Jeremiah’s Message of Doom Conditions of Land Retention (Lev. 26; Deut. 28): –IF Obedient, People Blessed With Prosperity, Peace and Protection (Lev. 26:1-13;

Jeremiah’s Message of Doom• Conditions of Land Retention

(Lev. 26; Deut. 28):– IF Obedient, People Blessed With

Prosperity, Peace and Protection (Lev. 26:1-13; contrast Lev. 26:9 with Jer. 44:27)

– IF Disobedient, People Punished With Sword, Famine, Plague, and Ultimately CAPTIVITY (Lev. 26:14-46; cp. Leviticus 18:24-30)

Jeremiah’s Message of Doom• Judah Followed the Example of

Faithless Israel - Jeremiah 3:6-11– “Then the LORD said to me in the days of

Josiah the king, ‘Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a harlot there. I thought, ‘After she has done all these things she will return to Me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ

Jeremiah’s Message of Doom• Judah Followed the Example of

Faithless Israel - Jeremiah 3:6-11– “… of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah

did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also. Because of the lightness of her harlotry, she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in deception,’ declares the Lord. And the Lord said to me, ‘Faithless Israel has proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.’”

Jeremiah’s Message of Doom• “Like Mother, Like Daughter”

(Ezek. 16:44-47):– Mother, a Hittite

– Father, an Amorite

– Older Sister, Samaria (Israel)

– Younger Sister, Sodom

• “You not only walked in their ways and copied their detestable practices,but in all your ways you soon became more depraved than they” (47) - LESSON: Rom. 12:1-2

Jeremiah’s Message of Doom• The Book of Jeremiah

Emphasizes The Far-Reaching Impact of Corruption and Error:– “I will make them an object of horror among

all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem” (Jer. 15:4)

• Evil Influences Should Have Been “Cut Off” (Lev. 18:29), But Were’t

Jeremiah’s Message of Doom• Lesson For God’s People Today:

– Do Not Fellowship Sinners (2 Cor. 6:14-18; 1 Cor. 5; Eph. 5:11)

– Do Not Keep “Bad Company” (1 Cor. 15:33; Prov. 22:24, 25)

– Do Not Fellowship False Teachers (Tit. 3:10,11; 2 Jn. 9-11; Rm. 16:17)

– Do Not Compromise (Gal. 2:11-14)

Jeremiah’s Message of Doom• Judah’s Sin Was Deep:

– “The sin of Judah is written down with an iron stylus; With a diamond point it is engraved upon the tablet of their heart and on the horns of their altars” (Jer. 17:1 contast 31:33)

• Jeremiah 13:23 - “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.”

Jeremiah’s Message of Doom

• Judah’s Sin Was Prevalent:– “Roam to and fro through the streets of

Jerusalem, And look now and take note. And seek in her open squares, If you can find a man, If there is one who does justice, who seeks truth, Then I will pardon her” (Jer. 5:1; cp. Rom. 3:10, 23; Gal. 3:22)

• Comparable to Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18:23-33 - “I will not destroy it for ten’s sake”)

Jeremiah’s Message of Doom• The People Had Become “Skilled

at doing evil” (Jer. 4:22)– Like Those of Micah’s Day, Who “Worked

Evil With Both Hands Earnestly” (Mic. 7:3)

• Went From “One Sin to Another” (Jer. 9:3)

• “They weary themselves with sinning” (Jer. 9:5)


• The Practice of Serving “Worthless Idols” Had Made the People “Worthless Themselves” (Jer. 2:5) “Gods” Made to Approve All Desires - “Fill-in-the-Blank” Religion!

• Jeremiah Lamented On Behalf of His People:

“Harvest is past, summer is ended, And we are not saved” (Jer. 8:20)


• Jer. 8:22:– “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is

there no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not then been restored?”

• Jer. 30:12 - Their Hurt Was Incurable” - Their Wound Was “Grevious” (see 15:18) - NO REMEDY (2 Chron. 36:16)


• Though Many Offers of Forgiveness and Deliverance Were Made, The People Had Reached a Point of No Return

• God Had “Grown Tired of Relenting” (Jer. 15:6)

• Zedekiah was Told, “I am about to hand this city over to the king of

Jeremiah’s Message of Doom• …Babylon, and he will burn it down”

(Jer. 34:2) - “I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there” (Jer. 34:22)

• “The Babylonians who are fighting against this city will enter and set this city on fire and burn it, with the houses where {people} have offered incense to Baal on their roofs and poured out drink offerings to other gods to provoke Me to anger” (Jer. 32:29)

