The Father search the heart

[Jer. 17:7] Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.

[(Psalm 34:8; Proverbs 16:20; Isaiah 30:18). Jeremiah first removed the weeds (false trusts), so that there might be room for the good grain.

Truseth in the Father - In the Word of the Father, as the in the Messiah, the essential Word of the Father; Psalm 2:12 who have a spiritual knowledge of Him, and so trust in Him, Psalm 9:10 who have seen the vanity and emptiness of all other objects of trust, there being no salvation in them, only in Him; who take themselves to Him as their only refuge; lay hold, rest, and rely upon Him, as their Savior; commit their all unto Him; trust Him with all their concerns, respecting life and salvation, and with their immortal souls; and expect all from Him, grace here, and glory hereafter: who trust in His person for their acceptance with G-d; in His righteousness for their justification; in His blood for the pardon of their sins; in His fullness for the supply of their wants; in His power for protection and preservation; and in all for eternal life and happiness: and such are blessed persons; for they are in the utmost safety; they are as Mount Zion, which can never be removed; they shall want no good thing, temporal or spiritual, proper for them; they enjoy great peace now, and in the world to come everlasting glory.

Whose hope the Father is; the Word of the Father, as before: the Messiah, who is the Hope of Israel, our hope, and Messiah in us the hope of glory, Jer. 14:8, whose hope is from the Father, of which He is the author and giver; and is a good hope, through His grace; and which has the L-rd Y'Shua HaMashiach for its object; who turn in to Him as prisoners of hope; and lay hold on Him, the hope set before them; and do hope in Him for pardoning mercy, salvation, and eternal life. Blessed mankind! their hope shall not make them ashamed; they shall not be disappointed, Psalm 146:5.]

[8] For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

[Shall not see - that is, feel. Answering to Jer.17:6; whereas the unbelievers “shall not see (even) when good cometh,” the believer “shall not see (so as to be overwhelmed by it even) when heat (fiery trial) cometh.” Trials shall come upon him as on all, nay, upon him especially (Hebrews 12:6); but he shall not sink under them, because the L-rd is his secret strength, just as the “roots spread out by a river” draw hidden support from it (2 Corinthians 4:8-11).]

[10] I the Father search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

Only G-d's Mercy

[Jeremiah 66: 7] O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name's sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee. [Testify - That You art righteous in what You have done. Do thou it - Do You what we stand in need of; give us rain, though not for our sake, we deserve no such kindness from You, yet for Your names sake: Your promise, or for Your honor and glory. Your name’s sake - We deeply acknowledge that we have sinned, and deserve nothing but death. Yet act for Your name's sake - work in our behalf, that we perish not. Jeremiah pleads in the name of his nation (Psalms 109:21). So "work for us," absolutely used (1 Samuel 14:6). "for our backslidings are so many" that we cannot urge You for the sake of our doings, but for the glory of Your name; lest, if You give us not aid, it should be said it was owing to our want of power (Joshua 7:9, Psalms 79:9, 106:8, Isaiah 48:9, Ezekiel 20:44). The same appeal to G-d's mercy, "for His name's sake," as our only hope, since our sin precludes trust in ourselves, occurs in Psalms 25:11. Like Jeremiah we need to plea for our nation! Repent of your sins.]

Corrupt State

We are to learn from past mistakes that we do not repeat it – have we advanced? This chapter in Jeremiah 13 contains an entire prophecy the discourse of Jehoiakim, who came to the throne in the eighteenth year of his age. In these circumstances the prophet predicts the captivity; and, by a symbolical representation of a rotten girdle, shows the people their totally corrupt state; and by another of bottles filled with wine, shows the destruction and madness of their counsels, and the confusion that must ensue. 10] This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing. G-d said to be filled with wine, not using old worn out wine skins - Have we not every prospect that it will be so? Do we need a revelation to inform us of this? Has America left the ‘joy of the L-rd by embracing the ways of the world? As wine intoxicates, so G-d's wrath and judgments shall reduce the Hebrews to that state of helpless distraction that they shall rush on to their own ruin(Jeremiah 25:15, 49:12, Isaiah 51:17 Isaiah 51:21 - 2, 63:6). Could it be happening with us also? You pretend to take this literally, but it is a symbol. You, and your kings, and priests, and prophets, are represented by these bottles. The wine is G-d's wrath against you, which shall first be shown by confounding your deliberations, filling you with foolish plans of defense, causing you from your divided counsels to fall out among yourselves, so that like so many drunken men you shall reel about and jostle each other; defend yourselves without plan, and fight without order, till ye all fall an easy prey into the hands of your enemies. The ancient adage is here fulfilled - Those whom G-d determines to destroy, he first renders foolish, pride was the cause of their contumacy, as humility is the first step to obedience. Humble yourselves, sit down: for your principalities shall come down, even the crown of your glory. Glorify G-d, by a humble confession of your sins, by submitting yourselves to G-d, humbling yourselves under His word, and under His mighty hand, before G-d brings upon you, His great and heavy judgments. If you will not hearken to the L-rd, there is no remedy: destruction must come. You will have nothing to say, but be wholly confounded when G-d shall visit thee with this sore judgment. Can a black, at his own pleasure, change the color of his skin? Can the leopard at will change the variety of his spots? These things are natural to them, and they cannot be altered; so sin, and especially your attachment to idolatry, is become a second nature; and we may as well expect the Ethiopian to change his skin, and the leopard his spots, as you to do good, who have been accustomed to do evil. It is a matter of the utmost difficulty to get a sinner, deeply rooted in vicious habits, brought to the knowledge of himself and G-d. But the expression does not imply that the thing is as impossible in a moral as it is in a natural sense: it only shows that it is extremely difficult, and not to be often expected; and a thousand matters of fact prove the truth of this. But still, what is impossible to man is possible to G-d.

