Sermon Tone Analysis

Today’s passage is broken up into two primary sections.

The first is the Judgement that Adonai predicts and the second is the heart-felt cry of Jeremiah when he hears of this coming doom.

Let us begin in Jer.

4:5-31

Imminent Invasion from the North

Adonai begins this prophesy by warning of a day of battle, a time of calamity that will come.

Jeremiah is emphasizing the emergency with words like, “Blow the shofar”, “Cry aloud”, “Assemble yourselves”, “Raise a banner”, “Take Refuge”, “Do not delay.”

So while the nation had superficially repented under King Josiah, Jeremiah is see that God’s judgement is still determined, and will come from the North.

This nation that is coming will be like a Lion, and one who destroys nations.

The Destruction that will comes will cause the cities to “lie in ruins, without inhabitant.”

This would occur when Nebuchadnezzar would bring his army twice to destroy Jerusalem.

Michael Brown quotes W.F. Albright in explaining the archaeological evidence of this.

Many towns were destroyed at the beginning of the sixth century BC and never again occupied; others were destroyed at that time and partly reoccupied at some later date; still others were destroyed and reoccupied after a long period of abandonment, marked by a sharp change of stratum and by intervening indications of use for non-urban purposes.

There is not a single known case where a town of Judah proper was continuously occupied through the exilic period.

While the call for the nation is to truly repent in sackcloth, Jeremiah sees that the judgement is still coming.

Jeremiah’s Question

In verse 10, Jeremiah cries out to the Lord, “Alas!

How you have deceived this people saying, ‘You shall have shalom.’”

But is it that Adonai has actually deceived the people?

We see from the previous verse, that that priests and the prophets will be taken by surprise, and later on in we will see more reference to these false prophets.

There are several thoughts here.

It could be the same as with King Ahab of Israel in 1 Kings 22:19-23

Or it could simply be that because the Lord delayed the judgement, the prophets simply said what the kings wanted to hear.

Either way, the people preferred to listen to the lies rather than listen to the truth that Jeremiah spoke.

These people had “traded the truth of God for a lie.”

Adonai Continues

Adonai is not done.

The Judgement is coming like a fierce scorching wind that will not benefit, but will tear through the countryside and besiege Jerusalem.

This is exactly what happened through Nebuchadnezzar as described in 2 Kings 25:1-3

And in all of this, Adonai declares that Jer.

4:18

Jeremiah’s Lament

Verses 19 through 26, we see the heart of Jeremiah breaking for his people.

There are many passages throughout this book, where it is difficult to see where the words of Adonai end and the words of the prophet begin.

But this is because Jeremiah has the heart of the Lord.

He longs for his people to repent.

Heschel comments on this passage, that:

Indeed, this was a part of the complexity of the prophet’s inner existence.

He was a person overwhelmed by sympathy for God and sympathy for man.

Standing before the people he pleaded for God; standing before God he pleaded for his people.

The prediction of doom was contrary to his own feelings.

Jeremiah is at a loss for words.

The pain he is experiencing is causing him to writhe in anguish.

He sees that the whole land is ruined and cries out, “MY tents” and “MY curtains.”

There is a sense of ownership and possession.

and Verse 22 continues to say, “MY people are foolish, they do not know ME.”

Here again, it is hard to distinguish the anguish of the prophet from the anguish of Adonai.

Whose children are these people?

Are they Jeremiah’s people, or are they Adonai’s people?

Maybe it is both.

Jeremiah’s heart is broken over the judgement that is coming because of the sin of the people, and Adonai’s heart is broken over the sin of the people and the consequential judgement that must come.

We have mentioned 2 Peter 3:9 many times, but we must remember that it breaks God’s heart when people refuse to humbly repent.

He does not want “anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance.”

Reverse Creation

Jeremiah now looks and sees the reverse of creation.

Instead of the “formless and void” being filled with life, Jeremiah now sees the earth "deserted and desolate.”

Instead of the world being filled with light, the prophet now sees the heaven without light; instead of stability and order, now even the mountains are shaking to and fro.

There are no people; the are no birds; there are no fruitful field.

Why is creation groaning?

Because of the fierceness of Adonai’s anger!

Two Witnesses

Adonai states in Jer.

4:28 that, “the earth will mourn and the heavens above grow black.”

Why does he say this?

Because Jeremiah is watching the enactment of the Mosaic Covenant in all it fullness.

Moses tells Beni Yisrael three different times in Deuteronomy, that Heaven and Earth are two witnesses of the covenant between them and Adonai.

The second time at the conclusion of the Blessings and the Curses, blessings for obedience, and curses for disobedience.

Deut.

30:15-20

What Jeremiah is seeing, is the fulfillment of the curses due to the disobedience of the people of Judah.

Prideful & Unashamed

At the end of the chapter, Adonai asks a telling question, Jer.

4:30 “And you, O desolate one, what will you do?"

Instead of dressing in humble sackcloth, Judah dresses in scarlet; instead of throwing ashes in their hair, Judah adorns herself with gold and makeup; instead of humbling herself before her husband and king, Adonai, Judah is still attempting to beautify herself before false gods and foreign nations.

There is no repentance.

Application

So how do we apply this passage to our lives?

The response of Jeremiah has convicted me.

Empathise with God

The first thing we must do is to empathise with God.

Empathy is to share in someone else’s experience or emotions.

We need to see this world as God sees it.

Adonai is the creator of all things.

He is the ruler of all of creation.

He is the only one worthy of worship, and to Him we all owe thanks and praise.

When we do not thank and praise God, we end up setting up other things in our lives that we esteem and exalt.

This angers God, because He, as the only eternal living God, has been replaced in our lives with something that is temporary and empty.

When we sin or transgress His commands, then because He is a just Judge, the penalty must be applied.

Ezekiel is told that the Seal of Adonai would be put on all the righteous people prior to judgement.

Eze.

9:4

Do we sigh and moan over all the abominations that are committed in our nation of Australia?

Does it break our heart that Pride is exalted?

Does our heart break over the innocent blood of the unborn children that is spilt upon the ground?

I have found myself swinging between anger and sadness for the last few weeks, over all the sin that is going on in our nation, and Jeremiah felt this too.

Empathise with Man

The part that I actually found difficult, was the heart of Jeremiah for his own people.

Jeremiah cried out that these were HIS people, HIS home, HIS curtains that were about to experience the judgement of God.

Do we recognise that this nation of Australia, is OUR nation?

Do I recognise that this is MY people who are about to experience the judgement of God?

Do I mourn simply because the nation is annoying me and making my life difficult?

Or do I groan because I have a deep abiding love for the people of Australia.

If I am honest, I can not say that my heart feels this way.

I do not love this nation, the nation of my birth, with the same love that Adonai has.