THE UNPLEASANTNESS OF JUDGMENT

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought: “Judah mourns, her cities languish; they wail for the land, and a cry goes up from Jerusalem. The nobles send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns but find no water. They return with their jars unfilled; dismayed and despairing, they cover their heads. The ground is cracked because there is no rain in the land; the farmers are dismayed and cover their heads. Even the doe in the field deserts her newborn fawn because there is no grass. Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights and pant like jackals; their eyes fail for lack of food.”

“Although our sins testify against us, do something, Lord, for the sake of Your name. For we have often rebelled; we have sinned against You. You who are the hope of Israel, its Savior in times of distress, why are You like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who stays only a night? Why are You like a man taken by surprise, like a warrior powerless to save? You are among us, Lord, and we bear Your name; do not forsake us!”

This is what the Lord says about this people: “They greatly love to wander; they do not restrain their feet. So the Lord does not accept them; He will now remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins.”

Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for the well-being of this people. Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague.”

But I said, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! The prophets keep telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place.’”

Then the Lord said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in My name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds. Therefore this is what the Lord says about the prophets who are prophesying in My name: I did not send them, yet they are saying, ‘No sword or famine will touch this land.’ Those same prophets will perish by sword and famine. And the people they are prophesying to will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and sword. There will be no one to bury them, their wives, their sons and their daughters. I will pour out on them the calamity they deserve.”

“Speak this word to them: ‘Let my eyes overflow with tears night and day without ceasing; for the Virgin Daughter, my people, has suffered a grievous wound, a crushing blow. If I go into the country, I see those slain by the sword; if I go into the city, I see the ravages of famine. Both prophet and priest have gone to a land they know not.’”

“Have you rejected Judah completely? Do you despise Zion? Why have You afflicted us so that we cannot be healed? We hoped for peace but no good has come, for a time of healing but there is only terror. We acknowledge our wickedness, Lord, and the guilt of our ancestors; we have indeed sinned against you. For the sake of Your name do not despise us; do not dishonor Your glorious throne. Remember your covenant with us and do not break it. Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies themselves send down showers? No, it is you, Lord our God. Therefore our hope is in You, for You are the one who does all this.”

Jeremiah 14

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Judgment is never pleasant when it comes.

Exhibit A can be found within the entirety of Jeremiah, Chapter 14.

Note all the punishing consequences the Israelites were dealing with:

1. Drought.

Since the dawn of creation, water has been an important life sustaining substance for all living things. When there is no rain, everything begins to wither and die. Humans and animals find themselves without water to drink; once green plant life, browns and sags before drying out and becoming mere chaff in the wind.

Indeed, the scriptures tell us that the cisterns, typically filled with drinking water, were empty. The ground was cracked, void of moisture and baked in the heat of the day. Farmlands are decimated and there is no grass for the animals to graze on.

Besides crucifixion, perhaps there is no more horrific and slower death than dehydration and the people of Israel, and things of creation in their midst, were experiencing it.

2. Forsakenness.

In the midst of their hardship, the Israelites tried to call out to God for help but they received no reply. He seemed a stranger to them rather than the God who was once all theirs. They had chosen to sinfully abandon God and now they were seeing how that felt as God returned the favor. If they were going to be unfaithful, they would get a taste of how it feels to be violated and disregarded. Such was God’s anger over the wickedness of His people that He told Jeremiah to cease praying for them because such prayers would go unanswered until He deemed that His people had paid the price for their worshipping of false gods and idols. Even worship attempts by the people would go ignored by God. The offerings of His people had simply lost their power in the midst of their evil ways.  

With all this, ask yourselves, “Is there any worse penalty God could give than His rejection of us?”

I can’t think of any.

3. False Prophets

When we turn from God and desert His word, will, and way, we can be convinced to believe almost anything by anybody. Don’t think for a moment that Satan, our enemy, is not skilled at twisting the word of God to lead us to His sinful desires. You may recall he tried to even do it to Jesus (Matthew 4).

In Jeremiah’s time, the false prophets were painting a false picture when it came to the spiritual relationship the Israelites had with God. These prophets were sending messages that the people would love to hear, messages that would deny that destruction and annihilation were coming, messages that conveyed that God wished for peace and not conflict with His people.

Of course, God called out these lies for what they were: evil and false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of the prophet’s own minds. None of it was of or from God and the prophecies than were just as phony as the men who were pronouncing them.

I’m sure it sounded good to the people of Israel until the Babylonians invaded and disrupted their counterfeit sense of security, showing them first hand that the words of the prophets were as false as the gods and idols they chose to worship over God.

As we can see through these consequences, there is an unpleasantness connected with judgment. It’s not meant to be enjoyed but rather serves to teach a lesson in a way that would lead a person to not sin again. To not achieve that would render the judgment as ineffective, falling short of its intent to change and transform behavior from wickedness to righteousness. And God does not institute anything with the intent that it will fail to accomplish His wishes.  

Given all this, ask yourselves this:

“Why do we even push the envelope with God to get to that place to begin with?”

“Why in the world do we ever put ourselves in a position where we deserve judgment in the first place?”

We have to be crazy, right?

I know as far as I am concerned, this will forever be a mystery to me because I just don’t get it. I understand we are born into sin and all but this does not give us charter to just go ahead and sin, not expecting correction for it.

The battle line is written in the sand of life with complete clarity.

On one side, the side where God abides and the side we should always strive to be on, lies righteousness and holiness. Step over the line and you will enter into the domain where sin, evil, and Satan live.

As long as we remain fully on God’s side, we can enjoy His blessing and splendor and majesty and glory. But if we opt to step over the line into sin, then we can expect to experience the unpleasantness of God’s judgment, just as the Old Testament Israelites did, and we would have asked for every ounce of it.

We will remove ourselves from the living water that is only found in Him and experience a spiritual drought.

Through our choice to sin, we also choose to forsake the Lord and His righteousness. Without it, along with Him removing His protection and power from us, we will find out how it feels to be forsaken ourselves and learn quickly that life separate from God is a life no one should ever pick to live.

Finally, when we abandon God and His wisdom and guidance, we will find ourselves open for wicked influence from others, others who can be spiritually convincing but just as skilled at deceit, just as the false prophets were in Jeremiah’s time.

The good news for us is that none of this needs to happen but the ball is in our court. Remain obedient to the Lord and we need not even discuss judgment. Frankly, it definitely is the only sane option in play, an option that keeps us in God’s favor and out of His doghouse.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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