Prophetic Tour For America

Jer. 11 [1] The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, [This discourse is supposed to have been delivered in the first year of the reign of Zedekiah.] [2] Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; [This covenant - alluding to the book of the Law (Deuteronomy 31:26) found in the temple by Hilkiah the high priest, five years after Jeremiah's call to the prophetic office (2 Kings 22:8-23:25'). The Law was delivered by Moses, to which the people more than once promised obedience. Hear ye - Others besides Jeremiah were to spread G-d's will to the people; it was the duty of the priests to read the Law to them (Malachi 2:7).] [3] And say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant, [After the reading, the prophet appears to sum up the things contained in what was read to them; as if he had said, “Ye hear what the L-rd said unto you: remember, the sum of it is this: The man is cursed who obey not; and he is blessed who obeys. From these declarations G-d will not depart.”] [4] Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God: [In the day - that is, when. The Sinaitic covenant was made some time after the exodus, but the two events are so connected as to be viewed as one. Iron furnace - (Deuteronomy 4:20 , 1 Kings 8:51 ). "Furnace" expresses the searching ordeal; "iron," the long duration of it. The furnace was of earth, not of iron (Psalms 12:6 ); a furnace, in heat and duration enough to melt even iron. G-d's deliverance of them from such an ordeal aggravates their present guilt. Do them - namely, the words of the covenant (Jeremiah 11:3). So - (Leviticus 26:3 Leviticus 26:12 ).] [5] That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then answered I, and said, So be it, O LORD. [Oath - (Psalms 105:9-10.) So be it, O L-rd – Hebrew, Amen, taken from Deuteronomy 27:15-26. Jeremiah hereby solemnly concurs in the justice of the curses pronounced there. ] [6] Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them. [Proclaim all these words - Jeremiah was to take a prophetic tour throughout Judah, to proclaim everywhere the condemnation in the book of the Law found in the Temple. Let the same covenant, with the blessings and cursings, be read in every city of Judah, and in all the streets of Jerusalem, that all the people may know their duty, their privileges, and their danger. Hear . . . do - (Romans 2:13 , 1:22).] [7] For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice. [Even unto this day - I brought upon them.] [8] Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did them not. [Imagination - rather, "stubbornness." Words - threats (Jeremiah 11:3 Deuteronomy 27:15-26). Did them not - For this G-d threatens to bring upon them all His words of threatening, annexed to the covenant of the Law.] [9] And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. [A conspiracy is found - All sorts of people have done alike, as if they had conspired together, determined to cast off the Divine yoke, and no longer to have G-d to reign over them, a deliberate combination against G-d and against Josiah's reformation. Their idolatry is not the result of a hasty impulse (Psalms 83:5, Ezekiel 22:25).] [10] They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. [They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers - A great reformation had taken place under the reign of Josiah, and the public worship of idols had been abolished, and most of the high places destroyed; but under the reign of his son and his successors, they had turned back again to idolatry, and were become worse than ever. It required a captivity to cure them of this propensity: and G-d sent one: after that, there was no idolatry among the Jews.] [11] Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them. [I will not hearken – G-d will not hear them crying to Him in their adversity, who refuse to hear Him speaking to them in their prosperity. Cry unto me - contrasted with "cry unto the gods," (Jeremiah 11:12). Not hearken - (Psalms 18:41, Proverbs 1:28, Isaiah 1:15, Micah 3:4.)] [12] Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble. [Cry unto the gods . . . not save - (Deuteronomy 32:37 Deuteronomy 32:38 ). Compare this verse and beginning of Jeremiah 11:13, Jeremiah 2:28. In the time of their trouble - that is, calamity (Jeremiah 2:27).] Have we not promise our obedience ‘in G-d we trust?’ If G-d can cut off His people from disobedience - why do you think He would He not do the same to us? People tend to shrink at the word law, but G-d’s Laws are His instructions on how to live. Why isn’t the Laws preached anymore? We are not under the letter of the Law but the Law still exists, it was not put there to condemn us but to teach us how to live G-dly lives, that all the people may know their duty, their privileges, and their danger, there are 613 Oral Laws swash down to 7 Noachide Law to 10 Written Laws. All are cursed who obey not; and all is blessed who obeys! From these declarations G-d will not depart regardless of nationality, male or female. We have gone far astray, what is wrong we call good, are government is passing laws that should not have been put in place. We all will pay the price for disobedience. We have cast off our Divine yoke and turn to idolatry in our hasty desires. We need to turn back to the iniquities of our forefathers – In G-d we trust. G-d will not hear America crying to Him in their adversity, who refuse to hear Him speaking to them in their prosperity. The time of our trouble will soon be upon us, it’s not too late for each individual to make a change, were He leads. Open up your hearts and ears to what He is saying to you.

G-d Punishes Nations

[Jeremiah 9:1] Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! [2] Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. [3] And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD. [4] Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders. [5] And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity. [6] Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD. [7] Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people? [8] Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait. [9] Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? The prophet, being commissioned both to foretell the destruction coming upon Judah and Jerusalem and to point out the sin for which that destruction was brought upon them, here, as in America, what he said of both came from the heart, and therefore one would have thought it would reach to the heart. While we find our hearts such fountains of sin, it is fit that our eyes should be fountains of tears, when we hear of the numbers of the slain in great battles and sieges we ought to be much affected with the intelligence, and not to make a light matter of it; though they be not of the daughter of our people, for whatever people they are of, they are of the same human nature with us, and there are so many precious lives lost, as dear to them as ours to us, and so many precious souls gone into eternity. We must not go out of the world, bad as it is, before our time. Time was when the place which G-d had chosen to put His name {In G-d we trust) there was the desire and delight of good men. Men’s ignorance of G-d is the cause of all their ill conduct one towards another. deceitful; therefore there is little hope of one doing any good among them; for, make things ever so plain, they have some trick or other wherewith to shuffle off their convictions. Fair words, when they are not attended with good intentions, are despicable, those that will not know G-d as their Lawgiver shall be made to know Him as their judge. Repent and call upon His name before it is too late! Let us start walking in righteousness and holiness.

New Years Resolution

[Jer. 6:16] Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.
Let us observe the metaphor, a traveler is going to a particular city; he comes to a place where the road divides into several paths, he is afraid of going astray; he stops short,-endeavors to find out the right path: he cannot fix his choice. At last, he sees another traveler; he inquires of him, gets proper directions-proceeds on his journey-arrives at the desired place-and reposes after his fatigue.
The image from travelers’ who have lost their road, stopping and inquiring which is the right way on which they once had been, but from which they have wandered.
Old paths of idolatry and apostasy are the modern way. The worship of G-d is the old way. Evil is not coeval with good, but a modern decadence from good.
The soul needs rest; it can only find this by walking in the good way.
The good way is that which has been trodden by the Believers from the beginning: it is the old way, the way of faith and holiness. BELIEVE, LOVE, OBEY, be holy, and be happy. This is the way; let us inquire for it, and walk in it.
If one chooses another way, walked over the precipice, and fell into the bottomless pit, where, instead of rest, they find G-d answer:
[19] Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto My Words, nor to My Law, but rejected it.
I am not one to make New Year resolutions, but ran across this during my studies. It all comes down to the choices we make as to which path we choose to take.