Jeremiah’s Message of Doom• God Sent Jeremiah To Identify

and Condemn Judah’s Sins:– “I will pronounce My judgments on them

concerning all their wickedness, whereby they have forsaken Me and have offered sacrifices to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands” (Jer. 1:16)

• Accomplished Through God Putting His Words Into Jeremiah’s Mouth (Jer. 1:9; 1 Thess. 2:13 2 Tim. 3:16)

• Jeremiah Was Told:– “Now, gird up your loins and arise, and speak to

them all which I command you. Do not be dismayed before them, or I will dismay you before them” (Jer. 1:17; cp Josh. 1:7; Ps. 119:6; Matt. 4:4; Acts 5:20; 20:26,27)

– “See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant” (Jer. 1:10; cp. 2 Tim. 4:2).


• Jeremiah Was Told to Issue These Warnings Even Though The Hearers Would Not Turn:– (Jer. 18:11, 12) - “So now then, speak to

the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh turn back, each of you from his evil way, and reform your ways and your deeds.’ But they will say,


• Jeremiah Was Told to Issue These Warnings Even Though The Hearers Would Not Turn:– (Jer. 18:11, 12) - “…It's hopeless! For we

are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’” (Lk. 17:2, 3 - No Repentance: No Forgiveness)

– “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people” (Jer. 15:1).


• “I will summon all the people of the North” (Jer. 25:9; 4:6):

• Refers to the Babylonians, Under King Nebuchadnezzar (20:1-6; 25:11,12)– “I am summoning a sword against all the

inhabitants of the earth” (Jer. 25:29)

– Babylon = “the mighty storm” that was rising (Jer. 25:32), and the “Hammer of the Whole Earth” (50:23)



• The “People of the North”– To Come From “the North”

Because This Was the Normal Travel Route Into Palestine

– Jer. 4:6 - “I am bringing disaster from the North, even terrible destruction”

– Jer. 6:1 - “Flee for safety, people of Benjamin! Sound the trumpet in Tekoa! Raise the signal over Beth Hakkerem! For disaster looms out of the north, even terrible destruction.”

Jeremiah’s Message of Doom• The “People of the North”

– Jer. 6:22 - “This is what the Lord says: ‘Look, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is being stirred up from the ends of the earth… they are cruel and have no mercy... (23)”

– Jer. 10:22 - “Listen! The report is coming- a great commotion from the land of the north! It will make the towns of Judah desolate, a haunt of jackals.”

– Jer. 31:8 - In Restoration, Exiles To Return From the Land of the “North”

• Habakkuk’s Description (1:5-12)– “Look among the nations! Observe! Be

astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days -- You would not believe if you were told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that fierce and impetuous people who march throughout the earth to seize dwelling places which are not theirs. They are dreaded and feared; Their justice and authority originate with themselves. Their horses


• Habakkuk 1:5-12– “are swifter than leopards and keener

than wolves in the evening. Their horsemen come galloping, their horsemen come from afar; They fly like an eagle swooping {down} to devour. All of them come for violence. Their horde of faces moves forward. They collect captives like sand. They mock at kings and rulers are a laughing matter to them. They laugh at every fortress and heap up


• Habakkuk 1:5-12– “rubble to capture it. Then they will

sweep through like the wind and pass on. But they will be held guilty, they whose strength is their god. Are you not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. You, O Lord, have appointed them to judge; And You, O Rock, have established them to correct.”

– God Used a Punisher That Was Suitable For the Task!


• Divine Principle: Punishment Matches Crime - Ex. 21:22, 23– “If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she

gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.”

– Per Habakkuk’s Description, God Used a Punisher That Matched the Character on the Criminal


• The People of Judah Had Become Merciless, Mean, Inconsiderate of Human Life, Idolatrous, Arrogant, Calloused & Cruel:

• Thus God, (Justly) Sent a Punisher (Slayer, Ezek. 21:11) That Was of the Same Mindset


• Jerusalem First Attacked in 606 BC - Further Destruction in 597 - Burned and Destroyed 586

• Jeremiah 39 & 52 Provides Details of the Final Attack - Walls Broken Down - Temple, Palace House, and Important Buildings Burned - Temple Valuables Taken - Only the Poor Left


Documents

Jeremiah’s Message of Doom Conditions of Land Retention (Lev. 26; Deut. 28): –IF Obedient, People Blessed With Prosperity, Peace and Protection (Lev. 26:1-13;