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The Mercy of God

Jeremiah 3 - 4:4)

INTRODUCTION

Jeremiah continues to expose

and

de

nounce Judah's unfaithfulness and adul

tery as the bride of Jehovah. But,

against this da rk backdrop,

he

magnifies

Jehovah's undeserving mercy, by m -

ing a passionate plea for true repent

ance,

and

bypromising to those

whore-

pent God's forgiveness and full restora

tion.

EXPOSmON

A. (3:1-5) Jehovah's Unfaithful Wife

1. (3:1) Judah had been unfaithful to

her husband, Jehovah, by worshipping

Canaanite idols. The question is: should

he divorce her. According

toDeut.

24:1-

4

he

may; .but if he does, and she mar

ries herself to Baal,

he

may not reclaim

her and she will be cut off from Jeho

vah forever.

2. (3:2-3) Originally Jehovah took

the initiative in marrying Judah. Later

Judah took the initiative in turning

away from Jehovah in spiritual adul

tery. Now, Israel has forfeited all rights

to initiate reconciliation with Jehovah.

So, in sheer mercy Jehovah takes the

initiative and calls his unfaithful wife

back to himself in true repentance, as-

suring her

of full restoration i she re-

turns.

3. (3:3) Judah's adultery resulted in

droughts, because it polluted the land.

This was the beginning of the adminis

tration of the covenant curses of Deut.

28.

4. (3:4-5)

The bad

times caused by

the droughts moved Judah to speak to

God in endearing, but superficial,

terms. They expected this to move God

to rescue them, closing his eyes to their

sins. God was

willing

to forgive, but

not without true repentance

on

Judah's

part. Judah's endearing language

to

God

was blasphemous, because it was not

backed with a real change

of

behavior

before

him.

B.

(3:6-11) Apostate Israel

and

Treach

erous Judah

1. Israel and Judah were adulterous

and apostate sisters. Israel was Apos

tasy personified; and Judah was not on

ly apostate, she was faithless, false and

treacherous. In 721, B.C., Samaria, the

capital of Israel, fell to the Assyrians,

as a result

of

God's judgment on them

for

their sins. God divorced Israel,

IT

Kings 17:1-18, which was the high

price they had to pay for their persistent

apostasy. Judah should have learned

from this, but they did not. They pre

tended to be sorry, but there was no real

repentance.

2. (3:9-10) Judah's apostasy was so

great that her sensitiveness to the

de-

mands of her covenant with Yahweh

had

become dulled so that she regarded

adultery as something insignificant

.....adultery mattered so little to her that

she participated in the same evil prac

tices. as her sister Israel and polluted the

land. -Thompson

3. (3:11) Both Israel and Judah were

apostate, but Judah proved herself

worse. To whom much is given, much

is required.

C; (3:12-14) The Merciful Call to

Repentance

1. (3:12) God refuses to divorce his

wayward people. So through the preach

ing

of

his servarits he graciously calls

them back

to

himself.

2. (3:12) This call is rooted in

di-

vine mercy. God desires to reveal

him-

self to his people as a gracious God.

The Hebrew word translated gracious

here is hesed, meaning unfailing

love or steadfast covenant loyalty.

3.

(3:12) This call also highlights

God's mercy in that it is addressed to

faithless, adulterous, idolatrous, apos

tate people, and not to those who are

righteous. The very call itself is unde

served and unmerited.

4.

(3:12) It is a call to return or to

repent, (Hebrew= sub ). This word

means to tu to God and to tum away

from evil. It embodies the heart of Jere

miah's message.

a. Judah is called to return to

God as their Glory, 2:11. .

b. Judah is called to return to

God as their Fountain

of

living water,

2:13.

c. They are to return to him as

their Father, 3:19.

d They are to return

to

him as

their Husband, 3:14.

e. They are to return

to

~ i m as

their Salvation, 3:23.

f

They are to returil

to

him as

their Covenant Lord, 3:13.