Debauch Nation

[Jer. 5:9] Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
[18] Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.
[19] And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
[21] Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
Reproof for sin and threatening of judgment are intermixed, are threatened, that the reproofs of sin might be the more effectual to bring them to repentance. The sins they are charged with are very great: Injustice, hypocrisy in religion, incorrigibleness, the corruption, and debauchery of both poor and rich, idolatry and adultery, treacherous departures from G-d, and impudent defiance of Him. Wanting of the fear of G-d, but notwithstanding the frequent calls given them to fear Him therefore they are charged with violence and oppression, and a combination of those to debauch the nation who should have been active to reform it.
Have we learned from this or repeated their same mistakes?
History now repeats itself!
We swear falsely, tho' G-d is a G-d of truth; we are incorrigible and senseless, and know not His Law, or else willfully violate it having contempt of G-d's Word and Prophets, which should be sadly verified. We forsake, forget, and fear not G-d, whose power is so great for we were not taught G-d is also a ‘just Father’ who will hold us accountable.
The cause of the judgments to be inflicted is the universal corruption of the people. This was not the case with the low and ignorant only, but more egregiously so with those of the higher order, from whose knowledge and opportunities better things might have been expected.
G-d gives leave to all the earth to look into the state of Jerusalem, by which He vindicates Himself in the face of the whole world from all severity towards His people, whatever He brings upon them, He will bring upon the nations, which means us.
If there be here and there a man or woman that is truly conscientious, and does at least speak the truth, yet you shall not find him in the streets and broad places; he dares not appear publicly, lest he should be abused and run down, this is were we are heading!
What do you make of those that continue to make profession of religion and relation to G-d? Many are not sincere in the profession they make of respect to G-d, but are false to Him; they honor Him with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him. Though they appeal to G-d only, they make no conscience of calling Him to witness to a lie. Though they do not swear by idols, they forswear themselves, which is no less an affront to G-d, as the G-d of truth, than the other is as the only true G-d.
23] But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.
“Even in those days, dismal as they are, I will not make a full end with you”; and, if G-d will not, the enemy shall not. G-d has mercy in store for His people, and therefore will set bounds to this desolating judgment. Hitherto it shall come, and no further. Not even in these days of judgments, will G-d utterly exterminate His people.
Unhumbled hearts are ready to charge G-d with injustice in their afflictions, and pretend they have to seek for the cause of them when it is written in the forehead of them. Foolish people and without understanding; they apprehend not the mind of G-d, though ever so plainly declared to them by the written Word, by His prophets, and by His providence.
We cannot judge men by the advantages and opportunities they enjoy: there are those that sit in darkness in a land of light, that live in sin even in a Holy Land, that are bad in the best places. Their wills were stubborn and unapt to submit to the rules of the Divine Law.
People have a revolting and a rebellious heart; and no wonder when they were foolish and without understanding, Psalms 82:5. It is the corrupt bias of the will that bribes and besots the understanding: none as blind as those that will not see. The character of people is the true character of all people by nature, till the grace of G-d has wrought a change. We are foolish, slow of understanding, and apt to mistake and forget; yet that is not the worst. We have a revolting and a rebellious heart, a carnal mind, that is enmity against
G-d, and is not in subjection to His Law, not only revolting from Him by a rooted aversion to that which is good, but rebellious against Him by a strong inclination to that which is evil. The revolting heart is a rebellious one: those that withdraw from their allegiance to G-d do not stop there, but by siding in with sin and Satan take up arms against him.
Who would stand in the gap to turn away the wrath of G-d? Who executed judgment and made conscience of what he or she says or does; that executes judgment, and administers justice impartially, that will put the laws in execution against vice and profaneness?

Sottish Children

[Jer. 4:18] Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart.
[19] My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
[22] For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
It was not a false step or two that did you this mischief, but your way and course of living were bad. Sin is the procuring cause of all our troubles. Those that go on in sin while they are endeavoring to ward off mischief with one hand are at the same time pulling them upon their own heads with the other.
The fruit of your wickedness has been the cause of bringing such a bitter enemy against you, which has reached unto your very heart.
Here begins the complaint of the prophet. At my very heart - Hebrew, "at the walls of my heart"; the muscles round the heart. There is a climax, the "bowels," the pericardium, the "heart.”
Makes a noise, moaned itself is disturbed within me through the tumult of my spirits, and I cannot hold my peace. The grievance and the grief sometimes may be such that the most prudent patient man cannot forbear complaining. It is not for himself or any affliction in his family that he grieves thus; but it is purely upon the public account, it is his people's case that he lays to heart.
I have heard in the spirit of prophecy; it is as certain, as if I now heard the trumpet sounding. Alarm of war is the battle shout. He does not say, you hast heard, O my ear! but, O my soul! Because the event was yet future, and it is by the spirit of prophecy that he see it and receives the impression of it. His soul heard it from the words of G-d, and therefore he was as well assured of it, and as much affected with it, as if he had heard it with his bodily ears. It becomes us to tremble at the thought of the misery that sinners are running themselves into to awaken them to a holy fear, and so to a care to prevent so great a judgment by a true and timely repentance. Those that would affect other with the word of G-d should evidence that they are themselves affected with it.
My people are foolish. G-d calls them His people, though they are foolish. They have cast Him off, but He has not cast them off, Romans 11:1. "They are My people, whom I have been in covenant with, and still have mercy in store for. They are foolish, for they have not known Me." Those are foolish indeed that have not known G-d, especially that call themselves His people, and have the advantages of coming into acquaintance with Him, and yet have not known Him. They are sottish children, stupid and senseless, and have no understanding. They cannot distinguish between truth and falsehood, good and evil; they cannot discern the mind of G-d either in His word or in His providence; they do not understand what their true interest is, nor on which side it lies. They are wise to do evil, to plot mischief against the quiet in the land, wise to contrive the gratification of their lusts, and then to conceal and palliate them. But to do good they have no knowledge, no contrivance, no application of mind; they know not how to make a good use either of the ordinances or of the providences of G-d, nor how to bring about any design for the good of their country. Contrary to this should be our character. Romans 16:19, I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.
Sottish is strongs number H5530 which means fool – foolish.
Children is number H1121 means:
1) son, grandson, child, member of a group
a) son, male child
b) grandson
c) children (pl. - male and female)
d) youth, young men (pl.)
e) young (of animals)
f) sons (as characterisation, i.e. sons of injustice [for un- righteous men] or sons of God [for angels]
g) people (of a nation) (pl.)
h) of lifeless things, i.e. sparks, stars, arrows (fig.)
i) a member of a guild, order, class
G-d's replies they cannot be otherwise than miserable, since they persevere in sin. The repetition of clauses gives greater force to the sentiment.

Peace! Peace?

