Jeremiah 5:1-31

Dead bodies do not respond to any sort of stimuli.  God sees the nation of Judah as being spiritually dead.  No matter how much He punishes their sin, no matter how many warnings He gives the people simply continue down the same sinful path.  God searches for people who will be responsive to His Word, follow His leading and be sensitive to His spirit.  Unfortunately, He rarely finds these people.  When an entire nation is full of those who do not hear the Lord or fear the Lord; God will bring judgment upon them in hopes of bringing life through judgment.

THE PEOPLE WERE UNREPENTANT: Jeremiah goes through the city of Jerusalem to try to find a righteous man.  This is reminiscent of the search through Sodom and Gomorrah in the days of Abraham.  Now, generations later the descendants of Abraham find themselves in a very similar situation.  They use the name of the Lord in vain because they speak of Him but do not listen to Him.  They refuse to turn from their sin.  This unrepentant condition was common to all the people; rich and poor, small and great.  All the people had turned from God.  The only way to get their attention was through judgment.  They were acting like beasts so God would call the wild animals to come and devour all who ventured out of the city.  There was no way for God to forgive a nation who sought only after false Gods and practiced unbridled immorality.  

THE PEOPLE WERE UNREASONABLE: God sought to warn the people through the words of the prophets and demonstrated His willingness to judge, but the people would not listen to reason.  The believed the Lord was either unwilling or unable to judge their sin so they just continued down the same path of destruction.  God promises to set them ablaze with fire from the words of Jeremiah.  He will call foreign nations to come and take them into a strange and far away land.  Their food will be eaten by strangers and their children will be made to be slaves.  However, God would not completely destroy the people so they will be able to recognize the dire consequences of sin.  God had tried to call the people to listen to Him but they would not reason with Him in any way apart from judgment.


THE PEOPLE WERE UNRESPONSIVE: They people had grown to be deaf and blind before the Lord.  He called them to repentance He showed them the consequences of sin yet the failed to hear or see either.  God controls the seas with the beaches of the world but He could not find a way to control these people who would know no boundaries and would respond to no warnings.  They have no fear of the Lord for they do not recognize His provisions.  They seek to spread their own sinful thoughts and philosophies to others and ensnare them in their wicked ways.  Sin has gone unchecked for so long that the boundaries of all justice have been broken.  The spiritual leaders speak lies and follow their own will and the people love it.  The only way for such a nation to be reached is through severe judgment.  If we do not respond to the reason of God’s Word and fall before Him in repentance; the only means through which God can gain our attention is through judgment.  We must learn to be sensitive to Word of the Lord.

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