LESSON 1, VERSE 1:

Jeremiah was one of the Old Testament's greatest Preachers, a Major Prophet in every sense of the term.

Let's examine one of his Sermons, a better known one. Or at least let's study part of it. This will be typical Jeremiah.

He preaches these words at the Gate of the Temple in Jerusalem.  The whole sermon is now simply know as that, The Temple Gate Message. And what boldness he exhibits, what honesty!

Paul once said this to the Ephesians, in Acts 20:20. "I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you." Jeremiah could have said the same thing to the Judeans.

Our Text the next few days will encompass Jeremiah 7:1-16, at least. Maybe even through verse 19. This is powerful preaching!

And so much needed for today's world!

Verse 1: "The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying ..." This is the opening sentence to our Text, preparatory certainly, but still important.

The Holy Spirit wants us to know that this Sermon is not Jeremiah's idea! The LORD laid it upon the prophet's heart!

I just counted 32 times that we are told "the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah!" Those exact words or nearly so. From Jeremiah 1:11 to Jeremiah 49:34, again and again!

Wow!

The noun "word" in our verse translates "dabar." In contrast to its closest synonym in Hebrew, "dabar" means "the act of speaking, the actual process itself!" We are being told that God actually "talked" to Jeremiah, whether audibly or not no one can be sure.

God is communicating with his man!

They are on "speaking" terms!

Should this preacher, Jeremiah, lose fellowship with God, lose His communion with the Lord, he would be finished!

His ministry would have ended!

No hearing from God ... no Message!

That fact does not seem to bother a lot of preachers today! We have pre-printed sermons, books of them at the stores, internet files galore, plus all we've copied from the preachers we've heard through the years!

If we don't hear from God, we've always got our notebooks!

But that's not the Lord's Way!

Not His Best!

He longs to talk to His Men!

Again, I am not talking about loud, audible communication. But through His Word, the Bible! Through the leading of His Holy Spirit, the Comforter. Maybe at times even though the leading of life's daily events, often called Providence.

Jeremiah is about to preach what God told him to preach!

Now, for granted. God is here inspiring Jeremiah to write His Word, something that will no longer be duplicated. The Bible is a now complete Book, perfect too! Really, a library of 66 Books!

But God can still nudge us and prompt us and teach us, in that way "talking" to us, concerning our Sermons and Messages.

Hey you all, did you hear from Heaven at Church yesterday? Or did you get another "boxed" or "canned" or "borrowed" Sermon?

Don't get me wrong.

There's nothing bad about getting ideas from what we read or hear or encounter day by day, but we should not duplicate all of it, God being left out of the whole process!

"The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying ..."

The name Jeremiah is "'yiremeyah." It blends the shorted form of God's Name Jehovah, spelled "Yah," and the Hebrew verb "rum," meaning "to raise, to exalt, to uplift."

Jeremiah thus means "one whom God has established." Or "one whom God has appointed." Or even more literally, "one whom God has raised up!"

He is God's Preacher for the dark hour in which Judah was living!

God always has one!

"The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying ..."

"Saying" employs that other communication term, "amar." It emphasizes the "content" of a Message. And now for a total of fifty-two chapters, God will be "saying" things!

Let's listen, particularly to the essence of the Lord's Message.

The true preacher is merely that, a communicator, relating God's precious Word to needy humanity! He's a human "channel" through which God pours His words and thoughts and warnings, all of course based on verse by verse Bible Material!

Wow!

Thank God for real preachers!

                                                                        --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 2, VERSE 2:

Our current Text is longer than usual. It may be more Scripture than I can ever cover in one Sermon, as far as the Revival Meetings are concerned.  That is, Jeremiah 7:1-19.

Verse 2 says this, the Lord speaking to the Prophet. “Stand in the gate of the LORD'S house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.”

The noun “gate” is “shaar,” basically meaning “to split open,” which a gate does to any wall of its city. Or any side of a house, an entrance and exit point!

But “shaar” also has this connotation, at least as it’s translated in the King James Version. “To reason, to calculate, to reckon, to estimate.” Here is the sole example of “shaar” as “think,” Proverbs 23:7. “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” All that to link these two thoughts. The gate of the Lord’s House is not just an opening in the structure! It is also a thinking place! As we approach God’s House, the Church, we should be thinking and pondering and reflecting on the great Truths of Scripture!