[Jer. 4:10 ….. Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.]
"And I said, Receive my supplication, O L-rd G-d; for, behold, the false prophets deceive this people and the inhabitants, saying, you shall have peace." The prophet could not reconcile this devastation of the country with the promises already made; and he appears to ask the question, Have you not then deceived this people in saying there shall be peace and prosperity?
The false prophets foretold "peace," and the people believed them; G-d overruled this to His purposes. When the sword is at the door, not only ready to take away the comforts of life, but even life itself, “the people being generally destroyed speaking in martial language, warning them of the nature of their approaching judgment.
There shall be tidings brought both to the country and city. A drying blasting wind, a parching scorching wind, which spoils the fruits of the earth and withers them, not a wind which brings rain, but such as comes out of the north, which drives away rain (Proverbs 25:23), but brings something worse instead of it; such shall this evil out of the north be to people, a black freezing wind, which they can neither fence against nor flee from, but, wherever they go, it shall surround and pursue them; and they cannot see it before it comes, but, when it comes, they shall feel it. It is a wind of the high places in the wilderness, or plain, that beats upon the tops of the hills or that carries all before it in the plain, where there is no shelter, but the ground is all champaign. It shall come in its full force towards the daughters of My people, that have been brought up so tenderly and delicately that they could not endure to have the wind blow upon them. Now this fierce wind shall come against them, not to fan, nor cleanse them, not such a gentle wind as is used in winnowing corn, but a full wind, a strong and violent wind, blowing full upon them. It is in vain to think either of opposing them or of outrunning them. This shall come to Me, or rather for Me; it shall come with commission from G-d and shall accomplish that for which He sends it; for this, as other stormy winds, fulfills His word.
Ill news flies apace; and an impenitent people, that hates to be reformed, can expect no other that ill news.
The lamentable cause of this judgment.
They sinned against G-d; it was all owing to themselves: She has been rebellious against Me, said the L-rd, your way and your doings have procured these things unto you, your evil way and your doings that have not been good. Those that go on in sin while they are endeavoring to ward off mischief with one hand are at the same time pulling them upon their own heads with the other.
In men's anger against us, and the violence of that, we must see and own G-d's anger and the power of that. If that were turned back from us, our enemies could not come forward against us.
In His just and holy anger He condemned them to this dreadful punishment: and we are sure that the judgment of G-d is according to the truth, and the execution of that judgment.
The false prophets, who had cried peace to them, shall be put into the greatest amazement imaginable, seeing their own guilty blood ready to be shed by that sword which they had often told the people there was no danger of. G-d's judgments come with the greatest terror upon those that have been most secure. Our Savior foretells that at the last destruction men's hearts should fail them for fear, Luke 21:26. And it is common for those who have cheated and flattered people into a carnal security not only to fail them, but to discourage them, when the trouble comes.

Break Up Fallow ground

[Jer. 4:2] And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.
[3] For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
[4] Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
Especially that "the nations," that is, the Gentiles would have been converted, and that Israel would have been the means of G-d's reaching them! Gentiles and nations are alternate renditions of the same Hebrew noun.
Two great truths are taught in this verse:
1. That the Gentiles were to be members of the Church of the Messiah, and
2. That Israel's peculiar office was to be G-d's instrument in that great work. Thus Jeremiah is in exact accord with the evangelical teaching of Isaiah.
[Here G-d's Word is directed to Judah, the Southern Israel, with a call for their true repentance and conversion, coupled with a threat of drastic punishment.
Fallow ground - refers to land that had not been recently cultivated, indicating that conditions in Judah were not at all favorable for the planting of G-d's Word; and the practical import of the admonition is that they should get rid of all their idols, no longer visit the shrines of the fertility idols, and produce the kind of environment that would encourage godly living.
Our own country's needing this same kind of advice is appropriate: The fallow ground needs to be broken up. We are a nation in danger. We say we are one of the greatest nations in the world, but we could fall overnight. Babylon the great fell in one night. Rome fell from within ... Our nation is decaying from within. Morality is deteriorating. Someone needs to say something about it. Preachers are still preaching, but we are sowing the seed among the thorns. Sow not among thorns, that you may not labor in vain, for your own safety and welfare, as those do that sow good seed among thorns and as you have been doing a great while. Put yourselves into a frame fit to receive mercy from G-d, and put away all that which keeps it from you, and then you may expect to receive mercy and to prosper in your endeavors to help yourselves.
1. An unconvinced un-humbled heart is like fallow-ground, ground untilled, unoccupied. It is ground capable of improvement; it is our ground, let out to us, and we must be accountable for it; but it is fallow; it is unfenced and lies common; it is unfruitful and of no advantage to the owner, and (which is principally intended) it is overgrown with thorns and weeds, which are the natural product of the corrupt heart; and, if it be not renewed with grace, rain and sunshine are lost upon it, Hebrews 6:7, 8.
2. We are concerned to get this fallow-ground ploughed up. We must search into our own hearts; let the word of G-d divide (as the plough does) between the joints and the marrow, Hebrews 4:12. We must rend our hearts, Joel 2:13. We must pluck up by the roots those corruptions which, as thorns, choke both our endeavors and our expectations, Hosea 10:12.
The second clause here explains the first. Circumcision was observed for all Jewish males; but the kind of circumcision they needed was not physical but spiritual. Cutting off the foreskins of their hearts meant removing from their thoughts and affections all of the sinful indulgences to which they were so addicted, inner cleansing of the heart is the only alternative to destruction by fire, a theme prominent also in the New Testament (Matt. 25:41.)
Some have difficulty understanding the part that man must play in his own conversion, repentance, and regeneration. The passage before us declares that the men of Judah and Jerusalem were to "circumcise their hearts"; but Deut. 30:6 declares that, "The L-rd thy G-d will circumcise thy heart!" The simple fact is that man is both active and passive in regeneration. The text here stresses his activity, and the passage in Deuteronomy stresses his passivity.
Circumcise yourselves to the L-rd, and take away the foreskin of your heart. Mortify the flesh and the lusts of it. Pare off that superfluity of naughtiness which hinders your receiving with meekness the engrafted Word, James 1:21. Circumcision is an obligation to keep the Law; lay yourselves afresh under that obligation. It is a seal of the righteousness of faith; lay hold then of that righteousness, and so circumcise yourselves to the L-rd.
Fire which came forth from the L-rd and consumed the sacrifices, and which was always kept burning upon the altar and none might quench it; such is G-d's wrath against impenitent sinners, because of the evil of their doings.
1. That which is to be dreaded by us more than any thing else is the wrath of G-d; for that is the spring and bitterness of all present miseries and will be the quintessence and perfection of everlasting misery.
2. It is the evil of our doings that kindles the fire of G-d's wrath against us.
3. The consideration of the imminent danger we are in of falling and perishing under this wrath should awaken us with all possible care to sanctify ourselves to G-d's glory and to see to it that we be sanctified by His grace.
Sin must be put away out of the heart, else it is not put away out of G-d's sight, for the heart and all that is in it lie open before His eye.