5 (3: 13) True repentance demands

the full recognition of sin and admis

sion of guilt before God. Judah must

know her wrongdoing in the deepest

sense of the

word

a.

Judah must confess that she

has committed iniquity, transgres-

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sed," and "not obeyed" God's voice.

b. Obedience

is

a basic require

ment for God's covenant people. Obedi

ence leads to blessing and disobedience

leads to curses, Deut. 28.

6.

(3:14)

The

following blessings

from God accompany true repentance:

a. (3:12)

God

will

twn

his righ

teous anger away from those who re

pent, not because they repent, but be

cause of grace through repentance, Eph.

2:8,9.

b. (3:14a) God will reveal him

self

to

his penitent bride as her true and

loving Husband, (her true Baal,

in

Hebrew).

c. (3:14b) God will bring his

people out of Exile and will recon

stitute them as One People with one

Lord.

D.

(3:14-18)

The

Promise

of

the

Throne

of

God

(For an explanation

of

this mes

sianic prophecy, see my study on he

Christ o Jeremiah The Counsel o

Chalcedon, Vol

IX,

No. 12, Februazy,

1988, p. 15)

E. 3 :19 - 4:4)

The

Necessity of True

Repentance

1. (3:19) The Desire

of

God.

a. God desires

to

reveal himself

as Father to faithful sons who live in

obedience to him within the bounds

and

bond

of

the Covenant.

b. God desires

to

give his people

the best, but they

must

call him,

Father, in utter sincerity and devotion.

c. This desire of God is the basis

for his prophecies that he

will

have a

faithful people loving him as Father;

and it is the basis for our confidence

that these prophecies will come true,

because a sovereign God always satis

fies his desires.

2. (3:20-21) The Failure

of

Judah

a. Judah continues

to

be

adulter-

ous.

b. In times of need, the people

in

great anguish, would cry

to

the Lord

for help, from the pagan hilltop sanc

tuaries. Their cry may have been

to

Jehovah, but their methods and prac

tices of worship were still those

of

Baal. Jehovah, in that case, did not an-

swer their cries. They had twisted their

ways

and

forgotten Jehovah. There

could

be

no

true worship in the pagan

sanctuaries.

3. (3:22) The Blessings

of

True

Re

pentance

a. Godpromises

to

heal the faith

lessness

of

the penitent.

He

will make

them faithful.

b. Godoffers thema prayerofre

pentance

to

assist them in their re

pentance. Remember that the Lord "re

jects the empty mouthing

of

penitential

phrases without true hear t repentance." -

Thompson

4

(3:23) The Source

of

Salvation

(Judah had to confess that the

Canaanite sanctuaries were false, empty

and

deceptive; and that the source of

their salvation was in Jehovah alone.

This is the confession

of

Israel's creed

that Jehovah

was

her

only God, Exod.

20:2f; Deut. 5:6-10; 6:

4

Such a confes

sion would be the recognition of Jeho

vah as

her

sovereign, covenant Lord,

carrying with

it

a willingness to accept

his covenant demands.)

5. (3:24-25) The Confession of

Shame

a. True repentance includes the

"feeling of shame surging up at every

memory of their past sins. The more

thoroughly the repentant realizes the

true nature of sin and the loving-kind

ness

of

that

God against

whom

his sin

is directed, the more ashamed will he be

of his

past

sins and the more determined

to

fight against this mistress of a

thousand wiles." -Laetsch

b. Baal worship, as all idolatry,

devoured the labor

of

former genera

tions. Idolatry is expensive business.

c. Sin is always to be seen as

the rejection of Jehovah's sovereignty

and

covenant demands revealed in the

Bible.

6. (4:1-4) The Nature and Blessings

of

True Repentance

a.

The Nature of True Repent-

ance

(1). (4:1a) It is a return to

Jehovah as Covenant Lord and Savior.

(2). (4:1b) It is a putting

away

of

whatever is detestable to Jeho

vah, most specifically idolatry.