Wow!

The verb “stand” is also significant. This is not “sitting” and preaching as was often the case in Scripture. “Amad” the first word in the verse, both in Hebrew and English, is thus to be heavily emphasized. It also means “to remain,” don’t let anybody run you away! “To endure,” even if circumstances are not pleasant, “in season and out of season!” Also “to take one’s stand!”

Bold preaching!

Plus, it’s a command from God, a requirement, “amad.”

Now to another “preaching” verb, “proclaim!” This is spelled “qara” in Hebrew, “to call our loud!” Even “to summon, to invite,” nearly “to accost” a person!

Confrontational, nearly!

Notice the interplay again between “word” and “say,” a noun and a verb. “Dabar” and “amar” emphasize both sides of the preaching act, how one delivers his message and what he has to say!

Goodness, very thorough!

Now the first line of the Sermon, “Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah.”

This is Jehovah God, obviously, all caps in the Name.

The verb “hear” is another imperative, “shamar.” And it certainly means more than just to listen, but also “to obey!” To hear with understanding, with perception. In a sense this is expository preaching, giving “the sense” of God’s intent! Back to Nehemiah 8:8 and Ezra, the expositor. “So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.”

The clause “caused them to understand” is a single Hebrew word, “biyn,” a verb. It means “to discern various levels of meaning” in a body of information. “To distinguish.” Even “to consider diligently,” with success!

The Preacher has a part in this process, but the Holy Spirit of God even more so!

The Sermon is for “Judah,” the Southern Kingdom of God’s People, because “Israel,” the Northern Kingdom, is no more! They have been destroyed because of their sins, really scattered throughout the Assyrian Empire!

The name “Judah,” ironically, means “praise.”

Yet they are not living up to the meaning of their name, far from it. They are seriously backslidden, as we shall soon see.

Then the last few words of the verse explain why the people are supposedly coming to the Temple in the first placed. “That enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.”

The verb “worship” is picturesque, meaning “to bow down.” Reverence, humility, submission! Visibly so! What an impact it must have for a child to see his or her Mom or Dad on their knees before Almighty God! What an object Lesson!

The Hebrew reads “to bow down toward Jehovah!” In His Presence!

That’s why this Preacher does believe in altar calls! Though they are rapidly becoming a thing of the past!

Can you believe it?

This much in one verse, no wonder this sermon has been studied for centuries! Analyzed, used as a model!

Until recently.

                                                                  --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

If …

If you think you can handle another verse or two, visit us again tomorrow. We’ll again see what Jeremiah has to say, both to Judah and maybe backsliding America too.

LESSON 3, VERSE 3:

This Text is going to take longer than I ever imagined! I intended to cover at least two verses each day, maybe three when possible. But so far, that's just not been the way the Lord has led.

Too much in each verse, Jeremiah packs these things full!

Such is the case again today.

God, through his Prophet, is talking to Judah. "Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place." Jeremiah 7:3

First of all, let me show you the significance of that Name, "the Lord of Hosts." It is actually "the Lord of the armies!" Yes, 29 times in the King James Bible "tzsaba" or "hosts" is translated "armies!" And it's rendered "war" 41 more times! And "battle" 5 times, even "soldiers" once!

This is God's fighting Name!

He has a whole army at His disposal. At His, literally, beck and call. An army of angels, no doubt!

Here are some of them, send to protect Elisha one day. "And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." 2nd Kings 6:17

Usually the Lord of Hosts fights for Israel, defeating her enemies. But when His people backslide and sin repeatedly and stubbornly and will not repent ... God has been known to fight against them!

And that's exactly what we have in this Text. The Lord of Hosts, God of the armies of Heaven, is "hinting" that Judah had better become more obedient! Less rebellious!

If not, chastisement is on the way! With the great Lord of Hosts doing the whipping!

"Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place." Jeremiah 7:3

The verb "amend" is, as expected, an imperative, a stark command! It means "to do good, to be pleasing, to act beautifully." It's sort of like telling a child "to shape up and do right." It even has a tinge of "joy" in it. We are happier in the Lord if we're obeying Him!