Spiritual Adulteress

[Jer. 3:1] They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD.
[7] And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
[8] And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery
I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
Contrary to all precedent in the case of adultery, Jehovah offers a return to Judah, the spiritual adulteress (1-5), allude to the subject of the last; and contain earnest exhortations to repentance, with gracious promises of pardon, notwithstanding every aggravation of guilt.
At the sixth verse a new section of prophecy commences, opening with a complaint against Judah for having exceeded in guilt her sister Israel, already cast off for her idolatry, 6-11. G-d keeps account, whether we do or no, how often He has called to us to turn to Him and we have refused. Those will justly be divorced from G-d that joins themselves to such as are rivals with Him. She is cast off, but not forever; for to this same Israel, whose place of captivity (Assyria) lay to the north of Judea, pardon is promised on her repentance, together with a restoration to the Messianic Church, along with her sister Judah, in the latter days, 12-20. The prophet foretells the sorrow and repentance of the children of Israel under the Gospel dispensation, 21. Judah worse than Israel; yet both shall be restored for G-d renews His gracious promises, 22; and they again confess their sins. In this confession their not deigning to name the idol Baal, the source of their calamities, but calling him in the abstract shame, or a thing of shame, is a nice touch of the perusal extremely beautiful and natural, 22-25.
Now Israel had been married unto G-d; joined in solemn covenant to Him to worship and serve Him only. Israel turned from following Him, and became idolatrous. On this ground, considering idolatry as a spiritual whoredom, and the precept and practice of the Law to illustrate this case, Israel could never more be restored to the Divine favor for such playing fast and loose with the marriage-bond would be a horrid profanation of that ordinance and would greatly pollute that land. They had reason to expect that G-d would refuse ever to take them to be His people again, who had not only been joined to one strange god, but had played the harlot with many lovers: but G-d, her ex-husband, in the plenitude of His mercy, is willing to receive this adulterous spouse, if she will abandon her idolatries and return unto Him.
In repentance it is good to make sorrowful reflections upon the particular acts of sin we have been guilty of, and the several places and companies where it has been committed, that we may give glory to G-d and take shame to ourselves by a particular confession of it.
Blushing is the color of virtue, or at least a relic of it; but those that are past shame (we say) are past hope. Those that have an adulterer's heart, if they indulge that, will come at length to have a whore's forehead, void of all shame and modesty. We have not obeyed the voice of the L-rd our G-d, forbidding us to sin and commanding us, when we have sinned, to repent.
The date of this sermon must be observed, in order to the right understanding of it; it was in the days of Josiah, who set on foot a blessed work of reformation, in which he was hearty, but the people were not sincere in their compliance with it; to reprove them for that, and warn them of the consequences of their hypocrisy, is the scope of that which G-d here said to the prophet, and which he delivered to them. The case of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah is here compared, the ten tribes that revolted from the throne of David and the Temple of Jerusalem and the two tribes that adhered to both. The distinct history of those two kingdoms we have in the two books of the Kings, and here we have an abstract of both, as far as relates to this matter. It is an evidence of great stupidity and security when we are not awakened to a holy fear by the judgments of G-d upon others.
Here is a great deal of gospel in these verses, both that which was always gospel,
G-d's readiness to pardon sin and to receive and entertain returning repenting sinners, and those blessings which were in a special manner reserved for gospel times, and the uniting of Jews and Gentiles making the one new man. Thus G-d remembers His covenant with their fathers, that marriage covenant, and in consideration of that He remembers their land, Leviticus 26:42.

Call To The Nations

[Jer. 1:4] Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Jeremiah's call to the prophetical office in Anathoth with Hilkiah the high priest, the prophetess Huldah, and the prophet Zephaniah. Jeremiah collected his prophecies and gave them to his countrymen to take with them to Babylon. From the long duration of his office (1:2, 3; 40:1, &c.; 43:8), it is supposed that he was at the time of his call under twenty-five years of age.
[5] Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
G-d approved of Jeremiah as His chosen instrument (Ex 33:12, 17; compare 49:1, 5; Rom. 8:29). And separated him, the primary meaning is, "to set apart" from a common to a special use; hence arose the secondary sense, "to sanctify," ceremonially and morally.
G-d had ordained Jeremiah a prophet to the nations, or against the nations whom he must make to drink of the cup of the L-rd's anger, 25:17.
[6] Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.
The same word “child is translated, "young man" (2 Sam. 18:5). The reluctance often shown by inspired ministers of G-d (Ex 4:10; 6:12, 30; John 1:3) to accept the call, shows that they did not assume the office under the impulse of self-deceiving fanaticism, as false prophets often did. Remember in the Hebrew you were considered a child or young man until you were thirty-three years old, to have enough life’s experience under your belt.
[7] But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
Such was the perversity of the rulers and people of Judea at that time that whoever would desire to be a faithful prophet needed to arm himself with an intrepid mind; Jeremiah was naturally timid and sensitive; yet the Spirit molded him to the necessary degree of courage without taking away his peculiar individuality.
[8] Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the
LORD.
There is a particular purpose and providence of G-d conversant about His prophets and ministers; they are by special counsel designed for their work, and what they are designed for they are fitted for: I that knew thee sanctified thee. G-d destines them to it, and forms them for it, when he first forms the spirit of man within him.
[9] Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
“Touched my mouth” is a symbolical act in supernatural vision, implying that G-d would give him utterance, notwithstanding his inability to speak (1:6). So Isaiah's lips were touched with a living coal (6:7; Ezek. 2:8, 9, 10; Dan. 10:16).
[10] See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.
Set thee over means literally, "appointed thee to the oversight." He was to have his eye upon the nations, and to predict their destruction, or restoration, according as their conduct was bad or good. Prophets are said to do that which they foretell shall be done; for their word is G-d's word; and His word is His instrument whereby He doeth all things (Gen. 1:3; Ps 33:6, 9). Word and deed is one thing with Him. What His prophet says is as certain as if it were done. The prophet's own consciousness was absorbed into that of G-d; so closely united to G-d did he feel himself, that Jehovah's words and deeds are described as his. In 31:28, G-d is said to do what Jeremiah here is represented as doing (18:7; 1 Kgs. 19:17; Ezek. 43:3).
Everything that is not planted by G-d is to be pulled out. (Matt. 15:13) and pulled down (rooted out). Then to build and plant, restore upon their repenting. His predictions were to be chiefly, and in the first instance, denunciatory; therefore the destruction of the nations is put first, and with a greater variety of terms than their restoration.
These six mighty infinitives outline the scope of Jeremiah's commission, which was very largely one of destruction; but as indicated by the last two, giving ground for hope following judgment.
[11] Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.
G-d commended him that he was so observant, and so quick of apprehension, as to be aware, though it was the first vision he ever saw, that it was a rod of an almond-tree, that his mind was so composed as to be able to distinguish. Prophets have need of good eyes; and those that see well shall be commended, and not those only that speak well.
[12] Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.
The rod is a shoot, or branch, and the Almond tree meant literally, "the wakeful tree," because it awakes from the sleep of winter earlier than the other trees, flowering in January, and bearing fruit in March; symbol of G-d's early execution of His purpose; "hasten My word" (Amos 8:3). "I will be wakeful as to My word.”
The great Creator knows what use to make of every person before He makes them. He has made all for Himself, and of the same lumps of clay designs a vessel of honor or dishonor, as He pleases, Romans 9:21.
The foreknowledge of G-d is clearly stated here, revealing that, long before Jeremiah was born, G-d knew him and selected him as the great prophet who would announce the final judgment upon Judah and condemn all of the wicked nations on earth.
We should not believe that Jeremiah's timidity and hesitation in the acceptance of so formidable a task was a sign of inability upon his part. They were due to recognition of the nearly impossible difficulty of the assignment.
He is still in his writings a prophet to the nations (to our nation among the rest); to tell them what the national judgments are which may be expected for national sins.
We know not what G-d intends us for, but He knows. Do not objects against it, as a work for which you are unqualified, it becomes us, when we have any service to do for G-d, to be afraid lest we mismanage it, and lest it suffer through our weakness and unfitness for it; it becomes us likewise to have low thoughts of ourselves and to be diffident of our own sufficiency. G-d was angry with Moses even for his modest excuses, Exodus 4:14. “Whatsoever I command thee thou shall have judgment, memory, and language, wherewith to speak it as it should be spoken." Remember Samuel delivered a message from G-d to Eli, when he was a young man.
"Be not afraid of their races; though they look big, and so think to outface thee and put thee out of countenance, yet be not afraid to speak to them; no, not to speak that to them which is most unpleasing. Thou speaks in the name of the King of kings, and by authority from him, and with that thou may face them down. Though they look angry, be neither afraid of their displeasure nor disturbed with apprehensions of the consequences of it. And thou hast cause both to be bold and easy; for I am with thee, not only to assist thee in thy work, but to deliver thee out of the hands of the persecutors; and, if G-d be for thee, who can be against thee?" If G-d do not deliver his ministers from trouble, it is to the same effect if he support them under their trouble.