We

are

to worship and serve Jehovah alone,

Jehovah's

way

alone.

(3). (4:2)

It

is a swearing

by

the life of Jehovah, the living God.

This means a renewal

of

the covenant

vows, previously broken. It is a

swearing of loyalty

to

J ehqvah "in

truth," i.e., in sincerity and stead

fastness; "in justice," i.e., in conform

ity to the revealed will of God;

and

"in

righteousness."

(4). (4:3) It is a "breaking up

of unplowed ground." Repentance must

be more than the mouthing of formulas

and emotional upheavals. t must be the

deep and radical plowing up of the hard

ground. "Judah's own field was so in

fested with the thorn seeds of past evil

deeds that her only

hope

was to reclaim

new ground.

The

whole future was

threatened

by

the legacy

of

the past, and

only a complete

and

radical

new

begin

ning would suffice

to

save

the nation." -

TI1ompson

(5). (4:4) It is t

he

"circum

cision of your hearts to the Lord." Cir

cumcision in the O.T. was the public

witness

to

the surrender

of

the whole

life

to

the sovereignty

and

covenant of

Jehovah, Dt. 10:16; 30:6. The physical

circumcision was not the central thing

called for, but the removal

of

every in-

hibition

and

hindrance

to

the total com

mitment

of

the heart and life

to

the ser

vice and worship of Jehovah.

b. The Motives for T

rue

Repent-

nce

1). (4:2) The nations

of

the

world will someday understand from the

example

of

Israel's return

to

Jehovah in

Christ, that Jehovah is, in fact, the

source of salvation and blessing, and

that he graciously bestows

that

salva

tion upon all who enter the covenant by

faith, repentance and obedience.

Com

pare Isa. 42:6; 49:6.

(a).

The

plea is this:

Israel Judah For the Lord's sake, for

your

own

sake, for the

sake

of

the

whole world, repent Your apostasy,

adultery and idolatry is shutting your

selves and the whole world out from

God's kingdom.

(b). Through Israel's re

turn in Christ, "the heathen, now of

fended (in Jeremiah's time) by (Israel's)

life of sin

and sham

e, (will) bless

and

The Counsel of Chalcedon, June, 1988 _ Page

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glorify the

Lord

God, whom

now

they

blaspheme because

of

(Israel's) wicked

ness, Ezek.

36:20f; Rom. 2:24.

Then

shall the

promise

of

Jer, 3:17

be

fulfil

led. Israel's whole-hearted repentance

shall be a blessing

to

themselves artd

to

the

world, Gen. 12:3; 18:18; 22:18." -

Laetsch

(2). (4:4) The burning,

un

quenchable

and destructive wrath

of l-

mighty God

will

be

poured out

on all

covenant-breakers

who

do

not repent

and

return

to God

in Christ, Dt.

28.

Jeremiah

3:5-31 prophecies how God's

wrath

will

be poured out

on Judah

and

Jerusalem.

The

Devastation

of

Divine Judgment

(Jeremiah 4:5-31)

IN1RODUCTION

1.

The judgment

prophesied

in

chap- -

ters 1-3 is spelled out

in

detail in chap

ter 4. Repentance has

not

taken place.

Therefore,

Judah will be judged by

God

by

a swift

and

deadly invasion from

the

north, i.e. Babylon.

2.

This

chapter sends a note of terri

fying alarm like a thunder-clap.

I t

be

gins with the

cry of

a herald and ends

with the

anguish

of

a woman

in

child

birth.

EXPOSITION

A. (4:5-9)

The

Announcement

of Im

mediate Judgment

1. (4:5-6) God commands Jeremiah

to

give

the

signal

in

his preaching that

God has

begun

to

bring a shattering

disaster upon

Judah

for their sins by the

Babylonian invasion.

2.

(4:7)

God

himself personally will

bring the hordes

of

his enemies

upon

Judah like wild

animals to devastate

the

land and

destroy and depopulate

the

cities.