"Ways" and "doings" are parallel terms. Both are nouns obviously. Both are masculine gender and both are plural in number. "Derek" or "ways" means "a road." It can also mean "a journey, a path," and even a "habit" or "manner" of life. Those last two definitions are new to me!

And "maalal" or "doings" pictures whatever one does as a "practice." One's normal "deeds." In fact, twice in Scripture our word here is translated "inventions," and twice more "endeavors."

This is definitely a serious call to repentance! "Amend your ways and your doings."

Then comes a threat, maybe a veiled threat, but it's there!

God says: "Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place."

Implied is this. If you don't amend your ways, I will cause you to lose this place, your dwelling place!

I will expel you from the Land I've given you!

In Leviticus 18:25 the Lord expresses this thought rather graphically. "And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants." Due to sin!

Listen to Jeremiah later, speaking for the Lord of course. "Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers." Jeremiah 16:13

Wow!

This is a sermon in a verse!

"Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place." Jeremiah 7:3

United States, take heed!

But we smug Americans laugh at the very idea! Us, losing our Land? "No way," we think.

Truth be told, we're already losing it!

Many now say we stole parts of the Land from Mexico or the Indians or whomever. I'm not getting into that. But who is to say that some day the Hispanics might not take back what was once theirs? Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, some day our Army might not be able to defend against such advances! All I'm saying is this. Any Nation could, under God's Judgment, lose her Land!

And our land is daily being sold to foreign interests. Americans do not own all that much of America anymore! Is God judging us?

Is the Lord perhaps saying to us something like this? "Thus saith the LORD of hosts, once the God of America, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place."

But if not ...!

You could lose your dwellings!

In fact, elect a bunch of globalists, who just might turn our government over to some International Governing Body and see what happens!

We might all lose everything we own!

God has not changed!

He still fights against sin!

No matter who is committing it!

He is no Respecter of persons, or of Nations either!

Did I get a little too political today?

Lord, help us to repent. To amend our ways and doings! If not, we know what's ahead! Or at least we should know.

                                                                              --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 4, VERSES 4-7:

Our work load is heavy today!

But if we don't jump into this Jeremiah Text, we're still going to be here at Easter!

"Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these. For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour. If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever." Jeremiah 7:4-7

Jeremiah is the preacher, but obviously God is the real Speaker!

Verse 4: "Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these."

The "lying words" here refer to the false lifestyle the people have adopted, an erroneous worldview. The word "lying" merely indicates "empty, full of cheating, false," those shades of meaning, "sheqer" in Hebrew.

The mantra "The temple of the Lord," thrice repeated, is telling us that the people of Judea had come to think of God's House as a sort of good-luck charm! In other words, "God would never destroy our Nation, our Capital, Jerusalem! Why, the very Temple of the Lord is here!"

"We are special!"

But, also, they were wrong!

By the way, American Christians think we are special too, our Country! But in God's Eyes, maybe not!

Verses 5-7 get more specific. "For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour. If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever." God is still talking.

"To amend," in Hebrew "yatab," means "to do right, to make right," basically. Then the Lord mentions four specific sins, or four areas of sin, "between a man and his neighbor" or "between a man and his God."

Here they are. "Oppressing the stranger," which means "doing violence" to those who are not "native" to a land. Foreigners! Whatever your attitudes here, do not abuse a human being! He or she is made in God's Image, too!

Next, abusing the "fatherless." Read it this way, orphans. "Yathom" means a child with no living Dad. It's from a root verb that means "to be alone." I presume the youngster's Mom is gone too. Do no take advantage of those little people!

And then, as if to prove the Bible is not totally patriarchal, "Oppress not the widow." Anyone who "runs over" a widow lady is just asking for trouble, from the Lord! The word "widow" means "forsaken," spelled "almanah."

"Innocent blood" may refer to infants! Or perhaps to victims of crime who have no advocate. Anyone attacked wrongly! In an alley at night, or in a court of law! It can happen in either place!

Then after this list of wrongs man to man, or woman to woman, God mentions idolatry! "Neither walk after other gods to your hurt."