Interdiction to Jeremiah

Jeremiah was called to be a prophet when only a child (1:6-7). Jeremiah prophesied for eighteen years during the reign of Josiah. He was thus about a hundred years later than the prophet Isaiah. His home was in the village of Anathoth, a few miles north of Jerusalem, and he was by birth a priest. His father, Hilkiah, was the high priest who discovered the book of Law in the Temple during the reign of Josiah.
In 608 B.E. Josiah was killed in battle and many saw this as evidence that G-d did not favor his reforms. Jeremiah came forward and stationed himself at the edge of the mob. Since the area of Jerusalem was strong during the siege of Sennacherib, the belief was that gated was impregnable. When the scroll was read to King Jehoiakim, he confiscated it and tore it. Jeremiah demonstrated his faith that Israel would return to Jerusalem by purchasing the land. The name Jeremiah means Yaway establishes. Jeremiah and Scribe Baruch that was his secretary wrote the book He was a priest as well as a prophet from the tribe of Benjamin.
Three major world powers during this time were:
1. Assyria 300 years.
2. Babylon 586 A.D.
3. Egypt.
The book covers approximately 44 years and Jeremiah’s ministry covers about 66 years. The basic message is to call Judah back from backsliding. The key words are:
1. Judah 181 times. 5. Sins 52 times.
2. Babylon 160 times. 6. Judgment 27 times.
3. Jerusalem 108 times. 7. Forsake 24 times.
4. Heart 62 times. 8. Backsliding 13 times.
Six-fold purpose of the book:
1. The final history of Judah.
2. Show G-d’s mercy and grace.
3. Main prophet was not in the largest congregation.
4. All evil will be judged and cause captivity.
5. If not repented - sin gets judgment.
6. After captivity - return to Jerusalem.
Three illustrations of absolute certainty of these ancient prophets:
1. Bought the land because people would return.
2. Jeremiah was told not to marry - war in the land.
3. Wore a girdle and worn it out - city will weak out.
Four sermon illustrations of Jeremiah:
1. Yolk on neck - Babylon will put a yolk on Israel.
2. Weeping Prophet - weep for G-d.
3. Greatest compliment - people ask Yeshua if he was Jeremiah.
4. Stood on G-d’s Word.
Days of darkness followed and Jeremiah exhorted his people to obey the voice of the L-rd and remain in the land, and not flee into Egypt. But they refused to obey, and they carried him with them where tradition says, he was stoned to death. Doctorial of invariability: thought they would escape before G-d’s raft (rapture?) G-d will deliver before any tribulation -- not before.
Jeremiah wrote of the New Covenant, means of the remnant of G-d’s people. The two baskets of figs stood for: bad - few skilled, and good - good Jews taken to Babylon. Rechabites were a testimony in Jerusalem to G-d’s plan.
At the commandment of the L-rd, Jeremiah took great stones and hit them under the large platform, or pavement of brickwork, at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, and prophesied that over these stones Nebuchadnezzar should one day set his throne and spread his royal pavilion. Tahpanhes seems to have been an old fort on the Syrian frontier, guarding the road to Egypt, and evidently a constant refuge for the Jews. In front of the fort is a large platform or pavement of brickwork, suitable for outdoor business, such as loading goods, pitching tents, etc – just what is now called a mastaba. Now Jeremiah writes of the pavement (or brickwork) which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes; this passage, which has been an unexplained stumbling-block to translators hitherto, is the exact description of the mastaba and this would be the most likely place for Nebuchadnezzar to pitch his royal tent as stated.
Jeremiah was of all the prophets of the OT, the supreme prophet of G-d to the human heart. In season and out of season, for a long lifetime, he laid siege to the hearts of his hearers. The cure of all your famines, he cried, and all your plagues and all your defeats and all your captivities – the cause and the cure of them all are in your own heart: in the heart of each inhabitant. In consequence he was the prophet of unwelcome truths, hated of all, but feared as well by all.
Jeremiah’s book wrote two times since the first was torn up. For when the monarch had heard three or four leaves of the roll he had heard enough. He asked for the roll, cut it in pieces with a penknife, and cast it into the fire that was upon the hearth. It was his last chance, his last offer of mercy: as he threw the torn fragments of the roll on the fire he threw there, in symbol, his royal house, his doomed city, the Temple, and all the people of the land.
While in seclusion, Jeremiah and Baruch rewrote the book. Other words were added, but the body of the sacred book was word by word the same as the first. Man may cut G-d’s Word to pieces with a penknife of his intellect. Like Jehoiakim he may cast his hope of salvation in the fire. But the word of the L-rd endureth forever and by that word shall he be judged in the last day. (1 Peter. 1:25; John.12:48).
The stern messages he had to give were so foreign to his sensitive nature that it could only have been the deep conviction that they were the words of the L-rd that enabled him to give utterance to them. He says: His Word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. With such a fire burning in his heart is it any wonder that the L-rd’s promise was fulfilled, ‘Behold, I will make My words in thy mouth fire’? ‘If you take forth the precious form the vile, thou shalt be as My mouth..’ Jeremiah answered? ‘Thy words were found and I did eat them; and Thy Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart!’ Amen and Amen!!!

