL nations? (Zech.14:18) 

Why is the church so apathetic to this stuff?

Jeremiah still speaks to an apathetic people.