The noun for "gods" is astounding! Shocking nearly! It's "elohiym," same as God real Name "Elohiym!" And how do we keep them apart? The real God and those false ones? In the King James Version it's easy. The interpretation has already been done for us. Just watch the capital letters! In Hebrew it's more difficult, the context is the deciding factor. In our Text today there is no doubt.

God is saying that if the Jews pursue those false gods, "hurt" is in their future! The noun "ra" means "hurt" in this sense, "wickedness, evil," but also "trouble, affliction, adversity, sadness!"

Oh, the multiple wages of sin!

This is nearly a fresh list of Commandments, five commandments, God has reiterated to a backslidden nation!

Social sins first, with spiritual sins following!

Nonetheless, if Judah obeys, quite a big if, God will bless her! He promised! Read it. "Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever."

The Land will be yours, securely, for ever!

Wow!

But get the "hint" now!

If God's people disobey, the Land is not secure!

They may not dwell there for generations!

God may expel them!

A Nation, due to her sin, stripped of her very homeland!

And I'm thinking this. Since God is Almighty, this could happen to any Country on earth!

In retrospect ...

1. Take care of the poor and disenfranchised.

2. And the orphans.

3. And the widows.

4. And don't hurt the innocents. Wonder if that includes the unborn? They do have blood, when they are aborted I mean. Murdered, just as well say. This fact alone may bring America down, along with much of the developed world.

5. Then perhaps above all, serve the Only True God, ignoring any cheap counterfeits, idols or whatever.

Jeremiah is preaching to the whole world in a sense! The Bible truly has the answers for all humanity!

If you have a few more seconds, read the entire Text again. It should more clearly speak to your heart this time. "Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these. For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour. If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever." Jeremiah 7:4-7

                                                                              --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

Wow!

Talk about choices!

LESSON 5, VERSES 8-10:

Preaching against sin, specific sins in fact!

It's almost a relic from the past!

So let's go into the past, Old Testament Bible history, and listen to the Prophet Jeremiah practice this lost art!

He really is just echoing the Voice of the Lord.

"Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not? And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?" Jeremiah 7:8-10

How typical of twenty-first century Christianity, so-called anyway!

Preaching consists of words, naturally.

But there exist powerful words, truthful words ... and then also "lying" words, deceptive words, propaganda!

The false prophets Judah had been hearing were useless. The verb "trust" means "to feel safe" in something! Even to the point of "carelessness!" "Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit."

The verbal adjective "lying" is from a root word meaning "trickery, cheating," deliberate premeditated deception!

That's cruel, for any spiritual leader to purposely mislead his flock!

Such preaching cannot possible "profit" anyone, except padding the preacher's pockets maybe! "Profit" means "that which sets one forward, is beneficial, brings proper gain."

We already can surmise that they are not preaching God's Word! Because Paul taught us that the Scripture is always "profitable!" In 2nd Timothy 3:16, at the first of the verse. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable." You remember, I'm sure.

Then, using interrogation, like Jesus did so often, Jeremiah asks the Jews: "Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not?"

These words really are coming from God Himself, through Jeremiah. Preaching like this requires intimate fellowship with the Almighty, a conversational lifestyle nearly!

The verb "to steal" is "ganab," and means "to carry things away!" That's "lifting" things that do not belong to you! Can you imagine? Judah, a bunch of thieves!

"Murder" or "ratzsah" means "to slay" someone. Injury that leads to death. How could God's people sink to such depths? Did their greed, their thievery lead to their brutality?

Likely so! Remember Ahab and Naboth and that vineyard, and Jezebel! Covetousness led to the shedding of innocent blood!

"Committing adultery" made the list, too. "Naaph," simply means "to break wedlock." One man with another man's wife, typically. Although equally it could involve a wife seducing another woman's husband just as well.

Then "swearing" falsely, which can mean either "taking an oath" then lying! Or also "cursing, using profanity in a damnable sense!" Sins of the tongue!

Each of these foregoing transgressions is expressed as an infinitive, the action being constant! Habitual! Durative, they sometimes call it.

But on top of all these other sins, add this. "And burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not?"