Afterlife??

The Bible uses three main words to describe where people go when they die.
Sheol: is a Hebrew word with the idea of the "place of the dead." It has no direct reference to either torment or eternal happiness. The idea of Sheol is often accurately expressed as "the grave."
Hades: is a Greek word used to describe the "world beyond." In the Bible, it has generally the same idea as Sheol.
Abyssos: Revelation 9:1 speaks of the bottomless pit; this place called the abyssos is a prison for certain demons (Luke 8:31; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6). Or more generally, it is considered part of the realm of the dead (Romans 10:7 uses it in the sense of Hades).
Hell: Gehenna is a Greek word borrowed from the Hebrew language. In Mark 9:43-44, Y’Shua speaks of hell (gehenna). Hell is a Greek translation of the Hebrew "Valley of Hinnom," a place outside Jerusalem's walls desecrated by Molech worship and human sacrifice (2 Chronicles 28:1-3; Jeremiah 32:35). It was also a garbage dump where rubbish and refuse were burned. The smoldering fires and festering worms of the Valley of Hinnom made it a graphic and effective picture of the fate of the damned. This place is also called the "lake of fire" in Revelation 20:13-15, prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41).
The place known as Sheol and Hades is not what we normally think of as "Hell." It was, before the finished work of Y’Shua, the place where the dead awaited judgment or final justification (as illustrated by Y’Shua in the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31). Y’Shua was in Hades after His death on the cross, but did not and could not remain there (Acts 2:25-32). It seems that Y’Shua preached in Hades (1 Peter 3:18-19) and there is a sense in which Y’Shua set the captives in Hades free (Ephesians 4:8-9 and Isaiah 61:1). Y’Shua made no atonement in Hades; the price was already paid on the cross (John 19:30) when Y’Shua suffered in His physical body (Colossians 1:19-22). Y’Shua went to Hades as a victor not as a victim. Y’Shua' work and preaching offered salvation for the believing dead who in faith waited in Hades (Hebrews 11:39-40), and His work sealed the condemnation of the wicked and unbelieving.
Heaven: Since Y’Shua' work on the cross is finished, there is no "waiting" for believers who die, who go straight to heaven (2 Corinthians 5:6-8, Philippians 1:21-23). In that sense, Y’Shua "shut down" the part of Hades known as "Abraham's Bosom"; but the portion of Hades reserved for torment is occupied until the final judgment, when those who are there will be sent to what we normally think of as "Hell." Gehenna is what we normally think of as "Hell," the Lake of Fire (Revelation 19:20, 20:10-15, and 21:6-8). Actually, Gehenna or hell has many names or titles in the Bible, including lake of fire (Revelation 19:20), everlasting fire (Matthew 25:41), everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46), and outer darkness (Matthew 8:12).
The Old Testament has little clear revelation about the afterlife; confident statements like Job 19:25-26 are countered by fuzzy passages like Ecclesiastes 3:19-20 and Psalm 6:4-5. However, the New Testament gives much more specific revelation regarding the afterlife; these are things that have now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Y’Shua HaMashiach, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. (2 Timothy 1:10) Significantly, most people who teach wrong doctrines about the afterlife (such as "soul sleep" or annihilationism) base their arguments on these "fuzzy" passages from the Old Testament, instead of the much clearer passages in the New Testament. In doing this, they reject the clear principle of 2 Timothy 1:10.
Were we end up was though the ‘choices’ we made in this life.
That is enough to make you want to ‘choice wisely!’