3. (4:8)

The

people are called

upon

to grieve and howl

in

utter horror

be

cause the

burning heat

of

God's

anger

has not been turned

away, as Jeremiah

hoped.

4. (4:9)

The

national leadership

will collapse because it

had no

secure

basis

for hope

and security." -

Thompson

B. (4:10)

The

Complaint

of

Jeremiah

1.

Jeremiah was deeply affected

him-

self by this

grim

prophecy.

2.

In

solitude with God, he utters

the honest confusion

of

his troubled

heart to the

God

in whose grace

(hesed)

he felt secure.

C. (4:11-13)

The

Fierceness

of Judg

ment

1.

(4:11) God's judgment is like a

hot, scorching

wind

burning away every

thing in its path.

2. (4:12) This scorching wind is ir

resistible

--

nothing

can

stop its

fury

and destruction. This mighty wind

comes at

the command of

God, who

speaks judgments through his prophets,

and then

who

causes those judgments to

come

to pass.

3. (4:13)

The

enemy is coming like

a hurricane.

The

panic-stricken people

respond: "Alas

We

are ruined " They

should

have

realized they were ruined

by

sin

before they were ruined by judg

ment.

D.

(4:14-18) The Call for Immediate

Repentance

1.

(4:14)

I f

Judah

is to be

saved she

must wash her heart, and not just her

body,

from

all evil. Although judgment

was at the door, Jeremiah did

not think

it

was too late to hold

out

the offer

of

the diversion of judgment through

repentance.

2.

(4:15-18)

God

continues

to

justi

fy his actions, although he does

not

have

to

do

so.

He

once again stresses

that

it

is nothing but Judah's wicked

ness that is causing this devastation.

Judah's misery was only the punish

ment

of

their rebellion. The curses

of

Deuteronomy 28 had become operative.

E. (4:19-22)

The Deep

Anguish

of

Jere

miah

(See

my

study entitled,

The

JJ on-

fessions o Jeremiah (The Coun-

sel o Chalcedon,

Volume IX, No. 11,

January, 1988, p. 14)

F.

(4:23-31)

The

Desolation

of

Judg

ment

1. (4:23-28) Jeremiah uses the

imagery

of

a cosmic conflagration to

impress his readers with the terminal

and inescapable ferocity

of

divine judg

ment.

a. (4:23) Jeremiah uses the

phrase

of

Gen. 1:2 here: "without form

and void" to describe the effects

of

divine wrath on Judah.

The

picture is a

reversal

of

Genesis 1. Judah will be "un

created."

b. (4:27) As terrible as this judg

ment was,

it

was

not

total and fmal.

God, in mercy, would restore

his

people

in Christ.

c. (4:28)

God

will never change

his mind on this: impenitent apostasy

inevitably provokes the devastating

judgment

of

God.

2. (4:29-30) Judah is portrayed as a

prostitute dressed

to

receive her lovers,

(the invaders from the north), who

come, hate her, and kill her. This prosti

tute beautifies herself

to attract clients,

but

the lovers are bent on her destruc

tion. No last minute negotiations will

save Judah.

3. (4:31)

Now

the prostitute, Judah,

is pictured as a woman

in

labor trying

to

give birth

to

her first child. She cries

and

screams, gasping

for

breath, clinch

ing her fists

in

the agonies

of

death.

Her sins have fmally found her out.

a.

It is not

her sinful folly that

she bewails, but only the agony she

must

endure.

She

still remains the self

centered harlot." -Laetsch

b. "She did not want

God

as her

Husband,

but

sought paramours; she

refused to have

God

beautify her, she

insisted

on

beautifying herself and not

for God, but for

her

lovers. She left

God, the Fountainhead

of

life, and

chose murderers as her friends. -- She

refused to yield her soul, her life, to her

Maker, her Husband, her Redeemer; she

must

yield

it

to murderei:s, who sought

her

life while posing

as

lovers.;' -

Laetsch D

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.;.; The Counsel of Cbalcedon, June, 1988