This "Baal" is in Hebrew, "baal!" A direct loan word! The name means "lord, husband, owner." He was the chief male god of the Canaanites. Of course they had goddesses too.

God's people, worshipping like their filthy neighbors! Depravity, sensuality, perversion, so much so it can't be politely described!

To "burn incense" means "to sacrifice" to these idols, now using the "piel" infinitive! Aggressively worshipping Baal! Emotionally so! Putting their hearts into it totally!

Plus "following" many of the other gods of the horrible pantheistic culture that surrounded them! Hey Paul, here are some more of those "unknown" gods you mentioned in Athens, in Acts 17:23.

What a list of sins!

So contemporary too!

Still being practiced, thousands of years later!

But, to make matters all the worse, look at the next verse. Look at the blatant hypocrisy! Trying to pull the wool over God's Eyes!

"And then ye come and stand before Me in this House, which is called by My Name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations." Jeremiah 7:10

After sinning like little demons, this crowd files into Church, smiling and singing like virtual saints!

My Dad used to call that "putting on!"

Then these sinning Jews justify their actions, their sins, by saying "We are delivered to do all these abominations."

Mercy!

God has set us free!

We can behave as we choose!

God is good!

We are his special people!

The verb "delivered" here means something like "protected!" God would not dare mess with His Nation, with darling little Judah! The "apple of His eye!" His "chosen" people!

The noun "abominations" here, self incriminating as it is, means "that which is disgusting," obviously to God!

On one hand they "rationalized" their wrongdoing, on the other hand they called such activities "abominations!"

In other words, they made God "sick," absolutely nauseated!

Woe!

What preaching!

Let's revive it today!

Then too, let's examine our own lives.

                                                                             --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 6, VERSES 11-14:

The Text today involves some Bible history, even from Jeremiah's point of view. God reminds Judah of His past judgments, upon His own people nonetheless.

"Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD. But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not. Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh." Jeremiah 7:11-14

God just called His Temple, that magnificent Structure in Jerusalem that Solomon built, "a den of robbers!"

The word for “den” means a "cave or hole," just as well. A lurking place, dark and dangerous! And "robbers" translates "periytzs," people "violent" enough to "break" a place into pieces, just to get what they want!

That greedy!

That selfishly motivated!

Money hungry likely!

Jesus in His earthly Ministry picked up on this phrase, as He cleansed the Temple of the moneychangers! Matthew 21:13 tells us. "And He said unto them, It is written, My House shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves."

And while all this is happening, all this selfish commercialism at God's House, the Lord in Heaven is carefully watching! "Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD."

For sure! Remember this verse. "The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." Proverbs 15:3, We taught this little sentence to each of our children when they were still very young.

Now comes the history Lesson, with the Lord God as our Teacher.  "But go ye now unto my Place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel."

Past performance is often a very good indicator of future plans! At least that's the case with Jehovah God right here.

Here's the Psalmist's take on the situation at Shiloh. "They, the Israelites, were turned aside like a deceitful bow. For they provoked the Lord to anger with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their graven images. When God heard this, He was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel. So that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which He placed among men. And delivered His strength, His people, into captivity, and His glory into the enemy's hand." Psalm 78:57-61

Shiloh, the city, was in the land of Ephraim, about ten miles from Bethel. It was Home to the Ark of the Covenant and Tabernacle from the time of the nearly completed Conquest until the death of Samuel, all of Joshua's life plus some. Joshua 18:1 gives a little more information. "And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was subdued before them."

Now let me tell you how precious "Shiloh," that name, was to the Lord. It means "a place of rest, quiet, tranquility." And God once used it, we believe, as a Name for Jesus, for the coming Messiah! "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be." Genesis 49:10, almost for sure a direct reference to our Saviour! Who was, by the way, out of the Tribe of Judah! And Who will also reign as Governor of the land!

So if God was willing to destroy Shiloh, and its Tabernacle, due to Israel's copious sins, no doubt about it, He will do the same thing to backslidden Judah, her Capital, and the Temple there!

And then, sadly but necessarily, God delivers a not-so-veiled threat. It's almost a promise, truthfully. "And now, because ye men of Judah have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not. Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh."

