Lessons From Jeremiah – Part 22 – It Is Tragic When A Nation Finally Reaps The Sin It Has Sown – Sin Has Consequences Series

LESSONS FROM JEREMIAH – PART 22 – IT IS TRAGIC WHEN A NATION FINALLY REAPS THE SIN IT HAS SOWN – SIN HAS CONSEQUENCES

PART 22 - Jeremiah 6:6-12

CHAPTER 6

[A]. A CALL TO THE INVADERS, BUT A PLEA FOR JUDAH TO REPENT OF ITS WICKEDNESS

{{Jeremiah 6:6 Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Cut down her trees, and cast up a siege against Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished, in whose midst there is ONLY OPPRESSION. Jeremiah 6:7 As a well keeps its waters fresh, so she keeps fresh her wickedness. Violence and destruction are heard in her. Sickness and wounds are ever before Me. Jeremiah 6:8 Be warned, O Jerusalem, lest I be alienated from you, lest I make you a desolation, a land not inhabited.”

(a). JERUSALEM THE CITY OF OPPRESSION WILL BE PUNISHED

This next section is an address from the Lord against Jerusalem, beginning with the invitation to besiege the city, and ending with the door opened to survival. The Lord’s indirect command is to Chaldean army to gather timber for the siege ramps, and therefore it would be understood, that the city would be defeated. That defeat is the punishment from the Lord and a reason is given – oppression. We have already seen the oppression suffered by the poor and by those who could obtain no justice. God will avenge the injustice done to the helpless and the powerless.

In today’s world there is gross injustice everywhere, most of it stemming from the so-called Christian world, developed nations acting in line with American greed and corruption (great corporations and Tech companies). The word “ONLY” in verse 6 is significant. God could find nothing of commendable value, just oppression overriding all else, just like Noah’s time when He found nothing but continual evil in men’s hearts and thoughts. I find that it is so easy to be influenced or numbed by the wickedness around that we can become ignorant of the hurting and suffering people in our world, those who lack decency and justice. Evil has cast a murky haze all around and we fail to discern through the cloud and see the plight of those needy ones. We easily become desensitised.

In verse 6 the LORD says Jerusalem must be punished. The principle underlying that decision is going to apply to today’s world. As I write this there is gross injustice – so evident – stemming from the White House, the legal system in the US States and from the large Agencies like the FBI. This is not picking on the USA because so many nations are going the same way. When those appointed for the welfare of the people fail, and have become corrupted, then like Samaria, like Assyria, like Judah, like Babylon, etc. then God steps in to punish and overthrow. SIN WILL ALWAYS HAVE A CONSEQUENCE and is the reason why the world now stands on the brink of the great Tribulation that is God’s wrath against injustice, willful sin, and rejection of the Creator of all things.

(b). VERSE 7 – VIOLENCE, DESTRUCTION, SICKNESS AND WOUNDS

The prophet uses a simile from God in verse 7, an example well known to everyone. All knew the importance of the well for fresh water but equally known, was the necessity to keep that well free from contamination. The water in the well must be kept fresh but the well of Jerusalem’s relationship with God was grossly contaminated. What Jerusalem was keeping fresh was its wickedness, almost in pristine condition; continually being refreshed; then to describe that wickedness, two doubles are used. The first one is violence and destruction, and these issues are brought out many times in the prophecy. It was a city given to the violence of the flesh, and bloodshed. It was horrible.

Light rejected creates greater darkness and, Judah had long ago rejected the light of God. Conditions in Jerusalem were approaching the conditions in Noah’s time and as that resulted in overall destruction, so in Judah’s time it would mean total destruction for them also. The two verses from Genesis that could parallel Judah are these – {{Genesis 6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually,” and Genesis 6:13 Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me for the earth is filled with violence because of them, and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.”}}

Then the Lord mentions sickness and wounds in the next double in verse 7. I don’t think this is referring to physical ailments, more to spiritual ones. The spiritual health of the land was sick and it had been wounded terribly by self-inflicted spiritual wounds. The condition was relentless for these were ever present before the Lord, a similar situation to what Isaiah noted – {{Isaiah 1:4-6 “Alas, sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel; they have turned away from Him. Where will you be stricken again as you continue in your rebellion? THE WHOLE HEAD IS SICK AND THE WHOLE HEART IS FAINT. From the sole of the foot even to the head there is nothing sound in it, only bruises, welts, and raw wounds, not pressed out or bandaged, nor softened with oil.”}} Spiritual sickness pervades our nations as so many of the precepts of God have been trashed and overturned.