March 16, Jeremiah 44
"Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, 'Oh, do not do this abomination that I hate!' But they did not listen or incline their ear to turn from their evil and make no offerings to other gods." - Jeremiah 44:4-5
After a long lifetime of service to God, Jeremiah could have been discouraged. He warned and pleaded for decades, but the people had not repented. Finally, God carried out his threats to destroy their city and scatter their nation. Many of the Judeans were in captivity in Babylon. The ones Nebuchadnezzar left behind ignored a direct command and fled to Egypt because they feared the Babylonians. They took Jeremiah and Baruch with them. Now years later, after the Jewish people had scattered to cities across Egypt, they were still worshiping idols. In Egypt, they became enamored with the queen of the heavens, a female version of the Canaanite fertility gods, the Baals.
We know the chapters and events in Jeremiah are not in chronological order. This chapter may be the last prophecy of Jeremiah. Despite persecution and pressure and mistreatment from his own people, Jeremiah continued to faithfully deliver God's word to the people whether they wanted to hear it or not. And the message had not changed. It had always been and still was, "Repent or perish."
These people had witnessed (and survived) the terrible fall of Jerusalem. Now God told them that the Babylonians and the destruction they brought with them was coming for them in Egypt. They fled to Egypt because they feared Nebuchadnezzar, but there was no escape. Nebuchadnezzar was coming to Egypt and all but a few of these refugees from Judah would die in Egypt.
The text verses emphasize two clear reasons why we should hate sin with a holy passion. There's also a reminder here of the great heart of God.
We should hate sin because it is, by its nature, abomination. It feels like we're free, but sin enslaves us. It degrades us. It debases us. It grows out of prideful rebellion in our flesh, putting what we want above what God said. It separates us from God. It leads to shame and death. However appealing Satan may make sin as he tempts us, we should hate it because of what it is.
We should also hate sin because God hates it. There is no passive neutrality with God about sin. Our holy God cannot compromise or accommodate sin among his people. The bloodstained cross of Christ testifies to God's holy hatred of sin. He hates sin so much that he sacrificed his Son to rescue us from sin's practice and punishment. God knows that sin is toxic to us, and loves us too much to let us go unwarned. In the end, when people will not heed the warnings, God's perfect justice and holiness force him to judge and punish them.
This text also shows the great heart of God. He persistently sent prophets to warn his disobedient people. God's commands were clear. He didn't have to warn them at all. One warning would have been gracious enough, but God warned and called them to repentance through the prophets over and over again. Look at the intense plea in God's words: "Oh, do not do this!" He loved them. He didn't want to destroy them. But they were past hearing and turning back. The idols had stolen their hearts.
It's not clear whether Jeremiah lived to see what happened in Egypt. As we understand it, he was murdered in Egypt by people who hated him for speaking the truth. But his prophecies came true. Another fragment of the nation died in rebellion against God. Now the Messianic hope lay with the captives in Babylon who would return to their land after seventy years of captivity.
Israel's tragic story should stir us to turn away from sin while we still have an opportunity. We are so thankful for the grace of God, for his patience and his willingness to forgive. We rejoice in the cleansing, saving power of the blood of Christ. But let's never persist in sin when we know how much God hates that sin and what it is doing to us. May God grant us grace to align our hearts with his great heart, hate sin and flee from it!
Copyright © 2024 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—March 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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