Their sins had finally reached the breaking point!

God has had enough, too much really!

Judgment time has come!

Sermons have been disregarded.

Repentance delayed, if even considered at all.

Sins cherished.

God's patience exhausted.

"Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh."

God will allow the wreckage of His Temple!

By the wicked Babylonians, of all people.

Nebuchadnezzar and his crowd, his army.

As God has "forsaken" the Tabernacle at Shiloh years earlier, so would He now "abandon" the one at Jerusalem too. "He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men." So sad, Psalm 78:60 again.

Here's what happened to the Ark at Shiloh, "And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain." 1st Samuel 4:11, the Ark seized, captured!

Mercy!

Now Jerusalem, you get ready!

Your time has come!

Judgment Day is at surely hand!

And it happened, just like God said!

Here's the record. "Therefore the Lord brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their Sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: God gave them all into his hand. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons." 2nd Chronicles 36:17-20

So true! "Behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out." Numbers 32:23

America, other Nations of the world ... beware!

God is still on His Throne, and he has not changed one bit!

Wow!

Or maybe I should be saying "Woe!"

                                                                           --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 7, VERSES 15-16:

It happens three times in Jeremiah.

One of those instances is located in our Text today.

God is talking to Judah. "And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim. Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee." Jeremiah 7:15-16

God has just threatened to "cast" Judah, the whole nation, out of His sight! He is that disgusted at her, and her sins. "Shalak" means "to throw, to hurl, to fling." The verb is in the causative stem, there's a definite reason for God's proposed action, that being the iniquity of the Jews.

The noun "sight" means "face" literally.

God has done this before, this holy expulsion! To Ephraim, just another name for the northern kingdom, for Israel, the ten tribes.

And even with her older Sister being punished so severely, Judah still has not repented.

The point here may be that God's judgments on earlier backslidden Nations might be repeated on later offenders too! If so, and Sodom and Gomorrah are considered, woe be unto many a Nation today!

Then comes the "bombshell."

God forbids Jeremiah to pray any longer for Judah! "Therefore pray not thou for this people."

"Pray," spelled "palal," literally means "to intervene!" This is an imperative, too, no choice in the matter.

God says this in Jeremiah 7:16, where we are now. Then again in Jeremiah 11:14. And yet a third time in Jeremiah 14:11

Each of the other two references adds to the picture also.

Don't pray for them, Jeremiah, even when they are in trouble! "Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble." Jeremiah 11:14

Then do not pray for their good either, not at all. The blessings have dried up, all gone! "Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good." Jeremiah 14:11

Apparently God told Paul "no" three times as well. Over that "thorn in the flesh" issue! "For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me." God did not heal Paul. And Paul prayed no more about it! 2nd Corinthians 12:8

Then verse 9, Paul still in view. "And the Lord said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." He's now talking in such victorious terms, even with that "thorn" still tormenting him.

Wow!

Looks like Jeremiah loved to pray.

But He can't so so any more, not for His Homeland!

"Neither lift up a cry or prayer for them." This is God still talking!

"To lift up" is "nasa," a verb meaning "to carry a heavy load."

"Cry" translates "rinnah," praying loudly, shouting nearly.

And the noun "prayer" implies "intercession." Not praying for oneself, but for others.

Yes, Samuel did say it. "God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you." 1st Samuel 12:23

But the spiritual climate in Samuel's day was not anywhere near as dark as in Jeremiah's time.

Apparently a time came when even Abraham knew any that further prayer for the doomed twin cities, you know where, was useless. He stopped asking when he could not find even ten righteous people.

God has drawn a line! On the near side of this line prayer for someone is still allowed, and is still answerable! But on the far side, the rebelliously sinful side, prayer is no longer beneficial!

It will not be answered anyway!

God does not even want to hear it!

Our Lord hates sin a lot more than I ever realized!

And what more proof of this very fact can exist than today's verses? God's Holy Hatred of wickedness. "And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim. Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee." 

He is a Righteous God!

I almost shutter as I think about it.

"The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." Psalm 9:17

Woe!

                                                                           --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

LESSON 8, VERSES 17-19, WITH A QUICK GLIMPSE AT 20 ALSO:

Jeremiah "thunders" against sin!

