Jeremiah 4:5-18 It’s Coming
Jeremiah is told to go out and tell the people that it’s coming; judgment from the north. Woe to us, for we are ruined! Your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you.
Judgment is on its way. Not the very hour Jeremiah spoke it but before his life ended, God would bring about this promise. This isn’t going to be a capturing of a few cities or an enemy that God will defeat for them. Judah, with all its towns will be brought low. This includes Jerusalem.
We are not given a specific timeline for when Jeremiah spoke this specific prophecy. The most recent ones we read were spoken during the reign of Josiah. We also know that Josiah brought the people back to the Lord during his reign. Does this prophecy come while the people are declaring their intent to follow the Lord? Was their declaration false or for the king’s benefit only? I’m pretty certain that Josiah’s heart was true to the Lord.
What I’m really wondering here is if putting on sackcloth, lamenting and wailing would have prevented this. God calls for the people to “flee for safety” to the fortified cities and to put on sackcloth, lament and wail for the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned back from them. Is their lamenting like that of David for his infant son? God had decreed a punishment and would not be swayed no matter how hard David prayed for forgiveness. I KNOW that God forgave David but that didn’t stop the cost of his sin from being brought down upon his head. Maybe this is so for the people.
Here is another thought that occurred to me. The people that swore allegiance to the Lord before King Josiah were some of the same people who rebuilt the high places during Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim’s reigns. ‘Pie crust promises’; easily made and easily broken. But not EVERYONE would break that promise. There would be those whose hearts were still true taken away with the faithless. God would watch over them in captivity. God’s anger wasn’t going to turn back but neither was His love for those who loved Him.
God was bringing a “hot wind from the bare heights in the desert toward the daughters of [His] people, not to winnow or cleanse, a wind too full for this comes [from Him]” (verse 11). This ‘hot wind’ is for judgment and it will sweep over ALL the nation; NOT just the unfaithful. The faithful would see God’s hand while in captivity and others would come back to Him in that dark time.
This whole nation judgment reminds me of the three different views of when the rapture is thought to occur. There is the pre-tribulation belief, a mid-tribulation belief, and a post-tribulation belief. In the pre-tribulation belief, which I ascribe to, would take those who believe in Jesus from this earth before the seven years when the wrath of God is poured out on the people. There are several scriptures that support this belief and I am providing a link to GotQuestions.org where this is discussed. For an event that would portray this removal I look to Noah and the flood. God took Noah to a place of protection before sending His judgment upon all the earth. Noah had to first be obedient to prepare that place according to God’s specific directions. If Noah cut corners, he would NOT have survived. He was committed to following the Lord, no matter what it cost.
The mid-tribulation scenario reminds me of the plagues of Egypt. During the plagues, the beginning plagues were brough upon everyone; Egyptian and Hebrew alike. From the fourth plague on, there was a distinction between the people of God and the Egyptians. There is a question regarding the eighth plague, whether it included the land of Goshen or not. The locust ate “everything left by the hail” throughout all the land of Egypt. The final plague would surely have descended on ANY of the Hebrews who didn’t follow the Lord’s command for the Passover preparations. The people of God were effectively ‘pulled from the fire’ in the middle of the plagues.
God’s judgment on Judah would resemble the post-tribulation belief. ALL the people were taken away; faithful and unfaithful. God’s hand was on the faithful during this ordeal but went through it they did. And no doubt many more became faithful to the Lord during this ordeal as well as others going further away from Him.
When the time came for the return to Judah, many chose to stay where they were. Only a remnant returned. But that is a story for another time.
Bottom line today is that God’s wrath fell on the nation who had spurned Him; that He Himself had created. He used the nations that had no knowledge or relationship with Him to bring this about. We are angering God as surely as they did. Judgment is coming. We KNOW this to be true. However you believe He deals with us in that time, those who trust in Him have a SURE hope. Whether He prevents us from seeing it, prevents us from seeing the worst of it, or carries us all the way through it, HE IS FAITHFUL to those whose hearts are stayed on Him.
Father God, I feel Your judgment on the horizon. I don’t know when it will come or for absolute certain what my life during that time will look like. There are STILL people trying to predict the day of the rapture. My daughter informs me that one group said it would be last night. Nope. Missed it again.
I leave the timing and details to You Father. I will hold fast to Your hand no matter what it costs me. I pray for an easier time for Your people, but YOU know what is best. Are we at a point like David or is there still room for a reprieve like in some of the good kings of Judah? It’s all in Your hands Father. I trust YOU.