Fig Tree

Lesson of the Fig Tree
Jer. 24:1 The L-RD shewed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the L-RD, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
[The children of men are all as the fruits of the fig-tree, capable of being made serviceable to G-d and man (Jug. 9:11).]
2. One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
[Figs . . . first ripe - the "boccora," or early fig first-fruits in the Temple.
The good figs were like those that are first ripe, which are most acceptable (Mic. 7:1) and most prized when newly come into season. These represented the pious captives, that seemed first ripe for ruin, for they went first into captivity, but should prove first ripe for mercy, and their captivity should help to ripen them; these are pleasing to G-d, as good figs are to us, and shall be carefully preserved for use.
The bad figs are such as could not be eaten, they were so evil; they could not answer the end of their creation, were neither pleasant nor good for food. If G-d has no honour from men, or their generation any service, they are even like the bad figs, that cannot be eaten, that will not answer any good purpose.]
3. Then said the L-RD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
[The good figs represent Jeconiah and the exiles in Babylon; the bad, Zedekiah and the obstinate Jews in Judea. They are called good and bad respectively, not in a total, but a relative sense, and in reference to the punishment of the latter. This prophecy was designed to encourage the despairing exiles, and to reprove the people at home, who prided themselves as superior to those in Babylon and abused the forbearance of G-d (compare Jeremiah 52:31-34).]
4. Again the word of the L-RD came unto me, saying,
5. Thus saith the L-RD, the G-d of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.
[Acknowledge - regard with favor, like as thou lookest on the good figs favorably.
For their good - Their removal to Babylon saved them from the calamities which befell the rest of the nation and led them to repentance there: so G-d bettered their condition (2 Kings 25:27-30). Daniel and Ezekiel were among these captives.
But those that staid behind were like a child long left to himself, who, when afterwards corrected, is stubborn, and made worse by it, Lam. 3:27. G-d owns their captivity to be his doing. Whoever were the instruments of it, he ordered and directed it.]
6. For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
[(Jeremiah 12:15). Not pull . . . down . . . not pluck . . . up - only partially fulfilled in the restoration from Babylon; antitypical and fully to be fulfilled hereafter (Jeremiah 32:41, 33:7).
G-d assures them of his protection in their trouble, and a glorious deliverance out of it in due time. Being sent into captivity for their good, they shall not be lost there; but it shall be with them as it is with gold which the refiner puts into the furnace.
1."I will set my eyes upon them for good, to order every thing for the best, that all the circumstances of the affliction may concur to the answering of the great intention of it.’’
2. He will be sure to take it out of the furnace again as soon as the work designed upon it is done: I will bring them again to this land. They were sent abroad for improvement awhile, under a severe discipline; but they shall be fetched back, when they have gone through their trial there, to their Father’s house.
3. He will fashion his gold when he has refined it, will make it a vessel of honour fit for his use; so, when G-d has brought them back from their trial, he will build them and make them a habitation for himself, will plant them and make them a vineyard for Himself. Their captivity was to square the rough stones and make them fit for his building, to prune up the young trees and make them fit for his planting. ]
7. And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the L-RD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their G-d: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
[(Jeremiah 30:2, 31:33, 32:38). Their conversion from idolatry to the one true G-d, through the chastening effect of the Babylon’s captivity, is here expressed in language which, in its fulness, applies to the more complete conversion hereafter of the Jews, "with their whole heart" (Jeremiah 29:13), through the painful discipline of their present dispersion. The source of their conversion is here stated to be G-d's most excellent grace.
For they shall return - Repentance, though not the cause of pardon, is its constant accessory: it is the effect of G-d's giving a heart to know Him.
He engages to prepare them for these temporal mercies which he designed for them by bestowing spiritual mercies upon them. It is this that will make their captivity be for their good; this shall be both the improvement of their affliction and their qualification for deliverance. When our troubles are sanctified to us, then we may be sure that they will end well. Now that which is promised is:
1. That they should be better acquainted with G-d; they should learn more of G-d by his providences in Babylon than they had learned by all his oracles and ordinances in Jerusalem, thanks to divine grace, for, if that had not wrought mightily upon them in Babylon, they would for ever have forgotten G-d. It is here promised, I will give them, not so much a head to know me, but a heart to know me, for the right knowledge of G-d consists not in notion and speculation, but in the convictions of the practical judgment directing and governing the will and affections. A good understanding have all those that do his commandments, Ps. 111:10. Where G-d gives a sincere desire and inclination to know him he will give that knowledge. It is G-d himself that gives a heart to know him, else we should perish forever in our ignorance.
2. That they should be entirely converted to G-d, to his will as their rule, his service as their business, and his glory as their end: They shall return to me with their whole heart. G-d himself undertakes for them that they shall; and, if he turns us, we shall be turned. This follows upon the former; for those that have a heart to know G-d aright will not only turn to him, but turn with their whole heart; for those that are either stubborn in their rebellion, or insincere in their religion, may truly be said to be ignorant of G-d.
3. That thus they should be again taken into covenant with G-d, as much to their comfort as ever: They shall be my people, and I will be their G-d. G-d will own them, as formerly, for his people, in the discoveries of himself to them, in his acceptance of their services, and in his gracious appearances on their behalf; and they shall have liberty to own him for their G-d in their prayers to him and their expectations from him.
Note, Those that have backslidden from G-d, if they do in sincerity return to Him, are admitted as freely as any to all the privileges and comforts of the everlasting covenant, which is herein well-ordered, that every transgression in the covenant does not throw us out of covenant, and that afflictions are not only consistent with, but flowing from, covenant-love.
8. And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the L-RD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt:
[In. . . Egypt - Many Jews had fled for refuge to Egypt, which was leagued with Judea
against Babylon.
Here is the moral of the bad figs. Zedekiah and his princes and partisans yet remain in the land, proud and secure enough, Ezek. 11:3. Many had fled into Egypt for shelter, and they thought they had shifted well for themselves and their own safety, and boasted that though therein they had gone contrary to the command of G-d yet they had acted prudently for themselves. Now as to both these, that looked so scornfully upon those that had gone into captivity, it is here threatened,
1. That, whereas those who were already carried away were settled in one country, where they had the comfort of one another’s society, though in captivity, these should be dispersed and removed into all the kingdoms of the earth, where they should have no joy one of another.
2. That, whereas those were carried captives for their good, these should be removed into all countries for their hurt. Their afflictions should be so far from humbling them that they should harden them, not bring them nearer to G-d, but set them at a greater distance from him.
3. That, whereas those should have the honour of being owned of G-d in their troubles, these should have the shame of being abandoned by all mankind: In all places whither I shall drive them they shall be a reproach and a proverb. "Such a one is as false and proud as a Jew’’—"Such a one is as poor and miserable as a Jew.’’ All their neighbours shall make a jest of them, and of the calamities brought upon them.
4. That, whereas those should return to their own land, never to see it more, and it shall be of no avail to them to plead that it was the land G-d gave to their fathers, for they had it from G-d, and he gave it to them upon condition of their obedience.
5. That, whereas those were reserved for better times, these were reserved for worse; wherever they are removed the sword, and famine, and pestilence, shall be sent after them, shall soon overtake them, and, coming with commission so to do, shall overcome them. G-d has variety of judgments wherewith to prosecute those that fly from justice; and those that have escaped one may expect another, till they are brought to repent and reform. Doubtless this prophecy had its accomplishment in the men of that generation yet, because we read not of any such remarkable difference between those of Jeconiah’s captivity and those of Zedekiah’s, it is probable that this has a typical reference to the last destruction of the Jews by the Romans, in which those of them that believed were taken care of, but those that continued obstinate in unbelief were driven into all countries for a taunt and a curse, and so they remain to this day]
9. And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.
[Removed. - (Jeremiah 15:4)."I will give them up to demonstration,
Into all - This verse quotes the curse (Deuteronomy 28:25, 37). Compare Jeremiah 29:18, 22, Psalms 44:13, 14.]
10. And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they
be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.
Now learn a parable of the fig tree; Matt. 24:32 & Mark 13:28 When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
[To them it is a correcting rod in the hand of a tender Father, while to others it is an avenging sword in the hand of a righteous Judge leading them to repentance.]
This prophecy was designed to encourage and to reprove people that prided themselves as superior.
This shows:
(1.) That we cannot determine of G-d’s love or hatred by all that is before us. When G-d’s judgments are abroad those are not always the worst that are first seized by them.
(2.) That early suffering sometimes proves for the best to us.
It is G-d that puts his gold into the furnace, to be tried; His hand is, in a special manner, to be eyed in the afflictions of good people. The judge orders the malefactor into the hand of an executioner, but the Father corrects the child with His own hand.
(3.) Even this disgraceful uncomfortable captivity G-d intended for their benefit; and we are sure that His intentions are never frustrated: I have sent them into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. It seemed to be every way for their hurt, not only as it was the ruin of their estates, honors, and liberties, separated them from their relations and friends, and put them under the power of their enemies and oppressors, but as it sunk their spirits, discouraged their faith, deprived them of the benefit of G-d’s oracles and ordinances, and exposed them to temptations; and yet it was designed for their good, and proved so, in the issue, as to many of them. Out of the eater came forth meat. By their afflictions they were convinced of sin, humbled under the hand of G-d, weaned from the world, made serious, taught to pray, and turned from their iniquity; particularly they were cured of their inclination to idolatry; and thus it was good for them that they were afflicted, Ps. 119:67, 71.
(4.) G-d promises them that he will own them in their captivity. Though they seem abandoned, they shall be acknowledged; the scornful relations they left behind will scarcely own them, or their kindred to them, but G-d says, I will acknowledge them.
Note, The L-rd knows those that are His, and will own them in all conditions; nakedness and sword shall not separate them from His love.