To the extend that a word has been coined in his honor! Consult the dictionary if you must. A "jeremiad" is a document or a speech, sermons included, that unleashes a righteous prophecy of coming damnation. "Bitter lamentation," one source says.

It's when a preacher or writer really "unloads" on someone, often quoting Almighty God!

That's certainly a good description of our Text the past few days.

Even today's verses, with the Lord now speaking to Jeremiah himself.

"Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?" Jeremiah 7:17-19

The "cities of Judah," that's nation-wide! Apparently including little villages and hamlets, too.

The "streets of Jerusalem," that's urban, in the Capital you might say.

Knowing their deeds are wrong, more than that, abominable in the sight of God, the citizens of Judah stubbornly persist in their rebellion!

Their apostasy!

Their idolatry, for that's the exact description here.

That verb "do" in the clause "what they do in the cities and streets," translates "asah," meaning "to make, prepare, fashion, produce," diligent participation in an activity.

"The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods,

The whole family is involved!

"Children" is "ben" in Hebrew, little boys up through teenagers being indicated. Though I'm sure girls were included too. It's just that the noun is masculine.

And here's Dad, in the kitchen! He would never go there for a regular meal, servants or wives did all that! But to help worship a foreign goddess, "What can I do?" seems to have been the prevailing attitude! Father will get the stove going!

The noun "dough" comes from a verb that means "to swell!" That's exactly what that moistened flour does when a little yeast is added! Mom does that, such unity in wrongdoing!

The "cakes" involved are much like the "bread" we use in communion. Or the grain used in the Jewish Meal Offering.

It's a worship thing!

And the "Queen of Heaven" is one of the local deities, a goddess obviously. Probably Asherah by name. Often in antiquity she was believed to be the "consort" of Jehovah God! His "wife!"

The Jews here have not, in their own minds anyway, totally abandoned the Lord God Almighty! They have just given him a wife! They "added" a goddess to their theological mix!

Nor was Asherah the only one. "To pour out drink offerings unto other gods." Plural, "gods!"

A drink offering was most often used to express "thanks" and "praise" to the God Who had done something mighty in one's life!

This then is blasphemy!

Thanking the Queen of Heaven, or some other meaningless idol, for the blessings of the day!

And what does such activity accomplish?

Nothing concrete, just less bread in the house!

Unless a demon lurks behind the particular god or goddess being extolled! Then something might happen! Something evil and deadly.

Oh yes, One thing did happen! They provoked the real God, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob! God says so. "That they may provoke Me to anger."

To "provoke to anger" means "to make indignant," also "to make sad," and even once "to grieve."

But then God says that one more consequence exists. "Do they provoke Me to anger? saith the Lord: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?"

Idolatry confuses!

"Bosheth" means "shame" most often, in twenty of its thirty Old Testament appearances. But it can also mean "to retard or delay" one's progress. Idolatry, needless to say, locks one in a fixed position with God! No more growing, no more advancement, spiritually!

Drunken orgies in the name of religion or for the sake of bountiful crops may be all right culturally, to Israel heathen neighbors!

But in God's Eyes it's wrong, perhaps dead wrong!

Self destructive, you had just as well say.

So, God is resolved. Nothing now can change His Mind! Or at least nothing did! Remember God has forbidden Jeremiah to even pray for these backslidden Jews now!

So the last verse we'll consider includes God's determined words. "Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched." Jeremiah 7:20

Judgment is on the way!

And it happened within just a few years of Jeremiah's Sermon, his Temple Gate Sermon.

Just like Romans 5:5 says the Holy Spirit "poured" God's Love into us when He saved us, "shed abroad" is the exact verb, so did God the Father "pour out" His Anger on the people of Judah!

The fire did fall too. Nebuchadnezzar and his army destroyed the City of Jerusalem and its glorious Temple, by burning it to the ground!

Sin has consequences!

It pays wages!

Oh, that America would repent.

                                                                          --- Dr. Mike Bagwell

At least over these past eight Lessons we've had a sample of Jeremiah's preaching! Powerful as it is! Bold too! The Sermon at the Temple Gate!