When we were children, it was fun to pretend. I used to watch cartoons and pretend to be the characters that I saw in those cartoons. Halloween is a time for children to pretend to be something that they cannot be in real life. It is fun to be able to pretend. But Jeremiah has a message for people who are pretending with God. Jeremiah is a prophet preaching to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, calling them to repent and warning them of the coming judgment. God is going to take up the problem of pretending to be the people of God in Jeremiah 4-5.
Prepare For Disaster (Jeremiah 4:5-31)
Jeremiah is told to proclaim the disaster that is coming against Judah and Jerusalem. It is God himself who is bringing this destruction against his people (Jeremiah 4:6). He is pictured as a lion coming out of his lair, going out from his place, ready to make waste of the land and reducing the cities to ruins. The cry is for the people to mourn and wail because the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned away from his people. The priests and the prophets will all be surprised when this moment of God’s wrath comes (Jeremiah 4:7-9).
Jeremiah says something surprising in verse 10 in response to the Lord’s judgment declaration. Jeremiah says that the Lord has completely deceived this people telling them that it would be well with them and they would have peace when actually the sword is touching their throats at the moment. What does Jeremiah mean by this? Is Jeremiah charging God with lying to people? This has not been revealed yet, but listen to what God will tell Jeremiah which explains what is happening.
And the LORD said to me: “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds.” (Jeremiah 14:14 ESV)
The problem Jeremiah sees is that there are prophets going around proclaiming that God is not sending trouble and that the people will continue to enjoy God’s peace (cf. Jeremiah 6:14; 8:11; 14:13). So it appears to Jeremiah that the problem is that the people are just misinformed. They think God is telling them peace through this prophets. But it turns out that the prophets are lying, which is what Jeremiah will expose later in this book. It is worth pointing out right here in our study that Jeremiah himself will also be on a prophetic journey with these people. He will start out wanting to intercede for them, believing that they will turn if they were informed. We will see this shortly in this lesson. But Jeremiah will change his mind about that idea later as he experiences the outcome of his preaching among the people.
But God’s message is clear. A complete cleansing is needed among the people because they want to believe the lies. In verse 11 God says that this destruction will not be a light cleansing or a winnowing. Rather, this is going to be a full judgment on the people across the board. No one will be excluded from God’s judgment. God is pictured as going up in the clouds, riding chariots like the whirlwind, and the people are ruined for what is coming (Jeremiah 4:13). As these images of judgment are pronounced, God uses vivid pictures of the people’s problem. One of the things we know about our God is that judgment is never a surprise. God always explains why judgment is coming. Look carefully at verse 14.
O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil, that you may be saved. How long shall your wicked thoughts lodge within you? (Jeremiah 4:14 ESV)
You need to wash your heart so that you can be saved. You need to cleanse what is inside of you so that you can be delivered. Notice the problem that the Lord identifies with a question. How long are you going to let your wicked thoughts live inside of you? Consider that God does not say, “Why do you have wicked thoughts?” Rather, why are you keeping those wicked thoughts inside of you? In other words, why are you not purging those wicked thoughts when these come in? Rather than kicking out the wicked thoughts from your heart, you are letting those wicked thoughts build a house in your heart? You are letting the wicked thoughts live there! Wash your heart from evil. Your heart and your mind need cleansing. The reason for God’s wrath is because we allow evil to live inside of us. Notice that God makes this point in verse 18.
Your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you. This is your doom, and it is bitter; it has reached your very heart.” (Jeremiah 4:18 ESV)
You have rebelled against the Lord (Jeremiah 4:17). You have brought this doom on yourselves because of your own conduct. You have brought this judgment on yourself because of your own actions. After describing more fearful images of the coming judgment, God makes another declaration about the spiritual condition of his people in verse 22.
“My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.” (Jeremiah 4:22 NIV)
God says that his people are only wise and skillful in one thing. They should have been wise and skillful in the things of the Lord. They should have been wise and skillful in righteousness and doing good. But listen to what God says. They are only wise and skillful in doing evil. “They do not know how to do what is good.” Please think about this. God’s people do not know how to do what is good. This verse tells us how this happens. God said, “They do not know me.” The people of God do not know God. The people who are supposed to have a relationship with God and be a light to the world do not know God. Because they do not know God, they lack sense. They lack understanding. They do not know how to do what is good. They are only skilled in doing evil.
Because of these things, God says that a complete restart is necessary (Jeremiah 4:23-30). When you look at verse 23 you see that God is describing the need for a new creation. It is as if Noah’s flood needs to happen again as God lays everything into ruin. A complete cleansing is needed. A complete restart is called for. But God makes a promise in verse 27. Everything is ruined by sin but God will not completely destroy these people. Three times God is going to say through Jeremiah that it will not be a complete ruin coming (cf. Jeremiah 4:27; 5:10; 5:18). But no one will be able to rescue from this coming doom (4:30-31).
Stubborn Pretenders (Jeremiah 5:1-3)
You might think that this all exaggeration. You might think that things could not be that bad. How could this be the situation? But look at the question God asks in Jeremiah 5:1. God asks for people to go through the streets of Jerusalem with this challenge. Find one person who seeks the truth and deals justly with others and God will forgive the city. This challenge reminds us of Sodom and Gomorrah and how Abraham was supposed to find 10 righteous people in the city to be able to save it (cf. Genesis 18:22-23). Now God says if you can just find on person in the place, that is supposed to be the city of God and among the people who are supposed to be the people of God, who is seeking the truth, then God will save the city. This city of God’s people is worse than Sodom. Not one person is seeking God’s truth. God continues in verse 2 that these people are just pretenders. They say, “As the Lord lives,” but they make false oaths.
In fact, they are stubborn pretenders. Look at verse 3. Jeremiah notes that in spite of the all the correction that God is trying to work on these people, they refuse to take correction. They do not feel any anguish about what they have done. The more God tried to help and correct, the more they made their faces harder than stone. They simply refuse to repent.
Jeremiah’s Hope (Jeremiah 5:4-6)
Now Jeremiah wants to intercede for his people. He has high hopes for these people. He says in verse 4 that the problem is that they just do not know the way of the Lord. Jeremiah thinks that the problem is simply ignorance. They just don’t know God’s requirements. Jeremiah says in verse 5 that he will go and speak to the people and tell them about God’s ways and about God’s justice. Unfortunately, the preaching will not bring the desired effect. Each person has broken off God’s authority and refused to submit to him. The problem is not ignorance. The problem is rebellion. The problem is the rejection of God. It is not that the people do not know. The problem is the people do not care.
How Pretenders Are Created (Jeremiah 5:7-31)
This leads God to ask a very important question in Jeremiah 5:7. “Why should I forgive you?” How can God possibly forgive when you stubbornly refuse to change? It truly makes you wonder how God’s people could get to this point. How could these people become stubborn pretenders?
First, we become pretenders when we take God’s care, provisions, and blessings and use them for evil. God says that he blessed them and provided for their needs. But they have taken God’s good blessings and used them for sins. They are committing adultery and sexual immorality. They are completely out of control with their fleshly desires (Jeremiah 5:8). God says that he has to punish for these things (Jeremiah 5:9). What else is God supposed to do? They did not care that God took care of them.
Second, we become pretenders when we believe lies that God will never judge for your sins. In verse 11 God says that the people have been completely unfaithful to him. They are lying about the Lord. They are saying that the Lord will not judge. They are saying that Lord will not do anything (Jeremiah 5:12). They are saying that the Lord will not bring harm on his people. They proclaim that God won’t do anything about our rejection and our pretending. So now God’s words will be a fire in Jeremiah’s mouth, a consuming judgment on the people’s hearts and on the people’s sins (5:14). The New Testament warns of this very problem. Jude warned about those who would take the grace of God as a license to sin (Jude 4). Jude further called them blasphemers and dreamers who scoffingly follow their own sinful passions. The apostle Peter wrote similarly in the second chapter of his second letter. There is always the perpetuated lie that God will not judge the sin you want to commit. Whether it is with our passions, our emotions, or our actions, pretenders believe that they will never be caught and that their sin will never be seen by God. Further, they believe God will do nothing. This leads to a heart of stubborn pretending.
Third, we become pretenders when we do not acknowledge God as our Creator to whom we owe our love and allegiance. God has another important question to ask the people in verses 21-22. You who do not have spiritual sight or spiritual understanding, why won’t you fear the Lord? Why don’t you tremble in God’s presence? The point God is making is that fearing him should be obvious. God made a boundary for the sea and the sea listens and obeys. Creation listens and fears God. But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts (Jeremiah 5:23). They do not say to themselves that we should fear the Lord, the Lord who provides for us and gives us all we need in life. So now God says that he will turn those blessings away from them because of their sins (5:25).
Fourth, we become pretenders when we focus on our prosperity. Notice that their prosperity has ruined them from fearing the Lord (Jeremiah 5:27). They are rich and powerful and do not care about God. This is another warning that the scriptures give to us. Jesus warned that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter the kingdom of God (cf. Matthew 19:24). Paul wrote to Timothy to not set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God (cf. 1 Timothy 6:17). But their focus had slipped away to a focus on riches and power. They have grown sleek and fat. They are pretenders because they just want to be comfortable.
Hearts Need Cleansing
So what is the result for all of these things? Listen to the words of verse 28. “Their evil deeds have no limit.” They love false teaching. They love glory. They love their own rules and own authority (Jeremiah 5:30-31). But here is a chilling question in conclusion in verse 31. “But what will you do when the end comes?” Jeremiah 4-5 contain vivid images of God’s coming judgment. God does not let the pretenders slide by. If we see that we are pretenders then we need to listen to what God asks. What are we going to do when the end comes? How do we think the time of judgment is going to go for us? What we need is where Jeremiah started in this particular prophecy. Look back at Jeremiah 4:14. “Wash the evil from your heart and be saved. How long will your wicked thoughts live within you?” The problem starts inside of us. We need to have our hearts cleansed. This is what Jesus is offering to you today.
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19-22 ESV)
What will you do when the end comes and you have not allowed the Lord to cleanse your heart and make it right? Stop the pretending and seek your Creator today.